More training

There is a big gap since I last wrote here, it's funny to see how things change, I have much more free time from university and my traning has become in certain way wider, longer, stronger so I though i had to write something down... somethings.... not everything as I wouldn't finish writing tonight but I am sure I will soon write here all I want to say and all I feel....

I am writing an article, and hope to have it ready to upload soon of course both in English and Spanish


that's all a dozens of articles are waiting over my desk so I must start reading for school


XOXO

Un breve update

Creo he llegado a un punto en el cual me he sanado.. de qué??? de miles de cosas que me han hecho caer a ratos salí es lo que cuenta, algunos meten su su cabeza debajo de la almohada y al salir se sienten realiviados, otros tantos toman largos baños calientes, algunos más comen casi 3 galones de helado junto a su cama y otros, los menos, deciden ir de compras o salir a pasear a su perro... bien ninguno de esos fue mi caso debo decirlo, en mi parte el cambio vino completamente de adentro hacia afuera (como debería de ser) y siento que he aprendido mucho de mí y gracias a eso he logrado aprender más del mundo que me rodea, creo y digo firmemente que es básico que uno sepa quién es y dónde está parado para poder luchar fuertemenete por lo que quiere ser y a dónde quiere llegar....

Finalmente debo llegar al punto que me trae hasta este blog el PARKOUR. Durante algún tiempo me había estado preocupando por fundamentales para mi forma de ver mi entrenamiento y mi sentido de existencia-convivencia en y dentro del entorno en el que me muevo. Pude dentro de mi propio entrenamiento "estructurar" algunos otros mini entrenamientos o digámoslo de algún modo mis propios métodos de entrenamiento personal y debo decir con una amplia sonrisa en la cara que me han funcionado y cada vez encuentro más... creo cun día en el que tenga más tiempo describiré algunos de ellos, quizás alguien logre encontrarlos útiles y apliarlos o mejor aún adaptarlos a sí mismos.

Por otra parte, he tenido varios planes y eventos, entre ellos la RT GDL que fue toda una experiencia para mí y creo que para todos, más allá de ir y trazar se pudo convivir y compartir con toda la gente que asistió... haciendome ver una vez más que se puede hacer de éste un mundo mejor... esas son las cosas que me hacen sonreir y ver al cielo con gusto... es hermoso (no gay) ver tanta humanidad y felicidad en todos al menos en todos los que pude conocer y a los que ya conocía y pude ver de nuevo =) a veces el mundo necesita un respiro, a veces yo necesito un respiro, a veces solo necesitamos todos un respiro... y esos eventos, esos lugares, esa libertad que se siente, se huele, se come, se transpira y se regala nos da el respiro que nos mantiene con fuerza....

Definitivamente este es un buen momento, hay tantas cosas que me han mantenido alegre y feliz y por demás concentrada en todos los aspectos.... que sólo puedo pensar en seguir y seguir, explorar nuevo rincones de mi mente y nuevas habilidades de mi cuerpo....

Maria Raptaki Interview

Here I add the interview made to Maria Raptaki at www.urbanrunners.net
for the section "traceur/traceuse of the month" enjoy!

::This is Maria Raptaki, se is 23 and she is part of NSA in Greece. She has been practising Parkour for about 2 years.






How did you find Parkour?


I found out about parkour two years ago, while watching a video and a following interview of the Nsa team on TV. From the very first moment i was so excited about parkour and so I met up with the rest team and started training.


What does Parkour mean to you?


For me parkour was firstly a different way of movement compared to the way other people used to move. It was an interest which made me feel "special" and also made me have a lot of fun while practising. After two years of training, i feel that parkour is actually me. It's like hanging out with myself as if i was an other person. Parkour is all my fears, all that i love or hate, parkour is something which pisses me off sometimes and make me happy most of the times, parkour is my ambitions and my expectations. For me parkour is how i see myself in a mirror, the way i train and whether my training is proper or not is just the way im behaving to myself and in life generally.Parkour is my teacher and surelly i want to get an "A" . :PP


What do you think about Parkour being related to the medias?



I know that there's always a general arguement about who are giving the right image of parkour in the media and whether traceurs and traceuses give emphasis on the difference between parkour and freerunning so that people who are watching would know about it. Personally speaking i started training parkour when i watched a related interview and video on TV featuring my team..Whether that guys i saw on TV gave the right image of parkour or not, i know that if someone is truly interested, he/she will find the way to knowledge and the personal meaning of parkour. So, i dont have any problem with anyone who uses media and internet either to earn money from it or to become more famous, everyone has their reasons..I appreciate the good work as far as parkour is concerned in the media and if i don't like something i just dont pay attention to it.


In which point do you think Parkour is and where do you think it will go?


As the years pass by, more and more people get into parkour. The point is that not many beginners take it seriously (at least as fas as i know in Greece). Maybe because they use it so that people would stare at them and make an impression or as a way to become "famous". This is very disappointing and they should't consider it as a trend. On the other hand i know that there are many beginners around the world really passionate and dedicated to parkour and they make me think that parkour has a lot more to give in the following years. With a little help and support from all of us, more and more people would see parkour for real.


Which advise would you give to people who want to start practising Parkour?


I really find it important to say that beginners (and generally traceurs and traceuses), shouldn't have "absolute" images of someone they would like to be similar to. This might make them feel disappointed in time if they wont be able to be like their "idol" and i strongly believe that despite the fact we all train parkour, everyone though has his/her own way of movement. You just need to know about what you want to do and how far you want to go. This will make you feel that you practise parkour for your own personal goals and not because you want to look like someone else who might be more experienced than you are. You have your own body, your own mind, so path your own way into parkour. When you say "Pfff i can't do this.." then answer to yourself "Shut up!!You can do it!!" and if you can't do it right now, you will do it in few days or so, there's noone rushing you..

The beginners who truly feel interested in parkour should be fully equipped with both patience and insistence. Most of the times the beginning is the hardest part,so try to make a good start. If you have experienced friends who train parkour then surelly ask for their help and also listen to their advices. Then try what you've learnt so far on your own; there will not always be someone next to you to help you. If you don't have any people to reach in order to practise with them, then try watching related videos (But don't watch that many though, sometimes watching many videos makes you lack of imagination, while trying to do moves and combos,guys or girls on that video did). You also need to know that everything's a chain in parkour. While leveling up your training, you will also need to level up your body condition and the way of thinking too. Don't get disappointed too easily, you are not Spiderman nor Superman to fly,so if you can't achieve something then you need to try more for it. As much as you want to do it, that much you'll have to try for it. Everyone has their own specific time for doing everything and this relies on how much you believe in it, so try not rushing if you are not ready for it, otherwise you will fall. But if you fall, it's ok, you will stand

What do you think about separating parkour from free running?


I know many people who are so strict and passionate about this seperation of parkour and free running. I really believe that those two have different philosophies and way of mental and body training but i don't feel so strict about it. Personaly speaking, i don't focus that much on the differences between parkour and free running, i prefer to move in the way my mood drives me,so either flip from joy or just move efficiently hehehe :P


What do you think about body and mind balance?


I have been always thinking that someone who trains parkour and especially in the early years of training, is like a small child learning how to walk. For me, everything is happening step by step. This is how my mind and body head on balance. It's not all about just being in a good body condition and making progress while building body confidence. It's about having the mind maturity and the spirit to healthy progress too. I'm always working on making a balance between my mind and body, actually this is what will bring to me longevity and experience.


How is Maria? (appart from parkour what do you do, hobbies, what do you like doing, etc)


Appart from training parkour, i'm focusing on finishing the univercity studies. I'm having many kind of dancing lessons for about 12 years. I love snowboarding whenever i have time and watching movies too while relaxing at home. I really love clubbing out with friends. I like video editing and learning new things. I like teasing funny my dog "Ras" and pissing him off hahah. I like telling jokes and me being the only one to laugh out loud (ahahah thats so funny).Do you want more?? Well i can write a book for this question :P


What do you think about female parkour scene? How is it growing or developing?


I chat with many traceuses around the world and delightfuly learning that female parkour scene is growing up a lot. I feel very happy that more and more women get into parkour and it's very inspiring watching all of those videos from their training. Unfortunately as far as i know in Greece i am the only one to train parkour, though in past there were few girls training and i really felt so nice practising with them. I think that female parkour scene would be growing and developing even better if we all were stronger and not quiting that easily.

Do you have any specific training routine?


I don't like any kind of routines and so i don't take any specific routine into my training. I like having a more spontaneous type of training and when i see that i lack in something i just focus on that.


Posted at http://www.urbanrunners.net/traceurdelmes.html (Spanish)

Fuerza (versión en Español)

El entrenamiento de fuerza… ¿Diferente para hombres y mujeres?

En todo el tiempo que llevo entrenando he tenido la oportunidad de entrenar y desarrollarme junto con hombres, y después de un tiempo llegaron más mujeres en el equipo. Tanto en ellas como en mujeres que han empezado a entrenar en otros estados y con otros equipos siempre hay una constante y es que al empezar, la mayoría, tiende a marcar las diferencias anatómicas y en cuanto a la fuerza. En múltiples ocasiones llegan a mí o leo en foros preguntas como éstas: ¿Qué debo hacer para aumentar mi fuerza? ¿Es debido a la mayor fuerza que tienen los hombres que hay cosas que se les facilitan más? ¿Se puede llegar a tener el mismo nivel de fuerza que los hombres? Por lo que el objeto de este artículo es ampliar la perspectiva en cuanto a este tema, tanto en hombres como en mujeres.
Durante la pre-pubertad y la niñez las diferencias en cuanto a fuerza y potencia son muy cerradas, pero en la pubertad que es la fase más apta para el desarrollo de fuerza es justamente donde los hombres suelen enfocarse y las mujeres no tanto debido al acelerado cambio físico y hormonal. Finalmente en el periodo de 17 a 30 años es cuando la fuerza alcanza su máximo valor y los tendones son capaces de soportar mayores cargas.
Las hormonas juegan un papel sumamente importante en el desarrollo de la fuerza, es por eso que el periodo menstrual repercute en el desempeño físico, cuando una mujer incluye disciplinas de fuerza presenta menos problemas de ciclos irregulares que las que practican disciplinas de larga duración y además los valores de fuerza máxima no sufren alteraciones en las mujeres sedentarias no así en las que desempeñan alguna actividad deportiva.
Siempre que el entrenamiento realizado sea similar en intensidad relativa, volumen y frecuencia, las mujeres presentan adaptaciones similares al entrenamiento de la fuerza que los hombres, incluyendo una ganancia similar en hipertrofia, aunque en periodos cortos y en base a ejercicio para desarrollar fuerza y no tono se puede arreglar esto, ya que la mayoría de las mujeres quieren ser fuertes, ganar fuerza pero sin ganar tanto tono muscular y adquirir un cuerpo de cierto modo masculinizado. Sin embargo, debido a que los hombres presentan, mayores valores iniciales de fuerza máxima y tamaño muscular, la ganancia con el entrenamiento de los distintos factores del desarrollo de la fuerza es mayor, en valores absolutos, en el hombre que en la mujer. Una razón para que el aumento absoluto de fuerza se mas acelerado en los hombres es el alto nivel de testosterona en la sangre. En términos generales una mujer requiere de más sesiones y aproximadamente el doble de tiempo para ganar el mismo valor relativo de fuerza que un hombre.
Hablando de fuerza respecto al peso corporal la diferencia entre hombres y mujeres disminuye o incluso se llega a anular en cuanto a los músculos inferiores, pero en los músculos superiores las diferencias siguen siendo importantes. En cuanto a potencia debido a términos meramente anatómicos y morfológicos las mujeres tienen un valor menor que el masculino. Las diferencias de fuerza se deben como ya vimos a cuestiones hormonales, a la mayor talla de hombres y mayor peso corporal y que tienen mayor tamaño de fibra muscular, sin embargo las distribuciones de fibras musculares son casi idénticas en hombres que en mujeres.
Algo muy útil en el Parkour es que la mujer puede usar más energía elástica guardada en los músculos en actividades en que el músculo se estira antes (como en el movimiento de contracción antes de saltar)

Ventajas de un entrenamiento de fuerza.
Algunas de las ventajas que puede aportarnos el entrenamiento de fuerza son:
 Mejor modelado óseo: las mujeres requieren lograr tensiones mínimas esenciales para que el modelado óseo ocurra y reducir el riesgo de osteoporosis. La masa ósea total se logra a los 30 años y si el ejercicio físico se efectúa antes de esta edad la prevención será más eficiente. Por otro lado si el ejercicio físico se hace después de esta edad e incluso inmediatamente después de la menopausia la velocidad con que se pierde hueso producto de la ausencia de estrógenos, se puede disminuir considerablemente. Sin embargo si aumentamos mucho la intensidad del ejercicio pueden aparecen alteraciones menstruales que provocan el efecto contrario, es decir la osteoporosis.
 Tejidos conectivos más resistentes: los cartílagos, tendones y ligamentos también requieren de esfuerzos. El desarrollo de la fuerza requiere intensidades y repeticiones que aumenten la tensión (esfuerzo) poco a poco. Tener tendones y ligamentos fuertes son necesarios para la estabilidad y prevención de las lesiones articulares.
 Mayor capacidad y fuerza funcional: desarrollar la fuerza funcional y mejorar el rendimiento físico. Lo que a la larga se ve reflejado en una menor disminución de fuerza y atrofia muscular con el paso de los años.
 Mayor masa magra corporal y mayor tasa metabólica: se debe a un aumento de masa muscular y disminución en grasa corporal.
 Mejor salud mental y autoestima: hay estudios que indican que las mujeres que se someten al entrenamiento de la fuerza se benefician de una mejor autoestima. El entrenamiento de la fuerza, parece dar a las mujeres un sentido de potencia personal. También, en un estudio sobre la “ansiolisis” inducida por ejercicio, indica que hay disminución de la ansiedad después del ejercicio ya que ofrece un tiempo muerto de las preocupaciones diarias.

Más allá de sólo practicar parkour y añadir un entrenamiento de fuerza para obtener mejore resultados y avanzar a un paso mucho más seguro, el entrenamiento de fuerza tanto en hombres como mujeres provee grandes beneficios tanto a corto como mediano y largo plazo.
En lo personal recomiendo un amplio conocimiento del cuerpo y sobre todo de somato tipos y en base a esto seremos capaces de conocer y aceptar nuestro cuerpo tal y como es e incluso adaptar los ejercicios, la intensidad y la forma de entrenamiento para obtener mejores resultados.
Finalmente quiero decir que el entrenamiento de hombres y mujeres en cuanto al Parkour es el mismo hablando de términos técnicos. Sin embrago en cuestiones de fuerza se pueden adaptar como ya mencioné algunos ejercicios e incluir algunos que pueden de cierta manera ser más útiles en cuestión de anatomía y ejercer un menor desgaste. El entrenamiento no sólo debe ser funcional, sino que un entrenamiento de fuerza debe siempre ser bien estructurado, bien pensado y agregar ejercicios que fortalezcan cada parte de nuestro cuerpo, y que en cuestiones de género (reafirmo meramente anatómicas) ayuden e impulsen a cada persona, ya que hay varios ejercicios que pueden funcionar sumamente bien en hombres pero en algunas mujeres y algunos tipos de cuerpo significan un mayor desgaste aparte de la ganancia de fuerza.


**Hipertrofia: Aumento excesivo del volumen de un tejido u órgano causado por el crecimiento del tamaño de sus células. La hipertrofia puede tener diversos orígenes: funcional, debida a una adaptación del órgano o tejido a determinadas actividades (en deportistas, trabajos físicos, etc.) o inflamatorio, como en el caso de amigdalitis; sustitutivo, por el que se produce el crecimiento anómalo de un órgano para suplir.
**Ansiolisis: Es el estado en el cual hay una disminución de la sensación de aprehensión sin un cambio asociado en el estado de alerta del individuo.
**Somato tipo: Es un sistema diseñado para clasificar el tipo corporal ó físico, propuesto por Sheldon en 1940. El somato tipo es utilizado para estimar la forma corporal y su composición, principalmente en atletas. Lo que se obtiene, es un análisis de tipo cuantitativo del físico. Se expresa en una calificación de tres números, el componente endomórfico, mesomórfico y ectomórfico, respectivamente, siempre respetando este orden.

Strength.. different for men and women?

Here I add an article I was pretendig to add some time ago jeje I'll post it both in English and in Spanish


During all the time I’ve been training I’ve had the opportunity to train along with men, and after some time more women arrived to the team. These girls such as other that have started to train in other teams and in other states start with a constant: at the beginning, they tend to mark the anatomic differences and the one regarding the strength between genders. In multiple occasions they come to me or I read in the forums that they are asking things such as: “What can I do to increase my strength? Are thing easier for men because they have more strength? Can I reach the same strength level than men?” so the main purpose of this article is to give a general perspective of this topic, in men and women.
During pre-puberty and childhood the differences between strength and potency are very closed in genders, but during puberty, which is the better phase to develop strength, is when men tend to focus and women don’t because of the accelerated physical and hormonal changes.
The hormones play a very important role in strength development, that’s why the menstrual period has comsequences in the physical development, when a woman includes strength disciplines she present less problems of irregular cycles than those women that practise long lasting disciplines and the maximum values of strength are not affected or altered during the cycle in sedentary women, but they tend to in women that develop a physic activity.
As long as the training is similar in relative intensity, volume and frequency, women present similar adaptation to strength training to men’s adaptation, including a similar earning in hypertrophy, but in shorter periods and based on exercises which purpose is earning strength not volume they can lower the hypertrophy symptoms, this is important because most of the women want to be strong but without acquiring much muscle volume and/or a “man” body. However, as men present higher initial levels of maximum strength and muscle size, the earning with the different factors of strength development is bigger, in absolute values, in men than in women. A reason for this is that men have a very high percentage of testosterone in their blood. In general terms women require more sessions and approximately twice more time to earn the same relative value of strength than a man.
In terms of strength compared to body weight the difference between men and women becomes lower or is even nullified regarding lower muscles, but in the upper muscles the difference is still considerable. Regarding potency in anatomic and morphologic terms women have a lower range than men. The differences in strength are as we’ve seen to hormonal matters, the bigger size and bigger body weight as well as a bigger size of muscle fiber in men, even though the muscle fibers distribution are very similar in men and women.
Something very useful for Parkour is that women can use more elastic energy that is kept in the muscles in activities in which the muscle has to be stretched before (such as the contracting movement before jumping).

Advantages of strength training
Some of the advantages that strength training can provide us are:
 Better bones constitution: women need to obtain minimal essential tensions in order to develop an appropriate bone modeling and reduce osteoporosis risk. The total bone mass is gotten around the age of 30 and if the physical work is done before that age the prevention will be more efficient. On the other hand if physical work is done after this age or even immediately after menopause the speed with which bone is lost as a consequence of lack of estrogens can be reduced considerably. However if we excessively increase the intensity of the exercise some menstrual irregularities may appear that will lead to the opposite effect, this means osteoporosis.
 Stronger connective issues: cartilage, tendons and ligaments also need effort. Strength development requires intensities and repetitions that increase the tension step by step. Having strong tendons and ligaments is necessary for stability and prevention of joint injuries.
 Better capacity and functional strength: develop functional strength and improving physical performance. As years pass by, it is seen as a less diminishing of strength and muscles at bigger ages.
 Better lean body mass and metabolic rate: it is a consequence of increasing the muscular mass and diminishing in body fat.
 Better mental health and self-esteem: some researches indicate that women that follow strength training are benefited with a better self-esteem. The strength training seems to provide women with a feeling of personal potency. A research based on ansiolisis produced by exercise indicates that there is a decrease in anxiety after exercise because it offers some time off from daily worries.
Apart from practicing Parkour and just add a strength training in order to obtain better results and improve with safer steps, strength training provides both, men and women, with big benefits at a short, medium and long term.
I personally recommend a wide knowledge of your body, especially of somato types and having this as a base, we will be able to know and accept our body just as it is and even adapting exercises, intensity and even the way of training in order to obtain better results.
Finally I want to say that the training for men and women in Parkour is the same talking about technique. Even though in terms of strength some exercises can be adapted as I mentioned before and include some that could be, in a certain way, more useful regarding the anatomy and imply less attrition. Training must not only be functional but well composed, well designed and it must add exercises that strengthen every part of our body, and that in terms of gender (anatomically only) help and impulse each person, as there are some exercises that can work really well for men but for some women and some body types they produce a bigger attrition apart from strength improvement.

Trainings

Summer has arrived and I finally have much more time to train!!! by muself, with my family and with the girls that have become part of my family too!!


here I'll be publishing the info related to the girls trainings and things like that...

hehe I have loooots of things to write down but have to go training in a couple of minutes... anyway I add the flyer for the next girls meeting here =)


The info:

Date: July 18-19
Place: Metro universidad
Time: 10 o´clock
Cost: none =) it's free
People in charge: Daer, Frodo, Ixek
More info: ixek@urbanrunners.net

Time

"Time heals everything" ... or at least that's what many people might say, for me time is much more complicated than that you all know what I do for a living and you all know which my other passion is so time is so variable and so strange for me.

At parkour lots of people talk about time a lot.. they ask me how much time I've been training for, how much time do I train per week, how much time did it take me to do muscle ups or how much time I plan to keep on training, for most of this questions I have no answers... or at least I have no clear idea of time... I try to train as much as possible, yes as long as my knees cooperate and college allows me enough free time!

Time is not a thing that you can keep in your purse, wallet or backpack, sometimes time can be as good and short as a smile or it can be so heavily set on your arms like a 1000Kg rock I'm not sure if I am "prepared" to have a serious chat about time or even understant it completely.

My best "time measure" is feedback, the change of things and my own development, those are the only ways to measure time for me (eventhoug I have watches and some schedules) but I mean those are the true ones! Everything changes! That's what time does and every time we are feeling reluctant to accept it we suffer; we are not able to stop time, we are not able to live without it so what are we able for?

At this moment I only know we are able to use our "given" time, I can still remember I realised it takes you the same time to see the bad side of things than it takes to see the good side of them. So I've decided to stop wasting time and just focus on the positive side of them.

This is a complicated part of my life and I now think I need extra time for everything last week I hit my knee and considering they are not good (you know my permanent problem with them) it was soooo bad! It still hurts so I have to take some rest time and work on low impact techniques.

On the other hand we all need some time to change some aspects of our lives and mine has given a 180° turn in just a couple of weeks and I definitely need time to absorb all the changes I need time to adjust my person to them..

So parkour is taking a change too maybe it's just a time in which I have to focus on myself and see deep inside me.

I'll keep on writing and tell how it goes... everything shall be better soon...

home is...

As you all know I have few time to write down everything and sometimes I have lack of inspiration but these last days have had such a great impact in my person...

I always thought I was going to be happy whenever I had some free days at school and I've been but I always feel this strange thing of me wanting to be outside and not here at home.... It's so complicated (eventhough I have not been at home all time long) I've started to develop a better indoor training, I had never given me the chance to really train at home, well I mean seriously and hard, I had always thought about conditioning and strenght at home... but Parkour??? well that was a big deal when I started discovering new things at home...and I am happy to discover improvements in techniques and strenght increase (in general) you all know how hard it's been for me getting stronger this is something I have to really focus on.

I hope to finish translating a new article I wrote this week and post it here as soon as possible... it is about strenght and some anatomy stuff (which made me investigate a lot!!)

Home is...home has been a new world to explore and now I feel somehow motivated it is really nice to know that home is where the people you love are but it is better knowing that home is where you can build a new world whenever you need to... so this is something I am not forgetting anymore... and now all my horizons have broadened (both physical and mentaly) at this moment I can only take what I can carry but I can carry all that can make me happy.. certainly the most important things I am carrying are not heavy but worthy otherwise I wouldn't be here... I wouldn't be the person I am now

News

Just some update for now... the girls training was sooo nice there were less girls than expected but it was absolutely great!

We visited two nice spots unfortunately the first one was kind of wet but we had a very nice time doing some wallruns and vaults, then we moved to the second spot and we were training on our own... it was nice when Frodo made us jump on a metal area and we had to make the less noise as possible...

Well I have not much inspiration to write more about it for now...

Regarding my training, things are going quite well my climb ups have improved a lot, training at home, well working on strenght at home (big back remember???) and practising my muscle ups more frequently definitely are making the difference...

As I am working I just want to add a photo and say good bye... well see you all next time..

Plans

here I add some plans:

1: The next traceuses gathering... on April 9 at 10 o'clock.... Metro Universidad
2: more dymanic movements
3: big back... well you know what I mean... don't you?? lol in general improve strenght
4: improve handstands
5: earn money... hope to travel to different places this year so this implies that I need money (unfortunately)
6: get a good semester at school.... this is extremely hard as I have tons of work at school (parkour related??? jaja for sure)

that's all for today

Back here

I've had lots of funny things during the last weeks.
Let me explain some things. Last week I travelled to Acapulco, I went to an "event" there, at the beginning I was feeling quite anxious and excited, I only knew Silex (from Canada) and didn't know how things were going to happen as the rest of the people were from different countries and I didn't know who they were.

There was so much fun during the next days.. I don't think I might be able to write down everything, but now I feel much more confident with lots of things and I met some great people (I was even Canadian for a week lol) all the guys over there are really nice and I found great friends (I was extremely happy to meet Silex) the only "bad" thing was that I hurt my ankle but it healed soon...

I was there... and I was so fortunate! Now everyhitng looks different here. I found motivation and learned lots from me and the people over there. I have even started training more and better, this was the best part. I learned and I'm quite motivated so I think things will go on much better and smoothly...

I want to say thank you to all of these guys who were so nice and trusted me... it was nice to know that they took me into account for this awesome event.

All of them (Silex, Dimmonk, Danno, Brayden, Lonnie, Ace, Cliff, Rene & Boris) are so cool... and I definitely want to see them again.. so Canada will be my next destination for a long trip.

now, I have to study (as always jaja) and train even more :)

Mental impact

AS time goes by and I "accumulate" days of training things clear up in my head...
Just some days before I just listened a so true phrase "Whatever is in you mind will certainly affect your physical reality" and this is absolutely true...

I've found some progress in lots of things including strenght, but unfortunately a couple of tecnhiques were showing some regression instead of some progression. I was just trying to connect this two concepts in my head and I just realised I was feeling much more confident regarding my body and when ecountering new challenges. So what was happening? I was training my body and I was really having an improvement in my general body strenght...

After some hours (well days) of thinking about this, an idea just came to me... I was focused on this techniques but completely inside my head, regarding my body I had reached a comfort zone and was just staying there, this seemed to represent no problem but then I realised my body was literally asking me to go out of this comfort zone and stretch to new limits...
when this idea appeared it was really late I had to go to sleep and give my head some chance the next morning, so I woke up the next day as early as possible adn went to school two hours before I was really wanting to give my theory a try.
So there I was, in front of a couple of rails and some walls... I sarted warming up and decided I was onyl going to listen to my body... I just forgot about "routines or special exercises" and started listening to my body.

I managed to make really large precisions and when I felt I was reaching a distance that needed much effort I stopped and wonderfully did 50 clean and silent repetitions there....

So what this come for?? I've been observing and many people tend to find comfort zones, I mean we all have certain movements wich are kind of natural for our body and with which we feel absolutely confortable... or we reach some level in which we feel satisfied and we are nicely placed in this area... it might be good for some time but if we stay there for too long it might start having nasty consequences... the cure??

Make a mental impact,a positive one,focused and affect your physical reality with that focused mind

New vision

Well I know it has been too long since I last wrote anything here, the thing is that some things just complicated and I've finally gone back into Uni...

Got to say I have reached a point in which my body is starting to feel much more confident, but I'm now totally aware that this is just coming as a result of my mental training (if I can call this thing like that and it feels well... this new state of awareness is something I was looking for (for a looong long long time)

The female winter trainings have finished and I'm really pleased with the results, the girls achieved a lot of goals and I learned lots from them... it's true that what I'm now it's marked by the person I was some minutes ago, some years or months ago, so I'm pleased to be who I am... an cretainly I know who I want to be in the future and where I want to be.

I've started a new programme (of however it is), this may include what I've learned through this years and what I expect to learn... now this personal "Ixek" programme may include some extra training in some areas and will definitely be based on "Mind affects your reality"... I have got some great ideas from lots of people (much of them are not even traceurs but scientists) and this sounds great... I'll let you know how it works

So here I have some resolutions to achieve...
a) more dynamic and strong movements
b) vault+precision landings improvement
c) vault+vault combinations
d) stronger, more efficient climb ups and muscle ups

That's it... hope to write soon

Trainings

I just wanted so write some quick thoughts and achievements from the last couple of days.

This Monday I was feeling bored at home so I decided to go out and train a bit by myself, so I went to the University. I ran a bit and warmed up, I decided to practice some precisions, I found some walls (about 1.5 meters tall) and I started jumping from one to another I started on a pair that are completely parallel and the precisions were quite easy so I moved to another pair of walls that are not completelly parallel so you can make some precision jumps from different distances, I was trying to make soft and noiseless landings and they were quite well, but then I found myself feeling a bit anxious at a certain distance... somehow I started losing some confidence and found some nice things frome this, I just tried to silence that strange voice in my head that started doubting... every time I had that feeling of fear I just remembered myself that my whole body knows how to jump, how to land... so I just trusted my body and every time I felt kind of reluctant I closed my eyes and "imagined" myself jumping, feeling the air, feeling the wall under my feet when landing... and that really worked. So in some minutes my brain was well aware of distances and my legs just knew by themselves how much I needed to jump... so at the end I got down of the walls and just kind of measured the final distance I was jumping, and I was surprised to notice that I've earned some distance from my apparent distance limit.

I was feeling full of energy so I started making some series of conditioning exercises.

Then as I had not much time I decided vaulting, but soon I found a stone and decided making some vaults landing on the target, so I placed it on the ground (I was not really aware of the distance.. this was kind of arbitrary) and started trying, the first attemps seem to be weak and I even though the distance was too long, but then I just decided not moving the target and to feel the movement instead of thinking, then the attempts became better, longer and more controlled, so then I felt quiet comfortable, landing softly and accurately on the target, I tried some other distances after that.

That was all... but I felt really calmed, and refueled =) It's quite amazing how our body works. I don't want that strange voice to keep on bothering, but sometimes it just appears, and I'm sure that everyone knows what I'm talking about... what I really mean is that sometimes we just need to stop paying attention to it and pay attention to our body and its abilities.

Today I had girls training and practised this too... the results?? more confidence when trying new movements or jumping to new targets... I went to a new place so I had no idea of what I would find there, but I felt a voice inside me... not that voice bothering and being afraid... but a voice telling me "Go for it, averything you need to do it is in you"