American Parkour

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!

               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>;.

Hey Welcome to APK!

Since you are new I would suggest the Movement section to start looking for tutorials.

If you want people to train with try posting -> http://www.americanparkour.com/smf/index.php?board=29.0 That is the Virgina section and will be entirely people from your state.

The best advice I could give is have fun!

Good luck!

Hey is anyone in Kansas city area? I know someone who moved there recently and was looking for some contacts?

http://www.viprfit.com/IntroducingViPR/Fortrainers/Rethinkingyourworkout.aspx

That explains what its supposed to do.

 These things are expensive. The cheapest one is over 200 dollars! The heaviest one is only 45 lbs.

I remember that. I also laughed when that she spelled Mark's name wrong every time she had it in the book.

Probably tomorrow night. I've got a big trip coming up to either a castle



or the city Museum in St. Louis http://www.citymuseum.org/site/ on Thursday so I'm trying to take it easy.

I'll get some up tomorrow. 

 

Congrats!!!

http://www.americanparkour.com/smf/index.php/topic,35815.msg443305.html#msg443305


There is the thread discussing the article. Also you can always PM someone like Mark (You my be better off finding his e-mail.) He has been in Parkour for a long time. He founded APK, helped other Organizations, watched communities grow,  seen great things, and terrible changes. HE would be one of the best people to talk to.

Also Julie Angles book looks great but I haven't read it. I have searched through the book on Amazon.     

I doubt there will be and I will give you a few reasons.

First-While you could argue that it is related to Parkour (because people use parkour to builder) it is not Parkour therefore would go in offtopic. Going with your idea you could also justify a section strictly for CrossFit, Urban Exploration, spelunking, rock climbing, MovNat and, Weight training. 

Second- Your logic is flawed. You need the demand before you have a supply. Just because people will click on it doesn't mean that they will post anything useful. And the last thing we need is another dead Sub Form.

Third- A lot of buildering (not all I know) is done by blatently trespassing. Instead of playing on a playground you are climbing up a building which police always frown upon.

A better idea IMO would be to start a thread in Gen off topic. Or ask for a sub-form for discussion of all activities related but not being Parkour like the short list above. But even that is a stretch. With that said I think climbing buildings is fun (I've climbed houses to help people locked out or my own buildings for fun) and takes a lot of strength and if I could find places I can do it without being arrested I would. If anyone wants to give me a list of those be my guest.