A little farther on your broad jump. A bit faster on your climb-up. Slightly smoother with your lazy vault. While it’s a cool feeling to walk away from your first double kong, parkour gains need not always focus on going full beast mode. In fact, incremental improvements with basic skills is a much more important …
Book Review: Parkour and the Art du Deplacement
I was heavy into karate as a kid. Learning subtle dodges, effective blocks, punches, and spinning kicks — that stuff had me giddy. I loved mastering my body and seeing how I could test myself against opponents in the sparring ring. It brought me into myself and taught me the connection between my body and …
Book Review: The Parkour and Freerunning Handbook
Good parkour training will go some way to helping you reach your true potential and you will come to realize that your limits are far beyond what you could ever imagine. – Dan Edwardes For my second parkour-specific book review, I take a peek at Dan Edwarde’s “The Parkour and Freerunning Handbook.” If you’re unfamiliar with …
Review: The Ultimate Parkour and Freerunning Book
Books about parkour are few and far between. There simply aren’t that many coaches out there who have transitioned from hands-on teaching to written instruction. The ability to convey complex movement with words and photographs often feels like a near impossibility. Yet, it can be done. Many months ago, I received a copy of the …
Do you parcours?
Have you heard the term “parcours”? It sounds a lot like parkour for a reason. It is the French word for “course” and is undoubtedly the root word for the discipline, as we know it today. You might be familiar with it from the term “parcours du combattant” which is the French military obstacle-training regimen. …
Gym Visit: Origins Parkour and Athletic Facility
I’m winding down from a 5-hour drive after a quick overnight trip to Vancouver, BC, and I wanted to share some thoughts about the amazing parkour gym I visited. Most of you have probably heard of it by now, but for those of you who haven’t, Vancouver is home to the Origins Parkour and Athletic Facility. Situated on …
Thinking about opening a parkour gym? Matt Antis shares his experience.
Do you dream about opening your own parkour gym? Opening one’s own training space is a fantasy many athletes share and in the past few years a handful of entrepreneurial traceurs have successfully made the leap. Matt Antis and his wife Whitney have been the co-owners of Revolution Parkour since 2010, and they definitely know …
5 Questions: The Tim “Livewire” Shieff Interview!
British freerunner Tim “Livewire” Shieff is one of my favorite athletes. Great creativity, impressive strength, and a ton of fun to watch on video. When I hope to move better, I try to think of how Tim would do it. His talent was rewarded in 2009 when he won the Barclaycard World Freerunning Championship, and …
When to Add Weight to Pull-ups
Being able to pull yourself over an elevated bar or on top of a high wall, as with a muscle-up or a climb-up, are two fundamental parkour skills that are both predicated on serious upper body strength. And, as we all know, pull-ups are one of the best tools for gaining real-life, functional upper body …
APEX Movement Parkour Coach Certification
It’s official: I’m now a certified parkour coach through APEX Movement! I attended the certification back in March (2013) at their NorCal gym, in Concord, CA and received my credential a few months later. The process entailed 3 days of classroom instruction, as well as hands-on coaching training, and was then followed-up by a video …