Giving Credit Where Credit is Due - Thanks, Al Kavadlo!

In my journey to learn more about bodyweight training, I came across a trainer in New York who has been a fabulous source of information and instruction. His name is Al Kavadlo.

He has made time not only to train in person but to share his knowledge via the web and in writing. His latest book, Raising the Bar, is fantastic. 

I was thinking of working on a pull up tutorial for this blog, but today I saw his and think really that I would prefer just to highlight the great work that he has done on the subject. I hope you enjoy watching and learning from Al! 

Here's the link.  


Enjoy your pull ups everyone! :-)

How I Got into Climbing

According to my mom, I got into climbing at an early age - after realizing that I wasn't very good at it.

That was then, this is now.

In PE class at school, we had to do a fitness test and part of that test was to do a flexed arm hang (chin over the bar) for some number of seconds (I can't remember how many). Apparently I had problems with it, came home and asked my mom if we could get a pull up bar. She did me one better and got me a small jungle gym. I was off to the races. 

In high school, I went with some fellow students to a high ropes course (this is like an obstacle course except built in the trees). One of the elements required me to climb up a tree while holding using a rope to help me climb. I tried and tried, but I couldn't do it - already tired from the many elements that had come before. 

Many years later

And then a friend said to me "You have all the power in the world." It really hit me. Somehow I took that in and climbed the tree with no problem at all. That experience remains a powerful memory to this day.


I came to love climbing on ropes courses after that and spent many years as a facilitator helping others to face and address their own perceived physical limits. 

Doing what I love

I continue to challenge myself as I build skills on the flying trapeze and trampoline. And the wonderful opportunity I have to help others grow right along with me as an aerial conditioning instructor is bringing me even more insight and learning.

All of this to explain a bit how I came to this and where my roots are. For anyone who is struggling with your first pull up, stick with it. Work through a progression (see upcoming blog post) and keep trying. Recognize your mini-successes along the way and stay focused on your goal.


It's all about practice, commitment and time. We will all reach different places in our arts. I have no idea how far I will be able to go from that first chin up. But I will keep taking on new challenges and with commitment, practice and support, I hope to continue to grow and learn for a long time.
 

Fear

I've been thinking about fear a lot lately. How fear can be a healthy and wise thing - but also a potentially dangerous thing - when it comes to movement. 


I've spent a lot of my working life in educational settings where we helped people face and overcome their fears of any number of things - including heights, climbing, confrontation, facing an attacker and fighting back... In the environment of a supportive and enriched educational setting, people grew in both skills and confidence - and their level of fear transformed into more of a sense of awareness and alertness - and readiness to respond appropriately to the situation - with skills they had learned and practiced - and to trust in their ability to figure things out.


I came to those work environments through my own personal experience as a student - having had the opportunity to face my own fears and anxieties and work to overcome them. I now see those kinds of situations, where there's a goal I want to achieve - but that I'm also afraid of - as the stuff of life. The way I grow. I know that by taking my own small steps and being consistent, I'll get there eventually. 


And now I'm a student of flying trapeze. And trampoline. And scared again. Of different things to some extent. There's the physical reality of learning how to move in new ways, twisting and turning and landing on my back. But there's also the fear of comparison. Am I growing and learning as fast as the person next to me? How do I measure up? 


In the learning environment I'm in, where there's someone there helping to keep me safe - with a belay, with a spot, by making sure my progression is appropriate to my abilities - there's room to work on fear. Especially if I admit that it's there.


This is important because at least for me, fear can cause me to rush - or to hold back at the last moment, or change my plan in mid-air. That lack of conviction and belief that I will do what I said I would do - is potentially dangerous. And...of course, knowing that breeds more fear. Which makes me more likely to make the same mistake again.


For now, I'm focusing on small steps. Expanding my comfort zone inch by inch. And I've decided not to compare myself to others. I'm working on what I'm working on and I'll get there when I get there. The important things for me are to keep trying, be honest and real and enjoy the learning process. I'm a lot safer that way.