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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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"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.
Understand that this art has been created by few soldiers in Vietnam to escape or reach: and this is the spirit I'd like parkour to keep. You have to make the difference between what is useful and what is not in emergency situations. Then You'll know what is parkour and what is not. So if you do acrobatics things on the street with no other goal than showing off, please don't say it's parkour. Acrobatics existed long time ago before parkour."
- David Belle, Creator of Parkour.
Parkour is the art of moving through your environment using only your body and the surroundings to propel yourself. It can include running, jumping, climbing, even crawling, if that is the most suitable movement for the situation. Parkour could be grasped by imagining a race through an obstacle course, the goal is to overcome obstacles quickly and efficiently, without using extraneous movement. Apply this line of thought to an urban environment, or even a run through the woods, and you're on the right path. Because individual movements could vary so greatly by the situation, it is better to consider Parkour as defined by the intention instead of the movements themselves. If the intention is to get somewhere using the most effective movements with the least loss of momentum, then it could probably be considered Parkour.
Parkour is not acrobatics, tricking, stunts, recklessness, or jumping off high objects for no reason. It is not any movement or activity that doesn't fit in the above description "What Parkour Is". It is also not "What you make of it" ... it is predefined and has a purpose, if something doesn't suit that purpose, it is not Parkour.
In some sense, Parkour has been around as long as man's need to hunt and avoid being hunted. Humans naturally have an astounding range of motion and range of options for how to move through a given set of obstacles. Further, children naturally move about with grace and ease, we only start to lose this later in life as we start to move with conscience. There have been several people throughout history to work on concepts of human movement and development, however, to look specifically at Parkour, we need to look at Raymond Belle, a French soldier in the Vietnam war. He and his companions worked to develop efficient methods "to reach or escape". These were then handed down to David Belle, who has spent a majority of his young (34) life working on these principles specifically as Parkour. There were some others who worked with him in the developing stages of Parkour in Lisses, Sebastien Foucan is probably the most well known.
Many people take the principles they learn through parkour and apply them to their lives, the art of navigating obstacles efficiently. By challenging themselves physically, it becomes easier to deal with everyday life situations. When an "obstacle" or difficult situation comes up in daily life, a Traceur (parkour practitioner) can see this as any other obstacle which they've learned to overcome quickly, efficiently, and without disruption to their intended path.
Written by Mark Toorock from American Parkour (APK) in the articles - Origins | Parkour Philosophy
The only thing you need to get started is a decent pair of running shoes! Check out the "Fundamentals" resource below and start learning the basic moves. Get the fundamentals down and you'll establish the building blocks to start doing longer and more difficult runs. And get out there and jam! A jam session with other traceurs is one of the best ways to learn new skills quickly.
A "jam" or "jam session" essentially is when traceurs get together and go out on a run. In the SF Bay Area, these are regularly scheduled (just check the Organize a Jam forum), but we highly encourage just grabbing some of your friends or forum members and getting out there! Jams are great for learning in that you work with other traceurs on new skills, learn from and teach others, share insights and discover new runs you may have missed.
SFPK jams typically include:
- Introductions
- Warm-up and stretches
- Basics and exploring the area
- Follow-the-leader
- Practice and tutorials
- Full on jamming!
Start finding other traceurs and organize a jam now!
- SFPK Forum
- Parkour on wikipedia
- Official http://www.parkour.net/ Site
- The Fundamentals at UFF
And check out our friends at:
PK Cali
American Parkour (APK)
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