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"Parkour is an art that helps you pass any obstacle to go from point A to point B using only the abilities of the human body."
- David Belle |
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What is parkour?
Parkour is an art that helps you overcome obstacles as quickly and efficiently as possible, using only the abilities of the human body. Movements should be guided by an intent to escape and/or reach; if a movement is superfluous to that intent, it is not typically considered parkour. Parkour movements often involve running, jumping, vaulting, quadrupedal movement, climbing and balancing.
Freerunning is a related discipline that focuses on aesthetics, elegance, and freedom of movement. Freerunning movements can be similar to parkour's, but may also include flips, spins and other acrobatic maneuvers.
Parkour and Freerunning are often compared and contrasted with each other, but ultimately have a common ground in one's flowing through an environment while harmonizing with the obstacles, control of one's movements, and the athleticism, training and conditioning required to practice the "art of movement" safely.
Additional resources:
- What is Parkour? What isn't Parkour? What is Freerunning? at APK
- Parkour on Wikipedia.org
- The "Elements of Parkour" at Overflux.com (Safety, Tricking, Flow, Community, Philosophy)
About SFPK
SF Parkour began as a grassroots movement in August 2005. Since then it has quickly grown into an enthusiastic community as new traceurs continue to emerge around the Bay. People have joined from Santa Rosa, Sacramento, Berkeley, Oakland, Pleasanton, Stockton, San Jose, Santa Cruz, and everywhere in between, around and beyond! If you're somewhere in Northern California, there's probably an SFPK community member nearby.
At SFPK we have one main agenda: create a fun and diverse nonprofit parkour community in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, and promote the discipline of parkour through education, proper training, and connecting with others. That's it! We are not an exclusive "team" or "crew." We don't segregate if you choose to do parkour, freerunning, tricking or otherwise. We just want to have fun, learn from and teach each other, train safely, explore the Bay and jam! >> More on our Mission Statement
The Community Forum
The Community Forum is the central hub of SFPK where we work together to build a positive, supportive and fun online community for all practitioners. The forum community can help you:
You can also get recent news and updates through the SFPK Blog!
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Getting Started
The only thing you need to get started is a decent pair of running shoes! If you can run, jump and balance you can start training in parkour. Check out the "Movement Tutorials" below and start getting familiar with the basics. Then connect with others and get out there and jam! Training with other traceurs is one of the best ways to refine your skills.
Movement Tutorials
While we highly recommended training with others, especially when just getting started, here are some suggested online tutorials to learn about the fundamentals:
General Training Tips
Parkour and Freerunning can be very dangerous, even fatal, if attempted without the proper training and conditioning. Basic fitness, functional strength and physical conditioning are essential to a traceur's successful practice of the discipline. Aim to "Be Strong to Be Useful" (George Hébert).
Here are a few tips to guide your training, but remember to do your research, keep learning from and with others, and that perfect practice makes perfect!
- Safety first! Stay healthy and avoid injuries. There's nothing "efficient" about getting hurt!
- Aim for controlled progression. Steadily build both your confidence and skill.
- Don't neglect proper warmup, stretching, and cooldown routines.
- Concentrate on core strength, flexibility and endurance. Even conditioning just by running and doing push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, bar dips, squats, and jumps will get you far!
- Learn the fundamentals, and drill drill drill. Parkour is not a set of moves or tricks that you should just try out a few times and then "check off your list."
- Remember there is always more to learn.
Remember you can track your progress, get help and share your learnings through your own Personal Training Log!
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Connecting with others is easy! As this emerging discipline continues to grow, beginners, newcomers and anyone willing to give it an honest shot are always welcome.
To get connected with your local parkour scene and the SFPK community you can:
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Essentially a "jam" is where traceurs get together and practice. Regular jams, conditioning sessions, training and drilling, gym jams, beginner jams and more are organized regularly throughout the Bay Area in the Upcoming Jams forum. We highly encourage everyone to participate in any of these, regardless of your experience or abilities - jams are a great way for everyone to improve their skills through learning from and sharing insights with others, and discovering new ideas as you train together.
SFPK jams typically include:
- Introductions
- Warm-up and stretching
- Exploration of the environment
- Drills and conditioning
- Tutorials and help for beginners
- Follow-the-leader, Add-On, QM Tag and other games
- Discussion sessions
- Cooldown and clean up of the area
- Full on jamming and lots of fun!
Be sure to check out the Calendar and the 2010 Schedule for SF Parkour Beginner's Classes & Monthly Jams. You can also organize a jam on your own, or using help from community members, SFPK Mods and Area Reps.
Jam soon and thanks from SFPK:
| Brandon "Corndogg" | SFPK Founder, and Forum Admin |
| Jeff "Meatlad" | SFPK Founder, and Forum Admin |
| Brian "NoSole" | Forum Admin, and Superstar |
| Austin "teh st0ne" | Forum Moderator |
| Andrey "ANDREY" | SFPK Area Rep - San Francisco |
| Brett "Beretta" | SFPK Area Rep - North |
| Alex "2nd Chance" | SFPK Area Rep - North |
| Victor "Victor Lo Forte" | SFPK Area Rep - Northeast (Sacramento Area) |
| Albert "lethalbeef" | SFPK Area Rep - East (Berkeley/Oakland Area) |
| Austin "Austin" | SFPK Area Rep - East (Berkeley/Oakland Area) |
| Derek "Derek Stroup" | SFPK Area Rep - East (Stockton Area) |
| Zack "Zack Weldon" | SFPK Area Rep - Far East (Past Stockton) |
| Matt "Mattastic" | SFPK Area Rep - South (San Jose Area) |
| Alex "palu" | SFPK Area Rep - South (Santa Cruz Area) |
Questions? Feel free to Contact Us.
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