Get To Know Parkour as a Culture of Fitness
While there are different exercise routines that people undergo just to keep their fitness level, parkour is a little less known but a very effective fitness routine. Beyond being effective as a fitness regimen, parkour is also a sport in which the athletes have to interact with obstacles with the aid of some movement techniques. Some of the techniques that are employed in parkour are climbing, jumping, vaulting, climbing, swinging, and mainly acrobatics.
There is a big possibility that you have come across something like this or you have seen people practice some of these techniques but you did not know what they were doing. Well, you know now, it is called parkour.
Understanding what parkour is
Parkour is a fitness training that uses movement which is gotten from course training for the military on maneuvering their way around obstacles. Practitioners or athletes that are into parkour are known as traceurs or tracers. These athletes are trained by this practice to move from across one point to the other in an outdoor, complex environment with the aid of assistive equipment. They are also trained to move very fast and very efficiently.
The different techniques that makeup parkour include running, swinging, climbing, vaulting, rolling, jumping, plyometrics, (crawling) or quadrupedal movement, etc. the movement that the tracer uses at a particular time will depend on the situation that they find themselves in. But the development of parkour from military training means that some of its aspects are non-combative martial art.
It is very common for people to confuse parkour and freerunning. However, they are quite different even though they have some similarities. In the case of freerunning, the athletes interact with different obstacles and environments. Common movements with freerunning include spinning and flipping, and these movements are obtained from sports like tricking, gymnastics, and breakdancing. As a matter of fact, freerunning is popularly believed to be a descendant of parkour.
The practice and techniques of parkour are mainly practiced in outdoor environments in urban areas. However, a recent college paper researches explain that the popularity of this practice has grown so much that its practitioners are beginning to look out for ways to supplement their training outdoors such as the creation of parkour gyms. A single tracer can practice parkour alone or they practice it with a group of other athletes. The athletes practicing parkour have to see their environment in a new and different light and have to imagine different potentials which they can use to navigate the environment by moving across, around, over, under, and through the features and obstacles of the environment.
With parkour gyms, the athletes are able to prepare themselves both mentally and physically by trying to mimic the obstacles that are found in the outdoor environments. The parkour athletes are also able to modify the conditions of their training so that it meets their needs. This ability of the athletes to create customized parkour challenges means that it is easy to create an environment where it is easy for people to teach and learn parkour as a fitness regime.
When people decide to take their own fitness more personally, the first thing that they seek is a fitness regime. But for more effectiveness, the fitness routine has to be one that can be personalized and will also have plenty of training options. Although there are some fitness routines that offer something similar, there is hardly one that is as effective as parkour.
Parkour allows athletes to develop their personal fitness effectively. The fact that this fitness routine has different types of movements allows the athletes with different options to continue to train, even when they are recovering. For example, if the legs of a parkour athlete are tired from jumping, the athlete can decide to change their focus from jumping to swinging. This means that, even though their legs are tired and recovering, they can continue to train using other means and other parts of their bodies. This is one of the reasons that parkour is very effective for all-round fitness. Much more, it has a better impact in a shorter while than many other fitness regimes.
Another benefit of this fitness regime for its practitioners is the high degree of agency the athletes have in training. Therefore, parkour athletes are better satisfied with their fitness levels after their training. For instance, if the goal of the athletes is to move from one point to the other without touching the floor, parkour provides them with the agency to choose the most suitable technique which they will use based on the environment. Parkour states that it is like the athletes have to solve a puzzle.
Movements in parkour
Parkour is different from other fitness regimes in its movement. What sets parkour practitioners apart from practitioners in other similar fields is their movement. Although parkour does not have a specified number or list of moves, there are some of these movements that are said to be fundamental to this fitness routine. These movements are:
- Arm jumps: this type of jump requires the athlete to land first on their feet on a flat vertical surface. The tracer jumps over a horizontal obstacle, holding the top of the obstacle and landing with both feet.
- Precision: with the precision movement, the athlete jumps and lands with their feet accurately on narrow or small obstacles.
- Vaulting over obstacles.
- Tracers run towards a high wall and jump on it using their feet to push off the wall in order to get to the height of the wall.
- Moving from a point where the athlete is hanging over the top of a wall, to a position where they stand over the top of the wall or reach the other side of the wall.
- Tracers make use of rolling motion in order to absorb the impact from large drops.
Equipment of parkour
There is no specific equipment that can be used to practice parkour. However, there are some items that can be used such as boxes, walls, and bars. But just in case you are considering becoming a tracer or undergoing parkour training, here are some of the apparatus which the athletes use in training.
- Tracers usually train in casual, light, and non-restrictive clothes.
- Gloves are considered unnecessary for tracers, as they need their bare hands for tactile feedback and better grip.
- Light running shoes that are flexible and have good grip are encouraged. This allows the athlete to have better fluid and natural movements. Some tracers even train barefooted to increase the competency of their movement.
Conclusion
If you did not know parkour before now, you now have all the information that you need about this fitness routine or sport, depending on how you see it. If you decide to compare many of the traditional fitness regimes with parkour, you will realize how effective and well-rounded parkour is. It trains both the upper and lower parts of the body, as well as making the athlete fit to overcome any obstacle. If you have been looking for a totally different and stand out culture of fitness, welcome to parkour.
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Author’s Bio
Tiffany Harper, the author of this article is also a blog writer at Write My Dissertation, where people can find or buy custom essay. She also contributes regularly to do my assignment platform with many of modern articles and blog posts. Her best topics are wellness and self-improvement. Please contact her on Twitter.