Parkour

[Akamai921]

General Parkour discussion; who does it, how long have you been at it, anything new you've learned, knowledge you want to share, introduction for noobies to it, etc... For those without the slightest hint as to what Parkour is, it's basically urban acrobatics. It's learning to move through your environment in the fastest, most efficient way possible using only your body. This can range from the simple, such as jumping over a bench, to the complex, such as vaulting over a rail into a roll, leap from that roll over a low wall and onto the side of a building, and climbing to the top using a few jutting bricks and a light fixture. It's all about how you use the environment and yourself.

[Toa Doublebee]

oh! Parkour! I dont know Parkour,But Parkour vids are Awesome! A Kid tird Parkour in my town,Fell and crakced open his head or somthing His ok now,But it became Iligle to do Parkour in this town...

[Akamai921]

That's significantly not good. Was he trying an expert move as a novice, or was it just a basic mistake? If it was just a mistake, I think I may have heard about it on the news (depending on when too, lol.)

[Grey Snow]

I need to find a place to teach this. I have a self-taught friend, but unfortunately, there's no real good place in town, or I'd be doing stuff to teach myself.

[Akamai921]

There are usually groups that practice in local gymnastics centers. Just try a Parkour Google search for your area, and you should come across something. If nothing else, just practice what you know, watch videos, etc.If you practice in public, you may have the opportunity for a like-minded individual to inquire about your activities. Voila; you now have a small network to teach and be taught.

[Grey Snow]

I have searched for nearby places, but there's no point with the distance, and because I'm a college student. I do do some stuff where I can, but it's not much, due to limitations. There's just no place to do it, really. Besides, I'd rather not do anything with a lot of people who are lacking and just interested. I'm going into criminal justice, and I wouldn't want to hurt myself because of someone who isn't at my athletic level is trying something that gets me screwed up too.

[SonicBOOM XS]

I'm trying to learn parkour. Just a question, do SOAP shoes helps much? I've been told they do.

[Akamai921]

I personally prefer Puma running shoes or a nice pair of Tabi, though anything with a sole that lets you really get a feel for the environment works well. The pair I'm currently using are Skechers Citywalks. Got them back in December, and the soles got worn down by July, but they're still my favorite current pair because of how easily I can feel the concrete through my soles (in a good way.) Can't wait to get a pair of Ayya Tabi, though. @Koji- What are some decent training spots where you're at? Never forget that the more you know, the more options there are.

Edited October 19, 2011 by Akamai921

[Dorek]

You'd be surprised at how many groups there are around, it's pretty cool. I used to do this a lot with a buddy of mine, but I've gotten out of it (and exercising in general, which is something I should fix =P). I used to be fairly decent; not much of the proficiency, but I rock climb a lot, so I've got a good reach and flexibility. But like I said, it's something I definitely want to get back into.

[Akamai921]

Don't forget to start back with the basics; last time I took a break then tried an advanced move, I was missing most of the skin on my left knee. T'was lovely.

[Toa Doublebee]

That's significantly not good. Was he trying an expert move as a novice, or was it just a basic mistake? If it was just a mistake, I think I may have heard about it on the news (depending on when too, lol.)

I dont know what exactly he was doing,But I doubt he was really good at it. I dont even really know I alsthat kid.I also doubtt that it was him you heard about in the news,This is a Small and insignificant town in the middle of a desert,Far away from where your proflie says your at.

[Akamai921]

Pssht, no desert town is insignificant. Don't ask me why, but I have a strange liking for anything desert-related.

[Grey Snow]

There's literally only a park that I can think of in town. That's about it. A few parks and playground equipment. Can't do some stuff on them, but can do other stuff that falls under Parkour.

[Akamai921]

Basic playground equipment is great for training precisions, swings, and cat leaps; depending on unique items, other things too. Any buildings with unique architecture about them; raised platforms, decorative pillars, bent walls, etc.?

[Fresh Makuta of Bel-Air]

My freshman year of college I joined a Parkour group but I realized I was horribly out of shape for it and I didn't have time with classes and everything. I'd like to get involved with it again when I get a chance though.

[Chibinuva]

Unfortunately, I've tried some parkour, and I suck. Aside from some basic hurdling (jumping over horizontal bars,) and scaling fences with ease, there's not much I can do. However, we do have a couple parks in the area with playgrounds that I could use. Are there any basic abilities/beginning instructions or advice anyone could recommend, as Mom wants me to exercise more, and I'd like to learn it.

[Akamai921]

Definitely! Like I said, parks are great for training basics like precisions, cat leaps, swinging on bars, and vaults. Walk across monkey bars to train your sense of balance, and when you're confident enough, jump from them to another object. Start with a thin platform, then move to bars. Also practice dropping down and grabbing them; this is vital if you should ever fall. When it comes to cat leaps, all you need to do is find a wall to jump onto that gives you room to move your feet down, but can still be climbed. Jump from a base onto the wall, grab the ledge, let your feet hit, bend the knees and let your feet slide down a little (this is to avoid breaking your foot from force of impact.) Quickly scramble up the wall After you've made a solid landing. To summarize, practice with precision, vaults, and climbs; these are the basic skills. Don't push yourself beyond what you know you can do; you will end up getting hurt. As with everything, it's a slow incline of practice, and takes time to perfect. "It will be difficult at first; but then, everything is difficult at first." -Musashi Miyamoto

Edited October 19, 2011 by Akamai921

[Grey Snow]

No architecture, unfortunately. When it gets warm enough, I'm heading to the park I had in mind anyway (training a friend, basically, who asked me to help her get in better shape), so jogging there, and I'll work on stuff there, as I intended on. But that's all.

[Chibinuva]

Definitely! Like I said, parks are great for training basics like precisions, cat leaps, swinging on bars, and vaults. Walk across monkey bars to train your sense of balance, and when you're confident enough, jump from them to another object. Start with a thin platform, then move to bars. Also practice dropping down and grabbing them; this is vital if you should ever fall. When it comes to cat leaps, all you need to do is find a wall to jump onto that gives you room to move your feet down, but can still be climbed. Jump from a base onto the wall, grab the ledge, let your feet hit, bend the knees and let your feet slide down a little (this is to avoid breaking your foot from force of impact.) Quickly scramble up the wall After you've made a solid landing. To summarize, practice with precision, vaults, and climbs; these are the basic skills. Don't push yourself beyond what you know you can do; you will end up getting hurt. As with everything, it's a slow incline of practice, and takes time to perfect. "It will be difficult at first; but then, everything is difficult at first." -Musashi Miyamoto

Thanks for the tips. It's overcast right now, and getting dark, so I'll go to the park to practice tomorrow. Also, while I won't be getting them anytime soon, are those skeletoes shoes any good for parkour? I heard they might be, since it's like being barefoot while still protecting your feet, but I don't know how well you can grip with them. Now, to see if I can find a wall with ledges/footholds so I can try so wall climbing/jumping. Also, any tips on doing a wall jump, since while I won't be doing them for awhile, I always struggled converting my momentum from moving forward to moving upward.

[Akamai921]

You mean five-fingers? Yeah, those are excellent Parkour shoes. I personally prefer Tabi myself, but five-fingers are extremely good. What do you mean by a wall jump?

[Chibinuva]

You mean five-fingers? Yeah, those are excellent Parkour shoes. I personally prefer Tabi myself, but five-fingers are extremely good. What do you mean by a wall jump?

Yeah, five-fingers. Also, by a wall jump, I mean running towards a wall that's fairly short, but tall enough where you can just barely reach the edge, if at all. Then you run at it, jump, and the push off the wall to transfer your momentum upwards to reach the ledge, pulling yourself to the top. I just can't seep to convert my forwards momentum to upwards momentum. Of course, I need to fine a wall made of concrete or something rough to get a better grip. If I'm luck I can find a nice wall to climb onto a roof. Is that a good idea or no?

[Akamai921]

I'd say find a brick wall that acts as a divider, though a roof is acceptable if the legality isn't in question. What you're describing has multiple names, though I call it a basic wall run. To properly do it, run at your target wall. At a comfortable takeoff distance, perform a small jump off one foot in sync with your run; this will give you the vertical momentum you need. The ball of your other foot must then hit the wall as if your run had never ceased, but rather than push as hard as possible, you push where your momentum is going. Assuming you leapt at the wall correctly, you should be following the momentum in a curve upwards; when pushing, try to follow the momentum, rather than redirect it. Try to imagine it like skating up a ramp, with your initial jump creating the ramp up. If done properly, you can gain an extreme boost to your jump height, allowing you to reach ledges far beyond your ordinary reach.

[Onyx.5]

Pardon me if I'm interrupting, but, heya. I'm fortunate enough to actually have a dedicated parkour gym/school in my vicinity, which I've begun attending once a week (still pretty much a noob though). So I may be able to be of some minor assistance. To start, there's the difference between parkour and freerunning. I like to think of it like this: In parkour you get somewhere and maybe look cool in the process, in freerunning you look cool and maybe get somewhere in the process. Parkour is about getting from A to B as fast and efficiently as possible in an urban environment, freerunning is about doing tricks and flips. Most people who do one also do the other, but I find it's still a useful distinction. Mainly for the sake of safety, as there is a time and place for fancy tricks and you might not be in it. Uh, general helpful knowledge, let's see here... You need to be pretty strong for parkour, just practicing moves won't cut it if you're even mildly serious, so you'll need to do some strength training. Don't worry too much, when I started I couldn't do a single pushup. At class, they do 20 squats (10 one legged on each leg if you can), 15 pullups (or for weaker people like me around 10 negatives, meaning just slowly lowering yourself down) with your knuckles facing you since you don't climb up concrete by reaching inside it, 20 pushups with your elbows by your sides (try a smaller number and from your knees, not your toes, when starting off) and a minute of planking (not internet planking, this is pushup position, body straight, but forearms on the ground). Then go through that three times, although three's pretty extreme and I couldn't imagine doing that more than once a week. It's good to create a general regimen that you can do a few times a week. You might also want to practice moving around on all fours (opposite hand, opposite foot is all you need to remember), and sitting in a squat position on the balls of your feet, since that's how you want to land.Speaking of which, believe it or don't, in parkour the ultimate goal really is to be like a ninja. Meaning, silent. Because if you're quiet, it means you're absorbing shocks properly and the force isn't going to snap your bones or something like that. Uh, that's all I got for now. Maybe I could explain some vaults sometime? Oh, and on the actual active topics, the only thing I have to add on wallruns (up or sideways) is this: Make sure you start far enough out from the wall. It's tempting to start really close to the wall, but if you do, your feet will be pushing down and sliding on the wall, rather than pushing against the wall, which is what you need.As for shoes, personally I don't think you need anything really special, anything with some grip will do. At gym I train barefoot, unless I need better grip to jump off a wall or something. Barefoot helps you balance. Also, on SOAP shoes: I hope the person who told you that was being sarcastic, as that sounds like a really bad idea. Soap shoes, as the name suggests, are made to be slippery. Slippery is good if you're skiing, it's the last thing you want in parkour.

[Akamai921]

Pardon me if I'm interrupting, but, heya. I'm fortunate enough to actually have a dedicated parkour gym/school in my vicinity, which I've begun attending once a week (still pretty much a noob though). So I may be able to be of some minor assistance. To start, there's the difference between parkour and freerunning. I like to think of it like this: In parkour you get somewhere and maybe look cool in the process, in freerunning you look cool and maybe get somewhere in the process. Parkour is about getting from A to B as fast and efficiently as possible in an urban environment, freerunning is about doing tricks and flips. Most people who do one also do the other, but I find it's still a useful distinction. Mainly for the sake of safety, as there is a time and place for fancy tricks and you might not be in it. Uh, general helpful knowledge, let's see here... You need to be pretty strong for parkour, just practicing moves won't cut it if you're even mildly serious, so you'll need to do some strength training. Don't worry too much, when I started I couldn't do a single pushup. At class, they do 20 squats (10 one legged on each leg if you can), 15 pullups (or for weaker people like me around 10 negatives, meaning just slowly lowering yourself down) with your knuckles facing you since you don't climb up concrete by reaching inside it, 20 pushups with your elbows by your sides (try a smaller number and from your knees, not your toes, when starting off) and a minute of planking (not internet planking, this is pushup position, body straight, but forearms on the ground). Then go through that three times, although three's pretty extreme and I couldn't imagine doing that more than once a week. It's good to create a general regimen that you can do a few times a week. You might also want to practice moving around on all fours (opposite hand, opposite foot is all you need to remember), and sitting in a squat position on the balls of your feet, since that's how you want to land.Speaking of which, believe it or don't, in parkour the ultimate goal really is to be like a ninja. Meaning, silent. Because if you're quiet, it means you're absorbing shocks properly and the force isn't going to snap your bones or something like that. Uh, that's all I got for now. Maybe I could explain some vaults sometime? Oh, and on the actual active topics, the only thing I have to add on wallruns (up or sideways) is this: Make sure you start far enough out from the wall. It's tempting to start really close to the wall, but if you do, your feet will be pushing down and sliding on the wall, rather than pushing against the wall, which is what you need.As for shoes, personally I don't think you need anything really special, anything with some grip will do. At gym I train barefoot, unless I need better grip to jump off a wall or something. Barefoot helps you balance. Also, on SOAP shoes: I hope the person who told you that was being sarcastic, as that sounds like a really bad idea. Soap shoes, as the name suggests, are made to be slippery. Slippery is good if you're skiing, it's the last thing you want in parkour.

You, sir, managed to take the words right out of my mouth, especially with your explanation of the difference between Parkour and Freerunning. I'm trying to think of something to add, but you really covered most of the basic stuff. Only other thing I can suggest is to drill the basics; no matter what move you'll ever do, there's an element of a vault, or wallrun, or any other basic motion. So drill them until they become muscle-memory; absolute second-nature.

[The Captain]

I did parkour for two years, I'd like to get back into it. Word to the wise: it's a lot harder than it looks - know how to land safely before all else.

[Republic Commando Sev]

I just have to start by saying Parkour is so awesome. I really wish I could be able to do it, but I just don't have the time to practice. And if I do ever decide to do it, I have no idea where to even start.Sev

[SonicBOOM XS]

I need a mentor for parkour. DX Curse you, Mirror's Edge. I'm serious, I want to do it. It'd help me get to school better than by car.

[Akamai921]

@Sev- Like I've said before, start with the basics. If nothing else, find a brick wall and a low fence; practice vaults and wallruns. Drill your basics. @Sonic- Mirror's Edge is definitely one of my favorite games of all time. As far as a mentor: I suggested it before, look for a local group.

[Onyx.5]

Glad to hear I'm of some use, Akamai. Hey Koji, there's actually a group simply called "Wisconsin Parkour", they even offer classes. Although I suppose I shouldn't be surprised if you've already looked in to it, as you did say being a college student limits what you can do. Since I live on the other side of the USA I'm afraid I can't help much beyond that.

[Grey Snow]

I did look into one, not sure if that was it. If it was that one I saw, it was out of my area.

[SonicBOOM XS]

Any good parkour groups near San Diego?

[Legolover-361]

The closest I've gotten to parkour is vaulting over low fences, but anyone can do that. :PI've watched videos on "that video site" featuring people doing parkour, and I even saw an episode of Time Warp where a parkour veteran showed off tricks for the slow-motion camera, but I've never actually done it myself: One, it can be dangerous, and two, I basically live in the middle of a forest, so apart from leaping over my backyard fence into the trees behind it, I can't do much.

[Akamai921]

The closest I've gotten to parkour is vaulting over low fences, but anyone can do that. I've watched videos on "that video site" featuring people doing parkour, and I even saw an episode of Time Warp where a parkour veteran showed off tricks for the slow-motion camera, but I've never actually done it myself: One, it can be dangerous, and two, I basically live in the middle of a forest, so apart from leaping over my backyard fence into the trees behind it, I can't do much.

Leaping through the trees. I see no problem with this. Nature can provide some good obstacles, if handled right.

[Silvan Haven]

I always did wonder how using a forest would work as a parkour area. I never heard about anybody using it as such. But I could never figure out if that was because the forest was not as popular an arena or some other reason.I always wondered because trees are just about the only thing to climb like that around here.

[Akamai921]

Branches for precisions, trees for climbing, rocks for jumping/vaults/kongs... There's a lot to do, just in a very different way.

[Legolover-361]

Ehh, the forest behind my backyard has too many branches and spiderwebs for me to use it as a parkour area.

[Razgriz]

I'd do this if I could find a good practice area. Or if I wasn't too lazy to look. =P

[Chibinuva]

Branches for precisions, trees for climbing, rocks for jumping/vaults/kongs... There's a lot to do, just in a very different way.

I should really do this. I have plenty of trees in my area, including a giant magnolia one in my yard. Plus, I've jumped out of it several times to practice my landing. I'm gonna go practice that now..

[Akamai921]

Branches for precisions, trees for climbing, rocks for jumping/vaults/kongs... There's a lot to do, just in a very different way.

I should really do this. I have plenty of trees in my area, including a giant magnolia one in my yard. Plus, I've jumped out of it several times to practice my landing. I'm gonna go practice that now..

Good man! Just be careful; rolls don't work out the same in the wilderness. Always watch your landings.

[Malevolence]

I've watched Parkour casually (Has anyone here seen the hilarious French and Saunders 'documentary' on it? Absolutely brilliant!), but as for getting into it myself, my town really isn't ideal for it (The buildings here crumble when you sneeze an octave too high), and I'll admit to being far too health and safety concious to possibly ever try it. I've gone 21 years without any serious injuries, and I hope to keep it that way! Still, I have a high amount of respect and awe for this activity and those who participate in it. No idea why I posted that, just adding my own toothpicks...erm...two bits.