What is Parkour?

Parkour is a method of physical training that develops a person’s ability to overcome obstacles in their environment.

It was created by David Belle and his family in France and Vietnam. It has been likened to a martial art in it’s methodological approach and physical training methods, but it is important to note that in Parkour there are no competitions and no opponents. It is just the practitioner and their environment.

It has also been likened to an art form due to it’s often graceful movements and the inherent room for self expression. Again it is important to note that in Parkour usefulness comes before beauty, and utility before art.

Understand that this form of art has been created by few soldiers in Vietnam to escape or reach: and this is the spirit we’d like parkour to keep. You have to make the difference between what is useful and what is not in emergency situations. Then you’ll know what is parkour and what is not. So if you do acrobatics things on the street with no other goal than showing off, please don’t say it’s parkour. Acrobatics existed a long time ago before parkour. – David Belle

Parkour is an extremely empowering activity to partake in, but it is also very tough. It is rapidly spreading around the world particularly among young people. Due to this rapid spread often the message of progress through hard work is lost and replaced by the desire to perform tricks as soon as possible.

Parkour is firstly about the useful side, to teach people how to trust themselves, to learn to be careful. – David Belle

There are many benefits to be gained from learning and training Parkour, such as strength, confidence, agility, discipline and freedom to name a few. These benefits apply not just to a practitioner’s physical performance, but also to their mental abilities. This is one reason why Parkour is being jumped on by youth workers and community groups around the world as the best way to develop a young person’s body and mind in a healthy, useful and empowering way.

The philosophy [of Parkour] is always to advance, never to stop. If some time you have problems, like in life, if you have an obstacle you must always continue forward…Parkour begins when you find an obstacle in front of you and have to utilize your body to surpass it. – David Belle