Parkour, Free Running, and The Urban Warrior
Parkour and The Urban Warrior?
By The Sensei
Today I received an email asking me my opinion on parkour—sometimes known as free running. In fact, there is a difference between parkour and free running; parkour focuses on elegance and efficiency of motion, whereas free running emphasizes creativity and acrobatic stunts. But the two disciplines are very similar and for the purposes of this article I’ll be treating them both from the same perspective.By The Sensei
For those of you who don’t know, parkour is the art of moving through an urban environment using innovative and impressive techniques of motion called displacement techniques by its practitioners, who call themselves traceurs (or traceuses for females).
The art is partly athletic, partly aesthetic…gymnastic-type motions are used to get from wall to wall, bollard to bollard, roof to roof. Obstacles like fences, walls and railings are seen in new and creative ways; parkour athletes hop, flip, jump and twist up and over things in a manner reminiscent of the older Jackie Chan films. In fact, kung fu movies are a big influence on parkour techniques in general, as are comicbooks. (I’m sure we all remember enviously thrilling to Batman or Spiderman elegantly and effortlessly soaring across the cityscape when we were kids!)
Parkour seems to be pretty fashionable lately; many urban skaters and skateboarders are putting their equipment to one side to spectacularly move around obstacles using only their bodies as vehicles. Parkour is seen on television and in movies. A handful of US television programs and ads have featured parkour, and in the UK the BBC used it as a significant part of a long-term daily promotion. Perhaps the biggest publicity boost for parkour came in the form of Casino Royale, the most recent Bond movie, which opened with new Bond Daniel Craig pursuing a free runner over all manner of dizzyingly high objects. There has even been a Playstation 2 game on the art-form called Free Running.
So, back to the question—does The Urban Warrior have any use for parkour and free running? Well, yes and no. No in the sense that a large part of free running is aesthetic—the techniques are intended to be beautiful, attractive. The Urban Warrior is only interested in function. He has no use for “pretty”, whether in movement techniques, martial arts, or any other discipline. But parkour does have interesting benefits which may be of value to you.
For a start the notion of getting rid of equipment (skates, skateboards, bikes) to move around the city is in keeping with the Urban Warrior philosophy of training to depend primarily on the self, not gadgets (in an emergency, you can never be certain what you will be able to get hold of). Secondly, the techniques undeniably require significant athletic ability. Moving from object to object with hands and feet requires timing, accuracy, balance, co-ordination and both explosive and static strength. All of these are vital physical qualities and can be seen as a useful evolution of the kind of fixed-ranged calisthenics training (pushups, pull-ups, etc.) which you should be continually mastering.
There is a third practical benefit to parkour which interests me most of all. This relates to the creative techniques of movement which the discipline is founded upon. The Urban Warrior needs to be a master of the city. This requires “thinking outside the box”. As travelers, pedestrians and commuters, urbanites are constantly being told where to go by the city. This is an area discussed in more depth in the Stealth and Invisibility section of The Urban Warrior’s Bible. Signs, bollards, fences and walls are all like chains, limiting our creative freedom. Even the very architectural structure of a city—the roads, streets and alleys—are basically a technique planners employ to condition us to move in certain ways. The trouble is, we become brainwashed by all this; like mice trapped in a maze, we only ever go where we are told to.
But there is much more to the city, in terms of freedom, than where we are told to go and how we are told to get there. Fences and walls can be jumped. Railings can be climbed. What about rooftops? How many of us think about going up?
This is the major benefit of parkour. It allows us to see the city in a new way, a freer way. It can be a part of the process used by The Urban Warrior to liberate himself. To stop being a slave to the city and become its master! This liberation is partly psychological—in finding new ways to think—and partly physical—in acquiring new, advanced techniques of movement.
So parkour can be a useful tool for training yourself, provided you strip it of its aesthetic pretensions and begin to absorb the useful techniques and methods the art contains. Remember, even a handful of basic techniques—such as how to land safely from a height, or get over a wall speedily—could put you ahead of the pack. (Or ahead of somebody chasing you!)
If you are interested, the best way to start is by learning you the basics, and acquiring some sensible, safe drills you can start practicing straight away. Unfortunately, partly because the art is pretty new, there are no good manuals on parkour yet. You really need to start your research in this field on the internet. I recommend the website urbanfreeflow.com, which contains plenty of skill sets and videos to get you started. Falling safely is a big part of parkour, both for landing after a jump and in case you screw up. The Parkour Techniques section takes you through this important area excellently.
If you do choose to explore parkour, don’t think it’s an exclusive art. Movement itself can function as a form of self-defense. In case of a serious crisis—terrorist attack, personal risk of assault, natural disaster or social breakdown (i.e., anarchy, rioting, etc.)—The Urban Warrior may need to get anywhere, utilizing different methods. Therefore, if you really want to master the cityscape, you need to work on five basic technical areas:
1. Vehicle techniques: The use of bikes, cars, etc. to get around the city—and out of it, if needs be.
2. Urban running: The art of getting around the city quickly and efficiently on foot. (Discussed thoroughly in The Urban Warrior’s Bible.)
3. Climbing: The art of getting up buildings—interior and exterior—with and without equipment.
4. Parkour: I.e., free running—the art of getting from object to object—such as roof to roof, wall to roof, wall to floor, etc. Usually performed at height.
5. Creative infiltration: The art of getting into places; includes bypassing security as well as being able to access those little-known areas of the city such as utility tunnels, storm drains, hidden bunkers, sewer systems, etc. This is fully covered in The Urban Warrior’s Bible.
Most urbanites think of getting around the city as a two-dimensional endeavor. Back and forwards, side to side. But The Urban Warrior must become a three-dimensional traveler—he can also go up (onto rooftops) and down (into utility tunnels, storm drains, etc).
Combine these areas at some point in your training and you will become the true master of the cityscape!