Everything Parkour!

So with this new sport on the scene i figured there are some people looking to start up, and better their skills. I've been training for about 3 years now, and i've helped and trained many of my friends. So here's what you'll need to get started:

-Good shoes, Something with lots of cushion, absorbs impact, and lots of support. (Basketball shoes are greaat if you're on a budget, If not i personally recommend a high end pair of Asics, K-swiss Ariake are specifically made for parkour. If you have any questions on shoes please visit Shoes for Parkour : Parkourpedia)

-Internet connection and a computer for online tutorials

-Confidence

Some General Terms you'll need to know:
Traceur- Practitioner of Parkour (female practitioners are called traceuse)
Sponersheep- Noobie Traceurs who are "decorating their tour bus" before they have mastered even some of the basic movements.
Flow- To move or run smoothly with unbroken continuity
Hotspot- The location of a great spot that most people know about and use
Bail- What you do when you're not confident
Vault: Any jump that incorporates the use of the arms to overcome the obstacle.
Roll- The most important part of parkour, and can be tricky to master

The basic vaults you'll need to learn and master.

• Monkey vault : Two hands are placed on obstacles and both legs are pulled up in a squat position and practitioner pulls himself/herself over.
• Lazy vault : One hand is used to swing both legs over an obstacle and the other to carry oneself over
• Speed vault : A jump sideways but in the center of the obstacle one hand is used to push oneself forward.
• Kong vault : A dive motion, but at the tip of the obstacle, the hands are used to push up and the legs are put in a monkey position.
• Dash vault : Jump first, then place hands down to carry oneself over.
• Reverse vault (not to be confused with the 360 side vault): Place one or two hands on the obstacle and perform a backwards spin over it.
• Pop vault: Run towards a wall place one foot on the wall, kick upwards, grab the top of the wall and go over it.
• Turn vault: Place one hand on the railing, preferably in the underhand position, place the other on it normally, then turn over 180 degrees.
• Two hand vaultor simple vault: Place two hands on the obstacle and go over it sideways.
• Underbar: Jump and go feet first between two bars or a bar and a wall, then pull yourself through.
• Tic tac vault: Run at a wall, kick off, and either go in a different direction or continue in the same direction. This move can be performed as part of many combination moves.
• Kash vault: Simply combine a Kong vault and a Dash vault.

Got Those vaults down pat? You ready to move on? Here's where things get hard. Learn and master these advanced vaults and you're own your way to becoming pro

• Cast bomb: backwards kong to backflip
• 360 degree underbar vault
• Turn underbar vault
• Double kong vault: A kong with two taps; useful to get over two obstacles at once.
• Triple kong : A kong with three taps.
• Gate vault : One's weak hand is placed on top of an obstacle's surface while the strong hand goes below for strength in rotation over at a 45-degree angle.
• Sky vault : A one-handed cartwheel over an obstacle.
• Jackie Chan vault : Tic tac to a no-handed dash.
• Vert vault : Hands are placed in a regular vault fashion but one leg is kicked up over one's head.
• Split one : Done in a lazy vault fashion, but at the peak of power the legs are split.
• Rocket vault : Done in a lazy fashion, both legs go together and are perfectly straight, and the feet are grabbed by the traceur's hand.
• Straddle vault : Both hands are placed at the top of the obstacle and splits are done to overcome the obstacle.
• Rail flip vault : Two hands are placed on top of the obstacle and a frontflip / forward handspring is executed.
• Trophy vault : To roll over an obstacle as efficiently as possible. Usually done after spoiling a move.
• Vertical : Run at a horizontal surface at an angle and spin oneself 360 degrees around the surface.
• Screwdriver : A Kong vault, but when the hands are placed, a twist is done to go four feet further over the obstacle.
• Dashbomb : A dash vault, but with a frontflip after the dash.
• Lazy "turn" : A lazy vault, but with a turn to land in a cat position.
• Dive roll : A dive over an obstacle with a roll to withstand the shock at the end.
• Carriage : A wall walk, but with a Kong right at the peak of the walk.
• Palm spin : A thief vault, but hands spin the body in a 360-degree motion.
• Barrel : A double-leg reverse over an obstacle with one hand.
• Flare : A double-handed cartwheel, but legs are straight and together.
• Star: A cartwheel over an obstacle.
• Crane: A jump landing on one leg, using or not using your hands to get up.

Now let's get creative, Some combination using the vaults mentioned above:

• Cat to Cat
• Precision to Cat
• Kong to Cat
• Kong to Precision
• Kong to handstand
  
• Dash to Cat
• Gate turn
• Lazy turn
• Screwdriver to kong
• Kong to Kash
• Pop Grab
• Pop grab to Cat grab
• Reverse to Cat
• Speed To Cat
• Speed to Crane
• Double Kong to Cat

So now we know what the basic and advanced vaults are called it's time to learn how to go about learning them. Since there are so many vaults ima going to post links where you can find tutorials on how to do these vaults. First thing's first, The Roll!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wT4uxcQWXI"]YouTube - parkour roll tutorial[/ame]

Having trouble with the roll? Keep hurting your shoulder and/ or hip? This will help:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6I1J0zmE7U"]YouTube - Advanced Parkour Roll Tutorial[/ame]

Sites for tutorials:
Youtube- Check out the 3run tube, urban current, and Urban free flow channels
www.americanparkour.com
Parkour Online - First for Online Training Resources, Tutorials and Information
Learn Parkour Tutorials Free Running Tutorials Video Practice Wall Flip Speed Vault
Parkour North America: Content

You guys now have ALMOST everything you need to go and start training. The second most important thing in parkour is.... Cardio and conditioning. Without a decent pair of lungs and decent amount upper body strength parkour will be nothing more than a fantasy. You'll need cardio to allow you to keep moving w/o needing a break every 5 minutes, and for certain vaults strength is critical.

I personally love these techniques for strength conditioning, Check out Zeno's videos for some techniques and exercises: Traceur Zeno [Glasgow Parkour]: BODY CONDITIONING FOR PARKOUR

Tips:

-Take it easy, and slow at first. No need to rush and potentially injure yourself
-Learn the vaults until you can do em in your sleep, Failure to do this may result in setbacks during advanced training
-Be creative, You're only limited by your imagination
-Expect to fall and fail as you learn, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will your skills.
-Most importantly, HAVE FUN!!!!! The world is our playground

 

Hey all, just wondering if there is anybody in the Greater New york Area that's loooking to get into PK, I'm thinking about putting together a workshop In NYC. If interested please send me a msg so i can get an idea of how many people are willing to attend, and if it's even worth the time.

 

I've actually already contacted them with the proposal and am currently awaiting a response. Hopefully they'll get back to me soon. I was hoping to get it setup late Nov, but i'm not sure if it's too short notice, If not at the end of the month, than hopefully early-mid Dec, anything later than that is really a lost cause and will have to wait till spring =/