I had the following conversation on a street in a busy portion of Wellington the other day:
Bystander: “I’m not going to pay your ACC bill when you injure yourself.”
Max: “Haha. There’s actually a lot of training behind it. Like we do thousands of smaller jumps at ground level, and a lot of training for your legs to handle the impact like that, such as lots of squats and--”
Max: “Haha. There’s actually a lot of training behind it. Like we do thousands of smaller jumps at ground level, and a lot of training for your legs to handle the impact like that, such as lots of squats and--”
Bystander: (cuts me off) “You’re a f***ing idiot, that’s what you are.”
As he walked off I had the urge to ask him if he realised he was currently smoking a cigarette, and yet he was calling me an idiot. Go figure, sometimes society has very strange views of health and what the norm is. I went back to training and he went back to, I assume, being a bitter old man.
Don’t let people tell you what you can’t do. Put your energy into doing rather than complaining.
A few days earlier on the waterfront, I had another conversation with another stranger. This time it went differently:
Stranger: “That’s amazing. You make it look so easy and graceful.”
Max: “Thanks.”
Max: “Thanks.”
Stranger: “You must do a lot of training.”
Max: “Oh yea.There’s actually a lot of training behind it. Like we do thousands of smaller jumps at ground level, and a lot of training for your legs to handle the impact like that, such as lots of squats and weights and running. That sort of thing. You build up to jumps over time so you understand completely where the limits of your ability are. That's how you can do big jumps without getting hurt. Like as safely as most people can do something such as step down a gutter.”
Max: “Oh yea.There’s actually a lot of training behind it. Like we do thousands of smaller jumps at ground level, and a lot of training for your legs to handle the impact like that, such as lots of squats and weights and running. That sort of thing. You build up to jumps over time so you understand completely where the limits of your ability are. That's how you can do big jumps without getting hurt. Like as safely as most people can do something such as step down a gutter.”
Stranger: “What do you call this?”
Max: “Parkour. It’s a French term.”
Stranger: “Wow this is amazing. I didn’t realise anyone did it in Wellington. I teach my children to do parkour at a kindergarten. They really, really love it. They’re so natural at it.”
Max: "Wow really? You teach it at a kindergarten?”
Stranger: “Yea just in the playground. The kids love it. We started teaching it so it’s supervised and safe, after they started doing it at play by themselves. It’s hard to keep up with ideas to give them as they just keep climbing things.”
Max: “That’s epic. Most kids these days aren’t allowed to do that. Like as a kid you naturally climb things and develop your body and learn how your body works, but somewhere along the way of growing up you become conditioned to not to use your desire to move over things like that in a different way.”
Stranger: “Yes there’s so much bubble-wrapping of children these days that it’s harmful. Most parents are over-protective. Their children never learn to enjoy exercise.”
Max: “Yea yea I absolutely agree. Anyone can come out here and exercise on the street for free or climb trees for free, but people see it as something strange and wrong. I’m a member of the NZ Parkour Association,” I pointed to my awesome, swank NZPA tshirt “We teach classes as well. Have done a few at schools, if you’re interested.”
After talking for a bit more I got the impression that she wasn’t interested in doing classes with the NZPA, but she was extremely excited about seeing someone my age who could do what her children could do but on a bigger and more impressive scale without getting hurt. And she repeatedly mentioned how much her kids loved doing all of it. She ended up filming me to show to her kids. I liked that meeting, it gave me a buzz for the rest of the day.
Just thought I’d share two very different views and attitudes of what was me doing the exact same thing. Only allow people to influence you in a positive way.
I believe if you can learn to overcome difficult physical obstacles, making impressive feats look like child’s play, then your self-confidence soars and you understand that you can overcome obstacle in other areas of life which aren't physical. I only wish I started at an earlier age. Sport training done right can set you up for life with character and discipline.
-------------------------------
Max Bell
Wellington Instructor
