At the age of 51, I still like to ride my off road motorcycle with my 20 year old son. In the past after a ride of an hour or two I would get pretty winded and generally wiped out physically. After ... - Jeff Nichols Read more
Sasuke is a Japanesesports entertainmenttelevision special in which 100 competitors attempt to complete a four stage obstacle course. An edited version, renamed Ninja Warrior, is screened in at least 18 other countries. -wikipedia (Please click on “Sasuke” for the Wiki link for a more comprehensive look.)
As many of you already know, four of us from CFM sent in audition videos so that we could get tryout spots for “American Ninja Warrior”, which is the U.S. version of Sasuke which basically is a run-off to see who are the best in the States and the top, let’s say, ten or so make it to Japan to compete in the Mac-Daddy version over there. To the best of my knowledge there have been about 23 or so Sasuke’s since 1997 in which 100 people have cSo after much arm-twisting from me, we sent in videos for Roger, Jill Sprague, Tomio Mizuroki, and myself. Jill and Tomio were a little incredulous when they actually got an e-mail from G4 (the television station that holds the contest) informing them that they scored a guaranteed audition spot to tryout in the obstacle course despite my repeated reassurance that they had a pretty good chance. Roger’s tryout video is almost comically short, in his classic “let’s get this done as quickly as possible because I don’t have time” manner. Here are a few videos to illustrate what goes on and give you guys an idea of how this all works:
Here are some of the Ninja Warrior “All Stars”, who have competed year after year in Japan:
Here’s Levi Meeuwenburg, one of the State’s best free runners and the best American Ninja Warrior in recent times in Sasuke 22:
Here’s another “good” run by what looks like a professional athlete of sorts. This kind of ending is all too comon in Sasuke:
It’s not always this serious, though. Sasuke is a great challenge, but it’s also for fun, and the Japanese can be very light-hearted and even though they are very passionate about their Sasuke, they have no trouble laughing at themselves and having a good time. Check these out, they’re outrageous:
Ok, this one almost made me cry laughing:
There are many more. Sasuke is really BIG in Japan. While there is prize money for the “Ninja” who completes all four stages, it’s not talked about much because you’re supposed to compete for the honor and glory of it. The competitors just love Sasuke. What prize money? Hmmm…
Here’s a clip of American Ninja Warrior preliminary qualifiers from last year. Notice our former Parkour coach Shane Daniels rocking the obstacles in the first part of the video. Yep. That’s him.
Alright, now that you’re starting to get the picture, you’ll see why lately I’ve been so excited about Sasuke. Not only is there strength, coordination, agility and balance involved, but it’s also FUN. Ok, so right now I’m a little obsessed, but can you blame me?
Here’s one last clip to cap it off. Makoto Nagano is one of the best to compete in Sasuke. The beloved fisherman was one of only 3 people (to my knowledge) to ever achieve “Total Victory” when he completed the final stage in Sasuke #17. (Hope you guys like Spanish comentators. =P )
You know what I’m talking about, that little voice in your head that you hear while you’re deep in the middle of a workout. It can be a blessing or a curse, pushing us to better performance or undermining our best efforts. It can prevent injury or push us into hurting ourselves. Learning to control your inner voice is of vital importance to the success of your training.
The last part of the 8th workout over two days. He wouldn't be there without having mastered his inner voice.
There are two keys to controlling your inner voice: awareness and honesty. You need to be aware of your inner voice and aware of your physical state– fatigue, technique, injuries, etc.– and you need to figure out how to be honest with yourself. It’s the honesty part that is really tricky for people, as most of us either underestimate the workout and push too hard too fast, or underestimate our own abilities and don’t push hard enough.
Both of those cases tend to drive our inner voice into telling us that we suck. I’m not as fast or strong as so-and-so; this workout really hurts; I don’t know if my shoulder/back/knee can take this; I can’t do another four rounds of this; or I’m still sore from yesterday so I shouldn’t push hard today. These statements might have an element of truth, but they don’t do anything increase our performance.
What we need to do is change that inner voice into a force to protect us from injury, develop our skill and motivate us to greater heights. Here are a couple of things to focus that voice on.
Strategy: ”Stick to the plan: 10 push-ups, 5-count rest, 10 push-ups, 5-count rest.”
Technique: “Full hip extension, fast elbows, control the feet.”
Task focus: “One muscle-up at a time.”
Confidence: “6-months ago, I couldn’t even deadlift this.”
Motivational phrases: “Work now, rest later.”
Damage report: “Knee, good. Back, good. Shoulder, aches– switch to mixed grip on pull-ups and mitigate the forward swing.”
Most people underestimate the psychological strength required to complete a workout. We’ve said it time and again, it’s 90% mental. If you can control your inner voice enough to get you into the gym, then you can definitely train it to push you harder and protect you from injury. Master it and it will improve your performance both inside and outside of the gym.
Here is one of my favorite parkour clips, some of the science behind it all. The founders of CrossFit Marin are really just a couple of nerds that have an unhealthy obsession with exercise and stupid human-tricks. We rather enjoy shows like “Time Warp”.
Hey Crew. I haven’t formally introduced to you, but many of you have already met, Andrey Pfening. He coaches Parkour classes at CFM on Mondays and Saturdays. With his soft-spoken, polite demeanor he has already stolen the heart of Rosanna Sansone, who wants to adopt him. When describing him she said something to the effect of “… he is so well mannered and polite. He can’t possibly be from this country.” She is correct, because Andrey is Russian. When you meet him it is easy to see what Rosanna is talking about. Andrey is the most unpresumptuous, diligent and persistentclass act that we could have been fortunate enough to hire. If anything, we try to get him to speak up more. When I suggested that we go to the Corte Madera 4th of July parade to help promote classes at the gym, Andrey acquiesced without complaining. While we were there, we ran into the Miranda family. Sammy, Jacqui and Jimmy’s ten year old son, helped us hand out CFM brochures (for which he charged me 10¢ / brochure. Entrepreneurship is encouraged at CFM.) While we were there, we had Andrey go for the big wall run at the tennis-practice wall on the south end of the park. Here are a few videos of the most soft-spoken bad-ass I know hitting the 12.5+ foot wall:
Here are a few previous attempts:
This was earlier from the east side:
I'm just shy of 6' tall when wearing shoes. You can see that this one is easily 12.5, if not 13'.
For his efforts, we were able to create a new 4pm parkour class on Mondays for 8-11 year olds. Now Sammy comes with his posse at this time. Also, we added the 4pm class on Wednesdays for Aero, largely with the same kids. More on Mr. Pfening later.
Thank-you, Drey, for your help and consciencious work ethic!
Ok, so what does this have to do with fitness? Well, absolutely nothing- almost. As a matter of fact, doing this stuff will very likely get you killed, but we’re a bunch of adrenaline junkies here anyways, so I may as well throw up stuff like this. The one thing that this does have to do with fitness, is that if you hit a 60 foot ski jump, ride off a building onto a ramp on a motor cycle, skim down a mountain on a squirrel suit, or hit a double back off another motor cycle, the girlies are almost certain to invite you over for dinner afterwards. Then your work capacity accross broad modal domains isn’t nearly as important.
By the way, we’re opening up a 10am CF class every weekday starting next week, Monday the 21st and planning a 9am kids class at least for the summer starting the following Monday, 06/28. Final details on the kids’ class have not been finalized.
