By: Chis Kessler

The “Training Alone” series is a great way to help yourself stay motivated, push yourself out of that beginner stage, and really think about your movement as your own. Solitary training is a way to face your fears alone, and that can be terrifying. I commend all of you traceurs out there who have taken these words and put them to use. For all of the plateaus you have conquered, I congratulate you. The trials you have faced, you have faced alone, and I have no doubt that you will, or already have, overcome them.

     While training alone is an amazing opportunity, it is not what keeps us advancing. We will never be able to understand our own potential unless we put ourselves in the midst of our peers. Now, what I’m saying may sound like I advocate competition within the confines of parkour, but that is not the case. All of us feel an inherent desire to better ourselves, and not one of us can deny feeling a twinge of jealousy when we see someone do a movement that we cannot yet do ourselves. It is natural and should not be shunned, but should be embraced. We as humans rely on competition to survive, and it should be the same for parkour. Our ancient ancestor’s had to compete against the elements just to survive as a race, as a species. We must compete against ourselves in the same way. 

     The point is not about competition amongst others, but simply being amongst others. The parkour community is one that is so closely knit that I would dare another group of people to rival it. Progression is made within the self, and without it. To be a lone traceur and be introduced into the practicing community near you can be a tremendous change. This can be great for a practitioner’s improvement. Sometimes we can’t push ourselves to our limit. Whether it be a mental block, needing a spot to try something new, or just plain being lonely, we sometimes need that extra support. 

     This is your newest mission: Finding people to train with. 

     This may seem overwhelming at first, but when you step back and look at the situation, you can see that there are many opportunities offered at ever turn. Take a minute to look at the site around you right now. American Parkour, the nation’s #1 parkour website, is a hive containing thousands of traceurs. The first step to finding people in your area to train with is joining an online database of traceurs. The APK forums are a tremendously useful resource. Not only are the members friendly to beginners, but they go out of their way to help one another in need. To become part of this group, you must be willing to help and be helped. 

     A nation-wide forum may be overwhelming at first, but when you start frequenting it, the forum will become familiar to you and eventually you will count some of these online counterparts as your friends. However, you still may not connect readily with someone who lives in Florida, when you live in Wyoming. Lucky for you, there just so happens to be a Wyoming subforum for you to peruse through. These smaller forums can be great tools to organize weekly training sessions, regular jams, as well as larger events that the whole state can participate in. In fact, you may just find someone who lives in your same town who has been having the same problem as you and has had to tough it out as a lone traceur like yourself. 

     Still not enough? Well, many states are becoming more and more independent from the larger national sites out there and have created their own websites. These are generally run by more experienced, well known traceurs, who have been great leaders of their communities for a long time. These websites are created out of a statewide feeling of unity and the need to concentrate more on the immediate area, then on the nation as a whole. These kinds of sites lead to stronger groups of people, more familiar locations, and “closer to home” kind of feeling. Your state may have its own site and you’ve just never known to look for it. Well, it’s about time. 

     Training alone is an amazing opportunity for people to discover themselves and their thoughts/feelings on their movement and parkour as a whole, yet no training can be complete if you never interact with others. These people can help you discover things about yourself that you would never have known. They may also become your closest friend. The key is to harness the resources at hand and use them frequently, because then you can get the most out of your parkour by observing another’s parkour.