Topic: Should I Do Parkour or Freerunning?

[Ryan Ford]

Because parkour and freerunning share many movements, ideas, and philosophies, practitioners generally do both. Rarely will you see someone exclusively focus on one or the other. Once practitioners get immersed in parkour or freerunning, they usually take interest in many other kinds of movement based activities such as breakdancing, martial arts, dance, or gymnastics. Parkour and freerunning will teach you nearly all the same things and provide you with the same benefits. In the end, it is best to not worry about restricting your movement to one specific style or discipline. You can learn from all of them; the most important thing to do is just get out and move!

[Blackboxxx]

I just thought parkour and freerunning were the same thing when i started out. You know? But I was all alone when I trained so all I had to go on was what I felt and videos i modeled after. But to answer your question I'm pretty sure its better to mix styles whenever your out on a session.
I dont know Ive only been doing this for a couple years off and on.

[CrazyCanuck_Des]

Well I might be totally wrong, but here goes:

in all my looking online I keep finding the idea that free running, parkour, l'art de movement, urban junggling,... are all basically the same thing (kinda like soccer and football are the same the name just depends on the country ) but even if there are some small differences they all have the same core and the idea that the movement is individual to the person .... that is to say ...   that given the same environment , same start point and same destination 2 people may not take the same path, but that does not mean that one is right and one is wrong, just different.......whatever we call it (parkour, free running, urban jungling,... it is about movement, precision,overcoming the obstacles and finding the path that works for you......that is what matters.

[Peter"Ewok"Golightly]

Simply-Parkour=100% effeciancy in over coming the obstacle
Freerunning- Hey lets throw in a useless spin that looks cool.
Pretty much the other than that.

[Wilf 'Havok' Godfrey]

Freerunning- Hey lets throw in a useless spin that looks cool.

not true man, not true at all. You do heaps of useless things every day just for the sake of having fun. Don't condemn freerunners just because they have guts and enjoy showing people what they can do. Its just another way of enjoying yourself, and pushing your body to the limits.

.... that is to say ...   that given the same environment , same start point and same destination 2 people may not take the same path, but that does not mean that one is right and one is wrong, just different.......whatever we call it (parkour, free running, urban jungling,... it is about movement, precision,overcoming the obstacles and finding the path that works for you......that is what matters.

spot on

as one wise person once said, not too long ago- something along the lines of 'stop talking and go train'. It's all in the training, in how you move and who cares what you call it. I'm never going to care what anyone thinks about what I do ever again, because I enjoy it and I do it for myself.

[ensō]

I cant help that think pk has more of a set of standardized movements over freerunning. Its as if pk has this stigma attached to it that only allows for basic execution of overcoming obstacles.

freerunning (at least to me) is a looser 'discipline'. that is to say, its nearly formless. Its free.

IMO of course.

[Patrick Yang]

I cant help that think pk has more of a set of standardized movements over freerunning. Its as if pk has this stigma attached to it that only allows for basic execution of overcoming obstacles.

freerunning (at least to me) is a looser 'discipline'. that is to say, its nearly formless. Its free.

IMO of course.

I disagree completely.  There is no "move list" in parkour.  Yes, we train certain movements because those are useful in many situations.  But you can't predict what obstacles you'll come across in the world, what angle from which you'll have to attack it, what might be on the other side.  True flow is as formless as you feel free running is.  You make things up on the fly.  You adapt what know to the minutiae of your environment.

If you doubt this, take a look at Kazuma and Stephane's flow in this vid.  Yes, I know that they have some flips in there.  They believe, as do I, that parkour and free running are the same thing anyway.  This doesn't mean that the movements they do can't be used to escape or pursue.

[ensō]

I should refine.

What I mean to say is, the ideas behind the two 'arts' seem different.
Pk seems to be more direct in its goals of obstacle leaping and what have you.
Fr is more about having fun and expressing yourself inside your surroundings..

and I believe it to 98% of the time play out according to this notion.

again, this is all my opinion.

[Sean C]

in my opinon why the eff does it matter? i was confuzzled for awhile cause i dont flip (yet) but, i dont go for efficency (all the time) then i realized all this is how i express MYSELF in my environment to hell with the rest. or at least thats what works for me. i was training with 2 people yesterday. one of them did a movement and asked me what it was called. i asked him why did it matter.

[BWADE612]

Yea it really doesnt matter there basicaly the same thing. Parkour and Freerunning have the same details and not much differnce so it really doesnt matter .

[JC*]

“You do freerunning or parkour, I don’t know, but both are the same. Some people are worried about it, but they are people that don’t train for too long, people that…in terms of training, aren’t mature yet. […] One day I’d like to wake up, open my window, and everyones doing parkour." -Ali Shelton

[Stephanie Belle Hagan]

“You do freerunning or parkour, I don’t know, but both are the same. Some people are worried about it, but they are people that don’t train for too long, people that…in terms of training, aren’t mature yet. […] One day I’d like to wake up, open my window, and everyones doing parkour." -Ali Shelton

*sniff* Beautiful.

[JC*]

“You do freerunning or parkour, I don’t know, but both are the same. Some people are worried about it, but they are people that don’t train for too long, people that…in terms of training, aren’t mature yet. […] One day I’d like to wake up, open my window, and everyones doing parkour." -Ali Shelton

*sniff* Beautiful.

Plus one to you sir

[ParkourBoy217]

The question isn't if you should do parkour or freerunning, it's which one you prefer and if you like both then do both.

[CrazyKatie]

It is in my opinion that parkour is efficiency in movement while freerunning is exploring your surroundings. But I have yet to start either so this is an outsiders opinion. In other words I agree with this guy.

I should refine.

What I mean to say is, the ideas behind the two 'arts' seem different.
Pk seems to be more direct in its goals of obstacle leaping and what have you.
Fr is more about having fun and expressing yourself inside your surroundings..

and I believe it to 98% of the time play out according to this notion.

again, this is all my opinion.

[Dan Elric]

You will all learn they are all the same once you mature enough as a traceur.  Just don't worry about it; just go out and do what you want to do.

[bryanmcdan]

The practicing of movements in parkour is just like the practice of forms and techniques in martial arts; you practice them because they give you the basics and muscle memory you'll need out on your own.  Not so that you can do them in the same manner every single time there's an opportunity.  As far as the difference between that and freerunning, it seems to just be the lack in practice of specifics.  "Freerunners" seem to be more self-made, meaning that they just do it without any concern as to the names or practice of the movements they use.  That's not to say that it's lesser than parkour, but according to the people that try to differentiate between the two, that's all it is.  Personally, the best way I've seen the two named is PKFR or Parkour/Freerunning.  The same thing under a different name.

"Orignally coined by Channel 4 in the documentary 'Jump London', freerunning was intended to be a more easily accepted term for Parkour for English-speaking viewers. Over time, the term freerunning came to stand for the merging of Parkour techniques and acrobatics, where the essential mindset of Parkour is not retained, but many of the visual aspects remain the same."
(plus you have that, coming from APK's dictionary)

[/shane/]

Well if you ask me flips should definitely be considered parkour, not only because they build technique, vertical, agility, timing, coordination, and spatial awareness, but also because sometimes they really do help you get places faster. Like a diving frontflip over a railing with a drop gets you farther, quicker and with less effort than the old vault and roll. And frontflips help the roll flow better if you do it right, if I'm going for a high drop I'd rather frontflip than just jump. I can also swing farther off a bar if I launch myself outward at an angle and backtuck than canceling some of the momentum to stay upright.

All the people I know who don't like freerunning are the people who try it, aren't very good at it yet, so they say something like: "Flips are useless, it's just showing off." I think there's a reason why all the best traceurs are also the best freerunners. There really isn't a difference.

[Travis S]

The first thing you must realize: movement is personal, make it into what YOU want. Your life is what you make of it, whatever you want to train, go for it. If you want to really specialize in one form of movement, that's great go for it. Honestly, learn as many or as few of the disciplines that you want: your body, your choice. However, whatever you do, do it well. Practice a lot and understand the reasons for each discipline. If you can grow physically and mentally from whatever discipline(s) you practice, that is when you know you are doing something right. Just be safe, have fun, learn and move your body! Personally, I love parkour for what it means to me mentally and the prowess it gives me physically and I will always respect it. That's not to say that I want to limit myself to it, I want to learn martial arts, dancing, and a possibly dabble in free running. Just learn, progress and stay fit, these are the important things to remember; arguing on forums is fruitless, find your own definitions, just know what your discipline originally meant to teach.

[WoodlandGhillie]

A really cool (sad for everyone who has learned ANY movement,) thing I learned from Knox;

"Forget the names. ALL the names. Forgot Parkour, Freerunning, Tricking. You are moving. Forget Monkey, Kong, Dash, Vault. Just move. Movement should have no restriction. If this was real, you wouldn't care. You should make your OWN path, your OWN movement. Only THEN is it TRULY natural, is it truly TRUE. Y'know how the Yamakasi guys did it? THEY made it all. I've taught you the names, And their movements. Forget it and MOVE!!! "

Something along those lines. It was more epic

So, lose the names. Don't teach newbies names. Teach them how to learn how THEY move. Don't make them fit the mold.
-Blanc