Upperbody Conditioning for Parkour 

I have been doing this for a good few years now. The good thing about this, is can train anywhere, just be creative and improvise on trees, walls, rails, stairs etc I just enjoy training outside in the sun, rain, snow, hail, day or night.

Thank you for taking the time to explain this. It is appreciated! Zeno

You are correct and it has been pointed out a couple of times about my back arching during lifting the slab.

I started in summer 2006 and right through out the winter in the rain, fog and icy conditions. It toughens you up mentally as well as physically.

Excellent video. Those upperbody workouts are top notch and I'll include them into my workout routine. Im truly grateful.

I am aiming for 30 pull ups in a row, without sacrificing form or kipping my legs. Right now I can hammer out 25 pullups in a row. Keep up the training man and be functionally Strong!

this is exactly the kind of conditioning we use at gymnastics! these certainly helped me very much with my fitness and body tone. I need an excercise wheel and my chinups need work, but definitely the hardest thing is the muscle up. creds to you for managing it!

The best instructional video I've seen so far. Awesome job man, you've inspired me to start training again. Keep up the awesome work, you're amazing!

"what does this work on?" This works chest, shoulders, tricepts, bicepts lats, traps, all secondary and minor stabiliser muscle groups associated with the afore mentioned major groups. The work on the rock wall is the major forearm/grip work out. The clean-jerk-press is for overall power and strength. If your not comfortable doing this outside then any gymnastic club will do 90% of these exersises as standard conditioning. Key component not listed flexibility training!! good work guys!!

To be fit and strong takes longer than a week my friend, but will come in time through hard work and a passion for what you love doing. Zeno

Glad you find this helpful, good luck in your training man!

You are correct in highlighting this my friend. The reason my back is arched was due to me lifting my head back stopping the slab from smacking my face. Thanks for pointing that out though.

thanks man. your videos are gonna help A LOT! me and some of my frnds around town have started gettin into parkour and ive been tryin to get in better shape for it

They will get easier the more you do them. Glad to hear you are gonna keep going.

That is excellent news my friend!! Thanks for letting me know. Cheers Zeno

Thanks a lot. Your video is so much of a motivation to me, it really raises my efforts in training.

Yes I do a lot of hand balance, and you are correct, it is a fun way to build strength.

dude thats amazing. that takes real strength.

thanks so much. all your videos continue to give me inspiration. i'll give it my best.

impressive beyond words, thank you for sharing!

By trying out some of these ideas. Do not expect instant strength, but it will come through practice and dedication. Train well. Zeno

yes I pay a lot of attention to my diet... I am going to write up on my blog about my diet when I get back from France. Cheers Zeno

Awesome strength moves!

WOW! thanks man. i gonna follow ur way of training. Love this video! Totally Motivate Me man!

It is really down to you and your ability... Sometimes I do 10 reps x 5 sets or 10 sets. Sometimes i will just hammer out a high rep like 50. Othertimes I just do reps to failure. and do 3 sets of failure. Listen to your body but push it out of its comfort zone. Keep your routine varied. There is info in my blog, which you will find on my mainpage. Zeno

awesome video man, your conditioning is of a high level man. awesome!

Yes a good 10-15 jog to get the heart rate and body temperature up, followed my warming up my joints doing isolated rotations for that given joint. I would leave stretches for the cool down to reduce lactic acid, Doms and reduce my body temperature too, plus the stretching will aid my flexiblity.

this is hella inspirational. i'm heading to your blog now.

Cheers mate. this will help my parkour and martial arts enourmously! have a good one.

Yes that is true, so have fun. There are plenty of other strengthening exercises that don't involve lifting weights.

Thank alot man. I just started parkour last week im trying to condition myself for it this video helped alot thanks so much again.

Really like this video, as soon as i recover form my pulled muscle in my back i'll try some of these exercises.

these are great!!! i can't really free run, but i'm working on it, especially upper body strength. these look really helpful!!!thx

Great to see you again my friend! Very happy that you're back! Keep it up!

Wow. Really good drills, gave me a lot of new things to try. Thank you

This is an amazing video, great upload and an inspiration on my training. Also a great way to know for me to know how to increase my workout. Thanks.

The tricept is probably one of the most used upper body muscles in Parkour. Great to hear you are now doing muscle ups and better climb ups mate!

I like to keep my reps varied as well as the exercises varied too. On average I do between 6-10 slow reps x 10 sets or 15-20 fast reps. However sometimes I do not count and just do 5 sets to failure. Then sometimes i will just push out a straight 60-70 reps on something like push ups. Othertimes I will set a high number like 400-500, and take as long needed to finish it. If you keep it varied you can tailor your workout to explosive strength, power or endurance.

Awesome video and great exercises!

I personally conditioning twice a week Tuesday (lower body) and a Thursday (upper body), and I do a 2-3 hour sessions. It is important when starting off in Parkour to do your conditioning, to get your strength up. Then when you are strong enough just keep a good balance between your drilling your moves and conditioning. Do not expect results right away, it takes time and discipline.

thanks for this, brother. respect.

yes thanks for help zeno, nice video

Good to hear that Jerris!

dude thank you so much this is really helpful im nearly 17 and can do a few impressive stunts but i really need to be stronger to do everything thanks a bunch keep up the good work

@DotsIdeas you are very welcome! All the best in your training for 2012.

good stuff man. some of the stuff i can really improve on and didnt even know about. tnx.

I have to say this video is one of the best on youtube it goes over a wide range of exercises that are free and you can do anywhere really This is going to help me a lot (Y) I really want to do parkour, but i dont have enough strength yet Plenty training will help haha

Good! Keep up the training!

Our bodies adapt and get stronger at different rates, so just keep practicing man, and you will see and feel the difference sooner than you think. Zeno

Both Lower and upper body strength are important my friend. Lower for jumps, impacts & climbing. Upper for climbing, pulling, pushing, grabing whilst dealing with the body weight. This type of conditioning is also important for saving yourself should you bail, fall or manage to just grab onto something and handle your body weight. Being strong for Parkour is useful for Parkour and helps you to be more resilient against injuries.

Excellent! Some really useful exercises, thanks Zeno! =]

Hats off to you. you look great, . Keep up the good work, from Ireland.

nice vid, wish i seen this a few years back when I was finding excercises.

thanks for aLL the new moves - this should improve me !!

something, in colombia the pull ps infront of the bar are called "Cristos"which traduces Christs, and also there is annother kind of dips, called the "robocops" in which you put your forearm in the paralells (the parallel bars are called paralells, if wrong I'm not) so you have to take them off the parallels by simultaniously lifting your elbows then you do a dip, and when you go down when your elbows are pointing up again, push your forearm to rely at the parallel bars, so they would be on top.

Good to hear it bro, there are a couple of things to think about in my blog, which you can access on my youtube page, about training should you want to read it. Train well, rest well! Zeno

I would say Climb-ups work mainly the Tri-cepts, forearm, pecs shoulders and lats. Pullups, chinups, press ups & muscle ups would work those muscle groups, and benefit your climb-ups. Zeno

Very, very impressing video. I think, it'll help me a lot to improve my Parkour-skills. Keep the good work up!

@MetttyCizzle I dabbled with gymnastics for a few months to improve my form and co-ordination, but I am a Traceur.

What keeps me going is there is always room for improvement, with Parkour and fitness.

Awesome video, just like the rest, you really are getting huge. Keep it up, i'll be sure to give you a link to my next pk video, good luck with your parkour.

Each individual is different so how many and how often depends on that individual. When I started out. I done upperbody on Tuesday and Lowerbody on Thursday with a days rest in between. With exercises of 3 sets of 11 reps. Or it may have been just a big round number +1 like 51, 101, 151, 201... and just spend the session completing that final target. The idea is you try and beat your own best and through progressional overload over time along with lots of changing exercises.

Thank you.

thanks for the advice.

Like anyone starting off, I had to build up to this and beyond. Each person is different so giving you reps and set targets is really down to you. Sometimes I do 10 reps x 5 sets or 10 sets. Sometimes i will just hammer out a high rep like 50. Othertimes I just do reps to failure. and do 3 sets of failure. Listen to your body but push it a little. Keep your routine varied.

Same to you too man!

yes, you are right.

Thank you

To be honest your body is still young and developing bro, so be careful not to do anything too heavy or intense. It will develop stronger over time, months and years. So just enjoy your training and you will become strong. Yes rest is essential for your muscles and overall body to repair, recover and grow stronger. If you train too much with little or no rest you will either injure yourself or see no improvement at a given stage in your training. Be patient and enjoy your training. Zeno

lots of pull ups, chin ups and wall climb ups will help you. It may take time, but it will come. Also try doing negative/inverted muscle ups. Where you start from the muscle up position and lower yourself down, so you get use to holding your weight and the movement involved.

Good to hear that dude

Awesome Stuff. You have heart. Keep it up !

Chin ups work your bicepts and push generally work the tricept, pecs and deltoids. so work on progressional overload on push ups, pull ups or on any other muscles you want to strengthen. Start off with a small goal like 3 a day, then next week try and achieve 5 and up the reps through time or increase your weight thru heavy backpack or weighted vest

wow, looks like it can really do you good for PK. Dude u do so many reps, its amazing

thank's a lot for the tips! man!

unfortunately I can't train at the moment due to "Osgood Schlatters Disease" and i can't do anything like squatting (basically it hurts if my knee is bent and there is weight on it) so it's painful to use stairs & i was recommended this video, i was doing most of the stuff already but it still helped, thanks -Risky

By conditioning the body, it will help towards increasing your strength in Parkour and Free Running. However you really need to do lots of technique repetition on your Parkour/Free Running movements too. It is good to be mentally and physically strong, and for me... Conditioning and drilling techniques helps me to improve, even though I still have a long way to go, i feel I am progressing a good steady pace for my body and mind. Good luck in your training my friend!

It is very important to give your body time to rest and repair after an intensive workout, like a days rest. Otherwise you will burnout and feel weak. That is why I do a split routine (upper and lower body).

question: the varied kinds of pushups in the beginning...can i just do that like everyday for conditioning?

I would rather just share ideas, as we all have different strengths, and so putting a number on the sets and reps should be down to the individual. However i do appreciate you input! Cheers Zeno

thx dude u inspired me xD i ll continue training

Wery good thinking :) So true, at least if you workout hard like this guy. Jumps, balance and presition is for everyday practise (sry about all misspelling)

@jimi1999uk I don't wear earings... The bars are in Kelvingrove Park at the back of the Botannic Garden's. Cheers Zeno

each different kind of pressup (handpositioning, like wide, center, straight, above) has it's own safe range of motion. some kinds are easy only in the top half but start to hurt close to the floor, and vice versa. only go to the -edge- of where it feels comfortable with that type, and then move your hands for the next range. the shoulder joint is a ball joint so it rotates, while the elbow just bends in a line. when you go down, the shoulder starts to rotate the elbow to one side, which -bends-

Between 1 to 2 hours is ideal with little or no breaks. Of course you can stop for breath but try and keep up the intensity, and finish what you set out to do.

man, you really great! RESPECT from RUSSIA

Keep changing your routine, keep it varied, be creative and even incorporate conditioning into your parkour circuits. If you do the same exercise all the time, you may become bored, not improve as fast or just plateau in your strength.

Very nice video. Haha I wish we had trees like that around here!

Will do so. thnx much

I agree to some extent, but abs are very useful when maintaining balance, or recovering from a near fall during a handstand. L-sits would definitely help you do the Flag, arguably one of the heaviest static moves in PK.

I do not know if there is a name for that pushup, where the tips of your fingers are facing your toes. I find it helps to work the forearms, tricepts, pecs and shoulders, and I feel it is a hard but great type of pushup that would benefit wall climbs in Parkour.

Hey Jamie, Try and start off with your knees and shins on the floor, and practice until you have the technique and balance. ANext you could do it the way i was but don't go out as far, and the more you improve the further you can do it, until you are almost parallel with the floor when you go out from your feet.

hey thanks for this, I got some good ideas from it. i live in the country though, so I won't be able to find some of the bars and stuff to use...But i'll make do..

Aim for 3 deep dips the next time man, and in time... Up it to 5 then 10. It just takes practice and a build up of strength which will come the more you train but with proper rest too. Good luck Bro and train well! Zeno

very good video...it really helps u improving your strength:D thx 4 posting this video...best regards man:D

zeno ! :D Rate:399 ratings You have already rated.Views: 103,991 your going to up and up all time :)!!! Good work!

Cheers man! There are good guys at Coatbridge too, near you. Zeno

hay can somoane tell me a strengh program you know to do it every day for all parts of the body

wat combo of grip width and direction would give my lats the best work out? This is to help my climb ups, if the lats arent the right muscles to be working which ones should i be focusing on? Thx in advance

Once a week is fine or twice week doing upperbody one day and then lower body on another day with at least a days rest in between.