Parkour is the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one’s path by adapting one’s movements to the environment. It is a non-competitive, physical discipline of French origin in which participants run along a route, attempting to negotiate obstacles in the most efficient way possible. Skills such as jumping and climbing, or the more specific parkour moves are employed. The object of parkour is to get from one place to another using only the human body and the objects in the environment. The obstacles can be anything in one’s environment, but parkour is often seen practiced in urban areas because of the many suitable public structures available such as buildings and rails.

Check out the official Parkour website for training tips. There are much less predefined moves in parkour than sports such as gymnastics, because of the original idea that the moves are just bi-products of the way of thinking. However there are still some movements considered to be most basic and that most traceurs practise and start with.

The most important movements to practice and perfect are jumping and landing. The standard “PK” roll is used to spread the impact of a jump over your whole body, and then flow into the next movement. After perfecting the roll vaults would be he next basic movement to try. Vaults are used to clear or overcome most obstacles and there are many types. There are several vaults that are completely efficient and there are others which are used sometimes only to add fun to the vault, or make it look more impressive. These vaults sacrifice their efficiency and tend to be used less by experienced traceurs and more by freerunners. Most vaults are specifically designed to be used on specific obstacles. But learning specific vaults is not as recommended as learning to think on the spot and adapt easily.

Obviously, this type of movement leads to muscles strains, tendon pulls and overused and abused joints. With KT Tape addressing all of these ailments, it is  easy to see how it fits into this extreme lifestyle.

Check out this YouTube video of  a Parkour demonstration:

Parkour Video

Filed under: Aches Pains Injuries | May 21, 2010
Tags :climbing , explosive movements , extreme , jumping , KT Tape , Parkour