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Pilou, a Primal Fitness and DC local who grew up in France has found, translated, then made available for us, Georges Herbert's "Methode Naturelle." He writes:
"For the past few months, I have been reading and experimenting with Georges Hébert's physical education guide from 1912 that I found digitized on Google Books. I think most traceurs have heard something about Georges Hébert, the "Natural Method" and how it somehow relates to Parkour. Thanks to that book, I was able to see for myself what it was all about, and I have to admit that I have been very impressed."
Read more for the rest of his introduction, and then download the PDF of Methode Naturelle, available only on APK in English for the first time!
Beyond the many jokes one can make about old pictures of men in shortsprancing around in a perfectly erect posture, this book shows a lot ofinsight in the mechanics of human movements and how to use them totheir best. In 1912, Hébert had started a school for physical educatorin my hometown of Reims, France (a place now turned into a park where Iplayed unknowingly for many years), and was training the French olympicathletes for the games of 1916 (which were cancelled for reasons ofWorld War I, in which many of his disciples died on the front lines).This book summarizes the guidelines he wanted to provide to hiseducators and athletes.
After reading this, I wished more traceurs here could benefit from hiswork, and so I went ahead and started translating chunks of his book,omitting much of the theory to concentrate on the most practicalinformation about movements and exercises in order to build a "1912Méthode naturelle"-style workout for people to try. There are stillmany parts missing, but this current version is fully usable andapplicable to Parkour training as it is, so it is only fit to give itto all of you for National Parkour Day. I hope this will also motivateothers (with better knowledge of lifting, throwing, swimming,defending) to join me and finish the work.
Last, I want to make clear that Méthode naturelle is not NaturalMovement or MovNat, the training method that Erwan LeCorre built from amodern view of Hébert's works, Parkour, free running, martial arts. In1912, little was known about oriental disciplines, and athleticism hadthe rigidity of military training (much of modern military training, bythe way, originated from Hébert's method). This book might not beexactly what you expect. I hope you will enjoy reading it, and that itmay bring something new to your training, and at least straighten yourposture (it surely improved mine)!
-Pilou
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