Topic: Is parkour a lifestyle?

[Tanner O'Donnell]

I am 1000.00% sure it is, but my brother says it is not. He says that parkour is a joke for people who suck at other sports and that its stupid. I NEED your guys and girls opinion!

[Tom "T-Soul" Sully]

Most definitely.

[WoodlandGhillie]

 I like soccer... I guess.

But parkour... parkour is different. I've changed every facet of my life to make my parkour experience the best. I'm stuck to it now, I'm forced to be dedicated. I have very little else to think of or do. I believe in variety, and sure, I do other things, but this is something I love so deeply. If anything, it can ONLY be a lifestyle.

[Timothy Chen Allen]

[my brother] says that parkour is a joke for people who suck at other sports and that its stupid...

Ah, the number of times my brother said things like this to me!  "Tim, ____ is a joke for people who suck at ____ and it's stupid".  Ignore it, wait until his wedding, and tell the story about that time with the sheep when you get to toast him and his new bride.

Parkour is like anything else: if you make it a lifestyle, it's a lifestyle.  If you make it a hobby, it's a hobby.  Either one is fine.  Even if it were a joke for people who were not good at other sports, if you liked doing it, that's all that would matters.

[Dan Elric]

I am 1000.00% sure it is, but my brother says it is not. He says that parkour is a joke for people who suck at other sports and that its stupid. I NEED your guys and girls opinion!

Sorry, throwing rubber balls into hoops just isn't involved enough for me.

[Greeeg the squiiirrel]

I think other sports are a joke for people who suck at parkour.

Think about it, we start "parkour" at birth, then start sports later.

[andrew]

it's not like one sport is better than the next although, tennis, golf, curling... lame IMO i don't say hockey is better than parkour or vice versa
who care's if someone complains about what we do, or how we live
here's a quote:
"f#ck what everyone else says, screw what they think, and do what makes you happy."
~Mike Philips (you never heard of him, but he's a big person in the paintball community )
 

[FrostySTL]

There are many people out there who will say that if you havn't made Parkour your lifestyle, then you arn't doing Parkour. I think that may be a little harsh, especially to someone who is just learning it, but the idea is still there, and we should strive for that.

As far as your brother is concerned, or anyone else for that matter, there really isn't anything you can do. He's gonna believe whatever he wants. However, I would like to point out one thing. Comparing Parkour to "other sports" is like comparing apples to rectangles. "Other sports" are about competition, and being better than someone else at something. We are pushed into this mode of thinking all our lives. Hell, there are even speed events for climbing Mount Everest now!

We are trying to grow in a world filled with X-sports, and while much of what we do can be considered extreme, the adrenaline junkies will never understand us. "You can jump off a 6 foot wall and roll? I can dive off a 800 foot bridge with a bungee cord!" While your bro might not be into that himself, the mindset is still there in society.

[20draws10]

parkour is most definitely a life style. Its a hell of a lot more involved than any sport I have ever been in.
Don't let your bro get to you. I have a brother that does the same thing. I have learned that if you just ignore em, they stop.

[Kevin "Thorax" Peralta]

Most people tend to think that traceurs are just regular adrenaline junkies looking for new ways to do cool tricks or whatever, but those people also don't understand what it means to be a traceur and the mindset traceurs have. If you are into it enough, technically anything can be a lifestyle, and parkour is no exception. It is a lifestyle for some, but not for everyone. Just make it your own and do your own thing your own way, that's what it's all about, after all.

[longhillrocker]

I like soccer... I guess.

But parkour... parkour is different. I've changed every facet of my life to make my parkour experience the best. I'm stuck to it now, I'm forced to be dedicated. I have very little else to think of or do. I believe in variety, and sure, I do other things, but this is something I love so deeply. If anything, it can ONLY be a lifestyle.

very well said

[Chris Seaton]

It may be a training method, and it may be a mindset...but at the point when you start making decisions based on your training in a particular art, I'd say it's definitely a lifestyle. 

I've changed my thinking, my diet, my activities during the day and night, and what I do with others to match my dedication to Parkour.  I've learned whole new ways of viewing the world through my training in the motion arts. 

Shoot--I've grown to love this thing we all share so much that there's several different PK symbols etched permanently into my flesh.  If that's not something that constitutes a lifestyle choice...I don't know what is.


And your brother is a jealous sort who doesn't understand what you do, so he chooses to make fun of it.  That's his own insecurities speaking.  While he walks, you fly--that's enough to make a lot of people jealous.  See it for what it is and move forward.

[Timothy Chen Allen]

While he walks, you fly--that's enough to make a lot of people jealous.  See it for what it is and move forward.

Well said.

[Chris Seaton]

Tim I <3 you.  No homo.

[Timothy Chen Allen]

Tim I <3 you.  No homo.

(Manly bro-hug with back triple-pat and chest bump)

[Evan Rudd]

Wikipedia says, "A sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive, and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play.[note] It is governed by a set of rules or customs. In a sport the key factors are the physical capabilities and skills of the competitor when determining the outcome (winning or losing). The physical activity involves the movement of people, animals and/or a variety of objects such as balls and machines. In contrast, games such as card games and board games, though these could be called mind sports and some are recognized as Olympic sports, require only mental skills. Non-competitive activities such as jogging and rock-climbing, are usually classified as recreations."

In contrast, Wiki says, "A lifestyle is... A set of behaviors, and the senses of self and belonging which these behaviors represent, are collectively used to define a given lifestyle."

So, acording to a compleatly valid source for definitions, the scientific comunity refers to Parkour as a "recreational" activity. But there is no way we arn't a lifestyle, based on this definition, cuz everyone i know who does Parkour retains the same "sets of behaviors and sense of self belonging."

Take from this what you will, i'm just putting the info out there.

[Timothy Chen Allen]

Wikipedia says, "A sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive, and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play.

My favorite coach in High School defined a sport as an athletic activity that prepared one for war.  I believe he based this on the sports selected for the original olympics.  His definition made running, football, martial arts, etc, qualify as sports.  Parkour would qualify.

By his definition, golf and baseball were games.

My senior year, I decided that I was tired of running track.  I never won medals, the workouts were long, and I came in dead last a lot of the time.  One day Coach interrupted my chemistry class, walked in with the track sign-up sheet, and said, "Allen, by some oversight your name did not appear on my track sign-up.  Here's a pen.  Sign up."

I was going to explain to him that I wasn't suited for track... but I knew that was simply not going to work.  He knew I had not signed up on purpose.  And he was not going to accept that.  I signed the paper, cursing.

Last year, I ran a 45-miler to celebrate my 45th birthday.  I think about Coach sometimes when I'm out running.

[Austin"Yoshi"]

parkour is something unlike any other, Parkour is something to better one self in mind and body its about wisdom and being one with yourself, it can be included in every little thing you do unlike football and soccer do if they made people different then they would not fight on the field, Parkour....Parkour is like no other

[Kyle Rudolph]

f#ck yo brothers couch.

Anyone that has ever talked to me ever will know exactly my opinions on this topic by that one simple phrase.

[BearMills]

yes parkour is a lifestyle to those who choose it. Parkour solely isn't my lifestyle i have to put in soccer since it has played such a huge role in my life, but parkour is right in there with it. If kids who did parkour sucked at other sports well then i wouldn't be on California's top u19's soccer club haha.

Also this should be moved to parkour freerunning