Thanks to American Parkour member Travis Graves (nobiliT) for this great article on the benefits of training alone.

In the last two or three years the resources available to budding traceurs have become enormous. The are websites with detailed information, classes, clubs, workshops, gyms, and more experienced traceurs in just about every corner of the country and globe. It seems fewer and fewer traceurs today choose to train alone when it seems much more logical to seek instruction. Those who have no choice but to train alone can often be found on parkour forums posting a thread asking for help every time they run into the slightest hitch... (read more)

 The excellent article "Dilution" by Blane goes into more detail about this phenomenon but I'd like to steer the discussion in a different direction.
  Seeking assistance or teaching in parkour training has its drawbacks as less of the trial and error process of training alone is explored, as well as the lack of experience with the personal spirit unique to solo training. Conversely, a beginner who is assisted or taught from the start is far less likely to be injured whether as a result of poor technique, trying too much too soon, being reckless etc.
  I have recently had the opportunity to take on a more or less formal teaching role in helping run thrice-weekly sessions for the University of Michigan Parkour Club. Throughout the year I've been trying to reconcile the two ways of training, trying to find a balance between teaching and allowing to learn. I wanted to feel comfortable having the novice traceurs in the club train alone and make mistakes and find their own solutions and feel the meditative atmosphere without doing any harm to themselves. I thought of putting together a set of drills for them to do alone but that defeats the purpose of allowing for that creative and personal learning to take place.
  I realized that it is not so much the movements that are important but rather the mindset in which these movements are performed. Training alone requires a certain mindset in order to be productive. There are four primary mindsets I found particularly useful.

Mindset 1: Focused, Meditative Drilling.

This mindset is a very powerful tool for traceurs and is the quintessential solo-training mindset. The practitioner’s attention is focused entirely on the task at hand, usually on a relatively simple physical movement that is to be perfected and honed through many repetitions. In this state, many find a peace of mind similar to the moving meditation of Tai Chi or Yoga. The goal is to set a number of repetitions to be completed and perform them to absolute perfection assessing each repetition for quality and listening intently to what the body saying about form.

Example Drills: Walking a long railing or many lengths of a shorter one, precision jumps, video drill: landing. (right-click, save as)

Mindset 2: Efficient Traversal.

In this state of mind, the practitioner is looking for the most effective way to overcome an obstacle or set of obstacles. Creativity and experimentation are key to this mindset. The traceur should determine a set amount of time to work at one setting or particular obstacle, as more time spent at a location will yield more variety of movement and possibly a more efficient method of traversal. In this way, this mindset is effective in developing the “vision” or ability to determine the best route through a given area. It is too often the case that the most obvious and most efficient method of overcoming a given obstacle is overlooked due to being conditioned to perform “parkour moves” and this should be taken into consideration as well. Once the practitioner has determined and practiced the most efficient method(s) of traversal, one should start taking into account the possibility of other, different situations such as how to overcome the obstacle without knowledge of what is on the other side, or if the obstacle lacked a feature that makes for easier traversal. In more advanced stages of training the practitioner can set a course to be completed and timed, keeping mindful to remain safe and in control while trying to raise the bar on speed.

Mindset 3: Creative, Interactive Movement.

Typical of the freerunner, this mindset is important for everyone wishing to improve themselves in physical movement. Similar to the efficient mindset, a minimum time should be established as well as a reasonably sized area. The goal is to find as many ways as possible to interact with the given environment, utilizing all forms of movement and linking them together. The practitioner should be focusing on moving with fluidity, grace, agility, power, precision and fluency. Some disregard this style of movement as useless to practical training. This view of things is thankfully becoming less and less prevalent, but for those who still hold it consider this- one will almost never jump from rail to rail in a true “parkour situation” but this is trained in order to develop balance and control. The same can be said for flips and other extraneous movement. The trick is treating these movements the same as any other training mode; that is drilling and perfecting them in order to build strength, power, agility, control, balance and a host of other positive attributes.

Mindset 4: Comfort with Discomfort.

Useful for developing sheer willpower and strength of spirit as well as improving the body, getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is a very personal and powerful experience. In this frame of mind, the practitioner should find a way to safely bring him/herself to a state of physical discomfort and gradually pushing beyond. It can be difficult to determine the difference between “good” and “bad” discomfort but a healthy dose of common sense should be enough to stay safe.

Example Drills: Simple running, hanging by a bar or ledge, any static holds, QM for distance or time.

Each of these methods should be trained, in the same session or in separate sessions, as they compliment one another and combine to build a well-rounded practitioner.

To me, parkour training should be a personal quest for self-improvement and self-understanding. This is not to say you should not walk some steps of the journey alongside others who are traveling the same path, but in the end you are training for yourself and when you’re out training alone and finding the motivation from within to continue practicing, you uncover a unique and, I believe, necessary spirit of parkour.

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