I don't think that's a bad standard at all, actually. I think there may be some problems inherent to standardizing athletic performance in that manner, but given that it's really just a measure, I don't see much harm unless people try to extrapolate things from it that aren't written.
I think the jumping standards might be a little off, though. Shouldn't a person's height affect things? I also don't think the distances are far enough for broad jump. For instance, I'm 5'6" and my legs are extremely short. My max broad jump, measured, has been 9'11" and I average around 9'8". This would put me close to a level 4. Leon, on the other hand, can jump MASSIVELY farther than me. As well as a great deal of other traceurs that I've met over the years. So I would imagine that a 10' broad jump should be in the level 3 area.
Also, box jumps I think are a little low, as well. My max box jump so far has been 49.5" and I imagine that many traceurs are capable of much higher. The member Stephen (Brute Force) in Toronto has a 58" box jump last time I remember them testing him.. and he's a genetic freak, for sure, but I'm always inclined to believe that a great deal of traceurs are capable of jumping much higher/further than I am.. so if the majority of traceurs in the level 5 range, then this scale, at this in the jumps, might be a little too forgiving... Or we're just full of genetic freaks.
Lastly, the max vault exit distance should account for how many steps are taken in the entrance to the vault. Standing versus two steps versus a ten step sprint makes a huge difference.
Those are my two cents to help polish this a bit better. I may look over it again when I'm less tired. Great work, guys.
Thanks for the comments Animus. I have 3.5 years experience testing the broad jump of 500+ athletes in my parkour classes. In that time span, I have seen probably only 20-30 athletes jump farther than 9 feet and only 10 or so jump farther than 9.5 feet. Given those ratios, I am pretty comfortable with where our broad jump numbers are at. 9'11" is an outstanding jump and would put you in a tie for 1st place on our record boards at APEX Movement. With all that said, broad jump is one of the few skills on here that is largely genetic. I've seen some people train their ass of to barely break 9 ft. (myself) and some people who naturally jump 10+ (Leon). One other comparison is the broad jump of NFL prospects at the NFL combine. Last year, only the top performers broke 10 ft. and only 2 people broke 11 ft. Those guys are absolutely elite level, genetic freak, athletes.
As for the box jump, I haven't tested this as thoroughly at our gym, but the record right now stands at about 55" which is considerably higher than most of our "intermediate" level athletes.
Broad jumps, box jumps, and vertical jumps can all be greatly improved by everyone, but some people simply have more potential to work with.
Lastly, our vault exit distance allows for as much of a run up as people want. I have seen our top athletes at the gym hit 10+ ft. with only 15-20 ft. run up. I personally like about 30-40 ft. run up for max effort, but it goes to show that you don't need to run ridiculously far to have a good distance.
To add onto Animus' thoughts on the vault exit, I think the type of vault needs to be taken into consideration. A kong vault vs. a lazy vault for max distance attained are almost incomparable.
You are right, I haven't seen anyone go more than 8 or 9 ft. with a vault besides a kong/monkey. For an intermediate practitioner who has mastered most of their vaults, a kong/monkey will no doubt be the superior vault. However, we designated our test to allow for any type of vault because some people perform better with a speed vault (mainly just newer people who have not yet mastered the technique or upper body strength needed for an explosive, long distance kong). So to sum it up, I don't care what vault is used, but to maximize your potential, at some point, the kong/monkey is the clear and easy choice.
I'll say here what I said to Chris and Ryan both. I think its really nice list intelligently put together and I applaud all efforts to get more good strength training There is to much stuff here the most important thing for Beginnners is Keep it simple stupid you can get 80 percent of the benefits of strength training form 4 excercises squat deadlift, Press and Pull up, substitute dip or bench for Press and it really makes no major difference. Train these 4 exercises progressively and intelligently allong with well planned parkour practice incorporating skill development, speed, and stamina training and you will get vast majority of possible athletic developments.
The key point here is that traceurs need to freaking weight train, you can work around it with a bunch of BW excercises but its far harder to program and less efficient anyways.
If your not squatting and deadlifting, you shouldn't do parkour its that simple.
The other problem is that having a list of goals is all well and good but intelligently programming how to get there is the real question and resources for how to get their should really be emphasised. Every traceur should do themselves a favor and walk out and Pick up Starting strength and Practical programing for strength training right now. I would love to see some really intelligent approachs laid out for programming BW strength development from Steve and Chris but I believe no matter how smart you program it Barbell training is allways going to be the most effective strength building method.
Finally I think Parkour skills standards should be Separate from strength skill standards.
While I think your exercise selection may be a bit oversimplified and unrealistic for some people, I completely agree with you that certain exercises on our list should be focused on more than others. If I had to narrow it down to what I thought was necessary for well-rounded fitness in parkour, I would include: 5k run, 100m run, squat, deadlift, press, dip, pull up, muscle up, broad jump, handstand, climb up, wall run, and vault exit.
I also agree that the goals mean little if you don't have good programming to work toward them. That is one of my next big projects to tackle.
