I’ve just recently started practicing some of the intermediate/advanced techniques. It is always interesting to see the way my unconditioned body reacts to new manoeuvres and exercises. When I started, my lower back acted up. These were basic climbing movements. Lower body, mostly. Then I moved onto various pull-ups and upper body climb-ups. These really worked out my forearms and upped abdominal section. Slowly, these muscle-groups became more adept and better conditioned. Jogging worked up my legs and improved my stamina. It took a while to get my legs, lounges and heart up to scratch.

Each improvement felt massive, final. “NOW I’m ready,” I would think to myself. I thought that I had found all of the parts of myself that were weak, and now it was a matter of fine motor skills, experience and further conditioning. Obviously, I was wrong. As I turned to the precision jumps I discovered that my lower abdominal muscles were completely useless. It was like discovering a body part you never knew you had, one you simply never had cause to use. I was back to square one. A short period of practice would bring about the familiar pain of stress and exhaustion. Any exercise freak will testify that after a while that pain becomes a reward. Proof that you’re really training, getting strong.

My lower abdomen is still weak, but I can feel the progress. Unused muscles condition quickly. I’ve added cat-passes and arm-jumps to my training schedule last week and these new moves are helping me discover more weakness. More challenges to address. Recently, in a conversation with my new parkour friends I was told to saviour this experience. “You’ll progress quickly, there’s still so much for you to learn. It will keep thing interesting. It becomes difficult to train and stay focused after you’ve done all your basic conditioning – when the gains come a lot harder. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

I will. I am.