Topic: The Yamakasi

[Christian Hall]

(Sorry if this is the wrong spot or something just really excited!!)

Oh Crap. I've heard of these guys before and just wiki'ed them! Now I want to go join them. Are they only in France? If not do you know any in the States? I think I'm going to have to run away to France to join them!
Please give me as much info on them as you can. Do they have a website? How do they train? Has anyone here ever trained with them? If so would you mind moving to AR for the sole purpose of training me? Does the U.S.A specifically AR have our own version?

You see thats what I need. I need an organized coach, or coach like group to force me to do things and tell me what to do and when to do it or else  I'll have a really hard time If I have to do it on my own. So if I can get in the Yamakasi then my chances of freerunning has gone up from 10% to 90%!!

[Jacob Carter]

The Yamakasi are an amazing group of individuals. I have trained with them before. They are extremely fun and their movements are just awesome. They came to Ohio not too long ago. That was their first time teaching in the states. They do have a website. (www.majesticforce.com) They do a lot of conditioning based exercises and work on flow a lot from what I experienced training with them. They also taught people fun stuff like palm spins and wall flips while in Ohio. They run the A.D.D (art du deplacement.) academy. The website for that is here. (http://www.add-academy.com/)

As for you need a coach to train you, it all comes down to how much you want to train parkour. If you want it bad enough you should strain your hardest to be able to achieve what you want. So no matter how hard it is just keep training. Training by yourself can get lonely and if you can try and get a few of your friends into it. Training with other people is great motivation even if you are better than they are. So just get out and train. You don't need anyone to train you. That's how I started out. I was the only one who trained and then I got other people into it. So good luck with everything. Keep training safe and hard. Also if you do go to France make sure to visit Lisses. It is where parkour started. 

[Eli]

I'd say that if your starting off or even a bit into training, you should solo it or get a friend for now. No point in spending money on travel and what not just to get some extra help. A lot of us here on this forum are all self taught. At first the road is a bit bumpy, but it gets better. Eventually, you won't even care if you're alone or not.

[Sai Chikine]

I don't think you can just join them bro....

They're a group of the most amazing traceurs and a lot of them are the founders of parkour. They might help you train or coach you, but they prolly wont let you join.

As for having them teach you, learn things yourself. That's how the yamakasi learned. Learning alone teaches you to pay attention to your body and adapt, instead of having someone tell you everything that's wrong with your movement, you figure it out yourself and learn your own body.

[FreeStyleFox]

Step one Christian, don't jump or vault anything at all your first year.  Condition safely and heavily your first year.  And yes they are only in France.

[Christian Hall]

Dang! Curse you Atlantic ocean   


Any way, so no vaults just workouts cool. Thankfully I don't jump off anything higher than the third step at a store. I guess I'll just have to do things myself for a while. Thanks for the replies.

[Mark Toorock]

@freestylefox - What??? I believe you mean don't jump off anything over head height the first year. As for people saying "learn on your own" - there is a balance - definitely make use of other people's experience, and apply it to your own training.

[Brett Robert]

As for people saying "learn on your own" - there is a balance - definitely make use of other people's experience, and apply it to your own training.

Definitely!

I know my training changed dramatically, which led to dramatic improvement, after I started traveling to train with the nearest more advanced traceurs I could find.  I could only make it work once a month, and I had to drive between one and three hours every time, but it was well worth it.

Others will help you understand to progress safely and at a sustainable pace, as well as passing on the techniques parkour is based on.  Besides that, the community, which is like a great big ever-growing family, is one of the best parts of the whole deal.

[Alex frogger Brown]

The Yamakasi are a group of nine friends from Lissis, France. A few of the Yamakasi are a part of Majestic Force, but Majestic Force is NOT the same as the Yamakasi. I understand completely what you mean by you'd be more likely to do it, because im the same way. IDK where id be if it werent for my mentor. that said, thre are plenty experianced Traceurs more than weilling to pass on the art to  others, you dont need the Yamakasi. Like Brett said, we're like one big family. I, personally, dont know anyone form AR, but if you peep the local boards, im sure youll be able to find someone.  Good Luck, brother. Fly far, and train safe.

[Shae Perkins]

Step one Christian, don't jump or vault anything at all your first year.  Condition safely and heavily your first year.  And yes they are only in France.

Er, I've heard that's how the Yamakasi does it, but I really don't agree with that. I don't think it's necessary at all.

[andrew]

Step one Christian, don't jump or vault anything at all your first year.  Condition safely and heavily your first year.  And yes they are only in France.

I'm gonna have to disagree here fox, maybe not the first month or two (basic easy vaults only). I helped my roll by jumping off 8-9ft heights onto grass, could immediately see what needed to be fixed
now i roll on concrete no problem and i can do most vaults, not even a year of training yet

[Astrauk]

I'm gonna have to disagree here fox, maybe not the first month or two (basic easy vaults only). I helped my roll by jumping off 8-9ft heights onto grass, could immediately see what needed to be fixed
now i roll on concrete no problem and i can do most vaults, not even a year of training yet

Yeah, I'm really only two months in but I can do a ton of different vaults, they are like the first thing I did other than rolls.

[Adam McC]

Er, I've heard that's how the Yamakasi does it, but I really don't agree with that. I don't think it's necessary at all.

I've trained with the Yamakasi, and they had beginners jumping lots of big jumps. Yann was having a group of us, some experienced, some not(less than a year), do about an 8 foot drop, repeatedly. Maybe it was different because it was an American seminar, but, food for thought.

The Yamakasi are awesome people. They are incredibly skilled, incredibly knowledgeable, but even more incredibly, they are humble. I mean, the guys played a freakin game of tag with us at the end of the day. I got tagged by Yann. Bahaha.

Anyways, as was said, you don't just join the Yamakasi. It's not a country club. You could probably save up, move, and train with them consistently, sure. And their training methods are indeed awesome. Lots of conditioning, lots of movement. And they seemed to integrate a lot. They demonstrated an understanding of massage therapy, they demonstrated an understanding of nutrition, they demonstrated an understanding of internal energy processes, all kinds of things. Very rounded people, you can really tell they've dedicated to the art, to living it and now to teaching it.

[NOS - from Parkour Mumbai]

Er, I've heard that's how the Yamakasi does it, but I really don't agree with that. I don't think it's necessary at all.

I've trained with the Yamakasi, and they had beginners jumping lots of big jumps. Yann was having a group of us, some experienced, some not(less than a year), do about an 8 foot drop, repeatedly. Maybe it was different because it was an American seminar, but, food for thought.

But then, both approaches are wrong, aren't they? We KNOW that it's insanity to ask someone even just a year into Parkour to jump off 8 foot heights, they haven't conditioned their legs to that point yet, even if they can manage to do that jump fine without seemingly disintegrating their bodies from the outside.
The first approach is also too rigid, it should be fine to let newer trainees try out smaller jumps as long as they are keeping up with the appropriate amount of conditioning and strength training.

In our training, I follow this rule of thumb - in your first three years of training, if you can't box jump a certain height, you shouldn't jump off it either.

[Adam McC]

But then, both approaches are wrong, aren't they? We KNOW that it's insanity to ask someone even just a year into Parkour to jump off 8 foot heights, they haven't conditioned their legs to that point yet, even if they can manage to do that jump fine without seemingly disintegrating their bodies from the outside.
The first approach is also too rigid, it should be fine to let newer trainees try out smaller jumps as long as they are keeping up with the appropriate amount of conditioning and strength training.

In our training, I follow this rule of thumb - in your first three years of training, if you can't box jump a certain height, you shouldn't jump off it either.

I don't think it needs to be quite so black and white. My best guess is (and this is a guess..) that they handle it on an individual basis. "Oh, that person looks strong enough and has good enough technique to do this a few times. That person does not." I remember them asking a heavier-set guy to jump from a lower point; probably closer to 4-5 feet.

[Nick Kelly]

I don't think it needs to be quite so black and white. My best guess is (and this is a guess..) that they handle it on an individual basis. "Oh, that person looks strong enough and has good enough technique to do this a few times. That person does not." I remember them asking a heavier-set guy to jump from a lower point; probably closer to 4-5 feet.

One thing I noticed at American Rendezvous was that the Yamakasi have an uncanny ability to quickly assess people's ability. I'm guessing that comes from training for around 20 years/being the people who started the discipline. :-P

[Ethan Nicholson]

I'd say that it's more of an individual progression rate that influences how fast you progress. I was learning the simple vaults after maybe a month of conditioning, and I had no problems. Waiting a year before even practicing vaults seems a little excessive, and I honestly think after maybe 3 months of conditioning the extra 9 months would be simply redundant, for lack of a better word. While it would build up your body, until you actually gauge how your technique is working, I believe you would be unable to progress.

Just my two cents, though.

[Christian Hall]

Cool, Box jumps FTW!