Parkour/Free Running?

[Kenso]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=1]Just to get it out of the way for anyone here who does know what they are, I am aware there is a difference between parkour and free running, though as I am not a practitioner (sp?) of either, I probably couldn't properly describe it.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=1]Anyway, I'm posting this because I'm curious to see if anyone here practices either parkour or free running. I'm interested, though I'm guessing knee issues and mild asthma might make it a bit of a problem for me.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=1]If anyone does practice, how would you recommend getting started, and which do you practice?[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=1]I'll probably have lots more questions later, but the arrival of actual work means I must cut this post short.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[Vicky]

[size=1]There's a few kids who do it around here and are really bad at it. For one, they don't do anything relatively dangerous or talented aside from grabbing the edge of a wall and dropping from it, or jumping down two steps swinging their arms. In fact, we do better Parkour than them when we go urban exploring (that is, taking photographs of places that are all blocked off, illegal sites, closed down and abandoned buildings .etc).

The people on YouTube amuse me more than the wannabes around my area. If they try to do Parkour, they're bad at it. The people who don't try and you catch them volting across railway lines or crash landing down at flight of stairs are a lot better.

I couldn't do Parkour beyond jumping over really high fences and running around a city scape. I have dodgy shoulder blades that I used to be able to pop out of place and it does so when I put too much weight on them, that being lifting things over my head. It's surprising I can lift my own body weight, but I just have to be careful how I do it, haha.[/size]

[Raiha]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]I know a ridiculously hot 6'8" 170 pound male from southern California that does it like gravity has no hold on him. Sadly I am not one of those people. On the other hand I have pretty good balance and can run on a rail or fence or ridgepole really well, and I know how to fall. I just also don't have a ton of upper body strength, but my friends like to throw me upwards onto railings and racks. You could say I'm like the cannonball and they're the cannons. I just have arms. ...and so do they.

I also was in Mammoth in the Sierra Nevada mountains and I saw some guys doing the free running, only with glaciers, boulders, trees, fallen stumps, and rivers. Hard to keep up with them, but 100% worth it.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Nessaja]

Well, I've never tried free running but I've always been interested in it. I have no illness or injury keeping me from doing it either. I just don't know anyone who I could talk to about how to do it and don't know want to hurt myself.

Also, I have like no upper arm strength. I excercise my arms of course, just not enough I guess. And I know it's a bit vain of me, but I'm also kind of afraid I'll build up too much arm muscles and look scary. :animeblus

Oh and thanks for making this topic. I had forgotten about parkour/freerunning for a while. I just hope I can try it out one day.

[chibi-master]

I have mild asthma and no upper body strength...:animedepr This sounds quite interesting, but possibly painful...I'll stick to karate...

[Kenso]

[quote name='Nessaja']Also, I have like no upper arm strength. I excercise my arms of course, just not enough I guess. And I know it's a bit vain of me, but I'm also kind of afraid I'll build up too much arm muscles and look scary. :animeblus[/quote]

You should look into different methods of building arm strength. Not all strength building exercises are designed for bulking up. Maybe talk to a personal trainer or something like that. I'd give you a list of things, but I honestly don't remember right now (as often as I look into starting to really exercise, I'm horrible at getting up the motivation to do it, so I quickly forget...).

[Nessaja]

[quote name='Kenso']You should look into different methods of building arm strength. Not all strength building exercises are designed for bulking up. Maybe talk to a personal trainer or something like that. I'd give you a list of things, but I honestly don't remember right now (as often as I look into starting to really exercise, I'm horrible at getting up the motivation to do it, so I quickly forget...).[/QUOTE]

Thanks Kenso. I'll do that. ^^

Hopefully after I work on my upper arm strength though, I can find someone to help me learn how to do parkour.

And it might just be because I haven't seen many parkours or freerunners, but are there a lot more guys that do this? Or is it pretty balanced?

[Raiha]

[quote name='Nessaja']And it might just be because I haven't seen many parkours or freerunners, but are there a lot more guys that do this? Or is it pretty balanced?[/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]My friend's team is pretty much comprised of males actually and I don't see a lot of chicks doing it, but heck. Most women prefer to do things that have a slightly lower chance of serious injury.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Red]

[quote name='Vicky'][size=1]There's a few kids who do it around here and are really bad at it. For one, they don't do anything relatively dangerous or talented aside from grabbing the edge of a wall and dropping from it, or jumping down two steps swinging their arms. In fact, we do better Parkour than them when we go urban exploring (that is, taking photographs of places that are all blocked off, illegal sites, closed down and abandoned buildings .etc).[/size][/QUOTE]

You shouldn't be quick to judge, it could just be a group of smart beginners - I've met many an idiot who thinks they can pull off what they've seen in Jump London/Britain after a few months of training. If they're constantly doing small drops and rolling around, they are smart. If they're just showing off, sod 'em...at least they're not hurting themselves. Yet.

Anyway, until recently I had about two and a half years of practice under my belt, now I'm just waiting for a rather bad hand injury to heal up before starting again. Absolutely adore doing parkour, especially in London. I couldn't give two flying hoots about the free running/parkour argument...seems ridiculous to me and I train with people who like both styles.

Kenso, my advice to you is to take it as slow as you can and have patience. You need to condition your body parts (especially your joints) to take the kind of strain you're eventually going to be putting on them and this takes time. For drops and jumps the roll is the most important thing you will learn, as it's the only thing between you and injury in those situations. Even the experts who have been doing parkour for years constantly practice rolls, along with all the other basics.

While I'm at it I might as well repeat that practice for everything is extremely important, especially the basics. Upper body strength plays a large role in parkour but technique plays a gargantuan one; it's about how you use that strength, your weight etc.

Your asthma shouldn't be a problem. You'll definitely be working hard but there is nothing stopping you doing it in short bursts, especially when you're first starting out - there's no need to attempt a marathon. ;)

Also, try to get some friends into it or find a group online that practices in your area. It's hard to tell if your technique is off yet very easy to get stuck in bad habits, having friends around allows you to make suggestions to each other and avoid needing to change your style or re-learn something later. It's also helpful to have someone who can help you should injury occur!

[Vicky]

[quote name='Red']You shouldn't be quick to judge, it could just be a group of smart beginners - I've met many an idiot who thinks they can pull off what they've seen in Jump London/Britain after a few months of training. If they're constantly doing small drops and rolling around, they are smart. If they're just showing off, sod 'em...at least they're not hurting themselves. Yet.

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[size=1]Nope, they're definitely show offs. They're just [i]bad[/i] show offs, is what I'm saying. The kind who try to show off big tricks, but still look retarded, then break their nose anyway. Like the kid who tried to jump off the top of the Gaswork's steps, landed on his face. Hehehee.

Don't get me wrong, there are some real ones around here, and that's how you distinguish them. I'm pretty sure you shouldn't attempt Parkour in New Rocks and Tripp pants.[/size]

[SaiyanPrincessX]

[SIZE="1"]I actually became really interested in this a few months ago. I researched it and took up gymnastics. I enjoy watching parkour/free running, and tricking on You Tube.

Sadly I don't know anyone who does it, so that makes things a little difficult. I really wanted to incorporate it with my martial arts. However I quite gymnastics after maybe a month because I was paying twenty bucks every week and I was saving for my trip to Israel. So since then I haven't attepted it.[/SIZE]