Parkour

So Tara's away for the next week and a half or so, and she asked me to post on the blog. I dont really know what to post about but I guess I'll do one on parkour.

I've been doing some training for parkour (haven't kept up with it though). In any case, parkour is a more efficient version of free running. For those of you who dont know what either of them are. Parkour and free running are when you find the most efficient (in the case of parkour) or the most 'fancy' (for free running) way of getting over obstacles.

Here's a guy from Latvia doing some parkour He's on the extreme end of parkour, I'm still way at the beginning. I'm not even as good as this dog from Ukraine.

First things first, what to wear. Comfortable clothes, something you can move in. And sneakers, something with traction and grip. Converse arent such a good idea for this. Long pants, no jeans. Long pants are essential to minimize scrapes. T-shirts are fine, just nothing excessively baggy or it'll just get in the way.

Anyway, there's a lot of things you can do to train. But first make sure you stretch. Stretch every muscle so you dont hurt yourself. Make sure you work your neck, arms, shoulder, hips, thighs, calves, everything. Dont forget wrists and ankles, super important. For wrists and ankles start by rotating them in both directions. Wrist stretches are hard to explain without being there, but for ankles write your name with your foot a few times, then switch feet.

Building up stamina is an important part of...well anything. I personally have zero stamina, if not negative stamina. So before training do a quick ten minute jog or so. Up and down stairs is also good.

After that do jumps. I'm not saying start jumping from buildings, just small jumps. Find a short ledge, maybe ankle height. If not that's fine, just do small jumps. Our bodies have three cushions of protection when we jump, the first is our feet, the next is ankles, then knees. So land on the balls of your feet, both feet. Make sure that you use dont over exert yourself. Also try to land as softly/quietly as possible. This will make your jumps lighter and lessen the impact with which you hit the ground.

Jump up and down from your ledge or back and forth from two spots. Then when you feel comfortable try jumping to different points. Set markers for yourself. This is called precision jumping. It's used to practice well...precision, so you'll be able to jump on top of poles or something if need be.

Oh another important thing about jumping, down be afraid to use your arms for extra momentum. And also jump feet first. You dont want to jump head first because your feet wont make the jump, and then you'll have nothing to land on. If it helps, think of moving with your center/waist. So move your whole lower torso first and the rest will follow.

Another type of jumping is distance jumping. Set a starting point. You can run up to the starting point and jump, or just jump from the starting point. Try to jump as far as you can. Keep increasing the distance and soon you'll be able to jump pretty far.

After you're done with your training, stretch. Do the same stretches you did at the beginning if not more. Have a cool down period and thank the people you trained with.

This is by no means a perfect guide and I'm not very good nor aware of everything you need to do to learn parkour. But dont go watching youtube videos and trying to copy them. Maybe next time I'll post something on swords or staffs or spears or maybe bubbles. i dunno :D