AarhusParkour trip to Valencia

A bit late upload. But anyway, here is the Valencia video we all have been waiting for... :)
For better quality go visit Streetmovement.com

A nice day out

Hey! What a wonderful day this has been. After school, I hurried back to my place to get a quick lunch and some fresh water i my bottle, because the weather was just phenomenal today! 21 degrees and no clouds what so ever. I did not push myself to the limit today, just chilling around and enjoying the abundance of life.
I'd also get to try out my new shoes (Which is not actually a shoe, but more of a sandal).
They're pretty special, and they look strange to, but they are very good to practice the feeling or the "touch". Normally I prefer barefoot though, but this is a great alternative if my feet are sore.
My feet are really beginning to get strong, due to all my barefoot training. I usually go to school barefoot too if it's warm enough outside.

Pictures of the day :)








I have made myself a goal which is that I MUST challenge myself EVERY day in some way or another. I MUST push myself beyond my comfort zone to regain my former level as quickly as possible. But of course, I must also consider my current level of strength in order not to damage or injure myself. From this moment on, I will always be healthy.

My diet is coming up really good! I have made some huge changes regarding my food intake - in order to gain optimal power and health. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have studied this issue in a long time now, but it's just SO huge. I dedicate myself to this study because I find it important to constantly better myself and learn the TRUTH about all things, because we are constantly being tricked into believing things that brings us no good. If you want to get shocked and learn more about the truth of nutrition, start here: http://www.westonaprice.org/

What a wonderful life.

Training at Gerlev Streetmovement Park


This weekend has certainly been a weekend to remember! The weather has just been phenomenal, and the training at the Steetmovement park was just awsome! I LOVE THAT PLACE! Thank you guys for a nice weekend..!

Peter and Mikkel


This place is paradise. Three meals are served every day in the kitchen so we don't have to think about buying food.
For the fist time in a LONG time, I pushed my training a little bit to see if my body was able to withstand the pressure. It did, and I'm just so happy that I'm able to train again. Thank you, thank you!
Tilby and Thais chilling




Me and Peter hugs for the camera.



















Good luck Seb! I wish you all the best
with you rehabilitation..!

Raw Eggs for life

If you have ever watched some of the old Rocky movies you would probably remember how he eats his eggs raw :)
In my search for my own optimal diet, I have stumbled across the idea of eating raw eggs.
Yes you heard me, raw eggs!
The health benefits from eating raw eggs are phenomenal, and much healthier than eating cooked eggs because cooking changes the chemical three dimensional shape of protein which can easily lead to allergies. They are also a great source of protein and fat, and are quite inexpensive compared to organic meet or fish.
Another great thing about eating raw eggs is, that you don't have to cook the them and therefore a real time-saver! (Especially after training!)

Now, like myself, the first question people ask is: "Won't you get salmonella if you eat raw eggs?"
Salmonella is of course a serious infection, but not many people know the risk of getting it.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture earlier this year published an analysis on this subject http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12022671?dopt=Abstract showed that only one of every
30,000 eggs are contaminated with salmonella. This shows that the risk is actually quite low, and the experiment was made with conventionally farmed eggs too, which means that if one eats organic eggs the risk virtually disappears.

I personally eat two raw organic eggs every morning, and then some more after training if necessary. I do also take my precautions and always carefully analyze the egg before consuming it. This is the guidelines given by Dr. Mercola on www.mercola.com

Guidelines To Ensure That You Are Consuming Fresh High- Quality Eggs

1. Always check the freshness of the egg right before you consume the yolk.

2. If you are uncertain about the freshness of an egg, don't eat it. This is one of the best safeguards against salmonella infection.

3. If there is a crack in the shell, don't eat it. You can easily check for this by immersing the egg in a pan of cool, salted water. If the egg emits a tiny stream of bubbles, don't consume it as the shell is porous/contains a hole.

4. If you are getting your eggs fresh from a farmer it is best to not refrigerate them. This is the way most of the world stores their eggs; they do not refrigerate them. To properly judge the freshness of an egg, its contents need to be at room temperature. Eggs that are stored in the fridge and opened immediately after taking them out will seem fresher than they actually are. Eggs that you want to check the freshness of should be kept outside the fridge for at least an hour prior to opening them.

5. First, check all the eggs by rolling them across a flat surface. Only consume them if they roll wobbly.

6. Open the egg. If the egg white is watery instead of gel-like, don't consume the egg. If the egg yolk is not convex and firm, don't consume the egg. If the egg yolk easily bursts, don't consume the egg.

7. After opening the egg you can put it up to your nose and smell it. If it smells foul you will certainly not want to consume it.

If you would like to start eating eggs ROCKY-STYLE, your body must adapt to it.
DON'T eat a whole raw egg if you have never done it before. Start out small with about a half teaspoon of egg yolk the first 3 days, and then gradually increase it.

Raw egg is THE SHIT!!! :)


Sources:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/11/13/eggs-part-two.aspx

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12022671?dopt=Abstract

Nutrition an physical degeneration by Weston A. Price

Limited Knowledge

I feel really energetic at the moment! I've found out that my knowledge about a lot of things has been far more limited than I thought it was (especially about nutrition and the foods we eat).


I've come to realize that much of the foods we eat today are pretty much poisoning our bodies to the degree that we have ended up in an obesity epidemic! No place in history, have people ever been more sick, fat, tired and stressed out than today, and still people keep on living their lives in the search for happiness and fortune. How many do you know that have cancer? Or how often do you hear in the media that someone died from cancer? You may think these so called degenerative diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes to be normal because it's so common today.


- Did you know that almost none of the primitive native tribes around the world (before touched by white man), did not even have a name for cancer? And that many of them lived to be far more than 100 years of age? It’s a fact that they very rarely suffered from diseases and many of them maintained their level of strength far longer than we consider as normal today.


Well, I didn’t know neither, and it surprised me quite a lot that everywhere white mans food was introduced to these native tribes, they began to suffer from exactly the same diseases found in the western society such as cancer and heart disease.

Thank God for our modern high-tech medicine then!!
Isn't it strange that we today got some of the most advanced, super-technological equipment, ever known to man - and still MORE people die from degenerative diseases such as cancer each year? Did you know that doctors are THE LEADING cause of death in the United States today? If you do not believe me go to http://www.mercola.com/ and type in "cause of death" in the search field, and you will find research and article supporting this issue.

As I said, I thought I knew quite a lot about nutrition and what’s generally good and bad for people to eat. We all know the recommended food pyramid. What it says is basically that if you want to stay healthy - you should eat most of the stuff in the bottom, (like bread, grains, pasta and rice) and avoid as much as possible the stuff presented in the top (like meat, poultry, fish, fats, cheese and milk). In the middle we got the vegetable and fruit group.
So what it basically says is that you should eat lots of carbohydrates and minimize you intake of protein and fat. FAT FAT FAT.. !! Stay away from that stuff or it will kill ya!

- Did you know that the native Eskimos lived of a diet containing approximately 90% fat and protein, and 10% carbohydrate?

- That the Massai people in Africa lived of only meat, blood and really fat milk?

- That the native Swiss thrived on a diet based on butter, fat milk and meat. They occasionally ate rye bread - but with chese-slices just as large as the slice of bread!!!

Now, how the hell does that fit in with the food pyramid? What do you think your doctor would tell you, if you told him you were eating like that? - He would certainly tell you that you are eating yourself into your own grave and you will have a heart attack if you do not change your diet.

Now think about it. If you were an Eskimo, how do you think you would feel if you diet suddenly changed to 70% carbohydrates and 30% protein and fat? I’m sure you will fell unsatisfied after every meal you ate, and in no time become seriously ill, because your body is not designed to feed on mainly carbohydrate.

The thing that I have come to realize is that there is no such thing as a “one diet fits all”...
We are all different and need different amounts of carbs, fats and protein.
Some people do very well on a diet based on 70% carbohydrate and 30% fats and protein.
And that’s why there is so much confusion in the field of dieting today because some do well on some diets and some do not - and they do of course always point out the good cases when marketing their new super miracle diet and exclude the bad. Everybody have their own unique needs for food, and one mans diet can literally be another’s poison.


So what do we see today?
The fattest and sickest people ever walked on this planet.
Doesn’t it make you wonder?
Something is clearly totally wrong! This is just one aspect of the whole picture.

I found that there is SOO much to learn out there. Not just about nutrition but in every aspect of life. This makes me want to learn more about everything and seeking the truth.
So I read books and search the internet for valuable information, now with a critical eye.

If you are interested in finding out more about this topic called METABOLIC TYPING,
I strongly encourage you to read “The metabolic typing diet” by William Walcott
You can also find great articles and guides on http://www.mercola.com/ which is one of the oldest and biggest health-sites on the net that encourage real knowledge based on proper research.


Good luck with working on your health..


Thomas Videbæk



Sources:

Modern Health Care System is the Leading Cause of Death, Part I - by By Gary Null PhD, Carolyn Dean MD ND, Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD, Dorothy Smith PhD

http://www.healingourchildren.net/food_nutrition_health.htm

http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/price/price3.html

The Metabolic Typing Diet by William Walcott

Eat Move and Be Healthy by Paul Chek

http://www.mercola.com//

Stretching for optimal performance?

Why should you do stretching? Do you really know why you should stretch? And if so, which kind of muscles are important to be stretched?

Today there is a big discussion going on at the subject. Some say that stretching is good for you and can prevent injury because muscles don't snap when they are longer and more flexible.
This has been the general view for a long time now.
Recently some scientists and has come up with the idea that stretching doesn't reduce injury or even make things better. They say that it's not worth the effort and hard work, when there's no need after all.

For many athletes, this is just what they wanna hear when they're sweating their but of trying to get their splits. They stop their stretching completely and from that point only rely on strength training.
In my oppinion, if you are an athlete and want to prevent yourself from getting injured, YOU HAVE TO STRETCH. People often migrate towards activities they are good at, and I know lots of people who’s not very flexible say "That's no problem, it doesn't really matter anyway". But it does.

There are of course many different approaches and different kinds of sport which all have their different demands on how flexible an athlete should be. ex. a gymnast require a higher flexibility than a soccer player but still the soccer player still have to stretch some muscles if he want to stay in the game. The demands of flexibility of the soccer player is obviously much smaller that it is of a gymnast and the soccer player doesn't have to master full splits !


In other words peoples flexibility demands are different and we don't all need the flexibility of a yoga master. You do, however still need a certain level of flexibility, which many people lack, in order to prevent injuries, balancing your body, and to obtain a nice posture. On top of that, you will, as a traceur, achieve grace and beauty in your movements, which I think is something that has been forgotten by many peolpe today.

There are still some people out there performing their stretches - which is good.
Unfortunately, many of them don’t know much about the basics and keeps on doing the same exercises they’re used to.
In order to prevent injury, there should be a balance between these to basic kinds of muscles.


Tonic (postural muscles)
Phasic (mover muscles)


These two differs in the way they are used. When exposed to faulty loading they react opposite of each other. The Tonic muscles become hyperactive or workaholics and tend to tighten and become shorter. The Phasic muscles do the opposite, they become longer and weaker when exposed to the same kind of stress (which is just as bad as muscles that are too short).

An example of the tonic muscles is the hamstrings, neck, shoulders, chest and both calf muscles - they often tend to tighten
An example of Phasic muscles is the abdominals (specially the deep ones), the butt and the hips - they often tend to weaken
Muscles always work together in groups and never in isolation!!!
That means that if one muscle is too tight, it will dominate the others in the group and disrupt the natural movement of the joint and create an imbalance in the body.

Paul Chek makes a great comparison in his book "Eat, move and be healthy" where he compares a muscle imbalance to a bent and unstable wheel. Imagine the stress of riding a bicycle with such a wheel. It will get the wheel to fall apart in the long run.
If you want to ride you bicycle with a balanced wheel, you must tighten the loose muscles and loosen the tight ones. It's as simple as that.

I very often see traceurs with bad posture, and if your not one of them - you probably know one or seen one in a video.
Bad posture is a result to muscles imbalances in the body.
If you have bad posture, you muscles can’t effectively pump fluids through your body which will certainly leed to injury in the long run. Especially for a traceur who frekvently puts his body under big pressure!

The point with this is article is simply, to make people understand the importance of stretching and that stretching should be something prior to strenght! It means that if are stiff as a board - you should strongly consider doing more stretches that strenght to balance out your unstable wheel of a body.
You cannot build anything strong on a weak foundation!
Stretching should not be a burden - and you don’t have to be a yoga-master. You should just pay extra attention to the muscles in your body that are really tight - not just your legs.


Muslces that are often forgotten are: Neck, chest, shoulders, back, abdominals, lower back, hips, groin, calfs, butt, IT bands, harmstrings and quads.

Try to incorporate some new stretches, and don’t get the habit to only do the ones you’re good at. The tighter the muscle is - the more it’s proberbly in need to be stretched!


Sources: “How to eat move and be healthy” by paul check
“What to Stretch – What to Strengthen” by Stephen Holt

Okay.
I did not get any better at Christmas as I hoped, though it seemed as if I was following the right path to recovery. Unfortunately the acupuncture didn’t work out as planned which was quite a blow and a big disappointment for me. Anyway I found that using needles are good for some things like sickness and pain - but it’s like a superficial healing in many cases, and does not treat the underlying problem which was exactly my case. I will say that it still helped me in some level, but it’s now clear to me that I would never be able to fully recover through acupuncture.

So, once again I went in the “search-mode” to find someone who could help me. And then I stumbled across a guy I was recommended by one of my best friends Anders. I must say I was quite withholding with this guy due to my last experience but after all I decided to call him to make an appointment and then hope for the best once again. One of the reasons I did call him was the fact that he actually had a long education in anatomy, physiology and biochemistry which is knowledge about the smallest and tiniest processes that happends within the body. On top of that, he had about 30 years of experience which i considered quite promising.

I met him in Skanderborg a monday evening, an was really surprised that he as the first one actually could explain what was wrong and what I thought sounded reasonable. I was highly impressed by the fact that just by looking at my feet, he could tell that my back was in very bad condition beacuse my toes wasn’t straight. He asked me if i’d had somekind of a whipsplash as a child and noted that in had happened aproximately 13-14 years ago, which was totally correct!
He placed me in different positions so my father could se that my back was S-formed (sideways), and that my spine was popping out away from the stomach. I found that really weird that non of the other “Specialist” and doctors I have visited during the last year haven’t noticed anything! Especially the Chiropractor who I thought was a master in spines!
Anyway, the crazy thing about this visit was, that I only did a few exercises and THEN MY SPINE HAD MOVED 1-1,5 centimeters back into my body. I know this because I often wondered about why my spine was so far out and others wasn’t. It was crazy suddently to feel muscles surounding it. A week later my toes has grown a bit longer and my spine are just in line, which it's surposed to..!

If I had not found him, and if I had continued my training, I would end up with two slipped discs. The pain I had experienced was simply inevitable because my body had been more’n more worse in 13 years. That's why acupuncture couldn't help me.

If anybody should be interested in this guy, you can find him on www.aktivform.dk
His name is Per Gjeding. He’s a little expensive, but he’s worth all the money !!!
( You could visit him for a check, that everything in your body runs as it’s supposed to)


It seems like my search has finally ended, but it will take some time to recover to normal beacause it has been wrong for so long. I just have to make my exercises and balance out some muscles on my back, and take the time it needs, though it’s still hard not to go crazy. with my training. This time it feels right!



I’m off to Valencia next weekend for training with some friends, and Im possibly going to catch fome footage too. I can’t wait.. :)

-Thomas