Primal Fitness is a Parkour and CrossFit training facility in Washington, DC. Yesterday 10 Law Enforcement Officers of different varieties came for a taste of Primal training. There were 4 officers from a "TAC" tactical team which is an undercover street crime force, one of whom is also on the S.W.A.T. team, one officer on REACT community centric force, and 5 patrol officers. Jesse Woody and Mark Toorock brought them through a workout that included some of the basic drills from Primal's advanced Parkour classes as well as some general conditioning. After a brief explanation and demo of Parkour we're sure that many will be back. One was back today with another S.W.A.T officer who was instantly hooked on Parkour. See a testimonial by a S.W.A.T. officer who recently completed Primal's Parkour Boot Camp.
Yesterday Mark Toorock of American Parkour spoke to a small group of students in a Sociology class at American University.
"It was a great privilege to talk to a group of students who are studying sociology and especially the urban landscape, its effect on people, and people's effect on it. This interesting class has looked at various aspects of city life and "uses" of the city such as graffiti, flash mobs, guerrilla artists, buskers and Parkour. In one class they watched Jump London. It was great to be able to talk to them about some of the philosophies of Parkour and introduce them to some of the mental and sociological aspects of Parkour, and also to show them how it permeates into a way of viewing the world not just in a physical sense" - M2
Hawaii now has it's own dedicated Parkour website, and already they're hitting the streets. Check out Hawaii Parkour . com and also "read more" to see the full flyer for their Parkour training session to take place early in 2008. Well done guys!
Keeping a journal is essential to have a successful training routine. Not only does it help you track progress, but it helps you stay committed and have a realistic idea about how much effort you are putting in. Once you put it in black and white it becomes very clear how your Parkour training is going. Taking this a step further, putting this in a public place can spur you into additional training, it's one thing to say to yourself "I'd like to train more" it's another to post it on a board read by thousands of people! It's also nice to know you're not alone, and have a place you can check to see what people you look up to are doing for their Parkour training. Check out the Training Journals section of the APK forums, and add your own!
Check out the new animations by Skynative in the American Parkour Dictionary . Not meant to be a Parkour tutorial these animations just give a really good idea of what a basic move looks like. Here's the Turn Vault . (Takes a minute to load)
Wednesday night, local Chicago traceurs Moses, Frosti, Cloud, Hak, and Ando performed Parkour at the Greenbuild Expo afterparty. Greenbuilding is a new concept of architecture and engineering where its aim is to build energy efficient and environmentally safe buildings. Nau , based out of Portland Oregon, was one of the many sponsors for the event that provided clothing for all the performers. Thier clothing is state of the art made of corn, pop and plastic bottles, and many other safe materials. Bringing parkour into the mix, it was a great combination for a good cause and fun night.
On Tuesday, November 6th, parkour will be featured in ESPN's new show E:60. In addition to being a general news piece on parkour, the segment will feature Colorado Parkour and Demon's trip to France. The show will air at 7 PM EST on Tuesday night.
WAPK and Tribe member Tyson Cecka (Undaunted) organized this quick webisode for KIRO-TV's IWitness video website at the University of Washington. The rain luckily held up long enough for the group to demonstrate some fundamentals, a traversal challenge, and parts of a new underground gauntlet-type course. Thanks go to Michael Fox, KIRO's videographer, for putting this all together and doing a great job. Check out his recently learned wallpass at 1:41 :)
Click "Read more" for the video and additional info.
A new "worldwide parkour organization based in the US" calling themselves PKFR International have recently launched a nice looking website this past September. According to this site, the organization itself was established in 2003 in order to "bring parkour and free running to a worldwide audience." We wish them luck in their new endeavor. Take a look at their website here: http://pkfrinternational.com/
Due to a technical problem, we've had to set the clock back a bit early at APK ... so if you've registered in the past week you'll need to do it again. Sorry for any inconvenience .. but it's good practice :)
