The Harder you work the more Lucky you get.

Los Angeles is awesome. There are so many opportunities in this town and not just the acting kind. Recently I was invited to go train with a group of stuntmen at a training school as well as having a little fun at the Tempest Freerunning Academy.  I love doing stunts, I do them all the time for free just to entertain my friends while hopped up on Redbull, or for acting roles and to just plain test my skills. It seems to come natural because I'm part monkey. That being said I jumped on the opportunity to go train it with like mined individuals. I arrived at Bob Yerke's House around 10am. At first this place just looks like a junkyard with some busted looking Winnebagos parked everywhere. I made my way to the back yard and was surprised to see trampolines, ladders with high dive boards, and a group of people throwing themselves off of cargo containers on to crash pads. I was STOKED! We stared out stretching and limbering up then went right into some fight choreography. A few punches and then throwing your opponent over your shoulder was on the menu. Learning how to do these things in a way that keeps both stunt people safe while making it look real on camera was much different than I previously thought. Next up we put a trampoline next to a big pad and ordered us to all run, front flip off the tramp, land and roll out like we'd been shot. That led to launching off the tramp and onto the backs of two other stunt people then jumping through windows (no glass, haha) from all different angles. This was great. I was around people who loved to flip and jump off trampolines and fake fight scenes. Pretty much it was a group of adults doing what we all did as kids. After about 4hrs we were all done and I was dead tired...but still stoked to be there. I said my goodbyes/thanks and headed straight to the gym. Not to work out though, HA! I went to the gym to soak my sore body in the hot tub. I was gonna need it because in a few days I would be headed to the Tempest gym.

If you've never heard of Parkour or Free-Running you should definitely do a youtube search. 

Wednesday came around and I was ready to go check out this Free-running gym I had heard so much about. This place is pretty much like a skatepark but for parkour/free-running, Think Skatepark meets gymnastics gym. This place was located in Northridge CA. It's open gym from 7-10 and cost $10 to do whatever you want with your time. They have floors that are springy and somewhat soft so if you want to try a trick you're unsure of the risk is much lower since you can pretty much bust your ass and just land on a padded floor. Some parts of the gym have hard floors and are set up like a city street. There are foam pits that you can hurl yourself into from a 12 foot drop or just go straight from a trampoline into the pit if you really want to fly high and not worry about the impact. Needless to say I found myself running full speed off the edge of the 12ft drop and practicing flips of all sorts. This was the perfect place to raise your skill level by taking your tricks from foam pit - to padded floor -  to real floor. With the padded floors I was able to a pop vault to front flip. It's crazy because I did it 1st try but would not have known I could do it if I didn't have the safety of the pads. Just goes to show we are all capable of doing things we previously thought we didn't have the skills to do.

I packed up my things, said a few goodbyes, and left with some new skills and a few new buddies. 

This week has been really fun. I met some awesome people, learned new skills, and had a blast while doing it. I don't know where this road will take me but it's making me happy so it's gotta be good. A wise man once said, "There is no way to happiness, Happiness is the way." I love that. I also love my life and this place called EL-Aye.

Oh and Check out the Tempest Gym: www.tempestacademy.com and watch this video for a look at the gym.