Parkour 101

Have you heard about parkours? These are popular in France and europe. They are people who do stunts by climbing up and jumping up and down establishments and buildings.

Parkour (sometimes abbreviated to PK) or l'art du déplacement[1] (English: the art of displacement) is an activity of French origin, the aim of which is to move from point A to point B as efficiently and quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body.[2][3] It is meant to help one overcome obstacles, which can be anything in the surrounding environment — from branches and rocks to rails and concrete walls — and can be practiced in both rural and urban areas. Male parkour practitioners are recognized as traceurs and female as traceuses.[4]

Founded by David Belle, parkour focuses on practicing efficient movements to develop your body and mind to be able to overcome obstacles in an emergency. Parkour is also taken up for entertainment or as a pastime.

Parkour is a physical activity which is difficult to categorize. It is not an extreme sport,[5] but an art or discipline that resembles self-defense in the martial arts.[6] According to David Belle, the physical aspect of parkour is getting over all the obstacles in your path as you would in an emergency situation.[7] You want to move in such a way, with any movement, that will help you gain the most ground on someone/something as if escaping from it, or chasing toward it.[7] Thus, when faced with a hostile confrontation with a person, one will be able to speak, fight, or flee. As martial arts are a form of training for the fight, parkour is a form of training for the flight. Because of its difficulty to categorize, it is often said that parkour is in its own category: "parkour is parkour."

An important characteristic of parkour is efficiency. A traceur moves not merely as fast as he can, but also in the least energy-consuming and most direct way possible. Going further in that path, efficiency also involves avoiding injuries, short and long-term, part of why parkour's unofficial motto is être et durer (to be and to last).

Parkour is also known to have an influence on practitioner's thought process. Traceurs and traceuses experience a change in their critical thinking skills to help them overcome obstacles in everyday life, whether they be physical or mental boundaries.

Had you watched 007: Casino Royale? There was a parkour guy in there who Daniel Craig (James Bond) went chasing and leaped through buildings and cranes it was so awesome!