What the hell is blocking?

Blocking like Setting is a work to express multiple things that happen for a single skill.  In this case Blocking is a combination or Joint Stacking, Leaning, and Loading the Legs in preparation to make your skill travel higher as you go into your set.  So Blocking happens before the Set.

Blocking is a skill you use when you are using speed or a run up to prior to executing your badassery.
Blocking is the most common phase of a skill that practitioners lack hindering their ability to get major height, unless they are just a really good jumper.  But people like me who are not amazing jumpers heavily rely on blocking to make up the difference.  And if you are an amazing jumper and you figure out how to Block, you will increase your ability to get height even more.


lets get some visual examples of blocking.  Pay attention to the red line.

In order of appearance Ross Taylor going for a round off double back on concrete!, Alex D doing a nice cork, JNT showing is a punch front, Jujimufu doing a nice Pop 360, KJER showing us a split step side flip.

Blocking is essentially the position of your hips in relation to where your feet are.  Now if you were to be completely straight bodied upon blocking you would see this correlation even more, but since we jump off the concrete and other hard surfaces we need to jump more or make a punch/jump hybrid or gather step.  All of these involve blocking.

Me doing some blocking fronts and sides on spring floor

Take a look at these dudes... they do not know how to block...among other things.  They might figure it out since they have no fear of flipping and these are older vids, but we will see.

The red line is where they need to be if they had everything else near pristine conditions and the yellow line is what they actually are doing.  No granted neither of these young lads is jumping at all, and I have see some bad blocking but good jumping in which case you could still get over if you have some powerful legs, but it makes it way more difficult...especially on flat.  No if we were jumping off something or across something that is a little different.  But that's another article.

Blocking works best when doing tumbling because of the symmetrical takeoffs and rigid positions.  If you have a good round off, or back hand spring you can use blocking to its full potential.  But most of the skills in PK/FR and Tricking are not of this nature.  Blocking is still used plenty in all the other tricks, but just keep in mind the concept and that certain ways can take advantage of it more.

There are a few things that make blocking work better.

1. Rigidity of Shape (Upright)

2. Extension (Upon Impact)

3.Power (Strength+Speed)

1. Keeping a sturdy, slightly leaned away from the direction you are traveling, upright torso will help you pop straight up granted you follow through with a good set. What is Setting?  I'll talk about that soon enough.

2. Extending through the take off will allow you to use all that Blocking energy and give you lift, otherwise you go straight down such as the individuals above.  

3. Being Powerful.  Successful blocking is a direct consequence of good technique used at high speed.  The faster you run prior to a blocking set up the more your strength will be amplified into a powerful jump.  If you do not have the technique down to do a skill at high speed then it will work against you.

Some easy tips for good blocking

Stay uncomfortably upright, it will feel odd

Push through your whole body

Watch still frames of your attempts to see if your getting the angle right.

Short talk on blocking

Now the next time a GYMNASTICS RAT says "YOU NEED TO BLOCK MORE" You will tip your hat and say "why thank you good sir."

BLOCK MORE!!!I SHALL INDEED!!

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Francesco Caban

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Why Parkour is More Popular than Ever, and that's good right?

Parkour and Freerunning Gyms...no I'm just going to call them Parkour gyms I never really took on to the name freerunning and it is not neccessary.  It's the same God Damn thing any way.  Any way Parkour Gyms are Popping up like Mushrooms in the Wild Urban Forest and it's great I am happy for APEX, Tempest, WFPF, and many of the franchises (Not excluding PKV, APK, or PKH love you guys.)  We are delivering alternative form of physicality that many would not ever have had an opportunity to experience.  They reap the benefits of using their body in functional ways that are not deprived of actual movement patterns literally useful for NATURAL situations. ( and don't bombared me with the the "well what does natural really mean?" devils advocates, I'll touch on that in another article)  With the popularity of Ninja Warrior and Obstacle Course Marathons Parkour is a great place for people to start and understand how to move themselves through space with grace, athleticism, and intelligence decisions through critical thinking and envisioning a path using your current skills.  So why does it feel like the movement falls onto sleeping minds.  In other words why is Parkour so misunderstood. 

I am not going to go into the movements that are what "PARKOUR" should be.  Weather a Kong was first derived in Gymnastics years ago or if it is an Original PK Movement doesn't  really matter.  We are talking about Qualities, Elements, Mindsets, and Cultures that are the building blocks of Parkour, not some quarrel over what movements define a sport. 

1.  Adventure:

A sense of adventure starts you on a journey as a journey progresses you have challenges to face in order to continue your journey.  Weather or not you succeed or fail you still have to decide if you want to continue your journey.  The journey is what matters.

2. Curiosity:

Without curiosity how can we get that initial push to see what's around that next corner, up in that tree, at the bottom of that cliff.  Curiosity might lead us into troubled situations, but it is a driving force behind taking another step forward.  The curiosity of developing your body to do great tasks of physical strength and precise movements with care.  What is it going to take to do that?  And what is it going to take to be able to do that for a very long time?  How are you going to sustain yourself?

3.Vision:

Parkour requires you to open your mind and see the opportunities.  It was no mistake in "Mirrors Edge" why they allowed for you to see what you could interact with in the game by highlighting them in red.  It was a way for you to see where your current skills could be utilized.  If you are more then a Gym Rat then you know damn well what I am talking about, a tire becomes a trampoline, a tree is the ultimate jungle gym, the rocks and logs and just about anything you can lift is the best Olympic Weight Set you could ever have asked for,  you can duck under and crawl under low branches and irrigation tunnels or into the shadows,  a grassy field is your gymnastics floor, lakes and rivers and oceans are your swimming pools and terrain changers, buildings are boldering walls, etc, etc, etc.  Your skills will open up your vision, but if you have not developed the open mind skill your skills will hold your mind hostage in a gym.

4. The Nature of a Challenge (look it up it's a great video series):

 Being sore and injured is a trait of training poorly or because you have not understood the consequence of your actions. I mean who the hell wants to be sore all the time, or tight in ways that make skill development difficult thing, who wants to fry their CNS (central nervous system) or drain their adrenals on a daily bases.

Only in a few cases are the above a good thing.  However, without the soreness or discomfort as an indicator of working beyond your current capacity you would never be able to see that you have accomplished a personally difficult task.  You can grin on the day after you were able to traverse that long crack in the wall, or when you crawled through that ridiculously long tunnel, maybe it was a massive roof gap (yes that's right I said it, a stupid roof gap)  You got sore, you strained a muscle, your rolled bad, your rotators are tight, your adrenals are dead, your CNS fried, and you won't train for a few days, weeks, or months.  But you accomplished it and you will be back.

5. Personal Reflection:

Critical thinking and care about your skills are essential. In sports that are personal such as Parkour, Tricking, Martial Arts or Breaking there is a lot of personal reflection of your art.  We want to get better right and we are always looking at our technique, form, and function.  Personal reflection such as looking at your own movement you have recorded to see if you are making the changes you want to your skills, writing down what is working for you to complete skills more easily, or just having a personal conversation with yourself about what it is your are doing or needing to do to get better at this moment or at least in your next session is all about a meditative process on what you just did.  Reflection is better then prediction. Why? Because unless you're a psychic or an equation master predicting the future is only going to bring you worry.  However, when you reflect on the current past you can bask in the moment of what it was you just did.  It is like your first kiss, there are things you liked about it will do next time as well and some things that you didn't like and will never do again. Personal reflection is one of the few times you get to actually ask yourself what YOU are feeling and what YOU did that made the last session successful.

6. A Sense of Play:

Why are kids so full of energy? It's a natural part of their development so that they will move around A LOT and use their muscles to get strong along with being in a constant growth spurt.  You will see the kids with the most energy show some crazy strength at a young age.  They run, jump, crawl, wrestle, scream, climb, throw, roll and they do it just because. The best thing about them is that they get strong, nimble, fast, and creative without feeling like they are working.  I am all for having to sacrifice in order to make gains in training and their are somethings I do not enjoy doing, but because I do them I am able to have more fun as an active individual.  So if you can find a way to make what you want to accomplish just complex or structured playing then you will get strong, fast, and flexible and have fun doing it.

7. Never Being Satisfied:

The never ending cycle of wanting to improve yourself.  You can get stronger, faster, develop mental strength, have better technique, jump further, develop more complex skills.  You are never going to be satisfied.  It's odd because there is no end goal in this, you just keep going. In my mind this is the ultimate sport.  There is no Medal, no grand competition, no Ninja Warrior.  You are the competition, you compete with yourself every session.

8. Expression:

Jumping, rolling, swinging, crawling, breathing.  It is in a way self expression.  It may not be a dance technically, but it in a simple sense it is.  You see a route and you go that way, if that is not expressing your intentions then I don't know what is.  There are many levels of expression as well.

9.  Purity:

The idea of what is and what is not. Quite frankly it doesn't matter if you do tricking, flipping, dance, weight training, or just the stereotypical run, jump, climb.  Is not floor movement in Breaking a different facet of Quadrapedal Movement? Is not Tricking just another variation of jumping? Is not Dance a grand understanding of flow? Is not Weight Training just another way for you to challenge your muscles outside of normal calisthenics?  Think about that phrase "Be Strong to be Useful" Our physical capacity is never going to reach its limit. And if Parkour is about seizing the opportunities when an obstacle hinders you, if it is about exploring new methods to accomplish a goal, if it is about opening your mind, if it is about seeing an obstacle in your life that you may fear to overcome, but train to do so any way, because you must, then screw the definition of purity.  One thing is certain, you have a body and you need to take care of it and develop it in many ways...NOT JUST ONE.  Purity can only be determined by you.

10.  Drown in the Now (great song):

Without a doubt the amount of mental clarity that the movement arts bring allows you to be fully immersed in this moment.  You don't think about the future and you can't do anything about the past.  You can only work on now.  To quote a Sadhguru  "If your fear is about the non existent, your fear is 100% imaginary. If you are suffering the non existential, We call that insanity." Your able to completely free your mind to focus on the immediate task. This is the same thing as meditation just in a more physical way.

The list goes on, but I am running out of thoughts, it is in fact infinite in nature based on individual experience.

With the deliverance of Parkour to the masses it is quite improbable to be able to deliver these elements to everybody.  As class sizes grow and there is less development outside more and more elements are going to fall through the cracks.  More gym rats will be developed.  Parkour can only done in a nice safe gym.  Any look at elite Athletes (Elite being they out perform most other practitioners, they train sustainable, and set the standard for good form) like  Dylan Baker, Amos, Knox, Ryan Ford, Ozzi, Kie Willis, and many others in the world and you're going to see that the idea of safety is all about how confidant you are in a skill.  Even when they mess up they mess up with conscious decisions, they make experienced choices based on their situations.   Parkour has become slightly watered down.  I am a Parkour Gym Director and I confess to this.  But not everyone is meant for that type of real training and quite frankly unless you already have a job that keeps you alive, it is difficult to have a profitable business based on that.  But that is why we have level systems, people have to work for that experience.  They need to work for your experience.  Those of you that started outside and have had the bulk of your training experience out doors understand this.  A gym does allow you some very specific things that you can do in a controlled environment, but you must not become a slave to the gym.  I know some practitioners are working on this and when it is finally here in the states and it is a legit thing (meaning we don't have to call it something else) then we will really be able to go to work.

• GO OUTSIDE 
• LISTEN TO YOUR BODY
• TAKE IN THE ELEMENTS
• REFLECT ON YOUR EXPERIENCE
• BE MINDFUL
• GET OUT OF THE GYM...AT LEAST SOMETIMES
• DROWN IN THE NOW

When people look at you because you are doing something that is unorthodox for current civilization, but to you it is perfectly normal and you don't even feel out of place?  When you can stand in silence because you have moved in ways forgotten by so many?  When you open your mind to other ways of understanding how to live?  When you can't stop looking at the trees because you want to climb, you can't stop dreaming of the texture on landscapes you felt?

When I step barefoot on to the grass and I look around me, I see nothing and everything, I am here and there, my mind stops and I breath, the air feels my lungs and I begin to move.

Francesco Caban

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What the Hell is Setting?

*Note* Because of me developing this Article/Tutorial it has helped me address weaknesses within my own set.  Mainly because if I train too much I develop some habits that negatively affect my muscle memory, especially when it comes to jumping or setting.  I know all the things I need to do and what I need to tell other to do to help them, but how often do we point that advice at ourselves? Because I had to really look at my own mechanics on video, in slow motion, frame by frame and it has helped tremendously. Enjoy!!

You need to set more...  ever heard that before?  Just what the F is setting any way?  An annoying word used by experienced practitioners, usually gymnasts or other trained jumping based acrobatic athletes, to explain what you are not doing prior to executing your badassery...But what is it?  Setting is a word I do not like to use myself because it implies that you know what the word means in the first place.  Setting is like a compound word or a complex definition within a single word.  To be basic about it, setting is everything that needs to be done at the beginning of a trick to give you the most positively probable chance of completely the skill successfully.   But everything that needs to be done is actually quite a lot of stuff.  Lets not exclude the fact that many people do not do things 100% correct the first time and usually rush in to learning new movement arts without any prior knowledge of movement or exposure to it as a developing child.


This article discusses setting for jumping tricks, not rebounding, they are similar, but rebounding is a bit different so that is something for another article.

So lets brake down setting:

 We want to make everything in our flight to be in our benefit to complete a jumping skill. Lets look at a simple set prior to doing a back flip or back tuck.


What do these pictures all have in common?




Well my hip's are not extending fully, my knees are not locked, my hips are not stacked over my ankles and my shoulders are leaning back.  This is because I am more worried about the rotationa nd not about the tuck. With all that nonsense going on I can still land pretty well, and if I can land okay with that kind of a crappy set imagine my potential if I unlock my jumping mechanics?



Now look at these three bastards.
Look at the arms, shoulders, head, Chest, Spine, hips, knees and feet.

The first picture is Jujimufu (Jon Call) do you see his hips not extending or knees bending? Hell no.  What about the second picture with Epik (Kyle Mendoza)  are his hips not extended? Are his knees bent?  No!!! Are his hips not stacked over their ankles?  NO!!!!!  And what about #3 Andrea Catozzi, Look at that verticality.  Super extension from toe to shoulder!!! That's because they don't have retarded hip and knee extension mechanics like me.


Below is a list of things you want in a good set.


We are looking at what the body needs to do to completely appose gravity to the fullest.

Every joint is open.

The Feet Pointing

The Knees Extended

The Hips Pressed Open

The Spine is Upright and Extended

The Chest is Lifted

The Head Neutral at First

The Shoulders Shrugged Upward

The Arms Lifted

It all boils down to extremes of extensions of limbs, head positions, weight stacking, and focusing on the current phase of the trick "LIFT!!!!"

For a split second everything is extended at the same time.  Keep in mind if you hold a set to long it becomes a stall, stalls are cool but you rotate late so if feels different and has an entirely different look.  here's a great video showing the difference.  The first set is normal the second is a stall.

XMA MAN Standing back and Stall Back Check this dude out

All tricks involve an extension and a contraction.  You extend by pushing the ground away to create lift using every possible mechanical advantage and  then you contract to make the flip speed up or follow through with a body half to speed up


This is the exact same thing needed for any set whether it is for a Jump, Flip, or a Kick.  If it involves a jump this needs to happen.  This gives you maximum lift.  And lift is good, it allows you to do variations and more advanced movements without having to think about if you are jumping high enough.


Setting is about giving you the advantage.  The best thing about developing setting from jumping tricks vs. rebounding tricks is that it has great carry over into other jumping skills.  My Flash Gainer improved amazingly when I started to develop my set for my Back Flip more and so did my Precision Jump.

You don't want to be that practitioner that has a low set, it makes everything seem harder then it has to be.  I don't consider myself a blessed jumper like Moses Zavala, Fernando Arce, Jujimufu, Andre Catozzi or Dylan Baker,  but I can still jump well if I am mindful about it and take time to do it right.



Take a look side by side the difference between each training session as I make changes that developed my set better.

  

Week 1.     Week 2.Week 4.   

It is hard to notice, and perhaps I'm a bit to picky, but I was getting better hip extension with each session and you can see it.  Each session my hips are more open.  Because I focused on the one thing that needed more extension that would make the most difference I was starting to get higher and higher back flips.  It's important to understand that when you're trying to make corrections to skills, you don't want to do the skill to many times.  Do about 5-7 of them, video them and make observations and corrections with each rep, rest plenty, and enjoy the benefits of keeping the CNS fresh.  My next correction would be to get full extension in my legs.

One more thing to consider is that I hadn't really done a full hip lock out when I did my dead lifts.  I thought it was bad for you, but after a couple of Q & As with seasoned lifters I realized that to get the benefit of the dead lift for jumping you really need that hip extension at then end to complete the muscle pattern.  Start light and build it right.  Every rep matters so make the best of it.  

Ideal open hip position, thank you Scott Herman Fitness

My Dead Lift Missing the Lock Out

It's a small amount of change, but it is a big difference in the signal you send the body.

Here are two of my best back tucks I have filmed.  The first one is more recent I weigh 185 lbs  the second one is a couple years old and I weighed about 165.  I like the more recent one but they are both decent sets.  

Now the next time you are training either indoor or outdoor and someone tells you to set more, all you need to do is nod and then BEAST MODE that set the next time.

Live

Love

Inspire

Francesco Caban

Movementconnections@gmail.com

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