So...I've been Level 1 since 2015?

I’m not sure how, but I didn’t remember finishing my Level 1 assistant coaching hours.

According to the ADAPT Team, I must have, because they’ve had this sitting in their database since March 18, 2015:

I learned about this last week Monday during an email exchange with them. My original reason for reaching out to them was lately, I’ve felt a call to share parkour with other people again, and I wanted to discuss with them how to redo my Level 1 certification without any nearby Level 2 coaches (you need a Level 2 to supervise your 10 required assistant coaching hours after the course).

Now that I know I don’t need to redo the Level 1, the natural next step is the Level 2.

But I was scared to go for it…at first.

I’d spent February 2024 → February 2025 building a business called Social QA where I teach sales, marketing, content writing, and of course, software testing & test automation skills to testers and career changers. I’d made some big strides and was in the middle of planning for a relaunch of my first successful course with additional learning content at double the price per seat.

It was a “sunk-cost” situation where I felt like I shouldn’t just drop it to pursue a goal I’d abandoned 10 years ago. I’d leave money on the table, the students would be disappointed, and I had a lot of room to grow into new kinds of course content, products, and services.

But the more I thought about it, the more none of that mattered.

I still felt a fire burning in my chest from the old days. It never went away, I’d just stuffed it down in order to chase a lucrative career. I’d done well for myself earlier than most people my age. Not too well, of course — I still have plenty of debt and am by no means “rich” — but I’m not in the “broke college student” days anymore. I’m making “big boy” money now in a “fancy tech job”.

As I write this, I’m about to fly to Mexico for my first international offsite and meet team members from around the globe. The boy who eagerly signed up for the ADAPT Level 1 course at Parkour Ways in Chicago would not recognize the man blogging while waiting to board a 4AM flight to Cancún “for work”.

I’m comfortable now and in a position of leverage. I’ve acquired skills that may not have anything to do with parkour, but are useful for building a community and a coaching practice.

With this newfound confidence, I reached out to the local YMCA and asked about their interest in starting to offer parkour classes like the Y in La Crosse and Sheboygan currently do — and like the Waukesha Y did back when I was still in college.

They told me they were calling around to look into how that would be covered by insurance, and to learn about the other programs. It’s been about a week. These things probably take time and I’m in no rush.

Right now I’ve got my hands full trying to lose 20 lbs. of body fat.

Back in 2022, I weighed a grand total of 255 lbs., and I injured my patellar tendon by not clearing a picnic table when doing a kong vault. I waited 7 months to get help, and during that time I lost about 10 lbs on my own. but I plateaued and my knee injury was so debilitating I couldn’t even walk up stairs without pain.

Thankfully I started working at Trek and they had a free physical therapist on-site. Through collaboration with him, their nutritionist, their strength coach, and their clinical staff, I was able to lose 30 lbs. more. I gained 10 back, but it was mostly muscle.

Been hovering around 225 lbs. for almost 2 years now. Never gained the other 20 back.

This was Day 1 of what I could call “Phase 2” of that weight loss journey:

And I already know this is gonna be a ride, because I’ve been through this before.

But I haven’t been the weight I’m aiming for since, well, 10 years ago. So there’s a lot of imposter syndrome around this goal.

I refuse to quit, though, and I’ve already completely turned off the business and begun surrounding myself with helpful nutrition & exercise information, and people I trust to guide me to the promised land.

This is only Step 1 of my big plan, Step 2 of which is going to involve starting to coach or assistant-coach in some capacity. Not gonna get too specific about that until I know what my options are.

But while I’m losing fat, I’ll be dusting off my parkour technique and aiming for new strength PRs.

Let’s go 🔥