The Yamakasi and the division of Parkour and Free Running

The Yamakasi was the first Parkour team, their motto was “Strong man, strong spirit” their goal was to be strong mentally, physically, and ethically. As the team progressed David Belle, the creator, wanted to keep the group focused on efficiency and speed, one of the earliest members was Sabastian Foucan, he wanted to show Parkour as an art form, this change in thought eventually broke the group apart, making the division between Parkour and Free Running.

Parkour and Free Running

Parkour and Free Running are some times used interchangeably but these two terms describe different types of athletes and different sports in general. 

Parkour is a sport about self improvement and efficiency. Any physical activity will increase strength but Parkour's other benefits are flexibility, balance and a decrease in injuries, because of proper falling form.

Parkour was made to be an emergency technique. In parts of Europe Parkour is used to train the fire fighters and cops. Parkour is the Martial Arts of running and efficiency should be the main goal of every tracuer. 

The other thing that is hard to see from the surface is how non-competitive parkour is like martial arts the main goal of parkour is to better the self and no tracuer has anything to prove to anybody.

If Parkour is Martial Arts then Free Running is dancing. Free Running is a different style of running all together. Fluidity of movement and Tricking is used to make Free Running the more glamorous and appealing of the two sports. Free Running is used to "look cool" and impress people. It has also become more competitive than Parkour with new tricks becoming a necessity.

My main concern with Free Running is when I had a student come up to me and say "I want to skip all the boring stuff and get to the flips." I feel like an old man when I say "kids these days don't have any patience", but that is what worries me the most. I have seen to many people learn how to do a flip in a gym or on pads and then take that same flip and injure themselves on the concrete, anything from pride and bruises to collar bones and legs being broken. Proper landings just can't be taught on pads because of the change in resistance.

Free Running is a branch off of the tree of Parkour and should be treated that way. Basic Parkour should be the basis of any Free Runner's movements.

I feel like i wrote this really one sided so if you have any comments feel free to put them below.