My Parkour Group

Hello, this will be my last post where I actually talk about parkour and freerunning. In this last post I will be telling you about the parkour group I am a part of. I am not as active in it as some other members but, I am still on it. Our group is called Suburban Parkour. We have a YouTube account showing off a few of our videos. To go to the YouTube channel just follow the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SuburbanParkour2

Also, we haven't posted a video in a while but, I think that we are going to post one soon. Most of the stuff on there is old. One video we have actually shows a lot of different parkour moves. To watch that video go to the channel or you can just look below.



We also have a Facebook page that you can join and be a fan of. One this page we will mostly upload pictures and videos. We will also talk about anything else that has to do with events or parkour in general. You can go to the page by following the link below.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1709929865&ref=profile#!/pages/Grayslake-IL/Team-Suburban-Parkour/114016495281958


We also have a logo. It is my profile picture and the picture basically used to represent our group. You can see our logo below.



Well that is all I am going to talk about in this post. Sorry it was so short, but don't worry my next one will be very long. In my next post I will reflect on the whole blog experience. Well thanks for reading and see you later.

How to do Freerunning Moves

Hello, I am here again to talk about parkour and freerunning. In my last topic I talked about how to do a few parkour moves. I just realized I didn't cover any freerunning moves, so this post will be on how to do a few different freerunning moves.
The first one I am going to cover is the front flip. Like I mentioned in a previous blog, there are many different types of front flips. I will cover the basic front flip along with a slightly more complicated webster front flip. To do a regular front flip, whether it is off an object, or simply just on a trampoline, you need to flip at the top of your height/ jump. By that I mean you don't try to flip right when your feet hit the ground and goes as fast as you possible can. You need to start to flip right before you feel you are going to fall down. For the flipping itself you just throw your arms at the ground and grab your knees. It should look like a cannonball position. Then when you feel your flip ending you release and land. You will get a feel for it eventually. A picture of a man doing a front flip is below.



The next front flip I am going to cover is a webster. A webster is a flip like I also mentioned in an earlier blog, is meant for going from a higher object to a lower object. It is really hard to do a webster on a trampoline. I have a clip of me doing a webster in a previous blog. You can find that here.
To do one you don't jump up that much. Once you get up on the object you just grab on of your legs and the momentum will flip you. Then you land either in a roll or one foot after another so you can keep running. A picture of a kid about to do a webster is pictured below.
The final move I will cover is the wall spin. I have shown me doing a wall spin before in previous blogs.
When you start off doing wall spins I would suggest that you start running at the wall at an angle instead of just running straight at it. Once you get up close to it you jump and out your arms out on the wall. Then you scissor them away from each other. By that I mean you pull them in opposite direction to get the rotation needed. Then, you land it on two feet.
Those are all the moves I am going to talk about in this post. If you want to learn how to do other vaults and moves just go to the link below.
http://www.americanparkour.com/content/category/4/60/377/
There they have a whole bunch of tutorials letter you learn every moves out there. Also If you ever want to know the definition for some of the things I am saying here you can go to the link below.
http://www.americanparkour.com/content/section/11/215/. Here it can explain some of the terms for parkour and freerunning.Well as always thank you for reading and see you later.

How to do the Basic Parkour and Freerunning Moves

Hello, I am here again to talk about parkour and freerunning. In the past I have covered some of the different moves you can do , but not exactly how to do them. In this post I will talk about how to do some of the very basic parkour moves.
First up is the Kong vault. To do a Kong vault you are going to need some running space, so make sure you are at least a few steps away from the object you are going to Kong over. Also, Kong's are meant for kind of large objects, so don't do a Kong over a rail. You start running at the object, then you usually take off with one foot, but you can take off with two (It is easier to take off with one). Then you jump in the air, and dive over the object. You place you hands as close to the end of the object as you can get them. You then push off of the object and land one foot after another, so that you can keep running. You are going to need some running space after you have landed, so make sure you have that. A picture of a member of APK doing a Kong Vault (actually it might be a double Kong, I can't tell from the picture) is below.
The next move I am going to talk about how to do is a lazy vault. To do a lazy vault you want to start running not directly at the object, but next to it. You then want to jump, place one hand one the object, swing your legs over, place your other hand on, and then dismount off of the object landing in the same direction you started running in. Also, land one foot after another so you can keep running. I found a good picture demonstrating the different steps of doing a lazy vault. If you want to see this picture you can view it below. It does a good job of showing most of the steps when doing a lazy vault.
That is all the moves I am going to talk about in this post. My next post will be covering how to do more parkour and freerunning moves. Thank you for reading my blog and see you later.

Parkour and Freerunning Groups

Hello, I have talked about many topics consisting of the moves of parkour and its history. Now that you know some moves and where it came from, you might be wondering if you can find groups or places to do parkour. Well you can, and in this post I will tell you about well known parkour/freerunning groups and places you can train.

First, I will talk about places for you to train. If you go to your local gymnastics gym, they should have a time for open gym. Open gym is when anyone can come and do gymnastics. Here you can train and practice your moves. Or if you get enough people they might let you have your own parkour open gym, which happened to my gym. You can also train if you have a trampoline at your home. While a gym would be better, a trampoline is still okay.

Now for parkour and freerunning groups. I will use Chicago Parkour as an example, but first you may be wondering you do in a parkour group. Well the groups frequently have jams. A jam is basically a group of people who do parkour that meet in a city or place where there are a lot of good spots to do parkour. Okay so that is one thing that parkour/ freerunning groups can do. Another thing that parkour groups usually have is a website with a forum. In a forum you can post videos of yourself and get feedback on what you can improve on. So basically, it is one large community that can help you, most of the time. Another thing that parkour or freerunning groups might do is make a video together. They will all meet in one place and film different moves. Then, they will put them all into one video and maybe add some effects. Finally, they will usually post it on a YouTube channel or some other place where they can present it. Also, sometimes parkour groups might enter a contest together. It could be by video or by going to where the contest is being held. If you want to know more about Chicago parkour you can go to this link here. A picture of all the Chicago parkour members is below.

Another parkour group that is well known is the APK (American Parkour). If you want to know more about that group you can click here. I believe that on their website they have a handful of tutorials to help you get started to doing parkour. A picture of the APK's symbol is below.
That is all I am going to talk about today. As always if you have any other questions just leave a comment. Thank you for reading and see you later.

Parkour and Freerunning Moves Part 2

Hello I am here again to talk about parkour and freerunning. In this post I am going to continue to talk about the different parkour and freerunning moves.

First, I am going to talk about some more parkour moves. The most essential move is the roll. The roll is intended for when you jump off of high objects. Once you land you have to do this or you will injure or even break your legs. You do the roll by making a triangle with your hands and rolling over your shoulder. If you roll over your head you will hurt your head and spine. Another vault you can do is the lazy vault. To do a lazy vault you go over an object one hand after another. I didn't explain that very well, but you can look at the picture to the right if you want to see what one looks like.

Another freerunning move is the side flip. The side flip is done just as it sounds; you spin horizontally on your side and land. It is like doing a wall spin but on a trampoline, off the ground, or off an object.

You can also combine parkour and freerunning to do different moves. One example of this is a kong to a front flip. To do these you kong off of a higher object and land on the lower object. Once on the lower object you quickly do a front flip and land. A picture of me doing a kong front is to the right.


Another very efficient parkour move is the dive roll. The dive roll sounds just like how it is done. You dive over an object and roll the same way I mentioned earlier so that you don't hurt your head or spine. Also, once you are done rolling you need to end on one knee so that it is easier to get up. If you don't you will just kind of collapse once you hit the ground. A picture of my friend doing one is below.



In freerunning there are some really weird flips you can do. one I just recently learned is called a backside misty flip. There is really no way to explain so I have a video to show you.


Well that is all of the moves I am going to cover in this post. I might make a 3rd part to this video. but, if not I still have many more topics to cover. If you have any other questions about the moves or parkour and freerunning in general just leave a comment below. Thank you for reading and see you later.

Parkour and Freerunning Moves

Hello, I am here again to talk about parkour and freerunning. In my first post I explained what parkour and freerunning are. If you want to read that you can read it here.
My second post was on the history of parkour and freerunning and you can read that here.
This post will be on some of the parkour and freerunning moves. One of the most basic parkour moves is the kong vault. The kong vault is one way to get over an obstacle. A video of me doing a kong is below.
A basic freerunning move would be a front flip. There are different kinds of front flips. One type of front flip is called a webster. The webster is intended for flipping from a higher object to a lower object. A video of me doing a webster is below.


Another freerunning move is the wall spin. The wall spin is a type of wall trick where you spin along the wall horizontally. A video of me doing a wall spin is below. In a previous post I have a picture of me doing this same move if it looks familiar.

Of course there are hundreds of other moves, that I don't have video of. So, I will tell you about a few of them. One of my favorite parkour vaults is the dash vault. The dash vault is where you jump and make you legs go first over the object then propel yourself off of it with your hands. It looks like you are going to sit on it, but then you propel yourself off. Another cool vault is the 360 vault... Where I bet you can guess what you do. You jump and put your hands on the object, spin 360 degrees, and land. Pretty simple, but it is a fun vault to do.

One of the coolest and most known freerunning moves is the wall flip. In a wall flip you run up the wall and do a flip. It sounds simple but, I have a history with wall flips. I learned how to do them 2 years ago right when I started learning. Then, a few weeks later I forgot how to do them. Also, after I heard what happened to one of the kids to my gym I wasn't too keen on doing them. He broke his leg in 2 (or 3 I can't remember) places and had to be on a wheel chair for 6 weeks.

Okay guys, that is all of the moves I am going to talk about in this blog. I might talk about more moves in my next blog. I am going to the gym tomorrow so I will try to get some more footage for you. Also sorry I forgot to mute the audio on the videos, I will remember next time. If you have any other questions or comments then just leave a comment. Thank you for reading and I will see you later.

The History of Parkour and Freerunning

Hello, I am here again to talk about Parkour and Freerunning. In my last post I talked about what Parkour and Freerunning are. If you haven't read it you can read it here.
In this post I am going to talk about the history of Parkour. The meaning of parkour is l' art du deplacement which in English means the art of movement. Parkour was founded in France by a man named David Belle. David Participated in activities such as martial arts and gymnastics. A picture of David is to the right. His father (Raymond Belle) showed him a type of training using an obstacle course. David took these skills and developed parkour. Parkour is the name of these obstacle courses that are used to train the French military and the French firemen. Another key point in the history of parkour is its appearance in movies. When the Bond film "Casino Royale" was released, the beginning chase scene consisted of Bond chasing a traceur. After the public saw this, everyone wanted to try parkour and freerunning. Also, this got other militaries interested in using it as a form of training. Since then the British Royal Marines hired parkour athletes to train their members. Also, Colorado parkour began a project to introduce parkour into the U.S. military. The history of freerunning is a different story. The term freerunning coined during the filming of "Jump London", as a way to present parkour to the English-speaking world. While some people say there are differences between parkour and freerunning, there are a few who say "They are both movement and they both came from the same place so they are the same thing." So, that is mostly the history of parkour and freerunning. My next topic will be on a few of the moves you can do. In a later topic I will tell how to do a few moves. If you have any other questions or comments about parkour and freerunning just post a comment below. Thank you for reading and see you later.



Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour#History