Monkey Business: Parkour and Freerunning

If you heard the names of David Belle or Sebastian Foucan, or watched the iconic action scene from the French movie District B13 (2004), then you know what is this monkey business. Parkour & Freerunning are modern urban sports developed by David Belle and Sebastian Foucan respectively, which are similar in styles but follow different ideologies. It is the culmination of gymnastics, acrobatics, obstacle races and human fitness. It has been a silent revolution of athletes across the globe fuelled by video sharing on the internet.

If you have not watched the video till now, then please watch it first. It’s a choreographed chase scene enacted by creator of Parkour, David Belle himself. Parkour is defined as the art of moving from point A to point B or point B to point A by the most efficient path, but not necessarily the same route. Freerunning, as Sebastian Foucan calls it, is more about the aesthetic and artistic feel of moving around. So basically, things like a front flip which do no help you avoid a obstacle efficiently, are not purely parkour. But who cares for all that when you can climb 10 feet walls and cross 15 feet long pits without any equipment! Yes, practising this monkey business does equip you to conquer these obstacles.

Parkour & Freerunning are relatively very new and draw a lot from gymnastics and martial arts. It always existed as obstacle courses which military training did. In the armed forces, it is a common requirement to avoid unknown obstacles, and training to cross the unknown obstacles was always a problem. The modern obstacle courses were made thinking about the general possibilities, but not seen as a sport or science. Parkour gave it a name and philosophy and military has started adopting the techniques that evolved in it.

So what kind of training one needs to become a “tracer“? A lot actually. The basic argument is that most boys as kids like to jump around and over things. But as kids grow up, they become bulky and stop playing. Parkour needs a lot of physical strength and calmness of the mind. An experienced tracer goes in the urban jungle without any safety equipment and takes split second decisions about jumps and landings. This tests the mind of the individual. Also, balancing in tough situations require a lot of disciplined training. There is no set pattern for training in Parkour, but the first step is building strength and confidence in an indoor gym in a safe environment. In Parkour, you need what is known as the explosive strength rather than endurance or brute weight lifting strength. In the gym, people press 100 kg bench press, but a very slow rate. This does not help in Parkour. Ideally, a tracer must be lean and flexible, quick and agile. The basic moves in Parkour are crossing benches or such waist height obstacles. Initially, you can walk over it; later on, from a distance of a foot, you start jumping clean off it. This step by step approach is used by experienced tracers to build confidence in their abilities too. Advanced moves are like wall hops, flips, bar kips etc.

There are very few specialized training centres for Parkour, but in most places a gymnastics training centre is used for indoor training. A lot of the culture is through the internet videos where people share their attempts and tutorials to accomplish certain moves. But one must be careful following internet videos, using own discretion. It is dangerous to practice outside without sufficient practice and training first. There are people who can jump out of the second floor window and land harmlessly or jump across a 15 feet wide pit. In India, Parkour is in a very nascent stage with practically no following. But a few groups are there in and around cities where young athletes practice and share their videos online.

To know more about Parkour or practice with me, do reach out to me.