Here Comes 2008!!...

It's been a great year for us all and as 2008 is fast approaching, we would like to wish everyone a wonderful New Year from all of the Saiyan Family.

Weekend in Lincoln

We've had a couple of busy weekends recently and one of which was a trip to Lincoln to see Dale, old skool member of the Saiyan family; and the ever-growing Lincs Parkour community. It turns out Lincoln is somewhere near Mordor, so it took us forever to get there, arriving just before midnight Friday. We headed back to Dale's for a healthy meal and a good nights sleep ;-)
On Saturday got up early for a greasy breakfast, uni style, with Jim and Stu (pictured left), followed by a tour of the small but beautiful town of Lincoln, complete with its quirky back alleys and its apparent lack of adults! We then headed to the main meeting place of the local traceurs and were introduced to some new faces as well as some we knew from the Trace Gathering. It was cool to meet a really tight community, who trained so well together and all help and encourage each other. We were taken to some really varied locations for Parkour including some scaffolding with some really cool angles, where some of the guys spent time showing us their swinging dismounts, brilliant stuff. We then came to a spot where there was a progressively growing rail precision which was excellent for finding your limits. Unfortunately the ordinarily focused Jim suffered a lapse of concentration and his foot landed short of the rail, shinning himself silly. Which he didn't seem to notice until he pulled up his trouser leg unveiling thick blood pouring into his white sock!! Instantly everyone gathered to help with people removing wristbands as make-shift bandages and helping him stop the bleeding. Its good to know if you fall in Lincoln, the guys have got your back. In Jim's credit though, he didn't complain a bit.
There was a lot to see so moved quickly to the playground in the arboretum. On route we had to cat crawl backwards up a couple of flights of stairs, then straight into a challenging climb especially as everything was slippery. Once we reached the top we headed into "Banksy playground", so named for its juxtaposition of children at play with the overbearing reminder that Big Brother, even in Lincoln, is watching. There were a few challenges we set each other but one stood out as our fave; The Silent landing challenge! The video below is pretty self explanatory, turn up your sound for this one...




On Sunday we woke up fairly late in the day due to a tour of Lincoln's nightlife that extended into the wee hours of the morning. With a coach to catch that afternoon we grabbed some grub and followed Stu's lead to a couple of his favorite spots. One of which was the breathtaking rooftop run which had so many possible opportunities for movement and had an eye-popping roof gap which looked just perfect. The picture doesn't do it justice, but the surrounds and the height made it very challenging however it felt attainable and it drove us crazy that there was a huge puddle right in the landing spot. Deeply disappointed that we didn't get a chance to seriously contemplate it, but next time...
It wouldn't be a Saiyan trip with the fuzz popping up, on our way down we realised police had been called and had surrounded the building. They were a little aggravated at first, but once we explained what we we're doing, and were not daylight robbers, they changed their tune and showed quite an interest in Parkour.

All in all a fantastic break away from the big city, with an excellent community of traceurs, that for us was reminiscent of the early days at Liverpool street.

Thanks to all of Lincs Parkour, hope to see you all soon, head down to London whenever!
A special thanks goes to Jim, for the deep conversations about Parkour, conspiracies, and everything in between; Stu for showing his personal uber rooftop runs, and for setting the pace for the weekend.
And a huge thanks to the man himself Dale for...everything! Rest assured we'll be back up soon, there was so much we didn't get time to do.

PK in heroes!

Parkour was featured in the NBC tv show the other night: HEROES!

To watch the clip from season 2, episode 10, click here.


The awesome copy-cat girl with the ability to learn anything she sees using muscle memory completes some nice simple moves. She does a quick reverse vault to keep on running, and does a tic-tac against the wall whilst vaulting the rail one hand. Really nothing flashy - but her aim was not escape in this instance, it was breaking and entering. Glad to see no flips or unnecessary movements, but how might this demonstration affect us as the practitioners? Could this reflect badly? Well hopefully it wont!

The only question that remains is.. Who was the dude performing the parkour?


Over and out
Mike

Saiyans off to Germany..

Blake and Cable head off to Berlin, Germany on the 16th November to help teach at a parkour workshop alongside others.

More information and a brief write-up is likely to follow when they return!



Happy training
from Mike and all the Saiyans

Mike

Over the last year or so Mike has been training with us as much as he can, giving his weekends up as well as one mid week training night. Hes worked hard and shown a great attitude both for Parkour and Saiyan, and so at this point we welcome him into are little family.
He will be posting on the blog a bit more and hopefully on some of the boards as well as keeping up his training. Got a long way to go, wish him luck.
Cable

Channel 4 Shoot

Sorry to all who haven't heard from us recently, it has been a little quiet on the blog. Anyway here's a short update on one of the projects we've been working on recently.

On Wednesday 15th of August we did some filming work with Parkour Coaching in which we shot some innovative ident material with Channel 4 for The Discovery Channel in London. What was cool was that we were using POV cameras that allow the viewer to see exactly what the traceur sees as he or she moves.

Blake - What this meant was me having a camera attatched to a helmet on my head with a wire leading to a runner with a 20kg vcr on his back (I'm sure its more hi tech), then a wire leading to the director running along with a portable monitor. I then had to run while doing very simple parkour movements and try and capture all the other guys in the shot, without tripping over the wires or getting the crew in shot. Sounds mental but really quite fun. Keep your eyes peeled for some pk action on the Discovery channel in October!!

Thanks to all at Parkour Coaching Ltd, Chris, Dom and Ramon, and a big thanks to all the Channel 4 crew for your work. Also thanks to our boss Tim for letting us take the day off on such short notice.

Check out Parkour Coaching Ltd for more of their news, events and workshops!

Airwaves Parkour Night

Airwaves Big Box Parkour Night
29.08.07 | 30.08.07

“Always take a breath”, the motto guilty this year on the 29th and 30th August. David Belle the founder of the Worldwide Parkour movement in the capital of Germany.

Brief Event Info

When:
29. August 2007 - Airwaves Big Box Parkour Night, from 18:00 Pm 30. August 2007 - Airwaves Big Box Parkour Workshop, from 10:00 Am

Where:
Berlin, at the tube Station [in German: U-Bahnstation] Bundestag under the Reichstag

More information and details about the sequence of events will follow soon on the Homepages myparkour.com . Already you can secure you place at the evening event on the 29.08 and the Workshop on the 30.08. Just send an E-Mail (Just English or German please) to be registered (Minimum age: 14).

mailto: meeting@myparkour.com

In a breathtaking production, David Belle and his Crew in Cooperation with the Parkour Association Germany and the Austrian Parkour Association will make Parkour to never before seen experience.

Nut just the type of production will be spectacular. Many other Traceur’s will be in Action at the Airwaves Big Box Parkour Night.

The Company Wrigley together with the Parkour Association Germany chose the tube line 55 (still sleeping) under the Reichstag in Berlin for the Airwaves Big Box Parkour Night, this location will offer Traceur’s a wide range of new and interesting obstacles.

Find your way to Berlin!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

It was a year ago today that we decided to set up this quaint little blog we call the SaiyanGarden. It was our good friend Dale who encouraged us to get a blog saying "Think, in a year from now you can look back and so how far you have come." But its been more than that, its allowed us to keep up with Mogli's events in Austria, and its given us a place to have a moan without it being moderated. Its also meant we have kept in touch with all our good traceur friends around the country and the world and kept us just about visible on the parkour radar. lol
Anyway hopefully this next year we'll post a little more. If anyone wants to see what we've been ranting on about this year past; it's all there in the archives.
Hopefully see everyone soon
Blake
ps: Hi again to all the people we met at the Trace Gathering, if we didn't trade numbers there drop us a message and we'll hook up and practise.
Peace SaiyanClan

Parkour Coaching with the Yamakasi

It all kicked off on Sunday the 13th May in Kilburn at St Augustine's School, with the Parkour Coaching Seminar Hosted by Forrest, Dan and Stephane. It was the first time we've been able to jump on a bus straight from Edgware to practise with some of the top traceurs from France and the UK. On the way to the event, we met up with a good friend of ours, Thomas who was strolling along with Dan, Stephane, Kazuma, Laurent, Yann and also Seb Goudot and Cisco who we hadn't seen since our adventure to Lisses. When we arrived at the school we we're surrounded by familiar faces including The TCT, Blane, DC, The Brads from WWJ, Jason, Liv, and Bachelerius.
The day was packed with conditioning and drills which judging by everyones faces and the volume of sweat on the floor, was as killer for everyone as it was for us. Some of the highlights of the day were: Bobby and Kazuma sliding backwards while doing the splits under a gym horse, which was well fuckin cool; the circuit which consisted of underbars through the various levels of apparatus which we hadn't used since school days. Having some one on one coaching from Yann Hnautra and getting some insight into how he and the others train was really inspiring, but it was clear that they we're more accustomed to outdoor training, as Seb said there are limits to indoor practise.
The cool down at the end was tougher than the warm up, which gave us a sneaky suspicion that Forrest and Dan were intent on pushing everyone to their limits. All in all a brilliant day, well worth the bus fare lol.
Thanks to Parkour Coaching Ltd for setting it all up, and thanks to DC for the heads up. For a full wite up on the day click here.

Weekend Postponed..........not literally

Everyone who got my text about heading down to mine this weekend, we are going to have to postpone it til next weekend because we are heading down to Forrest and Dan's Parkour Seminar on Sunday. If anyone is coming along to that we'll see you there, everyone else we'll let you know what's happening during the week.

Cable

Lookin' good Moses..

Have a look at the updated Parkour Austria website, Made all possible by are Saiyan brother Moses Kallweit. Make sure to check out his new video filmed last year with the guys in Austria. If you can't read Austrian you can also check it out in our new shiny video section -------------->>>
'ave a butchers!
Cable

TCT in LDN

The other week the TCT came down to London for training and invited me along,
You might recognize the places from Forest and Dan's documentary, its one hell of an estate!
Lots of fun and games, have a look at the little video of the day.
Blake
Click Me

Trace

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past year or so, The name Jason Matten needs no introduction. He's responsible for the series of parkour mini documentaries known as PKVM, and his next project is finally ready!

Trace clothing is an ambitious new line of Parkour clothing which provides a well needed alternative to other dominating freerunning brand$. What sets Trace apart is an emphasis on the positive promotion of Parkour and is not just plastered with meaningless symbols of over-glorified companies. When Jason first approached us, we were a little sceptical as we weren't very keen to get involved with a brand again. But what sold it to us was Jason's ideas which stretched beyond the clothing line, in actually wanting to help others. Also having the several like-minded traceurs from across the UK who we have a great deal of respect for. Obviously wearing Trace clothing is not going to make you run faster or jump higher, it isnt going to make you a better traceur, but it will make you look cool. lol but seriously some of these designs are fantastic and as the motto says, they are made "For Traceurs By Traceurs". At this stage the prices are no higher than other brands and obviously they are not essential but if you got a spare bit of dough and want some kick-ass new threads its definitely worth a look.

One of the first projects that extends beyond the clothing range is the TRACEUR gathering '07. This is a 3 day Parkour/Camping/all out mad adventure event from the 31st July to the 2nd August. It will see more that 150 traceurs camping at the field head campside in Edale, training and having a laugh in the beautiful natural environments of the peak district.
Trace reps Jin, Owen, Blane, Dave, Danny, Brad, and ourselves will all be present and leading the training in groups, the evening activities/conditioning and helping out where they can aswell as training and having a good time ourselves. There should also be a couple of special guests too.

All in all Trace is something that is here to stay, there is nothing good about a monopoly and Trace is just one player on this fast expanding board. More good things to come...
For more info check out the website
www.tracehq.com

Say cheese!

For thoese that missed it, D.Belle staring in an Canno add. Very cool!!
Cable
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAV0EYLIdsg

Saiyans Mate..

Binary:
"I and some of you are warriors of our time; in the past their barriers would have been other men, with swords or rocks or fists;We are here to combat the obstacles in our ways, the barriers (mentally and physically) that man has created.
Live the day to it's extent and do all you can but not to recklessness, again discipline is key, we must control (for lack of a better word) ourselves and our students in order for them to progress safely and consistantly."

There are so few Traceur in the uk scene as thought provoking as Brad Moss aka Binary, and so I incourage you to visit his blog and have a good look around.
http://parkourbrad.blogspot.com/2007/03/thw-traceur-and-warrior.html

Mr.Hebert

Georges Hébert (1875-1957)
A French soldier and philosopher of physical culture. He was inspired by the athletic qualities of natives he encountered while serving in the French Navy in Africa. He developed a philosophy of physical culture from his observations called the Natural Method. Part of that philosophy had an emphasis on training by obstacle courses. These obstacle courses, known as Parcours Du Combattant, have become part of military training systems throughout the world. Part of Hebert's philosophy was that physical training should strengthen one’s moral fabric. His motto was "Être fort pour être utile," be strong to be useful. This is an important foundation of parkour philosophy.
Just a little on the man that helped Le-Parkour come to light.
see more at..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H%C3%A9bert

Cyrill Raffealli

Rumour has it that Cyrill Raffealli, Co-star of District 13, is set to be in the up coming Die Hard 4.0 aka "Live Free or Die Hard"
Hes not listed on IMDB however.
for a full look at his work click below
imdb.com
cyrilraffaelli.com/
PS you didn't hear it from us..lol

The FreeRunning game..

The FreeRunning game is inevitable...
We at the Garden still have our contracts for this projects that we hoped would not see the light of day.
From the start it was wrong, taking the Tony hawks approach, it came across old and dated, and as over the top as a Lilly Savage hair-do.
And by having the likes of EZ in it was just laughable!!

Ubisoft signs UK deal with Reef Entertainment to distribute Free Running
Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, have announced a UK sales and distribution deal with Reef Entertainment to release Free Running, a game based on the new and exciting sport of the same name, on the PlayStation® 2 and PlayStation® Portable (PSPTM) consoles in March 2007.

I think everyone knows how we feel about this game, but its unstoppable at this point. Urbanfreeflow have worked hard on this little investment over the past 2years or so and will boost them onto a untapped Freeruning market. Sounds good right?
wrong!!
Dont be conned by flash adds and unlockable videos, this whole project is one big promotion for the power mad Urbanfreeflow. What could have been a opportunity to push Le-parkour the lazy gamer market has instead been used as a tool for the likes of adidas to sell more crap!
The thing thats gets us is we really want to play a good Le-Parkour game, with D.Belle and other top guys..but we are all stuck with this!
Have a good look for yourself at.
Freerunning.com

Traning this Sunday

Hello everyone, just wanted to let youz know that this coming sunday Cable and Blake will be trainig in Bordfileds,Edgware from 12pm till late. The Clans been working hard on the upcoming b.p.c.a (more info to come soon) poject,and has not been out and about much, so to all that emailed or txt in over the harfterm brake see you sunday.

Portugal Hosts free Workshop with DB

If you happen to be in Portugal around the 9th February I would definitely advise taking the day off and jumping into a train heading to Lisbon.

Anyone who is interested in a free workshop in a safe environment and being taught by the man himself is welcome to participate.

For more information click here.

Yours Sincerely
Moses Saiyan Kallweit

Austrian Parkour Association
“Parkour by David Belle”

Blanes new vid!! Docendo Discimus

Blanes is a traceur on a mission, the man that sleeps, drinks and eats Parkour. As well as being part of Team Traceur and a member of the upcoming Trace brand (info to come soon)he's one of the people behind a hardcore parkour circit known only as "Hell nights"
somthing us Saiyans as yet havent had the bottle to try out!
All the training has payed off for him, big time as his new video shows.
This vid is one of the best we at Saiyangarden have seen in the new year, and hope he keeps it up.
10/10
Click Here
Cable

Have a look at this..

somthing i found on my travels..take a look!!
Its a move that people just wont leve alone, In the UK it started with the monkey then Blake of Saiyan, uped it to Kong,then the King kong, then the double kong and now...
Clik here

Are flip parkour yes or no? Its an argument that will not die, David Belle himself insists thier not part of his discipline however meny people are confused, aruging he is contradicting himself by demonstrating flips in Adds, Vids and movies. This argument has now manifested its self into the form of a short vid, normaly we wouldnt pay much attenshion to this kind of vid however its got people talking so make of it what you will, Clik here
Cable

Jump Lincoln Video

Good friend of the Saiyans, Dale has been involved in the Lincoln Parkour scene since he left the big city for higher education. Since then he has generated a lot of interest from councils, schools and has set up workshops and classes, raising the profile of Parkour in the area. Despite almost being served with an ASBO and being hounded by local bobbys, his efforts havn't gone unnoticed and have had a mini documentary made about his students and the Lincs Parkour scene.
As the video shows there is some good potiential emerging from this quiet leafy town, and this definately ain't the last we'll hear from Dale aka Mr Tea!

Click Here for vid

New pics in Gallery

Check out the new bunch of old skool pictures added to the Saiyan gallery courtesy of Kiell, the original Parkour photographer.
Link to the Gallery at the top.
Link to Kiell's site on the right. >