Breaking fitness part1

Bboying Fitness


I’ll take you through a bit of my journey. How I got started with working out what fitness was required, the interim period and where I’m at now.
When I first started out I was clueless. So I read up on fitness a bit.

I realised I needed to warm up properly, stretch and complement breaking with other activities(not necessarily true). I walked about 3 or 4 miles a day, did Kung fu, trained (Bboying) 3 to 4 times a week, did handstand pressups, sit ups, used a punch bag daily and did weights. It went fine.

Then things changed a bit. I left uni. Met other bboys that didn’t warm up and stretch well, got into bad habits and things went backward. A word of advice, if I am able to give it, is forget what others are doing. If you feel the need to warm up in your own way, do it your own way. If you want to stretch longer, do it. You’ll soon learn to know your body, in fact warming up, stretching and complimentary exercise will help you increase that physical self awareness key to breaking and Bboying fitness.

I also further slipped up. I got an office job (NOOO!), got injured (dislocated shoulder, tightened tendons in wrists, dislocated fingers, damaged knuckles, stretched ligaments in shoulder. The list goes on and on). Some of the injuries on the list, particularly the stretched ligaments and finger, were to do with breaking outside, in the cold, without warming up. I was with some international bboys and wanted to get stuck in(didn’t warm up- was freezing!). Bad move. Once again, do it your way. Always warm up.

So. Things to do- warm up, stretch, train hard, warm down/stretch and compliment breaking with something else; core stability training, weights, another sport. It all helps. Oh, and train hard and often. The more you train the fitter you’ll become and you’ll also reduce the risk of further injury. (lots of injuries happen when a Bboy/Bgirl tries a new move that has not been done before- tries it hard and fucks up hard- then they get injured).

For further info check out the sections on fitness, core training and stretching. Also check out the links below:

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/abdominalcorestrength1/a/NewCore.htm

the first steps- how and where to learn

The first step in BBoying/Breakdancing- where/how to learn

I often get asked this. Questions pop up about how long I’ve been learning and who taught me etc. I don’t think the key to becoming a dope Bboy or Bgirl is through one set mold. Unfortunately, we all learn in different ways so its hard to advise on one thing- however I’ll try!

I started way back, I was young and felt bad entering the only group class in my area. Looking back I think this was a bad choice. Group classes don’t offer much time for the essence of Bboying, creativity, however they are ideal for picking up the basics, meeting people your own standard (and those above your standard) and for general inspiration. My drawback to when I started was nothing physical (although I did have tendon and muscle damage in my right arm- but forget about that)- the things that stood in my way where all in my mind.

So, in general, the newbie should attend classes. If they prefer one to one, or smaller groups then that is also an option. Try to block out thoughts that you aren’t a ‘real’ Bboy or Bgirl or that you aren’t as good as the next man. It doesn’t matter. Bboying is all out the art form, there is an element of competition in Bboying, but harness the good because if you always think negative about yourself, the state of your breaking and whether you are or aren’t a ‘real’ breaker then you won’t go far.

So, coupled with the approach of attending classes, you should adopt a ‘Bboy’ attitude. What I mean by this is not saying, wearing or doing anything different. Just going out to do the best you can, training hard, listening to the music and learning as much as possible. Join a class, have fun and start killing it on the local scene! Peace..

Starting Breakdancing

Getting started Breakdancing

Everyday I get emailed asking me for tips, lessons and advice on Breakdancing. So, it took me a while (I'm a bit slow!) but thought it better to just write some thoughts, ideas, breaking tips and advice all down in one place. Viola- enter this blog!

There are plenty of reasons why people get started learning breakdancing. Physically, it helps with strength, coordination, flexibility and socially you can meet lots more people and occasionally, if you stick at it, impress your mates, randomers and other bboys and bgirls alike.

There are also plenty of places to see Breaking. Classes, youtube, clubs, adverts, dance competitions etc. This leads me onto the question- why don’t people just start learning? Well, I’m not sure I can really answer that, so I’ll just try my best to fill this blog with useful information and the newbees/wannabees and improvers out there can come here as a reference point if they need info.. (provided you find the blog in the first place!).

Why and when I started

I made the choice, and it really is a choice, to start breaking after seeing a small demo of a bboy doing some basic moves. I’d never seen any before, barring the RUN DMC video way back in the 90s- and there was no YouTube back then- so it was all pretty fresh and unbelievable for me. I saw it and was like’ Yep, that’s the thing for me- I’m going to learn that’. That’s the attitude I had back then, surprising I thought that as my arm was bound up (and had been for over a year) as I’d had a pretty serious injury to it. Anyway, that’s the moment I got started,… and I haven’t stopped since!