Parkour page

[Winterbike]

Hi guys!

After listening to Robb Wolf's podcasts and being too poor to afford a MovNat seminar, I'm thinking starting doing some parkour. Not the ''jump from very very high buildings'' stuff, just the basics. It seems like a workout I could do anywhere, and overall, I'd just like to be more agile (parkour + bjj = two steps closer to being a ninja).

If any of you have done parkour and have some useful advice or funny stories to share, fire away!

[Al_Kavadlo]

Parkour is a great workout and a lot of fun! You're definitely smart to stick with the basics to avoid injury though.

I started parkour training last year and have been doing it on and off along with my bodyweight strength training for a while now - like yourself, I keep it pretty fundamental. Check out this blog I wrote a while back about beginning parkour.

[Winterbike]

Thanks! I'll check it!

[Valarauko]

My only advice is: I would be wary if you are on the heavy side, parkour is a light mans game. Bigger guys trying it are tempting fate.

[secretlobster]

Parkour is a great workout and a lot of fun! You're definitely smart to stick with the basics to avoid injury though.

I started parkour training last year and have been doing it on and off along with my bodyweight strength training for a while now - like yourself, I keep it pretty fundamental. Check out this blog I wrote a while back about beginning parkour.

Great post. I really enjoyed the video.

[Al_Kavadlo]

Thanks, Secretlobster!

[Kyle C.]

I started training parkour recently as well and it's incredibly fun. My one word of caution is ease into it volume-wise. I developed a bit of achilles tendonitis because I fell in love too quickly. If you want to be very technical, you can count your footstrikes (landings, not every step you take). 80 per session would be about as high as you'd want to go for a beginner. And probably no more than 2 sessions per week at first.

[Primal Barbie]

Try to find a class in the area (I know it's not doable for everyone) or at least a buddy. Parkour is a communal sport and it really helps to have someone who can check your form. My roommate and I started together and came up with "extreme hopscotch" which involves grok crawls to draw the squares, backwards crawls to number them, and precision jumps. Make up your own rules! Check out urbanfreeflow.com too, they have all their magazines archived via pdf.

[Uncephalized]

Try to find a class in the area (I know it's not doable for everyone) or at least a buddy. Parkour is a communal sport and it really helps to have someone who can check your form. My roommate and I started together and came up with "extreme hopscotch" which involves grok crawls to draw the squares, backwards crawls to number them, and precision jumps. Make up your own rules! Check out urbanfreeflow.com too, they have all their magazines archived via pdf.

Grokscotch!

[Winterbike]

Looks like this calls for an update: I found a group in my area, most of them highschool kids. They were very open to new members and they were very open to help me. I went about five times and loved it. I've had schedule and time conflicts since this summer (so many cool sports, so few hours!!), so I haven't gone back, but I'll try it again next year for sure. I also went to the MovNat seminar (two days) and found it fun, but vastly overrated and overpriced. Parkour and BJJ skills do just as well!