Parkour – easy to get started, hard to let go

Parkour is the new rage in urban experiences. It may seem an underground movement or a risk-taking extreme sport but it’s neither. In fact it’s a non-competitive discipline originating in France, encompassing a set of principles combined with a way of moving within your environment and overcoming obstacles of any kind, be they physical or mental.

The physical aspect of Parkour involves practical movement techniques guided by the notions of escape and reach. For example, parkour teaches you ways to move that can be used to gain ground on a pursuer during an escape.

Parkour methods involve running, crawling, jumping, climbing, and other methods of catching yourself, grabbing and hanging, rolling and balancing, applied to all environments both urban and natural. The parkour practitioner aims to become highly proficient in all the above methods so they can be used in an emergency situation. There are no equipment needed to start, all you need is comfortable pair of shoes with good grip, t-shirt and loose pants.

A Parkour practitioner is defined not by the way they move, but rather the application of movement with regards to the philosophy and purpose of parkour.

Parkour indeed is a sport - or rather a movement, tightly connected with philosophy. The deep thinking behind parkour is that all the moves are linked to each other so that the practioner can perform various moves like a dancer or jazz musician, without reflection and coming intuitively, from the muscle memory and the creativeness of the person. The parkour practitioner wants to be so fluent in his moves that he can cross any terrain without compromise - as if there were no obstacles.

Parkour training is a very versatile form of outdoor sports as you don’t have to be an athlete to start and you can practice parkour in many different ways – according your own level and environment. Parkour is about repetition and practise, making yourself better little by little. That’s why it may be hard to let go, the addiction comes from trying to push yourself just bit more – not trying to win someone else.

There are even specialized outdoor parkour equipment makers, such as Lappset who have produced safe and multi-use equipment, which can be installed in parks or playgrounds for parkour training purposes.