I feel embarrassed practicing in public...

[Scared Doggy]

I love how so many new members to APK, mostly the young ones, think they'll get a positive reaction when they say they were climbing on rooftops and jumping off them. What do they want us to say,"wow, that's WAAY COOL DUDE!!"

[Sezon]

Yeah, the general public looks down on Parkour, which is contrary to what aspiring/new traceurs hope for.

[Gage E.]

Actually, training in public is good. It builds your self confidence and I also met some other traceurs because I was practicing in public. I remeber this kid walking up to me a few months ago saying "Are you doing Parkour?" And I thought to myself "Oh god, whats this kid want." Because he was 3 years younger than me but it turned out he did some himself and actually showed me up with his backflip skills ha ha ha. Honetly, If people see you for the first time they probably wont think twice about you and if they see you again they'll probably be use to your presence and not really care 

[Malkior]

Um... if you're in San Francisco, there is already an established PK community. Try training with these folks:

http://www.sfparkour.com/

Hope that helps!

I do miss San Francisco T.T

[Zombehs]

Today I started doing doing quad movement and ground konging up this not so steep hill. I did it for about 50-65 feet and at the top of the hill I noticed a cute girl on the phone staring at me. Hahaha it was so awkward but then she went into Subway so I carried on

[Alëx Millz]

it depends on the person some people like it some don't

[super dude]

Alright well it kind of sucks but nobody else is as interested in it and it would be way to hard to hook up with someone. Parkour is is not a very big sport at all. And what would you think if two 14 year old kids are running through san fransisco jumping over fences and climbing up on rooftops. If its not the people I am worried about, it is the cops! I want to keep my record clean...

dude cops is where parkour really comes in

[Fallensurvivorz]

Does anyone know if there are any groups of people in Michigan near Pinckney/Brightion? So I dont have to train by myself.

[Glacieus]

What possible law can you break my jumping over a rail. As long as you don't break anything, trespass, or assault old ladies you should be fine. Of course you should probably notify the authorities that you are just practicing a sport and are not actually running from them. Also jumping out and suprising them doesn't make them too happy. Getting permission from people to practice on their private property is always a good idea. If they don't want you practicing in the area move somewhere else (its better not to tick them off). Public parks, skate parks, and playgrounds are always good places to practice. As long as your not indangering yourselves or others you should be fine. Also doing flips and more daring movements probably shouldn't be practiced around small children because they have a habit of disappearing and popping up where you least expect and they often like to imitate what they find interesting.

[ctparkour]

it doesn't matter what people think of you... for example I do QM down steps outside my school while people are walking up.  Yea, they laugh and are creeped out but it doesn't matter.  So don't feel embarrassed no matter what you're doing or who's there, just focus on what you're doing.

[MrShaun]

I honestly enjoy the publicity

[jorgeDominik]

dude cops is where parkour really comes in

i find that text can really distort the meaning of a sentence. super dude i hope you were trying to be funny and/or sarcastic, dude.

if in fact you were, you did a real bad job at displaying your humour.

my friend we have developed many a tool to help portray the intentions behind a written sentence

for instance the sarcasm smiley: dude cops is where parkour really comes in [insert  ]
or the simpler wink: 

or even an shortened set of words like:

• jk= just kidding
• lol= laughing out lout
• lmao= laughing my ass off
• rofl= rolling on the floor laughing

these are to help you from having your statements taken seriously.

[Ted Kornish]

Normally I don't really like to practice by myself in public because I've been training for about 2 months and have been having some issues with applying a kong outside of a gym. So today, after reading this thread, I went to practice kongs (which I had never been able to work up the nerve to fully commit to at a run before outside of a padded area) over a picnic table. Some skaters were skating by, stopped right as I nailed my first-ever successful kong vault (after working up bit by bit) and shouted "YEEEAH HARDCORE PARKOUR PARKOUR" in a really friendly and supporting way. So, imo, practicing in public isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was. Yippee

By the way, happy New Year, everyone.

[Chad Johnson]

I've been practicing by myself for the month or so I've been doing Parkour. I practice at a school and a park so there are sometimes people around.  A little while ago there were two moms and a bunch of kids at the park so I was like 'screw this'. Just tonight I was practicing there and I didn't even see a group of four guys walking in my direction off to the side.  I could hear them chuckling and talking but I ignored them and kept practicing. Them I heard a shuffling of mulch and thought they had thrown something at me but one of them had come over and said, 'what are you doing?' I stopped and said 'Parkour.' He laughed nervously and said, 'okay, I was just wondering.' Then he left and they kept moving.

This experience just really made me feel good and proud because I kept practicing and didn't feel bad. I just answered his question and he seemed satisfied.  Parkour is overcoming physical and mental/social whatever obstacles!

[NiklasT]

Ok, first off: I think that you (OP) already have got an answer to your "question" but I'll like to share some of my personal experiences anyway!

I'm not training for parkour yet since my body is not in the right condition, but when spring comes I hopefully have the body I need/want. When that time comes I'm not going to be embarassed when I train in public.
When I was younger and I got myself an alternative look, I used to get a LOT of comments/glares but you just have to ignore that because in the long run, that is who you are and if you feel embarassed for being yourself in public and people, who you are most likely never to meet again, give you weird looks then you need to get a grip of yourself. Go out there and do your thing!

Anyway, you should see that some of those "regular people" are really jealous of you since you can do all those things you do (even if you are failing sometimes) and they can't. Think of it that way and I hope you'll feel much better!

[sparta98]

out of curiosity... (and at risk of provoking the roof police...) is the roof of a public building also public? i dont plan on even touching one until i get rolls down good.

by the way ted... are you related to a daniel cornish?

[Ted Kornish]

Sparta: I'm not sure about the roof, but I would guess no. I got yelled at for tapping the top of an 8-foot wall at a pedestrian mall the other day, so I think cops interpret it (in general) kinda like: If it wasn't build for you to be on that part of the building, it's an excuse to call the cops. Whenever I go on the roof of my high school (which I usually only do because it has an amazing view of the Flatirons) my friends and I take care to stay low, wear dark clothes and freeze if someone's coming. However, a friend of mine who was on top of a middle school in my area said a few cops were called because someone saw him even though he was just hanging out, so (case in point) I would say no--it's not public.

I'm probably not related to Daniel Cornish, though it's a possibility--where is he located? Most of my family on my dad's side (where my last name came from) is on the east coast. I won't go into specifics, but my family name was "Connish" like 6 generations ago, then we emigrated to the US and got our name Americanized to "Cornish." Like 3 generations back, my great grandfather changed it to "Kornish" for whatever reason.

[GoldenSlumbers]

i find that text can really distort the meaning of a sentence. super dude i hope you were trying to be funny and/or sarcastic, dude.

if in fact you were, you did a real bad job at displaying your humour.

my friend we have developed many a tool to help portray the intentions behind a written sentence

for instance the sarcasm smiley: dude cops is where parkour really comes in [insert  ]
or the simpler wink: 

or even an shortened set of words like:

• jk= just kidding
• lol= laughing out lout
• lmao= laughing my ass off
• rofl= rolling on the floor laughing

these are to help you from having your statements taken seriously.

I'm pretty sure everyone knows that was sarcasm.  On the very off chance it wasn't, no one is gonna go out and throw bricks at cops to test out their parkour skills.  Anyone that stupid wouldn't be able to use a computer to read that statement.

[Andy Keller]

out of curiosity... (and at risk of provoking the roof police...) is the roof of a public building also public? i dont plan on even touching one until i get rolls down good.

There's no such thing as a "public" building. You can't just go and do whatever in [or on] a courthouse, a library, the Capitol building, or even a "public" park. The term public is used when a building or property is owned by the government, or, in turn, the people [ ]. Any building you come upon, private or public, has rules that you must follow or they can kick you off. You don't have a "right" to be in those buildings or on those properties if you don't follow the rules.

[sparta98]

Yeah im located in erie pennsylvania. If your last name is kornish with a /k/ then you likly arent related. Thanks for the response

(andy) Yeah i figured that... i didnt mean a political building though.{clarifying)