"The physical extensions of Parkour are as follows: Move in such a way, with any movement, that will help you gain the most ground on someone/something as if escaping from someone/something or chasing toward someone/something."-Parkourpedia
Above is your basic definition of Parkour. What every traceur who has either practiced for some time or has been brought into the discipline well, should know off by heart. I look back to when I first herd that definition, when I was first told that Parkour was efficient movement from point A to point B. When I herd this I was just beginning my journey. I was like a little child learning to write. I was looking at different things, different videos like Blane's Docendo Discimus and Vaults 102. I had it in my head that all the "moves" in Parkour were categorised like vaults and climb-ups. I learnt that to do a speed vault you put one hand on the wall or rail and then swing your legs over to the side. Just like when I was learning to write. Take the letter b for example. We learnt that to write a b we draw a line down the page and then put a circle at the bottom of the line.
I also thought that the moves like "speed vaults" and "two handed vaults" were the right way to do parkour. If I didn't progress doing these moves I wasn't doing Parkour. However I think about it now and it's quite the contrary. By thinking that we have to do these sought of moves to progress aren't we setting ourselves even more boundaries? And doesn't parkour give us the ability to progress over our boundaries and even have none?
I think of the writings of Georges Hebert and his progression of movement in Methode Naturelle. In his development of movement he was not practicing Parkour. He was not bounded by movements like vaults and wall scales. However in the true sense of the discipline he was doing Parkour. As I continue to look at the movement of Blane and Stephane Vigroux I see that they are also moving in the same way, in their own way. This is the direction Im going to try and take with my own training. I will no longer look at a section of wall and say I can "cat pass" over that and "speed vault" over that. Instead Im going to try and say. Ok what is the best and most efficient way to progress over the obstacles that are in front of me. Develop my own style of movement (but still remain true to parkour) just like I developed my own style of writing.
Above is your basic definition of Parkour. What every traceur who has either practiced for some time or has been brought into the discipline well, should know off by heart. I look back to when I first herd that definition, when I was first told that Parkour was efficient movement from point A to point B. When I herd this I was just beginning my journey. I was like a little child learning to write. I was looking at different things, different videos like Blane's Docendo Discimus and Vaults 102. I had it in my head that all the "moves" in Parkour were categorised like vaults and climb-ups. I learnt that to do a speed vault you put one hand on the wall or rail and then swing your legs over to the side. Just like when I was learning to write. Take the letter b for example. We learnt that to write a b we draw a line down the page and then put a circle at the bottom of the line.
I also thought that the moves like "speed vaults" and "two handed vaults" were the right way to do parkour. If I didn't progress doing these moves I wasn't doing Parkour. However I think about it now and it's quite the contrary. By thinking that we have to do these sought of moves to progress aren't we setting ourselves even more boundaries? And doesn't parkour give us the ability to progress over our boundaries and even have none?
I think of the writings of Georges Hebert and his progression of movement in Methode Naturelle. In his development of movement he was not practicing Parkour. He was not bounded by movements like vaults and wall scales. However in the true sense of the discipline he was doing Parkour. As I continue to look at the movement of Blane and Stephane Vigroux I see that they are also moving in the same way, in their own way. This is the direction Im going to try and take with my own training. I will no longer look at a section of wall and say I can "cat pass" over that and "speed vault" over that. Instead Im going to try and say. Ok what is the best and most efficient way to progress over the obstacles that are in front of me. Develop my own style of movement (but still remain true to parkour) just like I developed my own style of writing.
Now Im not saying that progressing doing strict things like cat passes is a bad thing however, I strongly disagree to that. Having certain moves like cat passes is a great thing! Think about what I said before about learning to write. We don't start writing fluidly with our own style right away now do we? We all start the same with the long line down the page and a small circle at the bottom. But by doing that and by practicing that we eventually find our own way of doing it more efficiently. At the same time when were more experienced we don't scribble a line across a page and call it a D now do we? We still have that base way of writing it, and a base way of movement. We just make it our own style, and that is what we have to do with Parkour.
