Easter Emptiness.

 

Ben’s Trainers.

 

For the second week in a row I was out training with the Npk community at the weekend training session. The weather Friday night was terrible, cold and heavy rain with a strong wind too and I did wonder if that would transpire into Saturday. I was surprised to even be out though, after sleeping in Friday until half past two in the afternoon. The day before that I was up at seven in the morning and so my sleeping pattern is pretty messed up currently. I didn’t go to bed until two or three and was still laying awake well into the four and five o’clock hours. I guess being excited to train again had me too restless to sleep, the thought of new photo opportunities and a good training vibe didn’t help matters. I did wake up around ten, but then lolled around in bed until nearly twelve, making everything a rush. Adam was out this weekend and wanted everyone to train even if weather was bad, though it didn’t seem like many were going out now due to last nights weather putting them off, God dammit!

I was running late anyway and so was Kezza and a few others who said on the event not to move from Plaza until they got there. I didn’t expect many to be out, or the ones who did to be very few. I arrived at Plaza at around quarter to two, to find that no one was out?! All bar a mysterious guy lurking near one set of the walls, pacing back and forth checking his phone. Then there was Adam sat with Aiden on the other kong precision walls. I said to Adam that I instantly felt demotivated for training and might just go home as I hate sparse turn outs… The lurker looked familiar, a possible practitioner? After a while the same vape monster came over to us and asked me if I remembered him… Holy shit! It was Rob, Mr Bozik! I hadn’t seen or trained with him since 2009 [1] back when he had come to Nottingham with his friend Michal and Pike. Rob really hadn’t changed that much, he said he was waiting for the SM guys to arrive, who should have already been here by now…

 

Kezza – Portrait.

 

Others started to arrive slowly but surely, Mat, Kezza, Ben, Luke, CJay and Holbrook and a good amount of the community started to form. Everyone was warming up, kong precisions, diving kongs, general flow and even flips. There was quite a diversity of movement skills between us all today. CJay was on top form with his own training and it didn’t seem like anything was too much hassle for him to do with his good jumping power. He was doing some crazy double kong, then was trying to double kong handspring out of the move… Holbrook was practising a small run involving the railings. While I was trying to get out of my unmotivated mood I was in. Some newer movements I hadn’t seen anyone do, was a diagonal kong precision from the small blue railing to a wall. It might be small, but very awkward and thought it would be a good movement for people to consider. Much like the running precision from the first wall, up and over to land on the same blue railing. Some terrible looking and feeling movements but the guys were getting them done. I took a few photos, but at the same time I wanted to move and train rather than be stuck behind the lense.

We moved up to the now lesser trained area of Houses, the buildings are always open at the weekend now and so that means there are constantly cars parked in the way of where we train. Instead the guys trained near the kong precision and foliage part of the area, Kezza drilled the kong precision while Rob ran behind filming him. I quite enjoyed the shots I got of him doing the k2p. Once the cars had moved, even though it was wet and slippery due to the rain we practised a few tic tac cats. I trolled Kezza who wasn’t sure he could even do the tic tac cat now, I walked over to the wall slowly, saying I would do it no problem and then pushed off the wall and did it with no real speed or run up. He didn’t expect me to do that and was laughing, slightly amazed I had. I then did the 180 cat from hanging onto the wall with my finger tips, which was another old school movement which many still can’t do today. Each time people try, they expect some magical deeper groove in the wall which makes it easier to hang on, or some sort of trickery. It’s all to do with finger strength and forearm strength though, nothing more, nothing less.

 

Kezza – Running Precision.

 

CJay and Ben were looking at an ugly running downwards precision, it was diagonal and over the foliage. It was plain terrible, but it looked fantastic as a photo and so I set up my camera up while the guys kept preparing for the jump. You had to run blind and could only guess where the wall was, seeing the landing once you were in the air, no wonder it took them ages before they nailed it. I captured CJay and kezza doing the jump, but then it seemed like our time was up as a security guard had come around to move us on. He was friendly enough, asking what we were doing and watched us do a few movements before leaving us.

Stefano’s Return.

Seeing as I had a late night yesterday, I woke up very drained and tired and turned my alarm off, only for me to fall back to sleep again for a extra two hours. Due to this I decided to head into town an hour later than normal. I arrived at around one o’clock and met everyone who were already at Plaza training. I was greeted by man hugs and then watched the others train, still being rather annoyed I couldn’t train due to my ankle. I got my camera out to take photos of people only for me to realise I had left my batteries until they de-charged and when I went to take a photo it said my batteries were dead. I checked them in the morning before going out by turning the camera on and I had no notification stating they were low and so thought I must have charged them beforehand, as I had been thinking about doing it a few days before.

I got a few photos of Yaz doing the pole swing around to precision before swapping my batteries with my fully charged ones which were in my bag. Yaz had made the pole swing to precision quite easily compared to how he used to do it all those months ago when he first got it. He was also talking about trying a squirrel to precision on the same lamppost which I got photos of. I saw Vincent do a diving kong over the second wall, props to him for doing that as most don’t like it as a diving kong and I know it feels like a great achievement when you do get it done. Next he will have to look at the third and final wall for a diving kong as that will give him a whole new challenge.

People had split into smaller groups already and we further split into groups when each group having different areas and movements they wanted to train. So we said where we were going and then trained in our set groups. Myself and Yaz joined the others who were over at IBM filming with the GoPro. Shortly afterwards, Denis said they were going to the scaffolding and then left me, Yaz and Zain together to train even though he was reluctant to leave Zain with us. I pointed out a few new things for Yaz to try like the one eighty cat to cats then began to take photos of it and laughing at the fact when he kept failing due to the walls being slippery or the fact he was too scared to commit.

 

Yaz - Pole swing precision.

 

Yaz was moaning that he was hungry and also needed a drink so we all walked into the centre of town to the nearest Tesco’s where he and Zain both brought some Easter eggs and some water. Zain started to drink his water while walking around the shop then when he came to the self service machine it wouldn’t recognize the water, more than likely due to him drinking from it. The woman at the till sorted it out but by that time Zain decided to go and pay at the till to a human and left Yaz to canal his items and pay for his own items. We began to devour the eggs as we made the walk to High Pavement which Yaz said the gate was now unlocked again so we decided to check if he was right and also train at that area.

It was cool to see the gate once again unlocked, whether it was locked due to people always using the area for training and climbing on the roofs or due to someone locking it for another reason. It posed no real inconvenience for us as we only had to do a climb up to get over the wall. Still we didn’t want to be in there if it had been locked for a reason, even though it was unlikely someone would know we were in there or had a problem with us being there in a small group. Zain practised the running catleap, which he didn’t hesitate with this time and then he and Yaz had the idea of trying it together at the same time. Myself and Yaz had a go at some pull-ups and muscle-ups seeing as we hadn’t had a bar to do them on for ages. It felt so odd to do them on a square bar again. Zain asked if anyone had done the tic tac from the tree to cat or precision to which I told him they had and he wanted to give the tic tac to cat a go but it looked so scary as Yaz agreed.

Although Yaz suggested trying to do a tic tac to lache, instead he gave it a go and the first few attempts he fell down and off the tree, or would end up hugging the tree for fear of slipping off it all together. He then got the hang of the motion and did get the lache in the end but it was a dead movement and hard to link into anything else. He hung and looked at the lache precision back which he didn’t like the look of and then hung upside down on the tree only being hooked by his legs – it looks like some form of hanging torture device.

 

Zain - Running catleap.

 

I saw Yaz and Zain doing some tic-tac precisions from the concrete slabs and off the wall. Zain was trying the tic-tac 270 precision and both attempted doing additions to the movement, while I crouched in the bramble bushes to try and get a different perspective with the foliage in shot. I think some worked really well even though there is no perception of what is being done or how far it is. The angle is nice, as is the body posture of them both. We had spent enough time in this area and decided to walk up to the scaffolding area and see if they were still there.

Denis said ‘You finally came then, we are bored of this area now and where going to leave soon’. I explained we had been at High Pavement for ages and knew they would still be there and that we have only just decided to join them and that we still want to train there even if they are leaving. The first thing I saw was Diogo doing a tic tac from a window ledge then onto an underbar through the scaffolding which looked sweet. Denis was also swinging around the scaffolding onto the smaller walls, like a gibbon. Yaz had a go at a reverse upwards dyno which proved harder than he first thought not to mention scary and had to be spotted. We both did some upward dyno’s which were about an arm length upwards. We found it quite easy but I was surprised others had no explosive power to get to the second bar. Denis was quick to say ‘stop showing off with your henchness and silly upperbody challenges’.

Stefano appeared out of nowhere to come and see all of us as well as train. It was great to see Stefano out again, it had been so long since I had last seen him – even his dreadlocks were really long now too! Everyone was as surprised to see him as I was and multiple man hugs were in order. Denis was doing a downwards precision from some vent thing to a wall and after a few times of doing it, he had the idea of what if on landing fell into the bush then have someone pull him back up into the precision across the wall. Myself and Yaz pulled Denis out for the precision which he liked and we joked about throwing him up to the vent. Denis said he was scared that we would pull him too much and he would not be able to land on the vent, so he did the usual precision. Then me and Yaz pulled him out as hard as we could and launched him up to the white vent with him falling into the bush and calling us both dicks and that he knew we would do something like that.

 

Denis - Downwards precision.

 

Denis had called the others to see where they were and decided he would now head over to the castle area to meet up with them as he was bored of this area and asked if we wanted to join those who were going. We declined and stayed in that area as we had not long got there. Zain carried on doing the downwards precision. Then on one of the precisions he landed and one foot/toe slipped before the wall and he flew over the wall and then was on the floor in pain as it had really stubbed his toe and bend it upwards, ripping his trainers in the process. The bail looked really scary and at first I thought it had injured his ankle and though he would end up like me if that was the case. Luckily, it wasn’t that injury though. With his toe being hurt, it put him out of training for today at least.

We spoke to Stefano about what he had missed through not being on Facebook and kept him up to date. We also started throwing these little red berries at a light and seeing who could hit it first. I got it, as did Stefano and then Yaz. We also tried to throw them with the opposite arm to which Stef could hit it loads of times in a row. We also starting throwing the berries at Zain who was balancing on a ladder due to his injury with much amusement.

Myself, Stefano and Yaz went around the corner talking about possible new movements. I pointed out a possible lache precision and a downwards precision, which Yaz wanted to try. On the lache precision, the first time due to him being scared, he didn’t keep his form in the air and ended up craning and hitting his knee into the wall. I decided to hobble back and get my camera to get some photos. On the way back, I was doing a hobbled run, as I came around the corner towards Yaz and he was in tears of laughter on the floor saying it was the funniest thing he had ever seen! Zain had joined us and we did some posing photos with Zain and Stefano. The next challenge of the day was from Stefano trying to jump from the ground and touch the rail above used for the lache precision. It was so high and yet Stef could touch it as opposed to Yaz and Zain who couldn’t get close to it.

 

Zain showing that he is shocked Stef is out!

 

We decided to do some muscle ups on the scaffolding. It felt so much easier on a rounded scaffolding bar than the square one at high pavement and I did eight in a row before stopping to see what Stefano and Yaz was talking about and doing behind me. We looked across to the roofs and walls and I suggested that Yaz should do the upwards precision from below, which he was scared to do. We then spoke about what if he bailed and landed down below and other possible out comes of moves and what else could be done if you had the bottle.

We moved across to the roof and I pointed out a possible precision from the rail to a chimney pot. Yaz gave it a go and stuck it perfectly, not that he had much space to misjudge it anyway – the photo looks great from below. We had grown tired of this area and so we made our way back to Palza where Zain was telling me he did the running precision across and Denis too earlier in the day. Stefano did it a few times and then Yaz looked at it and didn’t like it in the slightest. We ended up speaking rather than training and we were talking about how thin Yaz is and how he has a really small waist and hour glass figure. Yaz then said he would look better in a dress than a girl and it would be cool for him to say that to other women and put them to shame. To which we all burst out laughing as why would you even think about something like that let alone want to wear a dress, very worrying!

It was getting late and with most of us injured and aching we just chilled out and did some light training. Yaz cut his hand open on some glass and it wouldn’t stop bleeding no matter how much he wiped the blood away. He then started to squeeze the blood out and drew a smiley face on the wall with it. Later he left it bleeding and left the puddle on his hand and then after a while, it had all coagulated and it was solid and looked horrible as he moved it around like a piece of solder. I spent most my time conditioning, doing handstands and press up variations to keep warm as I couldn’t do anything else. The evening ended rather gaily with us all checking out each others physiques and Stefano telling us how unfit he has became and he isn’t toned in the slightest compared to how he used to be.

 

Yaz - Pole swing precision.

 

Kieran & Yaz.

 

Yaz - 180 cat to cat.

 

Yaz - 180 cat to cat.

 

Yaz - 180 cat to cat.

 

Yaz - Downwards Precision.

 

Yaz - Downwards Precision.

 

Yaz - Stoner Pose.

 

Yaz and the tree.

 

Yaz hanging.

 

Yaz - Tic Tac Precision.

 

Yaz - Precision.

 

Stefano & Zade (Me).

 

Zade (Me) - Walking towards the camera.

 

Stefano - Precision

 

Yaz - Precision.

 

Zain Trollface.

 

Stefano & Zain. Zain was obviously overwhelmed to see Stefano out, it almost brought a tear to his eye!

 

Yaz - Lache Precision

 

Torn Jogging Bottoms.

 

Destroyed Trainer.

 

Yaz & Stefano laughing at something.

 

Stefano & Yaz.

 

Yaz - Chimney precision.

 

Stefano - Running Precision.

 

Yaz & Zain.

 

Stefano can see you!

 

Yaz - Close up.

 

Yaz's injury to his palm when a piece of glass cut it.

 

Yaz's injury to his palm when a piece of glass cut it.

 

Yaz's injury to his palm when a piece of glass cut it.

 

Yaz - Squirrel 180 Precision.

 

Yaz - Squirrel 180 Precision.

 

Sam Petz.

 

Yaz - Tree Hugging.

 

Yaz - Tic tac lache.

 

Yaz - Upside down.

 

Yaz - Upside down.

 

Zain getting ready for a precision.

 

Yaz - Tic Tac Precision.

 

Zain - Brick Touching.

 

Denis - Downwards Precision.

 

Yaz - Lache Precision.

 

Yaz - Precision.

 

Stefano.

 

Zain looking at touching the rail, while Yaz hovers.

 

Yaz - Upwards Precision.

 

Stefano balancing along the rail and Yaz sat around.

 

Yaz - Chimney precision.

 

Time to shed skin.

The past few days my hands have been going through the cycle of shedding skin in the form of my calluses raising up and peeling off. I also started to get blisters on my hands from doing too much grip work and many Catleap/Arm jumps. I went out today with Yaz, for the sole purpose of getting some filming and photography done. Needless to say after a few hours we had to call the session off. Due to both being injured and having battered bodies.

The day was going so well in the beginning, filming new things, I then decided to go back to a Catleap/Arm jump I had previously been doing the other weekend even though it was near my limit. I wanted to get some more angles and get it looking cleaner. I stood up, ready to jump, only to feel scared of it today as did Yaz. It seems no matter how many times I go to it, it always scares me.

Myself and Yaz rolled the camera and tried to do the cat only to fail or bounce off the wall each time we tried. It was really odd as when I was trying it Saturday, I was tired and it was much later in the day and yet today I was fresh and at 100% so why was I not getting it easily?!

Yaz tried it again only to hurt his hand, the next time he twisted his ankle badly and gave up on doing it again. I went back to it and kept trying it only getting it cleanly once. I decided to keep at it and every other attempts were fails. I had pulled my side, twisted my ankle, ripped my calluses off both hands and yet was still trying it. The final straw came when I cut my fingertip and it wouldn’t stop bleeding and was too sore to use it again. At this point both battered and bruised, we decided to head home.

 

Zade's cut fingertip!

 

Training, pictures & injury.

Was a great day of training today and in fairness I changed from taking more photography to filming instead. Not much of an update really though as I am not posting up the footage as I have no video made or anything.

Aside from having a great day there was a bail to near the later half of the day involving Vincent. He was on some bike rails. There is a row with dozens of rails side by side. We were holding one either side so in a dip position, then using them to hold on we were swinging back and forth between them. From doing that we would swing to the side to the other two rails next to them and repeat going down the rails one after the other. (I understand some of you might not know what this means if you have never saw the move done before).

Anyway, Vincent was trying to do this after many of us were doing them and from what I saw he committed to going across to the next rails but missed his hand placement and fell to the floor face first hitting his chin and then shoulder.

Resulting in his cut chin which needed stitches, a badly twisted shoulder and a broken thumb. He is unable to train for a few weeks due to this. In hindsight it could have been so much worse!

A couple of photos are below.

 

Brandon - Kong to clear.

 

Matt - Gainer.

 

Vincent's nicely split chin. If you look in the blood to the left it looks like it has images of people as reflections don't you think?