What I learned from 6 months of Acrobolix training part 2

"I need to get better at Tricking"  Something every Parkour Athlete and Bboy think about at one time or the other.  After dabbling in tricking every now and then I finally wanted to do something about it.  You can see in these videos I had the guts, I had some progress in the second one, but not the deep technique I needed to be focusing on.

Now you already know that I had taken on Jujimufu as a mentor and that I wanted to emulate his style of tricking and life style approaches.  This is about what I learned strictly from Tricking.


1.  Set no time frame to learn a skill

I wanted to have my double leg from the very beginning I started this trek. I have never been good at them.  I didn't actually start to get this move until about 2 months after I had switched to my Periodization.  I didn't get to anything seriously interesting until I learned to let go of my obsession to obtain a skill by a certain date.  You have to let time be time and it will happen when it needs to.  Until then keep your chin up, chest proud, and smile.

2.  Every one needs a coach...EVERY ONE

My coach came from several areas.

My Friend Jacky gave me tips.


"open your hip"  he would say about my Flash Gainer.

My Friend Juji gave me tips and reassurance.

"you even got your right arm doing the right thing" he said about my double leg.

My Camera above all was my main coach.  Accompanied by my ability to watch and break down movement I was able to watch and re-watch my training footage and compare it to others that I wanted to do my tricks like.  Slow motion analysis and watching every limb making sure I pulled my own weight was how I made my tricks stronger and stronger.  Focusing on one thing at a time, one correction at a time.

3.  Warm up extensively

not everyone needs a long warm like me.  Since I was 13 I did some type of warm up.  Foam Roll, Wrists, Ankles, Trunk Twists, and Muscle Activations, Do Kicks, Arm Swings, Sprint, Put on some good music and let my blood get pumping.  You have to warm up the high performance machine before it can hit full throttle.  

4. Kick to Kill

Jacky said "Kick to Kill"... And I believe that means to kick with intent.  Every movement you do you need to do with the intent of something in mind.  What does this mean?  !!!!EXPRESS YOURSELF!!!!  But that does take practice.  You know all of that imagination you used to have, it's time to bring it back.  Imagine a hoard of warrior zombies intent of kicking your ass (And then devouring it I'm sure) are surrounding you.  You are going to show them who you really are.  Every kick, twist, flip, elbow, knee, head but or punch needs to land its mark,  The intent of each movement is essential.  Be the move, all the move, and nothing but the move.

5. Sucking at something after many attempts?...Do something else...for a little bit

Remember this applies to tricks. This means more then you think.  Do I mean that you should not work toward a hard skill?  No.  I mean that you should know when things are not going your way for the day and find a way to make the defeat a victory.  Sometimes...a very rare sometimes, and it is more luck than anything else, you can do a move one time correctly and nicely after many, many failing attempts.  But that one good time is usually going to flee...Every time I have obsessed with my days goals to the point where I was forcing myself to comply with my own expectations even when I obviously was not showing any signs of improvement or attaining my movement goals. Every time this has happened, I would suffer the repercussions for days or even a week after it.  Fatigue, DOMS, over repetition strains. All of which will affect your performance through the rest of the week in all that you do.  To many 540's? Strained Intercostal when dead lifting the next day, 2 days of mental fatigue,  and a strained inner thigh.  What I couldn't wait until next training session to do some more 540's HA, no no no I needed to do them well.  Hog Wash!!  all I needed to do was take longer breaks, work prerequisites for about 15 mins, or hell do something else, maybe work the other side and I would have had none of those consequences.  My Ego got in the way and I failed myself.  Let it go and do something else, you can always do it again later.  This move does not make the MAN.

6.  Stimulants are cool

Yes that's right.  I took Jujis advice and used his ECA Stack.  I also used EmergenC for electrolyte balance during long sweat sessions.  Now keep in mind I have a very low stress life.  I pretty much work for myself, I get a good amount of sleep, I eat well, and have a beautiful girlfriend I get along with.  But it can help to get my attention beyond 100%  I used Whole Green Coffee Powder Go Bean and Ephidrine you can look at jujis recommendations here    Be smart about this, these are pretty basic stimulants, but they can still cause anxiety.  I took some ephedrine two hours before my workout once and that felt really weird, about 30 minutes after taking it my heart sped up and I got very heavy chested, once I realized what was happening I did some controlled breathing and everything returned to normal.  It's important to use the energy you have otherwise it will use you.  

7.  Train on grass you will jump better

Nothing like a nice field of grass.  Soft mats make you careless at times.  You have to change your approach on grass.  I had way more progress outside then inside.  Since I work at a gym I fully understand the benefits of an indoor facility.  But the game is really outside, you will develop a better awareness and sensitivity if you train outside and if you have an eye for progression, true progression you can achieve anything outside. 

8. Don't be afraid of resting

Ok, I get it we all want to Train InSaiyen.  But if you remember that one episode when Goku and Gohan are in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber training to fight Cell. I couldn't find a picture or a video clip without finding all kinds of horrible things, but picture this.  Goku and Gohan are in separate water barrels that are being heated by fire.  Basically they are taking a rest day and Gohan is antsy because he thinks they should be training right now, but Goku says to him that  learning to rest is just as important as it is to train.  Resting is part of Training.  If you continuously break down your body tissues and never recover them then you really don't know what it is like to train at full capacity.  I would go so far to say that most people train at 70% of their best... That means that if you were fully rested you would be at a different 70% then usual.  Point is take rest days, take rest weeks, hell take a rest month.  and don't just do nothing, indulge.  Get a massage every week, sleep in, eat lots, or maybe go on a fast and restart your system.  Reap the rewards of a good rest and feel the True Saiyen Blood Boil upon your return.  Which brings me to my next point.

9.  You will always be tired

I didn't learn this from Tricking, I learned it from every person who has made anything worthwhile.  If you wait for when you are not tired...you will be dead.  Stop being someone who waits for Glory, you have to go out and get it yourself.  Never allow your peace to be taken from you.  Our breed finds piece in the moment of training.  Weather it is Training our Mind, Body, Spirit.  It is the act of doing that brings us peace.  

"Peace is not being in a place where there is nothing going on, it is when you are in a place that is loud beyond madness and Finding Peace within you"

You will always be tired, sometimes things will be hell, but if you are in hell then you might as well be the Devil.  I give so much respect  to those that get out of bed every morning and seize the day to be there own.  I ask you to rise up just one more time each day you wake up, stand up, breath in and breath out...AND GIVE THEM HELL.

10. Learn to Love

Learn to Love everything.  The hard times, the good times, the injuries, the regiment breaks.  Every moment is worth loving because the moment is gone in an instant.  I am in this field, this is my land, and I am King.  I will call down Lightning, I will walk on Water, I will be the Wind.  Love every moment, it is all you have.  Tricking is not life, but Tricking can help to enrich life.

LIVE

LOVE

INSPIRE

Francesco Caban 

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Gainning Lossed

Short One

One thing I look forward to more then any thing else is what I lose from training....What?  No, No that's all wrong Francesco it's what you gain from training, you got it backwards mate.  Seriously though.  I am not being sadistic I don't enjoy losing skills, strength, endurance, flexibility.  What I am getting to is the fact that when you focus on any one thing you are going to lose others, but it does not need be so detrimental that you feel like you have lost to much.

I just finished a long trek into straight arm strength and highly neglected my bent arm strength, and before that I had finished a journey in body building.  I gained so much from both of these treks, but I have found that there are some things you need to keep if you want to maintain a bit of sanity.

It wasn't until I had a small strain in my right side just below my Deltoid and above my Lat that I began to wonder how my pulling strength had improved since I began working my front levers.  I went to work some Parkour Climb Ups and found that they were total crap...disappointing indeed.  I went to do a muscle up on a bar...still could do them, but they were not as quick.  After a couple of days of fooling around with pull ups and dips I came to the realization that it wasn't my bent arm strength that I had lost.  It was a quality of movement.  I had forgotten what it was like to  pull with power and urgency.  All that lifting, and then all that isometric strength had helped me get stronger in a specific position, but I had lost the feeling of pulling in a powerful and urgent manner.

It didn't take long to get it back, I just had to Pony up a little and get aggressive.  Ah yes Aggressive.  That's a word I have been using quite a lot with my students.  Aggressive does not mean to get angry or out of control.  It means to go after your goal with complete focus and take control.

There are so many capacities that we need to tap into, try not to lose to much on your road to gains.  Every loss gives me one more piece of the puzzle.  No matter how much you learn please make sure keep your fundamental mobility a number one priority.  Full Squat and its variations, Dead Lifting twice your body weight, Bridges, Chest to Bar Pull Ups, Full Range Dips, Skin the Cats, Straight Body Handstands, Running....and so much more...oh yes and Stay Aggressive.

Francesco Caban 

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Damned Double Leg

There have been very few movements that have pissed me off as much as the Double Leg...

I had to have it.

This was one of my goals when I dived into tricking last summer.  I didn't start working on it until I was well along my way and closer to the end of the year in September of 2014.

But I didn't just want to do a Double Leg, I wanted a double leg that could kick someones face off.  A true kicking double leg...Old School.

None of that new hybrid garbage.  No offense, they look cool and I still do them, but It's not what I wanted.

I actually played around back and forth between the Hybrid and Pop 3 take off.

The hybrid is more of a side flip with a Quarter Torque turn early. It has the same look as the Jumping Double Leg but is more of a flip then a Kick.  I had progress in Both Areas,  But I can throw the Pop 3 version on pretty much any type of ground and the other I can only do on spring floor.

Eventually I realized that I was looking for a Double Leg that emulated the Capoeira Style but that took off like a Pop 3.

How I developed this trick?:

1. I made sure my Pop 360 Outside Crescent had a nice solid set up from the side
2. I worked on small tid bits of the move such as keeping the leg together
3. I reviewed and reflected on every training session to see what made each session a success or a failure and thus my failures became successful.
4. I Worked on my Feilong Kick and got that solid
5. Watched and reviewed frame by frame The Double Leg performed by Trickster that I believe had superb technique, and copied them (Jujimufu, Cory DeMyers).
6. Started landing my Feilong on two legs
7. I looked at what i wanted to kick and cut it in half with my Calcified Ankles!!
8. I didn't get this move down until I began throwing it randomly at trick sessions well after my main Tricking Season.   

That all being said.  I am extremely happy with my progress and I cant wait to incorporate it into combos in my summer session.  

Enjoy the Video Montage of my progress.  See if you can tell the difference between the two types of Double Legs.  I still need to fix my left leg, it likes to bend a little.

Live

Love

Inspire

Francesco Caban

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What I Learned from 6 months of Acrobolix Training. Part 1

A little background for what brought me to changing it up for 6 Months. Back in May of 2014 I suffered an ankle sprain while throwing a cast away, missing a mat, and rolling my right ankle.  It wasn't that bad, but I knew it would be a good six weeks before I could do high impact stuff.  That was fine to me, I had plenty of experience rehabbing injuries and dealing with the change of pace.  So I started to condition and do more strength work.  If you look at my Journey workouts you can see what I did to keep myself occupied.



In between these workouts I would focus on just swinging from bars. You can definitely see my ability to use my shoulders and my grip massively improved. At this point I was at 175 lbs,





All this time I had gotten in touch with and had been Gmailing someone I had respected for years...Jujimufu (Jon Call)  if you don't know who he is check out his website it is loaded with tons of great advice for tricking, bodybuilding, and just over all life and clean living.

ACROBOLIX.COMACROBOLIX.COM

After starting read his articles I had decided that I had never really gotten involved into the Tricking Realm and that this was time to do that, also I have never really been involved in weight training outside Dead Lift and Back Squats.  All my other training had been Calisthenic based.  So I decided to order some nice mixtures of Protein powder from www.truenutrition,com 5% off if you use my promo code :p  FOC858 at checkout  .  I got Creatine Monohydrate, and Fish Oil as well.  I began to train as a body builder, eat as a body builder, and train as a Tricker.  I was in all accounts following an Acrobolix training regiment.  I would hit the weights 3 times a week, and trick twice a week on grassy fields.  I would ask Juji for his thoughts on certain movements and we got to know each other by email and had little heart to heart talks.  It was great to talk to someone new that was on my same level mentally and was obsessed with a training lifestyle while still having relationships and understanding more then the common human. 

You can see my transformation from 175 lbs to 185 lbs

The thing is since I like strength based workouts as well as calisthenics I've always had definition and size, but I never did it with only weights.  I've been at 185 before,  then over the years dropped to 162
I was 162 in this picture right before another injury I suffered ...

This was a dance and acro performance I was in.

Any way why did I do this?

Why would I start working on isolation of muscles?

Why would I try to gain unnecessary muscle mass?

The answer is, I just felt like a change in regiment.  I've been doing calisthenic workouts as long as I know, with the occasional dead lift or back squat routine or lifting or rocks and logs I have never done conventional body building.  And I enjoyed every minute of it.

Sure it became harder to move then I did at 162 or 175 but the only real thing I lost was my climbing strength.  Considering I was still tricking throughout this entire ordeal my legs and tricking ability went through the roof while my strength acro and parkour suffered a little bit.

It was fun to get pumped up from bicep curls, dumbbell chest flys, tricep extensions, and shoulder isolations.  Sure I still did compound exercises, but the mass I was really going for which was a wider back, thicker legs, bigger chest, bis, tris, and shoulders all needed attention.  And now I can put those in maintenance mode while I focus on acro strength and parkour again.

My joints actually benefited a lot from the extra nutrients I was getting and the pumps helped with circulation. It was a much needed chemical and anabolic change. 

I increased my ability to withstand greater external loads of weight in my upper body.  I do acrobatic routines with my Girlfriend and I could tell a big difference with our lifts.  I could also tell with just Labour Intensive stuff like when I moved the gym equipment around. what would normally take 2 people I could make up for with just myself.  It felt good. 

My leg strength improved greatly finally accomplishing a wide stance PR of 185 in my dead lift, I turned that into a conventional stance with the same weight without nearly the same struggle.  Jujis Deadlift Routine   (http://acrobolix.com/deadlifting-the-jujimufu-way/)  got me off to a solid start then the last 3 weeks I went back to a conventional 5x5 routine to accomplish one of my goals.

What did I learn from this?

Well for one I developed a new respect to those that develop their body for aesthetic purposes, it takes time and dedication.

I learned that I could change my body into any type of athlete I want.

I learned even more the benefit that focused sleep, eating, and regiment could do for you.

I learned that I like the way I look with a bit more muscle on me.

I learned how to focus my efforts on to single parts of my body where I felt I lacked, Like my Pictoral area.  Experimenting with different exercises to see what gave me the best response was fun and new to me.

I learned more about the human body.

I learned that in order to have gains in any one direction you have to put the time and energy into it, you cannot do everything all the time and see progress in all directions, you need to amass the knowledge through studying for an accumulated large amount of time.  

I will do body building again, but I am focusing on my acro strength and tumbling for a while.

It is important first that you develop your ability to move well, then you need to reinforce that hardware with the software.  Body building is software movement is hardware.  I recommend that you give it a shot sometime.

Some exercises I did other then typical isolations were compounds:

Weighted Dips

Weighted Pull Ups

Weighted Push Ups

Weighted Plank Rows

Sprints

Dead Lifts

Lat pull downs

Seated Rows

Bench Press

I followed Jujis advice on Acrobolix.com

I did a Skype session with Victor a Natural Body Builder from Vicsnatural.com

I got advice from body builders at the gym

I took Creatine Monohydrate
Fish Oil Supplements
Zinc and Magnesium before bed
Ate a lot
Took Whey Isolate, Micellar Casein, along with other proteins...NOT SOY!!!
Got my sleep

You can do anything you want if you are willing to put in the time.  Look Forward to part 2 when I explain about my 6 months with Tricking in detail.

Live

Love

Inspire

Francesco Caban

www.movementconnections.com

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