Le Parkour - The Art of Movement
Last night was my first night practicing le parkour. I was going for a good 30 minutes before I got my first injury (warning: link contains graphic content). It ended up being much more minor than the photo implies, a small cut that bled only for a minute or two.
What is le parkour? The best way to understand is to watch this riveting video clip (French w/ English subtitles) of the founder. The first line in the video describes parkour well, "Where somebody normal would surely walk that way, we'll go this way".
Practicing parkour was so freeing that I instantly fell in love! I now have a new favorite past time. I have been weight training progressively for the past two years, adding 40 lbs of muscle to my frame. I have always been a runner and love climbing trees. To begin parkour myself seemed a natural evolutionary step for me.
From a weight training perspective, parkour is advanced plyometric training. Just like one wouldn't max squat or dead lift everyday and cause over training, one can't practice parkour everyday without destroying their body. I am going to practice 1x / week with weight training and cardio days in between.
Anyone want to join me next week? I am thinking about doing trail parkour at the farm. There are more open grassy spaces for me to practice rolls.
More about parkour here.
Interesting video. But it's not clear to me how one would train for this. Are there coaches or teachers? It would seem much too dangerous to just go out and start leaping from buildings. I trust that your health and life insurance are paid up. :)
Posted by: Tim Robson | July 26, 2006 12:17 PM
Looks like something that would be easier if we still had prehensile tails and opposable big toes.
Posted by: Heidi Cool | July 26, 2006 01:37 PM
Tim, that is a good point. There are no coaches but that is a key part of the sport.
It is about knowing what one can do intuitively and doing only that. To train I will jump from one post to another, or jump up onto things, repeatedly to build my balance and fine motor control skills. One legged squats help, clean & jerks are good, jump rope and running. Anything that requires full body movement, balance, and fine motor control. At home I jump up onto bar stools and land on one foot. I used to have a couch blocking the doorway to my room so that I had to jump every time to enter. We have pullup bars around the house so when we enter rooms we practice pullups. Those types of activities help.
Posted by: Aaron | July 26, 2006 02:29 PM
Heidi, that makes me laugh, I was talking about how much fun it would be to have a tail yesterday with a friend.
Posted by: Aaron | July 26, 2006 02:30 PM
What are u guys crazy?? do you even know what is parkour?? u are all idiots
Posted by: miguel | August 19, 2006 11:00 PM
eafryg
Posted by: evandro elias gomes | September 30, 2006 08:58 PM
Are you nuts?
Posted by: Tiffeni | October 18, 2006 11:31 AM
Arguably so, yes.
I've been taking this pretty seriously though. I started Alexander Technique lessons a few weeks back and have shifted my strength training regimine to compmlement.
I have never really done anything that feels so freeing as does Parkour. I love it!
Posted by: Aaron Shaffer | October 18, 2006 01:39 PM