Topic: Gymnastics a must?

[brett]

Whenever I find someone who's good, most of them say they have either done varying amounts of gymnastics/tumbling classes, or martial arts.  Are these an absolute must to be able to get better at freerunning? Aka being able to do most flips/corkscrews ect.  I'm only 16 so i guess there could be time for me to join a gymnastics class, if you guys think i should.

Are any of you self taught?

thanks

brett

[Ryan Sannar]

I personally did martial arts and was on an exhibition team. However I have a friend who never took any of either and currently teaches gymnastic classes. He's one of the best flippers I know. Some of it is natural talent, but I don't doubt that most of the reason is because he just loves flipping and being in the air. Thus he does it all the time and has as a result gotten very very good.

You don't need those classes, but the truth is they can and will help. So long as you go in with an open mind. Many people in the "pro" circuit don't have experience that way (Daniel Illabaca comes to mind..)

If you are going to do it, don't do if for just parkour. Do it because you want it, otherwise your going to be throwing money at it. Be willing to pay for it before you do it is what I'm trying to say.

[steve dahlin]

I'm Self Taught, and this is my sampler after 3 years after starting from scratch, (0 background experience)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X13DRvfVkBo
It's not hard to teach yourself, all a coach will ever tell you to do is "jump higher, set, and tuck harder" common sense stuff really, if you videotape yourself, you can see what you are doing wrong and fix it yourself.


what works best for me is i do the trick, film myself doing it, then i play it back frame by frame on my camera, then i usually realize i'm throwing my head back too soon, and my legs aren't straight enough, then i re-do the trick with those things in mind and film it again and re analyze it. You can then compare your footage to footage of a professional doing the move you are trying to do



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItKJgUYVmeg
Vellu - 5 years of tricking
No Martial Arts background
No Gymnastics background

[Ratchetrockon]

Joining a class now won't really be worth it.. They teach you stuff depending on what level you are in, which means you will start off with cartwheels and more basic moves. I've never taken a gymnastics class, but I was able to learn to land a front flip in 2 weeks and a standing backtuck in literally 10 MINUTES!

Just look at online videos and get a friend to spot you. Or go to a local gym. Sadly there are no flippy type gyms near my area.. Only weightlifting and running machines.. 

[MThomasfreerun]

While you can learn acrobatics by teaching yourself, I think it's pretty cocky and a bit myopic to think that you can figure out proper technique on your own with the help of videos alone.

If your coach is really only telling you "jump higher" or "tuck harder" the problem is not the usefulness of coaching, but the effectiveness of your particular coach.

Just watching a video of yourself doesn't tell you what's wrong if you don't know what the right technique is - and where do you get said information? From instructors who have the knowledge and experience.

I started at 22 with no prior experience or background. I took lessons for 2.5 years and then was asked to coach at the gym I train at, and have been teaching for the last 2.5 years.  It's definitely not "too late" to start at 16 years old.



And no offense to Ratchetrockon, but for the LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, PLEASE DO NOT "HAVE A FRIEND SPOT YOU" unless your friend is a trained instructor. Improper spotting can lead to as serious if not more serious injury.

[Brett Robert]

Nothing's a must in freerunning or parkour.  I think that's a big part of why many of us choose this.  Sure there are people out there who claim if it isn't their way, it's wrong, but the openness of this culture and discipline are a big part of the draw.

That said, I agree with MThomasfreerun's assessment that it's not too late, and that a good coach is a tremendous help.  Sure, some people can learn from reviewing videos, and there are exceptional people who defy generalities, however most people will benefit quite a bit from the feedback and motivation that a good coach can provide, as well as access to any pads, a foam pit, or good spotters.  Some people pick up acro quickly, others not so much.

I'm 31 and I just landed my first sideflips on mats last week.  It took me a year of playing with them into foam pits and portapits, and working on my air-sense and front flips.  Without access to a gym, and a fellow coach there that I trust to tell me to man up, I probably never would have landed them.

Also, get your own name OP!   Haha...

[TheBigLOL]

Alot of the best freerunners and trickers out there are self taught.  And plus, you have the best teaching source in the world at your finger tips... Youtube!!!  LOL   

[steve dahlin]

i think you should try gymnastics for a month, and if you don't like it, don't do it

Keep in mind that gymnastics is also a great work out

[MThomasfreerun]

Alot of the best freerunners and trickers out there are self taught.  And plus, you have the best teaching source in the world at your finger tips... Youtube!!!  LOL   

Not surprisingly, there is a high correlation between people who say this and people who hurt themselves in the process. 

[Ben R]

I have actually 9 years martial arts experience (16 now) and the flexibility has come extremely useful in preventing injury and allowing for more leeway in vaults (kicking over more forcefully is second nature and lets me corkscrew better). I would certainly recommend gymnastics or martial arts if you have time. If you're looking for a martial art, either do ju-jitsu or tae-kwan-do. Don't jump into extreme martial arts from the start, they assume you can do flips into insane kicks from the start. It's just inhuman. Anyways, yes, I would recommend it but it is not by any means necessary. Good luck!

[Daniel]

I forgot how old I was but I took 5 years of karate lost some flexibility but kept my strength and build aside from height could really use gymnastics for vault stuff and flips

[7Erik7]

You can do whatever you want and apply what's usefull for you.

If you want to learn how to do acrobatics find a qualified gymnastic coach and it will certainly help you out. If you want to learn martial arts and/or selfdefence starting out with, for example, krav maga will help you out with that. If you wish to increase your coordination and general bodyawareness and become more flexible starting ballet will certainly help you with that. Same with parkour or freerunning. If you want to learn more about it find a qualified coach, or any others person or group with knowledge and experience. Is it required? No. You can learn acrobatics on your own, you can learn self defence on your own, you can learn freerunning on your own, but it will be away more timeconsuming to do it on your own since it is required that you do a proper research and study it very closely.

Personally, I had no previous experience in any sport at all before I started training and practising parkour. I used the internet for tutorials on movements, and I used the internet to research about almost every tiny bit about parkour and freerunning. Nutrition, warmup, stretching, history, training method, philosophy, inviduals.. there is huge amounts of information available on the internet. The hard thing [as bruce lee said] is to absorb what is usefull and reject whats not...

All this depends on your goals. Do you want to learn freerunning? acrobatics? Tricking? martial arts? ballet? Do you want to incoporate all of it?

Just do what you have to do.

So I think the answer to your question is in the question: If you wish to learn flips and tumbling it will be more efficient (!!!) to start training gymnastics. If you wish to learn parkour/freerunning it will be more efficient and usefull for you to start of with that. If you wish to learn selfdefence krav maga will be efficient for that. All in all, all these things will give you a certain understanding and aid to one and each others in different ways.

So do what you have to do! 

[Jordan Bates]

Depends on you.

I took a year of gymnastics when I was younger and did several years of diving so I have a pretty good sense of body awareness. So even though 95% of what I know is self taught, those basics helped me get started in the right path and make learning things much easier now.

If you want to do if, go for it. Just know it's not necessary, but surely will be helpful.