Parkour

[ek2]

Have any of you guys heard of Parkour? I've been doing it for about 6 months now.

Here is a site where you can learn a lot about parkour and, and meet people in your area to train with.

http://www.americanparkour.com/

[Celcius]

I see someone mentioned our contest there. I am interested to see how much specific strength endurance this guys have. Obviously there is plenty of general endurance present, to be able to do what they do.

[ek2]

Here's a little sampler of me. I haven't been doing it that long, but I'm improving fast.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-192365716996102269

[koltz]

I wanted to do it with my friends but our interest died out...

[ek2]

If you actually get into it, and strive to improve it really gets addicting.

[99benmoore]

I have been practising parkour for almost two years now...

I wouldnt say im particulary talented - I tend to peak and then drop around exam time :(

ahh well Im starting again this weekend hopefully - when Im back into regular training I tend to do around 4 hours a day, 5 days a week of mixed intensity training.

Its an AMAZING fitness tool - wonderful balance between strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance and explosive movements...

its amazingly fun and the sheer variation means your mind and body will never get bored :D

hehe after writing that I feel the urge to get back into training TODAY! :D

[plancheismine]

Here's a little sampler of me. I haven't been doing it that long, but I'm improving fast.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-192365716996102269
Pretty good. It's always fun to practice hoping fences and railings. :wink:

[99benmoore]

Here's a little sampler of me. I haven't been doing it that long, but I'm improving fast.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-192365716996102269
Pretty good. It's always fun to practice hoping fences and railings. :wink:

as is scaling a 14 foot high sheer brick wall at running pace :)

[lokilocke]

YO Eric. I am also doing Parkour, and I was wondering what excersises would help with joint strength.

Here is my 06' video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cGm4KkjskU

[Celcius]

YO Eric. I am also doing Parkour, and I was wondering what excersises would help with joint strength.

Here is my 06' video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cGm4KkjskU

Very nice. =D>

Jumping over things becoming such an artistic combination of skills,
who would have thought? :-k

[99benmoore]

Im having a "back to basics" session soon with some of the more talented traceurs in the country - just trying to revive the regions somewhat lacking parkour scene... and also to rebuild the foundations of my skill base.

starting with the REAL basics.... starting off with serious analysis of eachothers roll techniques - lots of rolls and landing drills.... and start working it up from there :)

EDIT: Just found some footage from a jam in the peak district.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYKhO5t6AG0 i was seriously gutted I was unable to make this one due to lack of money... A VERY good watch :)

[vaberella]

I'm going to have to do some serious investigation on this. I just pmed someone about this, but I'm happy I found this link, that's what happens when one doesn't pay attention.

It looks like what's done in France, by the kids that live in the projects...I gues it's developed into something more. I'm real interest, you don't see many females doing it. This is gonna take years of training I think.

[jackleg]

The film "District B13" that the protagonist is a parkour stylist.

[bklynfirefighter]

Man, that looks like fun !
I'd love to do that....I am very physically fit but at 56, just too damned old for it. The healing time takes too long these days...LOL
Maybe in the next life..... :D
Enjoy it guys...don't let fear stop you from doing what you want to do.

[Faenon]

It looks like what's done in France, by the kids that live in the projects...I gues it's developed into something more. I'm real interest, you don't see many females doing it.
The film "District B13" that the protagonist is a parkour stylist.

Actually, in the film "District B13" (originally filmed in French, there is a version that has been dubbed over in English. The French name for the movie is "Banlieue 13") the protagonist is David Belle, who is pretty much the founder of parkour. He is French, and that is why you might say that it looks like what the kids do in the projects in France, vaberella, though I'm not exactly sure what the projects are, seeing as I've never been to France. And yes, you don't see many females doing it, but then again, there's a lot of physically demanding things that you unfortunately don't see females doing.

Parkour is often called "the art of movement". It is often described as the art of getting from point A to point B, letting no obstacles get in your way, and flowing smoothly over the terrain using graceful, uninterrupted movement.

I was going to start doing parkour, but shin splints have held me back from doing that, as well as a lack of people to train with. Very good for overall fitness, I reckon.

[koltz]

parkour is one of the things girls could be very good at in thier own way , they got more hip flexibility , a low center of gravity , bigger relative strength in thier legs etc.. Ive seen some femme trecuers do some sick stuff most of them don't look like the 9 year old kind doing backflips from rooftops till they break soemthing but they do real parkour , moving extreamly fast through anything and keeping thier speed fluid

[Moonduck]

I was going to start doing parkour, but shin splints have held me back from doing that, as well as a lack of people to train with. Very good for overall fitness, I reckon.

Check out John Izzo's article in the Articles forum on the anterior tibialis. One of the causes of shin splints is a weakness, or imbalance, in that muscle group. Te exercises he lists are a great way to increase strength. I used to suffer quite a bit from shin splints, and have gotten over them by (somehow) strengthening that particular muscle.

(I say "somehow" because I'm not sure when, or how, the developement occurred. All I know is that I have pretty serious developement there now, probably due to the major amount of cycling I did over the summer. No shin splints any more though!)

Other forms of shin splints, the really bad ones, involve stress fractures of the tibia. Tough to fix that.

[Faenon]

Check out John Izzo's article in the Articles forum on the anterior tibialis. One of the causes of shin splints is a weakness, or imbalance, in that muscle group. Te exercises he lists are a great way to increase strength.

Ah, thanks very much, Moonduck! I have been going to a guy who was making custom orthotics for me, but he said that if it gets to a point where the orthotics aren't making it any better past a certain point (as in, they improve the shin splints, but can't entirely fix them), then the cause of my shin splints is a muscle imbalance, for which I would have to see a physiotherapist for. However, learning exercises for that on this site is a much cheaper way :D Are you sure, though, that it's not the antagonist muscle to the anterior tibialis that is weak, or does it not work that way?

[Moonduck]

The antagonist to the anterior tibialis is the calf complex. It is doubtful that your calves are too weak. The anterior tibialis is a wierd muscle to work, and very few people do. Muscular imbalances such as weakness in that group causes unequal force on connective tissues and hard tissues as well. Shin splints are one of the result sof such unequal forces.

In my case, it was rips in the muscle fasciae (the sheath around the muscles group that the muscles slide around in) that were the source of my pain. I still have pretty good-sized holes in the fasciae where the inner tissues protrude. Basically they're inch diameter soft lumps on my shins, most obviously when my legs are pumped from working out.

[Faenon]

The antagonist to the anterior tibialis is the calf complex. It is doubtful that your calves are too weak.
Ah, yeah, good point. My calves would definitely be stronger than my anterior tibialis. I'll get to work on the anterior tibialis as soon as possible, and hopefully before long I'll be able to do parkour. Thanks, Moonduck.
In my case, it was rips in the muscle fasciae (the sheath around the muscles group that the muscles slide around in) that were the source of my pain. I still have pretty good-sized holes in the fasciae where the inner tissues protrude. Basically they're inch diameter soft lumps on my shins, most obviously when my legs are pumped from working out.
:shock: Ouch... that doesn't sound good at all. Hopefully I can get mine fixed before they get that bad.

[Moonduck]

Nosweat, Faenon. Don't worry too much about imbalance, as they are supposed to be imbalanced. The calf is alwys going to be stronger than the anterior tibialis. The problem is when the anteriior tibialis is way too weak by comparison.

As to the tears, I'd MUCH rather have the fasciae tears than stress fractures.

[amorelli]

another cure for shin splints is a bunch of weird walks that you do each for about 20 meters to cure the muscle imbalances in your foot, ankle, and shin that cause the pain (or so our track coach tells us.) The problem results from going through life with your feet constantly protected and supported by shoes. This makes the stabilizing muscles work less.

For 20 meters each
1) walk on your heels,
2) outside of your feet,
3) inside of your feet,
4) up on the ball of your feet as high as possible,
5) same as 4 but the on the outside part of your toes
6) same as 4 but on the inside of your toes

Also, use the general treatment for athletic injuries - RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. For shin splints, probably more RI and not so much CE.

[Moonduck]

Heel walks are solid juju for working the AT muscle. I had to do them after knee surgery. You really feel a burn in that muscle after a while.

[Alpha Moth]

I do a bit of parkour with friends, but no enough to get fit.

Its fun, I hope to do it more.