Parkour

[DeaconSawyer]

I do Parkour myself. And there are some douches, meatheads, posers etc. But they are in the gaming world too.

Parkour itself is just a discipline, an activity and an exercise. Most people I know personally don't even know that I do it, because it can also be a personal thing. Personally I don't get into the flips and tricking, but that doesn't mean that I think those that do it are docuhey. Some of them are sure. But some of them just like it, and they work immensely hard at it.

Also, yes alot of videos out there are self aggrandizing. However, a fair number of videos out there are in fact demos. Both for instructional purposes, and for occupational purposes. Many traceurs are/or wish to be employed as stunt men, and they get these jobs by getting their names out there. Those people who end up doing something really stupid and hurting themselves aren't representative of the discipline itself. Those videos exist either because people do something they are fully unprepared for, or because they know it will get a cheap laugh from those wanting to see people get hurt.

Finally, a lot of Parkour is is not really stunts at all. In fact it looks quite uninteresting. A lot of the time the goal is in fact to not stick out at all. For me, it is about seeing the city differently, not being limited by the physical constructs around me, and staying fit. And frankly its fun.

 

[DeaconSawyer]

But Free Running is still cool right?

Parkour is just the fancy name for free running. They're the same thing. (Unless you were being sarcastic. It's hard to tell.)

This is actually a much debated issue in the community. People question whether parkour is the pure practice and free running is tricking. Personally I feel there is a divide between people who do tricks and people who just run. There is a connotation of ego attached to the idea of trickers. Though that too is unfair.

 

[TheTaco007]

But Free Running is still cool right?

Parkour is just the fancy name for free running. They're the same thing. (Unless you were being sarcastic. It's hard to tell.)

This is actually a much debated issue in the community. People question whether parkour is the pure practice and free running is tricking. Personally I feel there is a divide between people who do tricks and people who just run. There is a connotation of ego attached to the idea of trickers. Though that too is unfair.

OK, that's just kind of... Well, let me put it this way:

 

[DeaconSawyer]

But Free Running is still cool right?

Parkour is just the fancy name for free running. They're the same thing. (Unless you were being sarcastic. It's hard to tell.)

This is actually a much debated issue in the community. People question whether parkour is the pure practice and free running is tricking. Personally I feel there is a divide between people who do tricks and people who just run. There is a connotation of ego attached to the idea of trickers. Though that too is unfair.

OK, that's just kind of... Well, let me put it this way:

It may be that those are the only people with opinions on the matter, it doesn't mean that others should ignore them if they wish to claim to be knowledgeable on the subject. In other words...

Parkour is just the fancy name for free running. They're the same thing. (Unless you were being sarcastic. It's hard to tell.)

You may think this...but you're wrong to state it definitively, because you don't know. Fair enough that is how you see it now, neither does that makes you right, nor is it fair. Just because you don't see a difference, doesn't mean it isn't there.

None the less I do love xkcd. So you kind of win there.

 

[DeaconSawyer]

Hmmm, double post fail. Delete this please.

 

[David Bray]

Spoiler: What inspired me to rant

So I always found parkour to be extremely douchey, and always thought of people that do it as stuck up. I even was surprised when a friend of mine was attempting to "master" it, luckily he did not succeed.

Now granted,there are some amazing stunts I've seen done, and I always appreciate innovative ways or moving around the city, but I still can't make myself like it, or the people that do it.

Because it's not like they don't drive cars at all, but they show off jumping on trash bins for the camera.It's just a stunt, but it's classified by some as "way of navigating over every obstacle in front of you,instead of bypassing it" in lame-mans terms.

So in short,this was a rant on why I think parkour is just some street stunts, nothing more.


And so I give you the only parkour video I've ever enjoyed.

Wow. You're such an asshole.

I have been doing parkour for about a year now and its nothing to do with being stuck up or looking down on people. It's about making life easier, whilst making me healthier. It affect more than just the ego, being good for body and mind.

It is not to be confused with free running, tumbling, or stunting as parkour does not utilise stunts as you put it. You have just come off as incredibly uneducated and rather insulting.

You're obviously the wrong person to try and bring over, but this is the real experience of parkour, as we see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK1Swbi63Gc

and this is a documentary made by my group

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Poph6Jmc688

 

[Thomas Hardy]

Trashing the amateurs is one thing, but how come no one is posting professional-grade videos? This is the best video I could find in 10 minutes. It's from a french movie called "District 13". This movie, and its sequel "D13 Unlimited" is full of Parkour chase scenes. I own both because I think they're great action movies. The Parkour scenes are just a bonus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTyWfbvX0xQ

Now before you go for the cheap joke that this is a re-post from BoreMe.com, WATCH the damn thing. When Parkour is done well, it looks awesome and its a great way to throw off pursuers. Its just that when you start out you look like an idiot.

Like most sports really. I'm in awe that the crazy spider-monkey playing Leto can do all that.

 

[theshadavid]

I think it's kind of cool. I don't find it douchey because I've never met a parkour runner.

 

[PurpleSky]

I was actually trying to get into it a couple years ago, then I realized I'm too much of a coward.

Nah, I bet you were just trying to do things too far outside your comfort level. You gotta start easy, like Office Parkour. Me, I took baby steps. I did Parkour at the waterpark I used to work at as a lifeguard, but I didn't want to use the structures themselves. That might encourage the younger guests to copy me, and that's frowned upon. So, I parkour'd on the guests. Whenever I had to go into the pool to rescue a guest in distress, I would jump on top of the heads of the other guests, yelling "PARKOUR!!!" all the while.

I was fired minutes later.

At first I was shocked, then I laughed.

 

[Marowit]

So, partaking in parkour makes you a douche. You're argument is flawless.

When I visit my friends in Boston we go mess around in the city doing free-running-esque things, and to be honest we must look like fools, but, it's a lot of fun and that's enough for me.

By the way, even though the OP is basically a rant for no real reason, the link to The Office clip made this thread worth scrolling through.

 

[Vunts]

Been in to parkour for 7 years now, one of the first in my country...I don't like the new direction of the stunts that parkour has changed to (has been for quite a few years already). Most of the people now do "free-running", not parkour, which means that they're only trying to show off with tricks and what not, not progressing from A to B as smoothly as possible (the simplest way to sum up PK).

 

[StBishop]

Nope, I can't agree that it's just jumping off bins for a camera, the shit they do is immensely hard and must feel amazing to land. I'm incredibly jealous I'll never be able to do anything like it to get that feeling.

Its mostly just adrenaline you could just as easily ride a rollercoaster or get a big hit in the big game pretty much the same feeling. Though I'm not dissing parkour it looks really hard and like it takes time to master it just seems stupid to me.

Might I ask what the big game is?

OT: I like parkour.

I use to run up walls and jump over rails and such as it was quicker than walking backward and forward up ramps when I was a trolly boy.

I was doing a lot of Judo which made me quite athletic and able to handle falls quite well.

I found out that there were alot of people who thought this was a good idea and that there was even a sport revolving around it. So I tried to do some of the stuff I saw on youtube.

I think it's great and if I'd lived in a city rather than a country town I'd probably done it more but my opportunities were limited and now I'm out of shape due to a number of lifestyle choices I've made and am continuing to make.

I don't think it's douchy in the slightest.

If/when I take up some form of team/club based physical activity[footnote]I find it easier to motivate myself to perform physically strenuous activities if I believe that by not doing them, others will be disappointed or put out[/footnote] again I think I'll look into giving it a go again.

 

[HardkorSB]

It's pretty useful at times, like when you want to catch someone or avoid being caught by someone.

 

[Wing Dairu]

I have a great amount of respect for traceurs, due to the immense amount of conditioning and fitness training they have to force themselves through to do that. You can't be even SLIGHTLY overweight and still jump around the city like a demented pogo freak.