Bodyweight Training in NYC

By Al Kavadlo | Published: March 7, 2011

Last week I got the chance to meet up with Mike Fitch and Rebecca Evans from GlobalBodyweightTraining.com while they were in town visiting New York City.

I took them to Tompkins Square Park, where we played around with some parkour moves, including animal crawls and vaults. We also had fun with other bodyweight exercises like muscle-ups and hand balancing.

It’s a pleasure to get to train with such skilled bodyweight technicians. We had a good time and a great workout!

Go to GlobalBodyweightTraining.com to see additional photos from our session and watch the video below for more. Special thanks to Karen Mahar for shooting and editing this video.

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    • http://www.lainspotting.com Lawmune

      That looks so fun! Are the animal crawls Ginastica Natural, or something similar?

    • http://primaljournal.com/ jp

      Nice. Sounds like they are into movnat-style training.

    • http://www.AlKavadlo.com/ Al Kavadlo

      Ginastica Natural is a brand name; these movement patterns have been around since the time of pre-historic man.

      Now that I got my rant out of the way, yeah – it’s a lot of fun! :)

    • http://www.AlKavadlo.com/ Al Kavadlo

      Movement is movement – people can call it whatever they want. Although I do like movnat’s whole “human zoo” concept.

    • Trevor

      Cool looking workout. Kind of wish I had a similar park around but I guess I’ll just have to work out on the kids playground. lol

    • http://www.lainspotting.com Lawmune

      Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply you were doing Ginastica Natural or any other specific brand/system of “natural movement” fitness. I just thought a few of the warm-up movements looked similar (based on YouTube vids I’ve seen; I’ve never done GN myself or seen it in person), or maybe they are capoeira-inspired? (From his blog, I saw that Mike Fitch has some experience in capoeria).

    • http://www.AlKavadlo.com/ Al Kavadlo

      No biggie, Lawmune – I am sure a lot of the movements are similar. One thing that I notice as I explore more styles of training is the similarities between them all. The same basic movement patterns can be seen in every style from martial arts to parkour to yoga to calisthenics to gymnastics to whatever you want to call it. They are all just different forms of bodyweight training. It’s all good!

    • http://www.AlKavadlo.com/ Al Kavadlo

      Thanks, Trevor! No matter where you are, you can work out – fitness is everywhere!

    • http://www.lainspotting.com Lawmune

      Well said! I think Bruce Lee meant the same thing when he explained:

      “Before I learned the art, a punch was just a punch, and a kick, just a kick.
      After I learned the art, a punch was no longer a punch, a kick, no longer a kick.
      Now that I understand the art, a punch is just a punch and a kick is just a kick.”

    • Mike

      haha, I love that! It’s all in our design. Movement integrates, not isolates. Same should be true with training styles and disciplines.

    • http://www.AlKavadlo.com/ Al Kavadlo

      I agree, Mike!

      And nice Bruce Lee quote, Lawmune.

    • Dragonmamma/Naomi

      Looks like good fun, monkey boy!

    • http://thorfalk.wordpress.com Thor Falk

      That’s really awesome stuff. Where can I learn about those floor movements? They rock!

    • http://www.AlKavadlo.com/ Al Kavadlo

      Thanks, Thor! Like I always say, the best way to learn new things (an exercise, a musical instrument, a new language, etc.) is in person with a qualified instructor. Having said that, there are tons of resources on the internet (including this website!) that have tutorials on these and other unconventional bodyweight exercises. Have you seen my blog on crawling? It’s hyperlinked in the text of this post.

    • http://www.AlKavadlo.com/ Al Kavadlo

      Ooooh! Ooooh! Ooooh! (That’s me making monkey noises.)

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