Remote training

Remote Training with Ryan Ford

How it works

My remote training/programming/periodization uses the power of email, video analysis, 1-on-1 video coaching calls, Google Drive, and other tech to help optimize your training and keep you accountable, no matter where we are in the world. These tools allow me to constantly learn more about your goals, strengths, and weaknesses, etc, which ultimately allows me to create the best possible programs to help you improve. 

    1. Submit your remote training application.
    2. If/when accepted, we’ll follow up with next steps.
    3. Once fully signed up, we’ll discuss any further questions. We’ll also assign your initial video tests.
    4. When your video tests are done, you’ll receive your first individualized 6-week block of programming and assignments. Alternatively, you may be asked to redo some initial tests before moving forward.
    5. Upon receiving your first 6-week training block, feel free to email any questions or concerns about your training.
    6. After each 6-week training block, we will reevaluate/rewrite for the next 6-week training block.

* Got questions? Email me at: ryan@parkouredu.org

Who’s it for?

Most of the same training principles apply to athletes of all levels, just with different movements, progressions, and/or varying levels of intensity/frequency/volume. Over the past 15 years, I’ve accumulated loads of experience training athletes of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels. Most of the athletes I work with fall into two main categories:

  • High-performance – for athletes who are training for optimal/maximum output, high-level competitions, and/or professional performances and other commercial gigs.
  • Lifestyle – for athletes of all levels who want to learn new skills, improve fitness, and/or live a stronger, more useful life.

What’s included?

  • Email your feedback/questions any time & I’ll respond quickly
  • Personalized programming every 6 weeks (mobility/strength/power focus)
  • Access to self-paced online courses like Parkour 100 Series & Climb-Up Blueprint
  • Weekly/monthly video assignments (skill/sport) + email feedback/analysis
  • Monthly coaching calls and/or private lessons
  • Other deals & discounts on video consults, private lessons, training at Apex School of Movement, & more

Other notes

  • Approved application & 3-month prepaid commitment are required
  • No refunds but you can receive credit or transfer to others
  • Limited spots per month are reserved for APEX/PKEDU athletes, members, & coaches
  • Limited spots per month are open as work-trade opportunities
  • Got questions? Send an email to learn more: ryan@ParkourEDU.org
 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Mushy post alert 🚨 😃 I’m proud of @michaelj.sliger (3rd speed, 8th skill), @tlynncarpenter (6th speed), and @sethjwang (4th speed) for all the hard work they put in this year leading up to @sportparkour’s NAPC7 in Vancouver 🇨🇦 It’s a pleasure working hard with these 3—they have a lit future ahead. ⠀ Over the past 6 months, we programmed and completed ~25 workouts plus lots of extra speed/skill training. Michael, Taylor, and Seth kept at it and maintained good health and spirit through a rigorous training program and competition schedule. Sticking to a long-term plan takes discipline but it’s becoming a prereq for success at high-level parkour comps. Making it to the big event is hard and pushing through fierce competition in the final rounds is even harder. Last weekend at NAPC7, I was impressed by more athletes than ever. The level keeps rising and it’s fun to see. ⠀ Props to Michael who’s quietly becoming one of the fastest, most underrated speed parkour athletes in the world. I’m consistently impressed at his controlled, casual speed runs. His times are often much faster than you think because he makes it look easy. On top of that, he’s been excelling as head coach of @apexlouisville where he consistently helps build a strong base of well-rounded athletes across many movement styles. ⠀ And big ups to Taylor who’s still just 1.5 years into her parkour journey. Crossing over from tricking to speed parkour is a world of difference but her rate of progress has been exceptional. This past year was about building up a sturdy foundation and if she wants to keep at it, the coming seasons will be about filling in a few key skill gaps. Special thanks to her for pushing me as well. We ran so many speed courses together that I got much faster too 💚 ⠀ Lastly, respect to Seth who at a yung 17, showed that he can also hang with the fastest in the world. I love to see his intensity in action and it’s exciting to see him switch on after burners like few others can 🔥 If he wants it, he’ll be back for the podium in future speed events. This upcoming weekend, we also get to see him compete at @worldchasetag finals in London 🇬🇧 🙌🏽 ⠀ #parkourstrength @parkouredu @apexsom

A post shared by Ryan Ford (@ryanmford) on

View this post on Instagram

⚔️2020 I am coming 🏆 • I am really happy to announce that I have officially started my training for the 2020 season, and I have chosen to work with the great @ryanmford for being the best I can possibly be ! I have always looked for a knowledgeable coach but those are very rare to find in parkour. Last year I was working with @ovrhuman but he is too busy this time around. What made me choose to work with Ryan became obvious when I came to his house and saw what he was reading 📖 : Supertraining by Verkhoshansky and Mel C Siff. This book was recommended to me by the sempai @mich.todorovic. I also met some students of Ryan and people that have spent time at the Colorado Parkour community and it seems like 90 percent of the people training there are monsters ! • We started things off by seeing where do I stand in terms of jumping power and overall strength, so here are the results : • Dead Lift : 170 kg • 5 climb up : 10:32” • Broad jump : 291cm • Running box jump : 136 cm • Backsquat : 117,5 kg • I am very underwhelmed by my results, but I have to face the truth of my mediocrity. • I will be posting my progress as time passes. Right now I am very busy with working as an acrobat on a musicale in #Paris So I cannot train as much as I would want, however once I finish on January 5th expect me to turn #UltraInstinct • 💪LETS FUCKING GO ⚔️ • Follow : @blacklistparkour #parkour #strength #weightlifting #anime #tokyo2020 #nevergiveup #athlete #blacklist

A post shared by Valentin Dubois Blacklist (@valentin.blcklst) on

View this post on Instagram

@ryanmford has been putting a lot of work into building his online coaching/programming! He has limited spots, so I’d hit him up soon. ⠀ I always thought parkour was cool, but never thought that I would be able to do it. About a year and a half ago, I finally asked Ryan if he could help me get better at climb-ups (CU) because those seemed the most fun and useful to me. I was coming back from a broken elbow and rib, and felt like it could help me gain some strength back (and build more – being a leg dominant athlete). He designed a special 5-week climb-up intensive program for me which brought me from: ⠀ ~ level 1.5 CU ➡️ level 2.5 CU ~ 5 CUs for time of 61.30 sec ➡️ 16.38 sec ⠀ After my climb-up progress, I felt confident enough to learn more parkour. I was too nervous to train around anyone else so Ryan gave me mini-lessons outside. A couple months later, I ended up competing in a few competitions and doing his power^ program a few times. In the 1.5 year span of training with Ryan, I made some big gains: ⠀ ~ Broad jump 7’11” ➡️ 8’7.5” ~ Box jump 40” ➡️ 51” ~ Multiple weightlifting PRs + overall better technique and confidence ⠀ On top of all the parkour skills I’ve learned, I also learned useful new lifts like power cleans and split squats. Not only did the training with Ryan help me get better at parkour, but I noticed the strength training also translated over to my tricking. I found myself being more confident in my movement and also while teaching parkour. ⠀ I would teach a lot of different acro/tricking classes, but never felt confident enough in my abilities to teach parkour until I spent time training with Ryan. Learning many drills/basics first hand helped expand my knowledge and confidence enough to want to teach others. ⠀ I definitely wouldn’t be the athlete (or person) I am today without Ryan. The thought of other people being able to benefit as much as I do from training with Ryan makes me really happy. You should definitely check it out 🙂 🎶 @logic

A post shared by Taylor Carpenter (@tlynncarpenter) on

"It was super informative and gave me a foundation to start lifting on my own (how often to lift, what weight to lift at, how many reps/sets to do, etc.). I learned a lot. Thanks!"
Dylan Baker 🇺🇸
Parkour speed & skill champion
"The training is super helpful. I'm getting a feel for the process and journey. Something good is going on in the training routine you gave me!"
Boon Chew 🇲🇾
Entrepreneur/mobile developer, Tappollo Media
"I'm loving it. Already seeing improvement in power during my PK sessions."
Guilherme Salamão 🇧🇷
Parkour athlete/coach

View this post on Instagram

🇮🇹 After 6 weeks of remote training/programming work with @pablo_pimazzoni in Verona, Italy, some solid results are in: ⠀ ▫️ Back squat +10 kg ▫️ Broad jump +4 cm ▫️ Running box jump +7 cm ▫️ 5 climb-ups for time -1.7 sec ⠀ I’m excited to see Pablo’s gains in these areas since our main goals at the start were to: 1) rebuild leg strength/mobility and confidence after a knee injury 2) improve explosive jumping/landing power 3) increase climb-up speed & skill 🔥 ⠀ Looking forward to keeping up the momentum in our next 6 week block! ——— @pablo_pimazzoni 🗣 “The back squat was tough but glad I got it. It's the heaviest single rep squat I've done. Would like to retest it at some point to try and get a cleaner rep. My right knee hasn't been a problem at all and I was confident enough to start getting a nice rebound at the bottom of the squat. ⠀ The jumps improved as well, I went up in height with both variations (running box jump & depth jump for height). ⠀ I’ve added a cheeky backflip test. I'm happy I've still got them although I haven't tried them since the knee injury and haven't trained them much in general. ⠀ I definitely think Poliquin step-ups helped. My knee feels a lot better than it did at the beginning of the program. I'm sure the gradual increase in squat weight and confidence helped too. I think it was definitely worth adding to the program 🙂 ⠀ Muscle-ups have improved quite a bit. ⠀ Most times I've managed to get at least one or two level 3 climb-ups on the good side and just below that on the bad side. ⠀ Also I finally got a bit better at demon dips. Not full range of motion yet but getting there. ⠀ Overall it's going well and I'm really happy I can jump and train hard pain free now. Looking forward to a new training block!” ——— #parkourstrength @parkouredu @apexsom

A post shared by Ryan Ford (@ryanmford) on

 
View this post on Instagram
 

I’m fired up to share my Power^Up training program this winter. Building upon my book Parkour Strength Training (link in bio), this latest edition of Power^Up is a product of an absurd amount of research, experimentation, and personal experience as an athlete, coach, and training program writer. Paul Darnell just finished v4.0 of my online Power^Up program and sent me this before & after video plus a bit of testimonial. Thanks @diddydarnell! ▫️▫️▫️ “This the first program I have really committed to completing. I had tried the 15 week jumping program, #AirAlert, back in the day which was just a bunch of plyometrics and I didn’t see the results I expected because I could never finish all 15 weeks. I really enjoyed the simplicity of this 6 week program. Now that I’m a dad, I have very little extra time and these 2 workouts a week were ideal. I still have a lot of room for improvement but I’m happy that I stuck with it and that I did improve. Thanks Ryan!” — Paul “Diddy” Darnell ▫️▫️▫️ Diddy’s final results: Vertical jump: 20″ (.508m) ➡ 22″ (.559m) Broad jump: 8’2″ (2.49m) ➡ 8’6″ (2.59m) Quad jump: 32′ (9.75m) ➡ 34’8″ (10.52m) Box jump: 49.5″ (1.26m) ➡ 51.5″ (1.31m) 5 climb-ups for time: 20.13 sec. ➡ 18.83 sec. ▫️▫️▫️ #ParkourStrength #ParkourEDU #apexmovement #powerup #parkour #freerunning

A post shared by Ryan Ford (@ryanmford) on

"For the first time, I was able to hand over responsibility for my power and strength development to someone more knowledgeable. That relieved a lot of stress in wondering if I was programming workouts correctly."
Lucas Dimoveo 🇺🇸
Parkour athlete
"The pacing was really good. It was hard but not out of my ability and I feel like I am stronger overall now."
Kristine Dietrich 🇺🇸
Parkour style champion
"My one-legged landings and plyo power feel better and more consistent. I feel healthier overall tbh. Knees never hurt now either."
Jacob Carson 🇺🇸
Head parkour coach, Apex San Diego

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

3 years ago at my #ParkourEDU level 1 coaching certification, Jackie Hai couldn’t complete 5 climb-ups (5CUs) in a row. 2 months ago, she managed 5CUs in 61.53 seconds as part of the initial assessments for my online Power^Up training program. 6 weeks later, she recorded a time of 25.6 seconds (58.39% faster). This is the biggest 6-week improvement on the 5CUs for time test that I’ve ever seen. Amazing! Not to mention solid improvements on all her jump tests as well. Great effort Jackie! ▫️▫️▫️ “The results I got from Power^Up exceeded my expectations in all categories. I’ve been practicing #parkour for many years but only recently started weight training, so I was eager to find out how far I could go working with progressively higher weights. After six weeks, it was clear that Ryan’s program is well designed and scalable to all levels of strength, using formulas backed by #sportscience. The prescribed workouts were a great combination of being both easy to follow and physically challenging, with consistent gains week after week. #PowerUp helped me smash multiple plateaus in my parkour training and I would recommend it to anyone looking to improve at any level.” — Jackie Hai ▫️▫️▫️ #BroadJump: 6’2″ (1.88m) ➡ 6’9″ (2.06m) #BoxJump: 37″ (.94m) ➡ 40.5″ (1.03m) #QuadJump: 24’4″ (7.42m) ➡ 26’5″ (8.05m) 5CUs for time: 61.5 sec. ➡ 25.6 sec. ▫️▫️▫️ Music: bensound.com ▫️▫️▫️ #ParkourStrength #apexmovement

A post shared by Ryan Ford (@ryanmford) on

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Quality power training for jump/land athletes need not be complicated but should likely include a mix of training basic mobility, weightlifting, true plyometrics, parkour skills, and jump/land movements specific to your sport. These subjects all have complementary and compounding effects on each other; they all contribute to the multi-disciplinary practice of sustainable, effective power training. ⠀ When in doubt, apply the 80/20 rule to your own jump/land training. What 20% of movements or strategies give 80% of your results? How can you find quality ways to measure/answer this question? Focus on the first principles and keep it simple out there 🙏🏽 ⠀ 💥 link in bio to email sub for updates on my power^ training project for jump/land athletes 💪🏽 @michaelj.sliger @wilderlhatso @tlynncarpenter @_sethwang 📍 @apexlouisville #parkourstrength @parkouredu @apexsom

A post shared by Ryan Ford (@ryanmford) on

FAQ

Q: What do you mean by “individualized” programming?
A: Each program is custom-built and updated for your own personal schedule, goals, strengths, weaknesses, injuries, imbalances, training history, etc. This individualization is key for optimizing your gains and reducing your risk of injury. Every 6 weeks, we will start a new 6-week block of programming that keeps you on the right track to your goals. This new program is based on your feedback, recent progress, current condition, setbacks or good fortunes, time of year/season, etc.

Q: Why focus on mobility, strength, and power?
A: Most of my athletic background and coaching experience is in power sports and strength-based movements. I’ve also been forced to learn a lot about mobility, joint prep, and prehab since my lack of mobility during many decades of team sports and parkour ultimately led to an ankle and knee surgery. For most of the athletes I work with, I consider mobility (active flexibility), strength, and power to be held at a premium above other physical attributes such as flexibility, stamina, and endurance.

Q: What’s up with the application?
A: This helps me get to know you better. It’s hard to write a quality program for someone who you don’t know well. Many of my key coaching/programming decisions are based on your feedback, goals, strengths/weaknesses, recent training, current condition, setbacks or good fortunes, time of year/season, etc.

Q: Why the 3-month commitment?
A: Studies show that you should stick with a training program for at least 4-6 weeks in order to properly gauge your results. There’s always some amount of trial and error that goes into getting to know each athlete and what works best for you. Three months gives us the time we need to make significant progress, build better habits, and hone in on the best styles of training for you.