Parkour?

there have been a couple threads on this.

It looks cool, but I wouldnt really group it with martial arts. I would turn around and fight rather than waste that much energy running. If they follow you off of a jump they obviously aren't gonna stop. If they are that determined, turn around and give em something to run for. I'd rather get hurt in a fight where I could hurt the attacker as well rather than twist my ankle running and be at his un-injured mercy. (Okay, so obviously a broken ankle wouldnt [and shouldnt] impair my ability to kill him, but you catch my drift.)
 
Whenever people I meet in training express an unusually large amount of interest in acrobatics, shoten no jutsu etc, I extend my arm and ask them to perform jigoku dori on me. To this day, no one has ever been able to do that.
 
Personally I think Parkour and Free Running could provide the future template for "new" martial arts were anyone clever enough to take the key skills and adapt them. Alas, innovators and those with the insight are few nowadays and we're happy sticking to the mold. Oh well, maybe there's someone out there who has the werewithal.

Respects!
 
MartialIntent said:
Alas, innovators and those with the insight are few nowadays and we're happy sticking to the mold. Oh well, maybe there's someone out there who has the werewithal.
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When such people try these new things out in real situations where failure means a trip to the emrgency ward or worse and comes back to tell us it worked, I will listen to them.

Until then, when dealing with my life and the life of all I hold important, I tend to be very conservative.
 
Don Roley said:
When such people try these new things out in real situations where failure means a trip to the emrgency ward or worse and comes back to tell us it worked, I will listen to them.

Until then, when dealing with my life and the life of all I hold important, I tend to be very conservative.
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Good point - then maybe what's needed is for one of these Parkour afficianados to develop their art into a martial form rather than the other way about. I've seen these kids leaping from concrete wall to concrete wall - they practise for keeps and play through some seriously big risks! I think a parkour / MA hybrid would be a potent proposition - if nothing else, at least for making a clean getaway, zoom!

Respects!
 
Technopunk said:
Some would be wrong.
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Simple and to the point. Couldn't agree more!

Why does everybody have to slap the ninjutsu name on anything out of the ordinary? If anybody could answer that question for me I would LOVE to hear it. Why not "Modern Gladiators" instead, probably more true anyway, I mean if there were a couple of Lions and some really big guys with broad swords trying to either eat me for lunch or carve me into deli meat, I would be running up walls and jumping off tall buildings also.
 
bydand said:
Simple and to the point. Couldn't agree more!

Why does everybody have to slap the ninjutsu name on anything out of the ordinary? If anybody could answer that question for me I would LOVE to hear it. Why not "Modern Gladiators" instead, probably more true anyway, I mean if there were a couple of Lions and some really big guys with broad swords trying to either eat me for lunch or carve me into deli meat, I would be running up walls and jumping off tall buildings also.
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Looks a little like the fantastical notion of running up walls like in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

My take, based on the fact that every time I see one of these videos it is overlayed with Rap music and usually depicts a bunch of teeenagers running through urban areas, is that it looks more like a method of training for running from the cops.
 
Monadnock said:
it looks more like a method of training for running from the cops.
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You know it really didn't occur to me that way, but now that you mention it.... hmmmmm....

I have always thought of it as an X-Sport, like the x-games, where they have the bike and skateboard competitions. To me it just seems to be gymnastics on steroids.

However, I wish I had that kind of dexterity.
 
Monadnock said:
My take, based on the fact that every time I see one of these videos it is overlayed with Rap music and usually depicts a bunch of teeenagers running through urban areas, is that it looks more like a method of training for running from the cops.
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Good observation. Kind of wonder what kind of image these folks are trying to send about themselves.

For some strange reason I am reminded of a guy I went through training at Fort Benning with. He was a good guy, but liked to do things like making a big show of wiping the fingerprints off his rifle whenever he got off the range. At one point we were being shown how to go over a wall in MOUT training. He pipes up, "oh, just like you do when running from the cops."

Now why the hell did that memory pop back into me head while watching these guys do their thing?:idunno:

Oh yeah, and he got dropped for pushups for that.
 
I think that before judging parkour, you guys should go to http://www.parkour.com/index.html and read about what the philosophy behind it is. At least the philosophy that its founders intended.

Parkour is not about jumping off buildings and doing flips, it is about moving though your environment smoothly and fluidly.

Basing your opinion of the sport on a couple of You Tube videos is a little bit like somebody else judging their opinion of Ninjutsu off the American Ninja movies.

You guys don't know anything about it, but yet are roundabout accusing people that do it of being criminals. With all the demand for respect of "true" ninjutsu that I hear around hear, I would expect more from this forum and its leaders.
 
ginshun said:
You guys don't know anything about it, but yet are roundabout accusing people that do it of being criminals.
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I think they were just having a little fun with it, nothing serious, especially not worth getting all bent out of shape about it.
 
We had a couple of traceurs at our place during the fall of 2004 - from what I've gathered they're all back to doing capoeira, taido and possibly sanshou.
 
Chill, nobody said the people who do Parkour are criminals, just said it looked like they were practicing running from the cops. Shoot, even I who tend to be a bit on the cynical side didn't make the jump to them actually BEING criminals. I'm not even knocking the practice, darn, I wish I could move like that myself!!!! I think it is amazing myself. The first time I saw a short clip about it, I had to play it several times to see how they pulled off such realistic special effects, then realised they were actually making those jumps and landings. I made the infrence that it isn't "modern Ninjutsu" at all, and it ISN'T; that I will stand behind 100 %. What it is, is something new, why should somebody slap a label on it that isn't right. I would think the people who practice it should also be royally ticked-off about calling it that. It is unique and stands on its own merits, to label it something it is not is an injustice to those who started it.

My .02, take it for what it is - my opinion.
 
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