I never knew the name they slapped on this until just recently. It's basically the act of running around swinging, jumping, climbing, running over obstacles, etc. I've always been one to enjoy this, but it has been increasing recently, as I find myself overcome with energy that screams to be released using any means necessary. Parkour seems to be the best means.
There really is nothing like running through town, city, forest, or whatever and jumping through or over objects. It just feels so great and refreashing. I was playing Riviera last night when all the sudden I was hit with the urge to attack my parkour desire. I took my 16-year old nephew and we ran for what seemed like 5 miles, made it all the way to town and messed around performing the craziest most dexterous things we possibly could on an urban playground. What true Kaleido Stars.
I always get excited when parkour is used in films, too. Like the start of Casino Royale, when the amazing S
Yes sometimes I like to just run on top of a bench and jump off. Im glad youve found a new activity to do.
This really isn't a new activity for me. I've been enjoying this ever since I was a child, as far back as I can remember. It was only recently I discovered the term used for it and how widely appreciated it is.
It's cool to watch, though **** actually doing it. I can barely find the energy to walk down to the store let alone backflip the **** over benches to get there.
Yea theres videos of crazy guys jumping down parking garages. ***
Dexter, how about some videos of you doing some parkour?
That would be pretty awesome.
Also, requesting some of your backflips. :D
Yea but please just dont fall on ur neck. Cause...that would be bad
Parkour... sounds like a fancy word for [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_running]free running[/url]. My brother is into free running and I fully expect him to land in a cactus one of these days.
Yeah, I wrote about this in my journal in January of last year. I don't care for referring to it as "parkour," but I do feel the expression "free running" works well enough. I definitely enjoy it, too. It is just as much a state of mind as it is a physical activity. Not only does it require the use of my imagination, it allows me to utilize my physical strength and agility to its maximum. I am especially drawn to heights and enjoy leaping and jumping, and almost sub-consciously scan for objects I can swing from, climb, or leap from and to in the urban environment. Free running through the wilderness is exotic, too. I had discovered a muddy wilderness path near Hilo which was strewn with fallen logs, and decided to run down it wearing only running shorts. There were so many obstacles I had to jump over or slide under, but it wasn't long before I totally entered the zone and manuevered over and around the logs and slid down the muddy slopes with expert precision, as fast as I could run. There is something extremely satisfying and deeply liberating, spiritually and physically, about doing such a thing. In the wilderness, it's a superb way of connecting with nature, and it allows you to see the city in an entirely different light. Not to mention, it's fun and builds technique. Every time I climb over a chain link fence strewn with barbed wire, I get a little better at it.
Also, as it somewhat relates to free running, I'm also very intrigued by the idea of exploring storm drains. Not sewers, but underground canals designed for handling rainwater. That would be such a creative and fascinating method of getting around the city. I believe this sort of thing is commonly known as [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_exploration]Urban exploration[/url]. I haven't had the opportunity to explore all the mysterious little nooks and crannies of dams since I left Arizona, but I certainly hope to again. There's just nothing like going to a large dam in the middle of the night, ducking beneath the security camera at the entrance, sneaking up the spillway, and exploring with stealth every little 'secret' passageway and staircase leading into the depths, seeing where it takes me. All I need to enjoy it is a light and my own curiousity and imagination. Of course, free running and technical movement comes into play heavily in these sorts of activities, especially when having to find ways to bypass locked gates or doors or flee from authorities before they can shine a light in your face and identify you (I always plan out an escape route, in case anyone undesirable should ever show up and try to spoil my fun). All this done underneath a full moon makes for an incredibly surreal experience. Same thing goes for old ruins and abandoned buildings. I could never get enough of it.
Looks like fun. My legs would be broken within 5 minutes of trying that stuff though. :(
I'm surprised you know about parkour! It was started by David Belle, a french stuntman/actor, and has just recently been picking up a lot of fame. "Free form movement in urban areas" or something, is the best I can translate.
You must see "Banlieue 13" (in English known as District B13). Not only does it star David Belle and has tons of amazing parkour, but is a very enjoyable film as well.
And the name 'parkour'...
I wonder if it is some ghetto spelt version of 'par cours' or basically 'to run'....
I've never heard of it!
How have you never heard of this? There's videos and discussions for it all over the internet, and I've seen some here, too.
[COLOR="DarkOrange"]This is the first time I am hearing of the fancy word for it.
I would normally just say im running around, making it sound like nothing fancy,
The word Parkour to mee seems odd, To me it sounds like a British game for parking a car...[/COLOR]
Running around is nothing fancy, but Parkour actually involves skill and technique. Of course, you can feel free to make up some gaudy-sounding term for other things, such as your skill and technique in Goldeneye 007 single-player. I'm very proficient in the art of Spyraniour, myself.
You are really weird, Raptor.
Parkour is the mix of gymnastics and running, basically. Saying "running around" gives the impression of a dog chasing after its tail. Parkour is not this simple and requires a lot more skill and precision.
You are really normal, KoH.
And yeah, like I said. Pretty much exactly what I said.
Parkour. Because you're too poor to buy a skateboard and too stupid to not break your legs.
Yeah, let's see you skateboard off a bench, back and forth on parallel walls 5 times onto the top of a 3 story building, then skate off of it skate up a shed do a backflip skating forward onto the grass and-
you get the point
Dude, you don't even want to see my attempt that. I will wreck your **** with skills.
JAMES BOND
Yeah, James Bond, but also Le Pacte Des Loups, or Brotherhood of the Wolf. That has more kung-fu, anime-inspired Parkour stuff, but a form of Parkour nonetheless. If you look closely, you will also notice David Belle as one of the people in the beginning fight scene.
*DO NOT watch it dubbed, though. If you don't mind subtitles, (unless you can speak French) be sure to watch it in original form. Otherwise, its just plain laughable.
Noir, you do realize that, whether dubbed or subbed, much of the movie is lost in translation? If you don't believe me, just watch The Price is Right with captions and look at how many words end up being changed/missed/added. If they do it with English-to-English subtitling, what makes you think they're not going to do it with Japanese/Some form of Asian-to-English?
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I've never been in a city where parkour was even necessary (or possible) to get from one point to another.
[quote=Misoxeny;576182]I don't think it's really supposed to be necessary. It's fun, I suppose. Though I don't see what's so fun about jumping over trashcans.What I mean to say is that I've never been in a town where parkour would be at all useful to get you around. At most, you could cut across some back yards.
[quote=Misoxeny;576182]Though I don't see what's so fun about jumping over trashcans.
Absolutely nothing. The average American town would be pretty awful for Parkour. Try looking at videos on youtube and you'll find that "Parkour" is done in France. European towns are much more compact, generally have taller buildings and have a much higher obstacle density.
I don't think it'd be fun anywhere, to be specific. And where I live is probably the worst place anyway... there is open desert behind my house, and large expanses of desert in between everything else.
[quote=Speedfreak;576494]Absolutely nothing. The average American town would be pretty awful for Parkour. Try looking at videos on youtube and you'll find that "Parkour" is done in France. European towns are much more compact, generally have taller buildings and have a much higher obstacle density.That's because they've had a couple hundred years more than the US has to develop them.
Parkour can be done anywhere, be it a city, town, or a forest. It can be done in a single room. And there's more to it than simply jumping over trashcans. It's the flips you perform, the maneuvers your body can handle and discovering your limit and working to extend that. I used a bit of Parkour today to get myself out of school. I guess there was a suspicious guy wearing a trench coat and the police were locking everyone away in class rooms until they found him. I didn't feel like waiting around for an unknown amount of time until they figured it all out or people started to get shot so I escaped by jumping out the window from the 2nd floor and landing with a Link-styled roll and then making my way to my adorable little car. Parkour saved me a good 3 hours of waiting today.
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_051107_news_linncollege_lockdown.5babd11c.html
Where are those videos of you doing backflips, Dex?
I really wanna see them.
[quote=Skitzo Control;576591]That's because they've had a couple hundred years more than the US has to develop them.
Yeah, no shit. I wasn't slagging off the US, I was just pointing out something that should've been obvious to Misoxeny. The fact that she/he/it didn't realise that other places on this planet might not be built like deserts is pretty...well, I don't think I should finish that sentence.
I'm not oblivious to the rest of the world, Speedy. I've lived in cities before and from my experience I put forth my opinion, which obviously isn't very popular: parkour doesn't sound like fun.
By the way, Dexter's example of jumping out a window? Great way to influence the younger users... I'm sure most of them are more apt to break their legs/arms by doing that than landing a "Link-style roll."
[quote=Misoxeny;577414]I'm not oblivious to the rest of the world, Speedy. I've lived in cities before and from my experience I put forth my opinion, which obviously isn't very popular: parkour doesn't sound like fun.
Is that supposed to be "It's not obvious"...?
It's always been obvious to me (and pretty much every single person I know this side of the Atlantic, and most on the other side too) that American cities, suburbs and rural areas look a heck of a lot different to Europe's, why wouldn't it be the same for you? Haven't you ever seen an English street map or pictures of a French town at some point in your life?
DEX, CAN WE PLEASE GET SOME VIDS?!
Oh good jesus. This thread actually makes me angry, and I don't even practice parkour any more.
Parkour is NOT just running and jumping. It's about efficiency and self-improvement, the philosophy of being fluid in your surroundings and breaking out of the constraints of the environment.
Jumping out of a window, in and of itself, is not parkour. Flips are definitely not part of it. Yeah, it's fun, exhilarating, whatever. But it's not part of what the discipline is about.
While I hate to have to define it, parkour is the act of getting from A to B gracefully, fluidly, and efficiently - not in the most extravagant manner. I see all sorts of people doing a backflip off a building and calling themselves traceurs, and it just makes my blood boil.
Friendly advice: What you really need to work on, before anything, are your rolls and landings - it helps you understand how your body works and improve your balance, as well as the amount of pressure you put on every single one of your joints after springing out of a precision and into a landing.
I guarantee you he's not good enough yet. :)
I used to train with these guys, though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSnRHxOCJUU
They're pretty good.
Are you as good as them?
Haha no I'm rubbish. :) I stopped practicing in about October, and haven't got back into it yet. I'm moving in a month or so, and I'm hoping to get back into it there.
Oh lol.
I'm sure once you get back into it you'll probably become as good as them. Probably better. ;)
[quote=Misoxeny;577465]No, it's "oblivious". It's a word, see: [URL]http://www.webster.com/dictionary/oblivious[/URL]
If you knew what that meant, my post would've made sense to you. I obviously know what Europe "looks like" - everyone has seen countless photographs of London and Paris, etc. I can imagine there being more opportunities to utilize parkour maneuvers in European cities, but my point was that my opinion is, is that parkour doesn't seem like a fun activity.
The reason I asked is because you saying you're not oblivious to the rest of the world is completely contradictory to your opinion that Parkour wouldn't be much fun, based on your desert town. I can only go off what you say, you never mentioned that it would also be boring in a city that has more obstacles than just trash cans. It's not my fault you used a shitty example, and it's not unreasonable to assume that the example you provided is what you assume to be the only kind of town Parkour could be practised.
Quite frankly, I think you're backpedaling.
This is definitely cool. But I'm wayyyyyyyy too far out of shape to try doing any of it. I saw the stuff in Casino Royale, and I remember the nike presto commercials from a few years ago. I always thought they were great, and didn't know what it was called. More power to anyone who can manage this stuff.
UUh whatever happened to that urban ninja video that was posted a long time ago, I thought only asians could do parkour, I thought it was invented by asians, I thought it was a ninja thing , i thought I thought I thought
You were wrong on every point.
You should probably ask a ninja...
I'm here all week.
It looks really fun id love to be able to do it but I have a knee that dislocates itself even if im only walking down the street. Doing that is just asking for trouble!