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1. Parkour - Simple Truths
3 years ago
A short documentation of my parkour, filmed through a single days solo training in Reading, late December '07. I've included the mistakes (1:23, 1:40, 2:25); one point I really wanted to demonstrate is how well parkour conditions oneself to deal with faults and problems in our movement - whether this be through repetition and practice to improve upon something, or the overall level of competence we gain so as to be able to control our movement even if something does go wrong. I like to think it conditions us to deal with problems outside of parkour in a similar way too.

I see this as somewhat of a reference for what the average traceurs solo training might look like, though obviously I'll only ever experience my own.



"More discipline than sport, this seems truer to parkour values than the over-the-top [youtube] highlight videos" - waxy.org

Featured New York Times blog - themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/the-digital-ramble-les-jocks-sportifs

Featured Sadie Lou blog - sadielou.net/2008/07/02/vimeo-roundup

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  • Simon Watmore plus 3 years ago
    Looks pretty good to me !
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  • acarboni 3 years ago
    Excellent video -- I've always been fascinated by this, and it's cool to see the work that goes into it. Could you recommend any good guides or videos for beginners looking to get into this?
  • Danny Pack 3 years ago
    Honestly, no. There are a few 'base' movements from which you can build much of your later movement, these I personally think are best learnt through analysing the movement of others, through videos or better watching traceurs in person. Certainly that's how I started (training alone back in those days, much like in this video actually), the only way to learn then was to watch videos of the French traceurs; Belle, Pisteurs, yamakasi, speeders, etc. It's not too difficult to see which movements are most flexible and effective in a wide variety of situations, they appear in different forms throughout most traceurs movement. Start with these, and in time adapt, combine and experiment to create the movement most effective for you.

    What is important in Parkour is to keep the philosophies that drive your movement in mind at all times when practicing. Rather than thinking 'how do I learn this movement' you should think 'how do I move effectively through this environment'. Yeah there are some movements that are important to know, but they are important because of their ease of use or application. What I mean to be getting at here is this: don't focus on a particular movement, focus on a particular environment. Move through it quickly and efficiently, utilising whatever movement is best for yourself at the time. This probably isn't much use, but I feel the only way to train your body and your mind simultaneously is by learning for yourself.
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  • Phoric plus 3 years ago
    I'm relatively in shape but if I tried this stuff my head would be smashed on the pavement within 15 seconds
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  • j mo 3 years ago
    love the video simplicity and the ambience of the area you are training in. Its totally against the regular videos unrelated music is put in the place of the sounds of the city. it totally feels like real training two with the thought pauses and all. ima go train right now.
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  • Joan Saez Castaño 3 years ago
    No me ha gustado nada, para llevar 5 años
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  • Marius R 3 years ago
    really good video, i like it. that there is no music makes it different.

    btw: you´ve chosen good camera positions, looks good
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  • You have a lot of nice atmosphere in here. I love your approach. You're also brave to leave your camera set up solo in the city like that.
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  • Malte Klaedtke 2 years ago
    Simply great!
    Technique, spots, everything...
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  • Will J Carman 2 years ago
    Still love this! Good control, speed and strength.
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  • Anton Christenson 2 years ago
    very nice. i have seen a lot of "better" pk videos, with 3857683476 feet jumps and impressive vaults and roulades, but this feels more relistic. I have trained parkour since 2005 and have tried to make videos like this one, but they have always ended up like crap. Very nice to be all alone!
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