Good parkour documentary.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5901806041431700202&q=Jump+London

We should have like one thread just dedicated to Youtube/Google Videos links.

This stuff is awesome. I love watching videos made by people doing this 'Parkour.'

I'm beginning parkour training with some lads in the climbing club.

I'm gonna die i just know it.

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

I've been training in Parkour for about 8 months now.

Lot a fun. I recommend you join [url]www.americanparkour.com[/url] if you haven't already.

It's a wealth of information.

Let me know if you have any questions.

It looks fun. I should try it; I've heard there's basically no better way to lose weight.

Beautiful vid. I wanna be able to do stuff like that.

I wanna learn it, but it looks pretty painful to start in. And probably wouldnt fit with my sandals/barefoot lifestyle>.>

Actually, wrong. There's a whole sub-group of people that do "barefoot running." It focuses a bit more on just standard running, you need shoes for a lot parkour things, but you can do a lot of stuff barefoot too.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=515642196227308929&q=parkour

this is the video that gets most people hooked on Parkour. (8 minutes long.)

And Kyle90- it's generally better to be in shape before doing a lot of the parkour stuff. (Specifically, drops. You have to really condition for drops.)

However, a lot of the other stuff (running, vaults, balance exercises, etc.) are really good for conditioning your body/losing weight.

I've been kind of doing parkour for a while now. I've never been too intense about it (I need to train more), but it's a lot of fun. There's one other kid at my school that does it, so we train together sometimes.

Basically, King Kong vaults are the most fun you will ever have outside of the bedroom.

Agreed. So very much agreed...

I got Jump Britain a little over a year ago. And it makes me wonder. Why didn't they make a huge video for this year?

I say David Belle is still the most awesome Parkour-er ever.

Jump Britain was the 2nd documentary. Jump London was the first.

The Jump x series was made by Sebastian, who had a falling out with David Belle over the "meaning of parkour." He[Sebastian]'s known to be the founder of "freerunning" which includes more flips and "useless" movements that Belle's Parkour shuns.

Just a brief history lesson for no one that cared.

Heh, Wiki sais Sebastian's going to play a terrorist in Casino Royale. I wonder if he'll do any of his crazy parkour moves there.

Rumor has it that there's a sweet pk chase scene in the movie.

I think I prefer Sebastien Foucan a bit more.

No, I find it fascinating. Was the disagreement based on the utility of Parkour or was it over the philosophy behind it?

Yeah I find that interesting also. Now that you mention it I do remember David Belle saying that it wasnt really a part of parkour just after he did a backflip in one of the other parkour documentaries i watched.

That's something I've always wanted to get into. I'm generally pretty modest though, I don't know if I'd be able to just bust out some parkour on campus or something, unless I was awesome at it.

The split was over philosophy.

Simplified version: Flips aren't PK. Freerunning inclues flips, parkour does not.


More in depth: Belle's parkour is all about efficiency of movement through ones enviroment, and flowing smoothly from move into move, but the focus is on efficiency. Sebastian's "Free running" doesn't really have as much of a solid philosophy, but it takes the maximizing efficiency of moving through one's enviroment and sort of ignores it, adding in flips and spins and tricks.

Belle does flips and tricks sometimes, because they are fun. But he draws the line and says they are not parkour, because the energy wasted doing a flip does not have any beneficial returns, and would never have a practical application where doing a flip would be better than not doing a flip.

Cyril Raffaelli, co-star of District B-13/Banlieue 13 (movie starring Belle and Raffaelli, it was an action+parkour movie) once said, however:
"Just ignore all the internet bull****. It's just bull****."

I'm sort of with that idea. I agree with Belle that flips aren't parkour, but i'm not about to go breaking off friendships because they decided to do some tricks.


And with that, it's time to train.

Something most traceurs (people who practice parkour) develop is the ability to just plain ignore people. You have no idea how often I'll notice someone/some group of people staring at us, or they start yelling stupid teenager things at us, and you learn to just block them out and focus on what you're doing.

That doesn't sound very fun. Do people throw things at you?

Dud, you are awesome. For I had completely forgotten the word for those that practice Parkour, and he have refreshed it in my memory. My thanks go to you.

That was an awesome vid, 'cept towards the end where it just felt like a creepy mating documentary with the guys chasing each other around.

-If I were to do one of those street sports, it would probably... no, no, I don't think I can summon up the cajones to go jumping around buildings and such.

It's not really about jumping on buildings. There's a lot of that in videos because a five foot jump between two benches isn't as exciting as a five foot jump between two buildings.

Freelancer- not usually, although one of my apk (american parkour) friends had someone throw a beer bottle where he was about to land, so he ended up having to roll through broken glass.

I don't advocate violence, but lets just say the beer bottle was not all that was broken that day, and that my friend's would-be-taunters went home not feeling as great as they thought they would.

Dud, when you were starting, what was your exercise routine? And what is it now, if you don't mind me asking? And as for the beer bottle incidident... The hell. Guess some people are just natural-born-arseholes.

Why the hell would anyone make fun of someone doing something that cool, let alone throw s*** at them?! It just doesn't make sense.

I might not be the best person to ask, but I do have a lot of suggestions.

As for me, personally, I started running when i was in 9th grade for Cross Country/track. That stopped after winter 9th grade, because the coach was an arse, but it got me into shape rediculously fast. So I would definitely recommend running. Vary it between distance (for endurance) and sprinting (for the speed/short term bursts).

I also did taekwondo for a very long time (still am) so that kept me in shape after I quit CC/Track.

But, as far as a workout regiment for getting into/staying in shape, specifically tailored for what you'll need for parkour (which is.. haha.. everything. >.>):

*Running. Mentioned earlier, vary the workout. Do both distance runs and sprints, do hills and do flats. This builds stamina, speed, endurance. It's also the best way to lose weight. I find it best if you find a friend to run with.

*Pullups. Overhand, underhand, one hand, no hands, however you can do them. Don't set a limit. Don't say "3 reps of 10." Do as many as you can until you fall off the damn bar. These will help you with getting over obstacles.

*Crunches. Everyway you can do them. Do sets of standard crunches, and then try doing sets of touching your left elbow to your right knee, then vice versa. Upside down crunches are fun, if you can do them safely and comfortably. This is very important in strengthening your "core" (torso area, basically.) which is important in a lot of parkour techniques.

*Push ups. Strengthens arms, important for some vaults, pulling yourself over obstacles, etc.


Those are a few pretty standard exercises, but you don't really need anything exotic. Strength helps in a lot of parkour, but you don't need to be ripped or anything. (Although it doesn't hurt.. >.>)

I'm not a big fan of gyms. I went to a gym once to work out.. it was lame. If you use these exercises to get into shape/stay in shape, just practicing parkour will help build the muscles you really need.

When you're in a gym, you're working with weights and machines. When you're actually outside, pulling your body over a wall ontop of a building, you're actually using those muscles for what you're planning on using them for. You're also not just using your biceps. You're using your entire body to get over that wall, because if you fall, you die. (Simulated death. :p) So it's not like lifting weights and being buff, you're using your entire body to overcome an obstacle, which is another important part of parkour.

Flow and synergy of the body is very important. If your muscles can't work together optimally, how do you expect to use your body to the best of its capability?

Anyway, that was a bit longer than I had planned... :p
Final statements: If you're in shape, start practicing small things. Rolls, lazy vaults, things like that. Condition yourself with small drops, i.e. jumping off picnic tables, perfecting your roll from there. Then go a bit higher, perfect roll from there, etc. Do NOT start by jumping off a building. This is stupid, reckless, and dangerous, and it gives parkour a bad name and you will probably die.

If you're not in shape: Focus on the exercises I listed above for about a month, or until you see dramatic improvements in you abilities. I would focus on running out of all of them, but don't neglect the situps, pushups, and pull ups.

Any further questions? You can post, or IM me if you want to talk one on one. I love to talk parkour... (as you can tell.)

[edit- Zell- because teenagers are stupid <string of explitives deleted>.]

Thanks. I've been doing martial arts for a while now too, so I'm more or less OK with rolls, but I *am* a little bit overweight I suppose. So yeah. Running. Again, thanks for the informative post, I'll keep all this in mind.

I gennerally practice parkour around 1am around here so I don't really have many problems with the general public.

I always feel kind of bad when people like dud and my traceur-buddy train every day and work out when I just go out and do parkour when I can.

: \

hahaha, I don't train every day... Although I wish I did.

When I go back home, I probably will, but the weather is horrible here, it's always either wet or raining. And when it's not, I'm already busy.

happydud - This might be a stupid question, but what kind of shoes do people normally wear? All I've worn for the past few years are skate shoes, which obviously wouldn't be appropriate.

Teva is best.

I just usually wear skate shoes as well. I'm not as hard into parkour as I am into Skateing however, so I don't get as much practice as I'd like to.

I'm really happy this thread was started as I'm trying to build up my parkour abilities.

Does it have any actual use except escaping from cops?

Does throwing a ball into a hoop, or kicking one into a net?

There are all different types of shoes people prefer, but the most popular kind is definitely cross-trainers. Any brand, whatever. But running shoes don't get you much traction, and I don't find skating shoes comfortable to run in, so I really, really, really like New Balance shoes, and I wear the 608's. I think Steven wears 620s, which are essentially the same shoe.

And actually, yes it does have practical purposes. In escaping someone who could be trying to hurt you, while playing tag, climbing buildings/walls/fences to retrieve frisbees, etc.

Not only practical applications of parkour, but it also enhances your balance, keeps you fit, etc. I recently started Slacklining, which is like tightrope walking, but instead of it being tight, it's slack, so it sways and bends, and instead of a cylindrical rope, it's a flat rope. I've been complimented many times on how quickly I've picked it up. I was standing on the rope for 30+ seconds by the end of my first hour trying it, and I was able to walk five or six steps by the end of my second hour.

That sense of balance and muscle control came from Parkour.