Running the Rooftops
Parkour.
Freerunning.
Are these terms familiar? I’ll admit, I had heard neither of them until a couple years ago, when something I saw on television prompted me to investigate. At the basic level, parkour is the art of efficiency in motion, the ability to get from Point A to Point B with as little deviation as possible. It’s movements are non-traditional; instead of climbing stairs, you may leap to them from the side, throwing yourself over their banister. Instead of going around a picnic table, you might go over it – or even under it! It’s really amazing to watch. If you haven’t before, you should take the time to look it up on YouTube. Some of the traceurs (people who practice parkour) you’ll find there are simply astounding.
Related to parkour is the art of freerunning. Like the art from which it descends, freerunning focuses on non-traditional ambulation. The difference between the two is summed up on Wikipedia: “[People practice parkour] in order to improve their ability to overcome obstacles faster and in the most efficient manner; freerunners practice and employ a broader array of movements that are not always necessary in order to overcome obstacles.” You’re more likely to see flashy acrobatics with freerunning than with parkour. It’s a philosophical difference, when it comes down to it, not so much a matter of what you do but why you do it.
While they’ve existed in disorganized forms for most of history, parkour and freerunning have been a sort of unnamed interest in popular culture for a while now. There’s a scene in Bladerunner toward the end shows a bit of freerunning style, and more modern movies like Quantum of Solace and Paul Blart: Mall Cop showed how effective it can be. Video games have even gotten into the gig; with freerunning being so closely related to skateboarding, Tony Hawk’s branded games, especially the most recently released, have included certain moves evocative of the skill. In Assassin’s Creed, you plan the assassin Altair, member of a group of historical assassins in the Middle East during the Crusades. Altair list strong and agile, climbing, leaping, and swinging throughout Jerusalem and other cities in the region.
So… why is the 490+ pound man talking about parkour? Good question. I’m glad I asked it for you.
You see, a few of my online acquaintances of mine and I were discussing the subject and I mentioned that, while I am in awe of the feats of which traceurs are capable, I’d never really consider myself a candidate for learning the art. One of the people I was talking with posted a link to a video of a man who, while not in as bad a shape as I am now, is probably a bit chunkier than my target weight, performing parkour feats. They weren’t as grand as what I’ve seen some of the wiry guys active in the sport perform, but they were a start, and something he’d managed after only nine months of practice.
I was suitably impressed. Needless to say, I’m far more interested in parkour this afternoon than I was this morning.
That said, I’m about two hundred pounds heavier than I’d need to be to even consider most of the tricks those guys manage, but I think as I get closer to my target weight, I’m going to have to find a good area in which to practice. Add to that the sad fact of my poor history as a skateboarder (back during my teen days in Arizona, no less, so it’s been at least twenty-one years), and I might have a pretty serious challenge to overcome. Still, I want to give it a shot. Eventually.
Chalk that down for another plan for the future.
