Topic: Cross Training for Parkour

[Patrick Witbrod]

               In the short time that I have been training I have heard the question “What is a good background to have before starting Parkour?” many times. The obvious answer is “It doesn’t matter. “ Parkour is first and foremost a method of training to overcome obstacles in one’s path. (1) It has never required anything other than a person willing to push themselves to do things that society may have deemed unacceptable. That is one of the most wonderful things about the discipline. However, their may be some activities that natrully help with Parkour.
               There will never be a need for additional training to be a good traceur. There are many people that only train by doing Parkour and are great at it. Some would even argue that it is redundant to train for training. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with practicing other sports, disciplines, training techniques, etc. to get better at Parkour. If Parkour is designed to create functional strength that fulfills the ethos “etre forte, etre utile” why stop at Parkour?
             In general, cross training is beneficial to the human body. According to the AMMA journal “[training] variations trigger new neuro-muscular adaptations or, in other words, new pathways from the brain to the muscles.” (2) These new connections allow the muscles to work faster and more efficiently. Cross training also reduces stress on joints and bones by changing the direction and amount of force applied to the bodyThis change of direction can be good to facilitate recovery. Runners, for example, use cross training to stay in shape after an injury. According to Runners World Magazine when you get injured “cross-training comes to the rescue in two ways: by helping runners maintain fitness despite being forced to run less or not at all and by correcting the cause of the injury.” (3) (Please remember if you receive an injury to seek medical advice before starting any more training.)
             Parkour should increase your success at many activities and the effect works both ways. If playing basketball increases your vertical jump and stamina, which translates well to Parkour, why wouldn’t practicing Parkour, something that also increases your vertical jump and stamina, make you a better basketball player?
               Many traceurs come from various backgrounds. Billy Hughes of the Tribe has a competitive diving background which makes his flips spectacular. Many have wished they had the upper body strength Tim ‘Livewire’ Sheiff gained from his break dancing experience. Dylan Baker has amazing skills on a slackline. Ryan Doyle has Martial Arts experience and ‘Frosti’ Zernow has taken up rock climbing to increase upper body strength for American Ninja Warrior.
                Even David Belle practiced Kung Fu. This was not necessarily to better his Parkour but I’m sure the two activities were mutually beneficial to each other. On top of that Traceurs all over the world are using weight training to better prepare their bodies for the physically demanding portions of Parkour.
                Consider what exactly you are trying to improve when doing Parkour. Parkour Generations’ Dan Edwards  says “Parkour aims to develop … the critical elements of coordination, body control, agility, strength, balance, spatial awareness, accuracy, timing, speed, rhythm and the sensitivity which comes from  practice, all of which are core to overall functional fitness.”(4) Many sports can improve these things. In my opinion there are few, if any; activities better at developing all of these attributes simultaneously than Parkour but, that isn’t to say other sports would not be useful in enhancing these attributes. Ozzi the founder of Hawaii Parkour says this about the subject “anything that challenges your body in any way will definitely help you, not only in Parkour but many other aspects of your life.”             
                As I mentioned earlier there are Martial Artists, break dancers, competitive divers, rock climbers, and slackliners. There are also weight lifters, yogis, runners, soccer players, gymnasts, and even basketball players who practice Parkour. Most of which would say that their sports background helped them in some way.
                Over the next year I will cross train in some complementary sport/discipline for one to two months. At the beginning of every new sport I will write an article giving an overview of the sport, what it should help increase, my workout plan, baseline measurements, and goals that I will try to achieve during my time practicing. My goals will be based on increasing my proficiency in Parkour skills and foci (using the American Parkour definition) as well as my “usefulness” in life.
After I complete the allotted time for each activity I will write a follow-up post about how it helped me, whether or not I achieved my goals, variations I took in the training routine I laid out, final thoughts and anecdotal evidence which I will attempt to keep as scientific as possible. In addition to all this I will also detail how, in my opinion, Parkour training helped with that activity.   
 
Note: I have always believed that Parkour is a personal discipline. I cannot tell you how to train and am not trying to get you to sign up for gymnastics classes. Nobody has Parkour training down to an exact science. There are good and bad things about every school of thought. In the case of cross training, American Parkour and PK Generations both support Cross Training to some degree. (5) Again this is one path and you don’t have to believe in its validity or results, just as I don’t have to be held back by views about the usefulness of other activities to train for Parkour.

I expect to have an activity picked and goals posted by Friday!

Please discuss. What do you think about my plan? Am I full of crap or do you think that my idea has merit? Any suggestions about what I should train first or later? Be as specific as you want. I would love to see some quality discussion.

   
Sources:
(5) Edwards, Dan. "Off The Wall - Articles | Parkour Generations." Off The Wall - Articles | Parkour Generations. Parkour Generations, n.d.   
                     Web. 13 June 2012. <http://www.parkourgenerations.com/article/wall>;.
 
(4) Edwards, Dan. "Parkour as Functional Fitness." Parkour as Functional Fitness - Articles | Parkour Generations. Parkour Generations, 
                     n.d. Web. 13 June 2012. <http://www.parkourgenerations.com/article/parkour-functional-fitness-through-movement>;.
 
(3) Fitzgerald, Matt. "Eight Benefits Of Cross-Training." Runners World Aug. 2004: n. pag. Www.runnersworld.com. Web. 13 June 2012.
                       <http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263--7420-1-1-2,00.html>.
 
(2) Krause, Paul. "The Benifits of Cross-Training." AAMA Journal (2009)
                   Attachments and other options: n. pag. Web. 13 June 2012. <http://www.ttmg.net/sites/default/files/Cross- 
                   Training%20Article.pdf>;.
 
(1) Toorock, Mark. "What Is Parkour?" American Parkour. N.p., 12 Oct. 2009. Web. 13 June 2012.   
                   <http://www.americanparkour.com/learn/faq-english/faq/155/221-what-is-parkour>;.

[Joe Brock]

The problem is with the definition of "useful."  If you have a solid personal definition, then what you choose for training would be reflective of your viewpoints of what usefulness really is.

I personally am a huge fan of training aspects beyond parkour itself, and have long stood by the fact that S&C benefits athletes from every sport.  When you say "cross-training," though, you must be careful that you're focused on aspects that actually have a significant carry-over to parkour if parkour is your final goal.  Cross-training in Ping-Pong probably won't help all that much.

Good Luck with your journey, and I'm interested in seeing how it turns out.  Do you have "indicators" for improvement that you'd be willing to set before your quest begins?

[Patrick Witbrod]

I agree that training in ping pong would not help at all.

For useful I mean useful for Parkour and I plan on using APK's parkour definition to figure out what aspect I should be improving for each activity.   

For instance when I do slackline obviously the benefit from that would be increased balance and a little bit of core and leg strength. I would measure my balance going into precisions, standing paralleled and perpendicular to three rails. (thick round, thin round, and flat)
Rail squats on all of those and maybe even pistols. Then, from the initial data I would form a hypothesis and some good goals.

Thanks for the feedback.         

[Jason C. Astor]

I absoluetly love this 

I Climb, Run, swim and Lift and I feel have they've helped my progresion in Parkour; but, I have been thinking of adopting Martial Arts back into my life.

What other activities do you plan on adopting during your experiment?

[Steve Low]

If I was optimally training for just PK I probably would be doing:

Squat/deadlift + upper body bodyweight strength + sprinting + PK training

Any other flips/gymnastics/martial arts/etc. type of cross work is just gravy.

That's my take though for what it's worth

[Taylor Falk]

Best core and leg strength work would come from heavy lifting(i.e. heavy squatting and deadlifting like Steven said) and gymnastic strength work.  Also, I do believe that unstable balance work like slack lining does not translate to stable balance like walking on a rail.

[Joe Brock]

I might be mistaken, but this sounds more like a philosophical/spiritual journey with parkour as a guiding principal.  Am I reading it correctly, Patrick?

If it was all about simple physical improvement, I'd agree that the normal rules to S&C would apply, but if it's a more "expansive" journey, then I actually think that it's a great idea.  I have found that much of what has carried me into heavy strength training was born when I was a scrawny #155 kickboxer.  There are mental aspect to determining the successes in one training style that carry over well to another.  I very seldom miss a day of lifting, which possibly comes from when our old sparring coach used to say "For every day that you're not training, your opponent is, and that's why he's going to beat you."  The mentality was born from the ring, and just moved to the rack.

Plus, a 20-rep squat set is hard, but not as bad as getting punched in the face over and over.

If that's where you're going with this, I'm behind it 100%.  I believe that diversifying is a fantastic idea for someone who's not looking to compete in a specific sport.  If you have no goal on the horizon, it can only make you a more complete human being.  If it's all about performance, then there are more efficient way to get there.

[Patrick Witbrod]

Joe: I agree that this is a more personal journey than scientific. I really want to find what will make me better for what I want and what I think I should do.

For instance if I decide that I really like ballroom dancing (not likely) even if it isn't useful for parkour I will still do it because I think it is useful for something that is personal to me. I wouldn't recommended it for the normal traceur like I would strength training. I also agree that if it was just for Parkour there are much more efficient methods. (This was on my phone so sorry if it turns out bad)

Edit: There is no reason that people can't benefit from my journey which is why I'm also looking at it through the lens of a scientist.

I guess that was a long winded way to say: Yes you are correct. I have a strong personal belief of what is "useful" and that is what I am going for. Thanks for your support!

[Patrick Witbrod]

One of the most cross trained sports in the world is swimming in some form or another. Swimming like Parkour uses your whole body and requires practice to get better. Unlike Parkour it cannot be done anywhere but is much easier on your joints.

    For many traceurs who prefer fast paced and fluid motion the repetitive back and forth of Olympic swimming may not be appealing. Why then is swimming a good choice for cross training? According to the CDC Swimming can improve mood in both men and women. It has also been shown to decrees anxiety in people with Fibromyalgia. Most traceurs don’t have a problem with mode so what about the health benefits.

    Swimming has a plethora of health benefits. One benefit that is very beneficial to freerunners is increased bone density. Discovery health reports “that swimming will increase bone strength.” Swimming also improves flexibility. “unlike machines in a gym… swimming puts the body through a broad range of motion that helps joints and ligaments stay loose and flexible”. When you are swimming you are stretching the whole time. You lengthen your body, swing your arms and move your hips and spine as you kick and turn.

    Aside from those tertiary benefits some benefits that affect myself and other traceurs (especially starting traceurs) are improved muscle tone, improved muscle strength and joint protection. Swimming is actually resistance training. When you run or vault you are running through air. When you swim you are going through water which is about 12 times denser. I’m not saying that when you are done swimming that you will be able to bench 300 lbs instantly, but have you seen professional swimmers?

   "Swimming improves endurance. In one study of sedentary middle-aged men and women who did swim training for 12 weeks, maximal oxygen consumption improved 10% and stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped with each beat which indicates heart strength) improved as much as 18%" (http://www.medicinenet.com/swimming/page4.htm)

    Swimming does all of this while protecting your joints. In addition to the flexibility increase discussed earlier swimming is easy in joints because it is low impact. While you are in the water up to your waist you are only supporting 50% of your normal body weight. Up to your neck and 90% of your weight is being handled by the water. This makes any kind of exercise you do in the water much easier on the joints.

    How is this beneficial to traceurs though? Increased muscle tone while not necessary for parkour is something that everyone wants. Increased muscle strength directly benefits everything else you do with your body from climbing the stairs to that 10 ft running precision you have been eyeing for months. Joint and bone strength and longevity are required to stay in parkour very long. I’m sure there are lots of people that had to retire early because they didn’t take to time to build up their joints properly.

   Why I chose swimming is a little more personal and unnoticeable. For me the cardio vascular improvement is a top priority. My father died when I was 9 from a heart attack his father died years before for the same reason. There is a long history of heart disease in my family and for a long time I didn’t take care of myself. I’m am also a victim of my mother’s second hand smoke which recently helped hospitalize my step-father (why this is so late). I need to strengthen my heart because, it is better than it was when I was overweight but it is not where it needs to be.

I plan on swimming two to three times a week for the next 2 months.

Goals:

To be able to swim one lap using each of the major strokes (breast, backstroke, butterfly, freestyle)

Be able to swim at least 5 consecutive laps using one particular stroke.

Hypothesis: By the end of the two months I will be able to swim five laps freestyle and will be able to do all the basic stokes. I will be able to swim one lap using all the strokes except the butterfly.

My week will look like this:

Monday: Swimming (Endurance)
Tuesday: Parkour conditioning
Wednesday: Swimming (specific stroke)
Thursday: Parkour technical
Friday: Swimming (open)
Saturday: Parkour (play and flow)

If I miss a day of anything it will be swimming.

Be sure to follow my blog for weekly updates at http://apkcrosstraining.blogspot.com/

Also there is some great discussion on the apk forum here.

My next big post will explain the benefits I received as well as what I thought felt like it would help Parkour.

edit 7/30/12 (I couldn't find the exact source I used earlier and my have combined two separate articles or misunderstood. I changed the section on the heart and cited a source. Thanks for pointing it out.) 

[Steve Low]

Some of your science is off in regard to heart disease....

I guess you can experiment with your own body though. That's always fun.

[Mr.WWII]

I really dig this idea. I'm very into experimenting with my own body just to see what happens. I've been taking an ice bath 5 days a week for the past 3 months, just to see how it effects me. I'm looking forward to where your experiment goes.. Just don't expect much strength gain from swimming. You'd prob get stronger in a week of weight lifting than you would in months of swimming

[Cody]

This is really awesome. I truly believe training beyond parkour itself is a huge help, and this is definitely a good goal. Go for it.

[Zack]

If I had to pick a sport to cross train for parkour, it would be gymnastics. The spatial awareness, strength, agility, body awareness, and ability to handle fear and injuries that gymnasts have is an obvious benefit.