“I’d say it’s more of a discipline than a sport. More like martial arts,” Salil Maniktahla says. “But parkour is moving toward becoming a sport. In America, you gotta get on TV, and for that, you’ve gotta have conflict.”
Graves admits that competition is often frowned upon in the parkour community and insists that Jump City Seattle depicts a loose competition, where traceurs basically compete for points and pride. But it’s a competition nonetheless.
“Most of us don’t like the notion of competition, but some think it’s a necessary evil to get the sport in front of a larger audience,” says Graves.
Founding Tribe member Paul Mederos thinks it’s inevitable that parkour becomes an organized sport. “If it’s done properly, turning parkour into an official sport will be awesome. I can imagine schools teaching it in gym to kids, groups getting together to enjoy the outdoors, and official challenges where you can test your skills against a course.”
See videos of The Tribe in action.
Master Parkour Basics “The stuff you see on YouTube is flashy, but most parkour movements are useful like vaulting, climbing, and jumping, things you did when you were a kid,“ says Travis Graves, who oversees the parkour program at Primal Fitness. “You’re learning to play again.” Here are three basic movements taught in beginning parkour classes across the country.
- Vault – Approach a hand rail or low wall slowly. Place both hands on the top of the rail slightly to the right of your body. Brace your weight on your hands, bringing your inside foot to the top of the rail for support, and step through with your outside foot.
- Precision jumps – In precision jumps, you’re jumping from one small obstacle to another. On a sidewalk, practice jumping from one crack to the next. Start by jumping and landing on one foot, like an exaggerated stride. Land on the balls of your feet, controlling your momentum and maintaining balance as you land. As you progress, look for low-lying obstacles like benches that you can link together.
- Rolling – This is a sideways roll, where you’re creating a diagonal line of contact across your back, leading with your right shoulder and moving to your left hip. Imagine you just hit the ground after a jump. Your hands hit first, then ride the contact with the ground through your right arm, rolling with it to dissipate the energy. Then your right shoulder hits, then your back, then your left hip. Keep your feet tucked, so you’re almost forming a ball with your body, and try to pop up at the end of the roll from the momentum and keep running.
Get into Parkour Shape It takes a bit of physical prowess to scale a wall or jump from a dumpster and roll with grace. Work these three exercises into your routine to prep for parkour.
