Team Kinetix Media

I know this blog has been very quiet lately, all of my focus has been on Team Kinetix this year.
I'm so proud of what we've achieved and how successful Team Kinetix has become.

As part of this, all my photography and videography are now part of Team Kinetix Media, our in house production department.

If you'd like to follow my own personal photography projects, you can follow me on Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/87682837@N07/

To follow our filmmaking, check out our YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/teamkinetixmedia

Photography by Brad Wendes

East 15 Acting School

I've been a tutor at the East 15 Acting School for 7 years now. In that time I've seen many young actors with lots of potential come and go.
It's very rewarding to work with people who genuinely want to do well in their chosen field, most of the students appreciate the challenge ahead of them in the acting world.

East 15 is owned and managed by the University of Essex, this year the University have really decided to crank up their marketing of the specialist courses that East 15 offer (Acting & Stage Combat, Physical Theatre  and World Performance to name a few).
With that in mind the marketing dept asked me to film a promo video showing off the new Southend Campus, showcasing the skills of the students and showing potential students what Southend looks like.

The video has now been signed off by the University and has been made public.
Here's a few of my students showing off their skills and showing use the stunning campus in Southend.

Click the link for the Vimeo video:
http://vimeo.com/79306104

It's a pleasure to be part of the East 15 family.


Video shot on Canon EOS 7D with 100mm f/2.8 L macro, 50mm f/1.8 & 24-70mm f/2.8 L
Edited on Mac Pro using Final Cut Pro

Learn Parkour with Brad Wendes

Here's a link to a higher resolution version of the Learn Parkour movie made with Zoe Salmon earlier this year.

The shoot was a lot of fun and I think she genuinely enjoyed herself!

Vimeo Learn Parkour Video

Brad Wendes & TV's Zoe Salmon

If you would like to Learn Parkour, contact Team Kinetix for details on classes, workshops or one-to-one coaching.
Alternatively, follow Team Kinetix on Facebook for updates, regular pictures & videos.

Team Kinetix Pro Reel 2013

Here's a look at all the shows, events and performances I've been part of with team Kinetix over the past 2 years. Quite a mixture, from TV shows to product launches to surf festivals in Southern France.
Such an incredible journey, blessed to live the life I love.

If you like the video, check out the website: http://www.teamkinetix.co.uk

Or check the team out on Facebook & Twitter:
http://www.facebook.com/teamkinetix
http://www.twitter.com/teamkinetix

Summer 2013

Wow, that's all. Just wow!

This summer has been the busiest summer of my life, it's been amazing. Sadly that's left me zero blogging time since the spring, but I'm back on it now.

So, the summer!
As well as the usual batch of summer events, fetes and festivals we'd usually perorm or coach at, we (Kinetix) agreed to run one of the sites for national kids camp company 'Megacamps' (check them out: http://www.megacamps.net) oh and we hosted free outdoor Parkour workshops & Bootcamps in the parks around the district all summer for the local city council, as well as me taking on a new personal training clients, then there was the SX Urban Games tour performing in every major town in Essex throughout July and August, oh and our regular classes carried on without interruption... (breathe) ...aaaand a very good friend decided to get married in Ireland right in the middle of August (more on that in another post).

So, it's been a busy summer, 14 hour days, 6 or 7 days per week, travelling all over the UK and Ireland, but life has slowed down to a manageable pace again now.

This summer wouldn't have been possible without my amazing staff at Team Kinetix and without Becki sorting out the timetables of 20 people for 8 weeks at a time (behind every great man and all that...)
So thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, you guys are like family to me.

Anyway, enough gushing, get to the point!

With all the events we've run this summer, I've managed to get a lot of time behind the camera to hone my photography skills, I've really learned a lot by taking pictures almost every day.
So, here's the shameless plug of my Flickr page: BradWendes on Flickr check it out, feel free to criticise!

Here's some of what I've been up to while not blogging:

One to one Parkour coaching

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when a 36yr old lady contacted me about learning Parkour.
This particular lady came to a couple of my Parkour classes earlier in the year, although she enjoyed the activity, she was conscious about training with a group that were all so much younger than her.

This week she called me up and asked about 1:1 training. I was glad that she still wanted to train and learn Parkour so we set it up.
So we agreed to meet at mi-gym to warm up, then onto some general movement and mobility work.
Once warm I took her through takeoff and landing techniques followed by some ground level jumps between lines we marked on the floor.
I was being especially careful in making sure she could jump and land correctly before we did anything outside.

After the basic technique drills I was very happy with how capable she was. We then jogged 1km to the training spot I had planned for the main portion of our session together.
Conscious that she might be nervous jumping around in public, I chose a spot that wasn't in the middle of town, but also wasn't too enclosed or secluded.

We began with quadrupedal movement forwards and backwards at a moderate height, then we repeated the precision jumps we had drilled earlier, only this time we were jumping between walls instead of between lines on the floor.
My lady student was perfectly comfortable and unfazed by the walls or the height (only around 3ft at this point) and was landing the jumps with grace and balance.
I then got her to link multiple movements together, foot placement and plyo jumps between obstacles.
Other than a little hesitation at the start, she took it all in her stride.

Finally we went for a small cat leap and some shimmy movements after landing the cat leap. The only thing that I threw at her during the outdoor training that she wasn't able to do was a climb up from cat leap position.
Even when I allowed he to use her elbows on top of the wall, she still was unable to get herself up.

The Parkour climb up and the muscle up are very similar movements. With a climb up you are able to use your legs to push your body upwards as you pull with your arms.

As it was almost the end of the session we went back to mi-gym and finished off with some of the pull up and muscle up exercises I posted about recently.
We'll be revisiting these exercises next week to help her get the strength required to complete a climb up.

All in all a great session and a great student.

Parkour 'Cat Leap'

Increased Jumping Power Phase 2

After 5 weeks of the French Contrast for jumping power I have noticed significant gains in my leg strength and in my jumping power.

But sadly, all the strength in the world is no good if it's not transferrable to your sport of choice. In my case I am training for Parkour and powerful jumps.
As the saying goes; "Power is nothing without control" and strength is nothing if it's not accessible in your chosen activity.
Therefore the next phase of my leg training will look at transferring the strength into more familiar movements to Parkour.

As previously mentioned, I'm continuing with the French Contrast for another month but the exercises and weights are changing.
So the next 4 weeks looks like this:

3 reps - 80kg Barbell Squat FAST eccentric push (just under 70% 1RM)
5 reps - Standing broad jump
3 reps - 50kg Barbell half squat jump (just under 40% 1RM)
5 reps - Band assisted jumping lunge

The above exercises are performed as a circuit with no rest between exercises, followed by a 2-3 minute rest. The circuit is repeated 3 times.

In addition to the French Contrast circuit I will be performing the following exercises:
Kettlebell band-resisted swing - 3 sets of 6 reps
Lunge position to broad jump with 8kg in each hand - 3 sets of 6 reps (power from front foot)

To finish up I am performing the following unrelated exercises:
3 sets of 6 40kg barbell bicep curl
3 sets of 10 press ups
3 sets of 4 muscle up on rings


The above workout will be alongside my new Pulling Power workout for the next 4 weeks.
I'll keep you posted on how it's coming along.

Can't get enough of those squats!

Once again a massive thanks to mi-gym.com for use of facilities and for letting us film and photograph there. Huge thanks also to William Wayland for all his crazy ideas!

Zoe Salmon Parkour Video

The video of Brad Wendes teaching Zoe Salmon Parkour is now online.

Check it out!

Brad Wendes Coaching Parkour with Zoe Salmon

For more information on Brad's Parkour classes, to learn Parkour or watch more Parkour videos, check out http://www.teamkinetix.co.uk

Training Zoe Salmon

Following on nicely from my post on getting ladies to lift, I spent the afternoon yesterday with TV's Zoe Salmon.
Sadly I didn't have her in the gym lifting large loads, we were being filmed by Mars and I was teaching her the basics of Parkour as part of their newest initiative to get Britain active.

As expected, the former Blue Peter presenter was quite up for trying new things and was very competent for a complete beginner. Zoe got to grips with vaulting and swinging on bars very quickly, as well as adding a few inches to her standing jump by improving her technique over the afternoon. She even managed to put together a short run incorporating a selection of techniques.

Most interestingly was seeing an adult complete beginner face a technique at height, the 'height' involved here was around 3ft off the ground and was a precision jump between 2 walls with a distance of no more than 4ft between them.
Despite having made the distance on the floor and being absolutely fine standing or walking on the walls at that height, Zoe simply could not bring herself to make the jump.
Nothing else we tackled phased her at all, she literally threw herself into the more complicated techniques and movements (at greater heights I might add).
Given more time I would have liked to get her to make the jump by gradually building up to it, sadly we were pressed for time and had to leave that particular jump.

All in all Zoe was a joy to train, was up for (almost) everything and she didn't even mind being outside jumping around all afternoon!

I'll definitely be making sure that my regular Parkour students are pushing themselves to overcome fears and better themselves.

Zoe Salmon with Brad Wendes

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I was once again pleasantly surprised by my increased leg strength and power. 

The area we filmed in is one I am very familiar with and have trained Parkour there many many times over the past few years.

I have not trained there since starting my French Contrast training.

Jumps that were previously challenging were now easy, jumps that took some concentration were now much more achievable. It's a great feeling to see direct results of training and feel the benefits in context in my sport.

Just in case you missed it, here's the article on increasing jump power: http://bradwendes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/how-to-increase-your-vertical-jump.html

How to increase your vertical jump

I know we discussed the French Contrast and how it fits into my current program earlier this week.
But I really feel the need to share the workout again as I've now added TWO INCHES to my vertical jump in two weeks.
I'm really impressed at how much of a difference this has made and how quickly I'm noticing gains.

If you want to give it a try yourself, here's a video tutorial I uploaded this evening:

Let me know how you all get on...

Brad Wendes 110kg barbell squat

Who the hell is Brad Wendes?

Brad Wendes

Here's a little background on the author of this blog.

Brad Wendes on a photoshoot

I am currently aged 29 (and never going to have another birthday). I started gymnastics at the age of 10, and during my gymnastic career I have had the honour of performing in front of the British Royal Family and held 3 Guinness World Records. (I currently still hold the World Record for most vaults in one hour). I have worked in an around the Fitness industry since taking my first part time job in a gym at the age of 16 and being inspired by a number trainers and instructors.
From here I gained as many coaching qualifications as possible and trained under as many coaches as I could. This huge variety of influences helped shape me into a very well-rounded coach.

Over the years I have worked for a number of large fitness chains in a variety of roles, this really helped give me an insight into the fitness industry. I really found my feet by pursuing a dream of performing Parkour, Free Running and Acrobatics professionally (follow your dreams kids!)
I now run Team Kinetix, a coaching and performance team.

As a performer I have travelled around the world, performed on stage, television and film, even spent some time having literally run away with the circus. I led 'The Free Runners' to the semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent in 2007. At present I still perform professionally as well as coaching future stunt performers at a top London Drama School.

In 2009 I purchased a Canon 550D DSLR to take pictures for my website and generally get nice images for promotional purposes. I fell head over heels in love with photography and now have a full studio lighting setup, backdrops and a wide selection of lenses for all situation.
All the time I've spent in front of the camera has really helped develop my skill behind the camera.

I am available for 1:1 coaching, small group training or seminars; I use my wide and varied experience in my own unique approach to training and coaching. Make it fun, make it challenging, make it relevant and make it work!
I am also available for general photographic work, portraiture, actors headshots, family portraits, fitness photography or event photography.

Brad Wendes on Britain's Got Talent 2007

Performing at Newquay Boardmasters 2010

Performing at British Fashion Awards 2008

Brad Wendes 2011

Parkour Training

Performing at Sex & The City World Premiere 2008