12 replies to this topic

[SkiMan]

I'm starting to get into this sport, it's been around for awhile in France and the UK, but is just now starting to get bigger in the US. It's still hard to find anyone to do it with outside of New York, but that's changing. Anyways, the NY Times described it better than I ever could in their article, so here:

http://oak.cats.ohio.....r Article.rtf

All you need to do Parkour (PARK-OOER, it's french) is a decent pair of shoes and some physical fitness. There's a Wikipedia entry too for those who really like to read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour


EDIT: VIDEONESS (at least until my bandwith goes out )
http://oak.cats.ohio...deo/motion1.wmv
http://oak.cats.ohio...2/video/PK5.wmv

Note to younger/crazier type peoples: If you watch the videos, it looks like the things they're doing are effortless. I would think twice about any of this before you try and jump off a 3 story building or anything like that. Perfect the shoulder roll first before you do any larger drops, and make sure you are very proficient at a move before taking it to a rooftop or anywhere more dangerous than on grass.

Edited by SkiMan, 05 April 2004 - 01:54 AM.

[rawray7]

is "the Yamikaze" the name of one of these parkour groups? i saw a video of them a while ago, i'm pretty sure it's the same sport your talking about, the only thing that sounds different was that they were doing it follow the leader style. i believe the people who did the Presto commercials were from the Yamikaze. those guys are really badass. anyway, i guess i could say i engage in this on a really low scale level, since i started running cross country i had to quit aggressive skating because i was just getting hurt too much. i still like to pretend i'm a badass and 540* six-stairs on my way to class and stuff. every now and then i do some more hardcore stuff, but my injury-proness doesn't help me much. anyway, i think that's one of the coolest hobbies ever invented, i mean, it's like agressive walking, you can do it on your way to just about anywhere. specially if you need to jump a 30 foot gap between two parking structures

[SkiMan]

Yeah, they're probably a PK (ParKour) group. I've seen it done lots of different ways, the UrbanFreeflow video I posted has some follow-the-leader style too. It's all Parkour, and all really fricking sweet.

[Jangadance]

I wasn't aware that it was quite this large, but I'm glad someone brought it up so I could learn a little bit more about it. I stumbled upon THIS video a couple of weeks ago. It was a random video link on www.alldumb.com. I had heard of freestyle running before, but it didn't sound so acrobatic. I think it's very cool as well, though I'm a little confused on how you could compete at a sport like this. I definately like the free-form aspect of it, however.

Are there any concrete terms for this stuff though? I've seen words like, parkour, traceurs, buildering, etc... It's kind of confusing. I guess it involves different aspect of climbing around on stuff you weren't meant to.

Edited by Jangadance, 05 April 2004 - 02:41 AM.

[SkiMan]

One of the aspects of Parkour I like is that there are no competitions. No points, no scoring, when a group of traceurs (people who Parkour) get together to do it, it's just like a group of friends hanging out. Except they're jumping off buildings and running up walls.

There are terms, some general ones are here:
http://www.parkour.o...r_glossary.html

And some of the Parkour moves are here:
http://www.parkour.o...r_elements.html

Buildering is a different sport altogether, it's just rock climbing on buildings. Some people use ropes, some don't.
http://www.buildering.net/

Edited by SkiMan, 05 April 2004 - 09:30 AM.

[xedice]

Parkour's "PK Roll" is borrowed from a martial art called "Aikido". I take Aikido, and we use the shoulder roll extensively to lessen the impact of hard falls. I was kind of suprised at this, watched some of the videos and its kind of funny to watch them do it.

[SkiMan]

Yep, that's why I just call it a 'shoulder roll' in general. When I did some Judo we did the exact same roll, and it was referred to as the 'judo roll'. Doesn't really matter what you call it, as long as you can do it correctly.

I take Aikido, and we use the shoulder roll extensively to lessen the impact of hard falls.

Exactly what traceurs use it for. And to look cool doing it on concrete since most people don't realize that they can do it completely without pain.

There's a good tutorial on it here. I looked, but wasn't able to find an explaination of the 'Aikido roll', even though it is the same thing.
http://www.parkour.o...ial_pkroll.html

[Techno-Dann]

Yeah. I've taken a few different styles of Martial Arts, and that particular roll is very common. You'd think it worked, or something.

[UpGraD3]

I saw some videos like this on Ripleys Believe Or Not I think, its crazy some of the stuff they do. Like this guy jumped onto a 6 foot tall gate thing.

[SkiMan]

Nah, that's the kind of stuff you'll see those 15 year olds in the video doing. This kinda stuff is crazy:

http://oak.cats.ohio...ideo/cyril.mpeg

[Dan Wask]

Dude that guy just jumped off a fucking building... thats awesome...

[merlinski]

I rock-climb with some friends who started doing that kind of stuff without knowing it had a name and all that. They were doing pretty crazy stuff too, like free climbing 2 story tall I-beams.

[Zero Talent]

Yep, that's why I just call it a 'shoulder roll' in general. When I did some Judo we did the exact same roll, and it was referred to as the 'judo roll'. Doesn't really matter what you call it, as long as you can do it correctly.

Indeed... I always called it the "roll so you don't fall flat on your face" manouever. Cheap-ass somersault. Rolling for the less gymnastic.

Yeah, I never knew it had a name, or a following. Inspires me to put more effort into my commute, though.

Thanks for the links guys.