I want to get a routine and start my gym membership again.

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MetaRidley42 said:

Help?

I'm interesting in XMA-style "tricking" and martial arts/parkour/tricking movement in general. On the XMA side of things, this seems to require balance, plyo strength, tumbling ability, and flexibility and explosive strength. Apply all of the above to parkour, but with the added factor of upper-body strength for scaling obstacles, and general cardio fitness, for running.

I'm in decent shape right now, in and out of a normal gym routine. I'm currently only involved in a weekly tricking meet in the university's gymnastics facility with some other guys who are mostly above my skill level, and I feel like I need to whip my body into shape along with regular practice of the actual techniques and movements. I have a black belt in Taekwondo, but haven't done it in a while. Whether it's thanks to genetics or just years of imbalanced training, I have very thick legs and thighs, and a relatively small upper body, making me a mesomorph of sorts (?). As far as this would affect any training, I'm not sure if this means I should tailor my routine or just work the whole body normally and wait for things to work themselves out. I'm also not sure if this would change my center of gravity or affect general movement.

I was wondering if the normal "starting strength" sort of 3x5 routine with an A/B set thrice weekly would be in order, or if something else is better. I need help figuring out what specific exercises would work, my rough idea is to work out in the mornings before class on MWF, and run and stretch (more heavily?) on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Of course, this is not taking my actual tricking or parkour sessions into account.

Anyway, I need organization to give me motivation, and help to get my foot in the door.

Not positive if this is the right place, but fingers crossed, and any help would be most welcome. Thanks!

it's a good question and it sounds you are mostly concerned with the upper body/lower body issue. I am in a similar position in that my lower body is more developed then my upper body, although I am not into tricking of any type.

What I am doing to balance is focusing on upper body strength and lower body endurance, speed and explosiveness (in that order). I am using some the starting and basic progressions in Gymnastic bodies for the majority of my upper body and core

strength training, while working towards certain skill objectives. However it could be starting strength program

as well, though I might want to avoid working the legs too heavily if I were running hard and/or fast the next day.

Regarding parcour, it may be that something along the lines of a Fartlek run for 30-40 minutes could simulate the requirements.

It amounts to running at varying speeds overy varying terrain, picking up the pace at times, going slowly at others.

You listen to your body and just go with the flow. This works on endurance, strength and speed.

Something like an obstacle course, a trail setup with stations for BW exercises might also be good.

I don't think you want to get particuarly BIG for the things you want to do, and don't think you would

with any of your plans. And I don't know if you can afford to lose any weight - if you carry excess fat losing

that could also help performance.

What I've found helpful, because I am disoganized outside of the computer, is maintaing a spreadsheet

that I mark with basic training for the day. I rest 2 days per week, at least 1 full day and sometimes 1 active recovery.

I usually mark out a week in advance, because sometimes it doesn't go as expected and can adjust it on the fly.

Hope this helps a little