All kinds of sore

Image courtesy of and (c) AfroGeeks

In the past 5 days I have:

• done weights training twice
• been for a run (~4km) twice
• attended two parkour classes (my first two)

It doesn't seem like much when I list it like that. Nonetheless. I am sore.

But I feel fantastic. I feel strong, reasonably fit, and like I have taken a solid couple of steps down this road to Midoriyama. Last night at parkour I achieved something I thought would take me a few months to work up to. Basically two horizontal bars about 2m apart, and I wanted to swing from one to the other. Similar setup to the Jumping Bars:

Image courtesy of and (c) Sasukepedia

On Saturday I took a swing at it and just touched the second bar with a fingertip of one hand. I'd been thinking about it in the few days since, remembering how in Sasuke the competitors would draw their knees up and spot the bar with their eyes first. I'm pretty sure I was so freaked out about falling (and landing badly) that I wasn't spotting the bar -- just lunging with my hand. Last night on my first attempt I got a full hand on it -- but again only one hand, so I didn't grip it. Fear of landing on my back, which I did once in high school trying to jump and hang from the basketball ring -- I'm not tall, so I had to take a long run up, gripped it with one hand, my body kept moving laterally, and I lost my grip and landed hard on my back and one arm.

Last night, second shot. Aiming to get both hands out together, even if that meant I couldn't reach it at all. I swung, let go of the first bar, and just concentrated on getting my eyes and hands on the second bar. Absolutely nailed it. Such an exhilarating sensation, landing it, hearing a huge cheer. Amazing.

I've been taking a photo every day I exercise, to track how my body changes. It's quite embarrassing, and every time people take my phone to look at something I worry they will scroll through my photos and see me posing half-naked in the bathroom. At some point I'll put up a before/after kind of thing. But for now, seeing as I'm high on achievement and aches, this is me (and a toilet roll) today.

For the sake of comparison and humility:

There is nothing not to like about this photo

"Sasuke Veteran Kenji "Kong" Takahashi 高橋賢次 with Sasuke 27 Veteran Drew Dreschel ©Drew Dreschel" from Rambling Rican's report on the ASEAN Open Cup

Shout out to the new parkour gym which opened earlier this month in Sydney -- AAPES (Australian Academy of Parkour, Exercise and Self-Defence). I think I'm going to be there a lot.