Mini Rant: Parkour Martial Arts

I'm not sure if I can call this a rant as much as a spewing of some of my opinions.  I'm not angry in this situation, I just have some thoughts.  Be forewarned, this post is for my Traceur following (Traceur: one who practices Parkour & Freerunning) & will make little sense if you are not part of the Parkour world.  Please feel free to read on any way though. 

I've heard many an aspiring Traceur say "What if we made a Parkour Martial Art?!" thinking that combining two of the coolest things they know into one couldn't get any better.  I admit I've wondered the same, having study Martial Arts through out my life & Parkour actively for about 6 to 7 years.  Also, when I talk about martial arts with this blog post I am assuming that the theoretical Parkour Martial Art in question is a "standard self defense" martial art & not a "I'm a homicidal maniac, interested in killing random people" martial art.

I believe I understand the desire to combine martial arts with Parkour, at least some of the desire.  Parkour is a very focused discipline with a need to train in it daily, much like a martial art.  Parkour also gets Traceurs to move with intention as well as gain a heightened control over their body, much like martial arts.  However their are a few issues with designing a Parkour-Fu.  

Parkour is about efficiency of motion, finding the most direct route over obstacles & using only your body & the environment to do so.  At its basest form, Parkour could be considered evasion (or pursuit) & is thus engaging a different skill set & mindset than martial arts.  If nothing else Parkour takes up a different need for space (the average fist fight might cover as much as a 15-foot square area where as the average Ninja Warrior course is quite a bit larger & some would call American Ninja Warrior a short course). 

I've heard some people say that Parkour is using the flight instinct & thus could not be combined with the fight instinct.  From what I've seen of Parkour practice, no one ever engages the flight instinct in Parkour.  We are not animals who operate only on instinct.  We are cognizant beings who think through situations.  No Traceurs I've met train by slapping a police officer & seeing if they can out run the officer.  Traceurs (should) train like any high-level athlete. The idea of fight vs. flight instincts making a Parkour Martial Art impossible are unfounded. 

More logical than instinct is the practical side of the motions.  Unless you are planning on jumping over or down on to an unsuspecting enemy, the motions of Parkour are not useful in a fight.  There's just too much movement required & too much lead up to any Parkour move for it to be effective in a fight.  If somehow your enemy does not know you are coming & does not hear you run up toward them, jump off of the wall next to them, then of course a crazy Tic-Tac jump kick to the face could work!  But there's a lot that could go wrong with that plan.  Also I would not call this move (even if it worked) an effective move for a fight situation.  For a sneak attack maybe. Not a move for a fight.  (Like I said early, we're assuming this is a martial art of self defense & you're not running around murdering people.)

That all being said, the two can benefit each other remarkably.  Since I've been training Parkour I've noticed an improvement in my speed & endurance in martial arts.  If I had not trained martial arts I'm not sure I would have picked up some of the Parkour techniques as quickly.  Parkour is a great way to condition your body in ways I find lacking in the modern martial arts dojo. Martial arts is a great way to cross-train & work on some stabilizer muscles.  Generally I've found that the more you study motion, in it's various forms, the better at motion you get.  Kind of like the more you study different subjects, the broader & sharper your mind can get.  The two can work together in harmony (as the below YouTube Vid will show you).  

(Notice he is not fighting he's running away & people keeping getting in the way of his feet.) I have no rights to the above clip so thank you to the YouTube subscriber 'movieclips' for supplying this clip from the movie "District B13".

Please stop trying to create a new thing & just get good at both Parkour & martial arts separately.  Simply put Parkour is Parkour, fighting is fighting.  The two are similar but not the same.  Let them be that way.

The Cure for an "Epic-Drained" Day

8th July 2012  "The Cure for an "Epic-Drained" Day"


So I need a quick show of hands, who gets to slay dragons everyday?  Or rescue a princess (or prince, or a kitten)?  Or defeat an evil wizard?  Or super villain?  Or an army of wicked pygmy aliens bent on world domination?  Yeah, me neither.  It kinda sucks too. Everyday life can be horribly mundane, don't you think?  

There is nothing courageous in doing everything "the way you are supposed to".  There's nothing heroic in working like a fiend in an okay job that you "can" do but does not come anywhere close to what you are called to do.  There's nothing epic in paying your bills & trying to not starve; particularly when you're not in the wild where starving is an actual risk.  

There's a serious lack of awesome in modern life. No dragons to slay or villains to stop.  The soul-sucking absence of a quest is draining.  I heard it said best, "Absence of conflict does not denote presence of peace."

So I have a solution a "5-Steps to More Epic Day" you can apply everyday to break up the monotony:

1. Make it harder.  Taking out the trash is so ordinary.  Creating a new sport is epic: Trash Sport
2. Get sneaky. Don't just say hi to a friend, sneak up on them (as long as they're not someone with rough combat reactions)
3. Take the long way. Going up or down stairs conventionally is boring so try something new. Better yet, train in Parkour before you get too crazy.  Don't let this happen.
4. Narrate everything.  Animals, people driving next to you, children, or your own actions get infinitely more entertaining when you narrate the happenings. 
5. Add a soundtrack.  Every hero has a cool soundtrack & music is good for the soul; but don't do it like Kronk

If these don't make your day-to-day more Epic, it'll at least be more entertaining or your money back!

To get a return on your money would you first please send me a payment.  

Money Orders, Cash, or Paypal are fine.  

After your payment is processed I'll be sure to return a portion. 

Guaranteed. 


P.S.: Thanks to the Youtube contributors for the links used in this post.