Miami Magic

When my husband and I travel,  we love soaking up the different culture (a real treat for us when you  when you live in small rural Lumberton.)  On our last adventure - a long weekend in Miami - we ooh la la'd over  the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel -  decked out with  the touch screen coffee tables.  I  just love the mix of contemporary art, technology, and zen that radiates from this place!

But our most amazing story from this trip was meeting Andres.   Andres, is Miami resident and parkour  coach - athlete extraordinary.  ( parkour is a movement sport/art of running, jumping, flipping, climbing, swinging in a fluid flow using whatever the terrain has to offer - which could be a sidewalk - stadium, train station, - anything is open game - think spiderman in street clothes).

Below is a short video Andres teaching me a parkour vault  in Miami  - he is an awesome instructor!!!

Five years ago,  Andres was an 100 lb overweight - video game-junk food addict. With his lifestyle and a family history of diabetes, stroke, and heart disease, he was immersed in an environment that was destroying him.   He hadn't given much thought to his path - until he felt his ankles buckle and collapse from the weight of his frame, his joints were losing there ability to uphold this excessive stress.  The light bulb went off for Andres, he could not continue down this dire course.

Several weeks ago in one of my earlier blogs, I discussed that habit is permanent .   You cannot delete or extinguish a habit; to change, you must sub it with another routine.   A very difficult task- insurmatable for some - but not for Andres.  He made it with simple steps.  (Please do not equate simple  with easy...simple and easy are not one and the same by far!) This was his "miraculous" recipe

1. He found a goal.  In this case, Andres was awed by the athletic challenge and thrill of parkour .   He could visualize himself in that athletic role. 
2.  He took slow steps  and bite size portions to reach his goal.  He started out by nixing the junk food and incorporating a general fitness plan.  (If you have noticed, this is completely opposite of the formula used by the "Biggest Loser" - which is one of the most misleading horror shows on prime time and slap-in-the-face to any intelligent fitness trainer or exercise professional.) He became more fit and healthy before diving into the crazy athletic technicalities of parkour.
3. He changed his habit routine! - this is the BIGGIE.  He subbed 18 hour video game benders to a weekend full of movement.  Instead, he  played with  parkour basics and his fitness workout.  He replaced the junk food, with healthy natural ones.  

And with simple habit changes - this is where Andres is today.  The change rippled throughout his family-- his habits became contagious.  His mother became interested in healthy foods -  eliminated all junk from their house, and began to cook healthy meals for the family.  Andres convinced his brother to begin working out with him and in time - they held weekly conditioning sessions in his garage with friends and school mates - ( anyone that has had the joy of training with friends, knows what a great motivational and accountability tool it can be - not to mention FUN!)   With Andres change - he not only made an impact on himself ----but others ---- and that's the magic! 

Andres and me- hope to add some videos of Andres' awesome skills here in the future! And I can't wait to take more more parkour lessons!

Writing the Routine

Count down to my first competitive gymnastics meet (in over 17 years) is on!  - D-day is February 23rd!  So it's about time I start cranking out some routines ---- (well actually - it would be CREATING some routines.)   It shouldn't be too hard, right? Beam would be a great event to start with, so I thought -  just string a few skills together with some fluffy dancie moves in between.  So, I jumped on the high beam to choreograph and just stood there motionless - like a student with writer's block - like a pen on a blank sheet of paper. "Oh man - now whatta I do?"

Time to mentally regroup.   Now at this point in my adult life- I have more experience in writing papers than creating beam routines.   So why not would tackle it like a writing assignment: outline, rough draft(s), final manuscript. 

So, I  started out with outlining my  "requirements" for my assignment.  In level 7 beam - (short hand - in layman's terms)  I'm required to do:
1) full turn on toe - 360 degrees
2) Leap or jump in 180 degree split
3) 2 acrobatic elements connected (like cartwheels, back walkovers, front walkers)
3) 1 acrobatic (tumbling) element with flight - hands and feet have to be simultaneously off the beam - aka - airborne - example would be back handspring, front handspring, dive roll.
4) Dismount with a salto (I have to flip off the beam :)

......all this with 100+  more details in less than 1:20 - ha,ha - no prob.

Breaking it down like this made the almost alien task for my adult mind quite a bit simpler - a good thing! I've been able to piece my outlined requirements together.  Now, I'm working on rough draft edits - and boy, are there some edits needed - but that is where the fun lies - in the discovery  of what works, what doesn't work, and what may work - one day.

Here is a sneak peak of my mount - it's a press handstand to a planche.  (It needs technique work as noted in the video---but it's all a work in progress - --fun work! )

I must confess that creating the beam routine requires some much needed mental stretching and chance to create and do.   Getting the opportunity to be athlete and artist  - that is what is so fascinating and alluring about gymnastics.  Going at it a 2nd a second go around - may even be better than the first!

Note:  Floor choreography to come - Jan. 27th - with help from a professional dance instructor -  artist and friend - I can't wait to share about that experience!!!

Habits: Their Immortality Exposed

I'm reading a great book right now -  The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg.  With neuro research, he has shown that habits never really disappear, because they are encoded into the structures of our brain.  These habits are forever  "inhabitants" of of grey matter - lurking there and waiting for the rights cues and rewards.

What a bummer!! - especially,  if the habit is bad -(wonderful if habit is good.) Unfortunately, the brain cannot tell the difference between the good and the bad habits. This is not so great news for the 2013 New Year's resolutions -  they are pretty much sunk - dead in the water - their fate - hopeless.    It also explains why we as a society continue to self-destruct with unhealthy behavior habits and continue to treat our bodies like landfills even when we know these habits are detrimental and noxious.  Ahh, but there is a glimmer of hope does it exist -  we can  re-wire this neuro circuit by disrupting the cue - routine (HABIT) - reward cycle.

I'm finding this to be true as I come back to gymnastics.  The same habits that I had training as kid are resurfacing.  If I heard it once, I heard it a gazillion times - "Get your head in!" I was the queen of the"turtle head habit" (haha) - I would stick my head out on everything!  Giants on bars, full twists on floor,  backhandsprings on beam, - it didn't matter.    Just this week, Kenan was helping me with back walkovers - and sure enough, - the head goes out.  Then, press handstand mount on beam - head goes out.  My front handspring vault - head goes out.  I have no clue why!? - but will blame it on HABIT.     So my focus will be some re-routing these movement habits and concentrating on drills that me eliminate them.  The drills will be like cues in the habit cycle - to influence the routine (skill) which results in the reward (correctly performed).

Fun stuff for sure.  So darn you  Katy Perry - it must be true that "this is a part of me that you're never gonna ever take away from me."  ( no bad habits ever extinguished - we have to re-route the mental circuit for change :) )

A little vid - of the backwalk over progress - lots to go!

Duhigg, Charles (2012-02-28). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Gymnastics 2.0 for 2013

While most people may be trying to kick an old habit, I'm going to resurrect one again.  Most are going to start something new, I want to do something I've done before - over and over and over.

So blah, blah, blah with the New Year's resolutions - 2013 will be about reliving some childhood fun.  I'm going back it to something I enjoyed when I was 5 to the age of 17  - Competitive Gymnastics.  

Oh boy.......

So here goes this 33 year old dentist (So what does gymnastics and dentistry have in common? Yeah - and don't say "painful." - ha ha.  Actually there is quite a bit - but for another post.) I have spent 17 years away from competitive gymnastics.  During my "retirement," I became a runner (5ks to marathons), triathlete, pro fitness competitor, and recreational crossfiter.  None of those can quite rank up there to being a gymnast.  They just can't compare to the artistry, challenge - thrill of gymnastics.  So why did all the fun have to go away when I was a kid? It didn't - I just have to go a little out of bounds, differ a little from the norm to claim it.

It would be awesome to be on an Adult gymnastics team- but there's not one, especially in Lumberton.  We don't even have crossfit!   But there is Lumberton Gymnastics Academy, where I coach some (and workout) - owned by former teammate and good friend Kenan Lundy.  Kenan laughed when I told her I wanted to compete, but she knows that normal is not my mode and that I wasn't joking.

It's going to be fascinating to compare competitive gymnastics experienced as an adult to how I lived it as a kid - 20 hours a week for so many years.  Practices will be truncated to 2- max per week, and the remainder of the days I will train at my home studio - fusing together bodyweight and gymnastics, MET, and traditional conditioning.  

Time to get out the leo and chalk up the grips.....and don't hold back the laughs - this should be a real trip!