Been loving these history of Parkour videos you are doing, I'm new to your channel, so I might have missed it, but what's your take on Yamakasi, I got a bootleg dub of that film from my brothers friend and that was my introduction to parkour. Keep up the great work.
I got into Parkour AFTER I had already been a gymnast for years, so I of course was more of a free runner. Recently I’ve been working more on the “Efficient” moves as you mentioned, because one day I met some dudes at a local parkour gym who were like “You’re not into parkour, you just like to flip off of things.” WELL NOW IM REALLY GOOD AT VAULTS AND PRECISIONS SO SUCK IT GYM DUDES.
@@JimmyTheGiant I left the comment before I was even halfway through the video, then later you said “A lot of parkourists had a gymnast background” and I felt represented 😂 Great vid as always man. Definitely sharing this one with my friends. Keep it up brother!
Lol those people are no fun. I prefer pure parkour myself but I love watching the freerunners. I do a bit of freerunning myself but I prefer sticking a small line that goes big on the environment. I used to skate and I see parkour as more similar to vert skating and freerunning as street. This helps me make sense of the difference. Same sport, different style and use of environment
I could not agree more. Traceur sounds very cool, far better than "rock climber," "Soccer player," or "golfer." Imo the only term that comes close is Martial Artist, it just has the same type of foreignness to it which gives it a little breath of newness to it.
I'm not even super into parkour/freerunning but I always find myself watching your content. I like the way you deliver info and you put a lot of effort into your vids
Bahahaha!! Jimmy!! You showed my best clips straight from the archives! =P Great video as usual! Definitely a good common debate that persists to this day. Thanks for the feature.
Haha I was hoping you'd see so I could tell you I loved your shit back in the day! but when I was trying to find an athlete who had insane tricks but was new to parkour i remembered your older clips. All love bro!
Parkour back then: "Alright! Efficiency here I come!" Parkour now: "Let's make things intentionally difficult for ourselves!" I came to this realization recently when teaching. A lot of the time the challenges that we give ourselves can be done in ways that are a lot easier. To me this sounds more like pushing yourself and personal development than just A to B.
@@lastplace2905 dude this is 100% my exact interpretation too, going from skateboarding to parkour. Although I see it as opposite. Classic Parkour being vert and freerunning being street. But yeah I agree with the premise
I think you forgot about one side of the argument, Jimmy. When I first started with parkour in 2005, some people argued that they're only *practicing* for parkour, but not doing the thing itself. All the inefficient movement that's not directly from A to B, even if without flips, was just practice for a hypothetical situation that might occur. So, if you were running away from someone or escaping from a burning building or something like that, that would would be the actual parkour, where you'd probably go for the most efficient route. Sure, nowadays nobody would bother with this distinction, but back in the day, when people were seriously arguing about whether parkour is even a sport or just a "physical discipline", it was a different situation.
Kámo teď jsem zjistil že si Čech a mám stejnej názor. Upřímně dělám parkour a freerun ale říkám tomu jenom prostě "parkour". Ale jak si psal, kdyby šlo o vážnou věc dostat se z bodu A do bodu B tak bych zvolil tu nejrychlejsi moznou cestu bez zbytečných triků a flipů
Lol. As an italian freerunner I can say that, at least where I live, every movement that seems a little more difficult and agile than a normal action is considered parkour
@@lollodalber sicuramente. I gruppi più importanti dei primi anni, Milan Monkeys e ParkourWave, hanno speso un sacco di tempo a dibattere d queste sottigliezze e a perderci la testa sopra anziché lavorare su tutti gli altri aspetti. Se non fosse stato per il Krap credo che la comunità italiana sarebbe rimasta molto più indietro rispetto a quello che è oggi.
@@reinismartinsons basically the same debate in other parts of the world. Some people, the first groups to practice, went down the rabbit whole with the philosophy and this whole aspect of the discipline, going quite full nazi and insisting on a pure root to be preserved for the coming ages, arguing a lot againts flips, videos of big movements and jumps, snobbing people at jams and insisting to keep things as they were transmitted to them. A lot of people, old and new, including friends of mine, still are arguing that the new generations have no values. These discussions heated a lot of people, and a lot more argued passionatly. I don't know well the current state of affairs, but I guess that the discussion has been, for the most part, settled, and the majority of the present community doesn't care that much anymore
On the topic of aerial awareness, one of the guys I used to train with in Horsham got knocked off his moped at a junction and instantly tucked into a sideflip in the air. Over rotated on the landing and still injured his leg, but the paramedics said that it was the reactions of that which were life saving for him. Incredible video once again! looking forward to more man!
Wow! Years ago, I was in a cycling accident. On a bike path, going downhill, I hit a rock or a bump, lost control, and went over the handlebars. I have no idea what happened while I was in the air. I probably closed my eyes too. One moment, I was on the bike. The next, I was laid out on the ground at the side of the bike path. Thankfully, I was wearing a helmet and suffered only a broken clavicle. I think it could have been worse, but thankfully it wasn't. But now I'm wondering if it's ever too late to develop aerial awareness...
I remember that period very well. For what it's worth "Traceur" comes from the french verb "Tracer" that basically means to trace a line. Colloquially it means moving very fast, efficiently and with purpose, i.e. while ignoring distractions. Basically what you would do if you're evading someone. Perfect name for the original definition of Parkour, but you need some colloquial french understanding to appreciate it. Small bonus, the original french word this kind of activity is Parcours (pronounced the exact same way). David Belle renamed it Parkour because he thought that the more efficient orthography of using a 'k' for the same 'k' sound and dropping the silent 's' fitted the original philosophy well. That looked kinda silly for french people back then, but with time it got accepted. Most lay people will still think it is spelled 'Parcours'. Efficiency was backed into the DNA at the origins of Parkour in every way possible. Goes a long way at explaining why the Parkour vs Freeruning was such a heated debate back then. In early 2000s Flips felt all kinds of wrongs.
Oh man. This debate. I rember arguing amongst my parkour peers about the truth of this issue. Its very complicated, and interesting, and am so glad to hear your two cents. Cheers!
Loooove it, Thank you Jimmy for sharing this PK/FR knowledge, Love to hear in a future video about Parkour, Freerun, and Art Of Motion (ADD=Art de Deplacement=Yamakasi) Much respect 🙏
I really enjoyed this video. You have the perfect balance of: - practical knowledge which informs your opinion, - educating without being patronising, - acknowledging your bias - 10 yr old kids doing backflips can pee off - and just being incredibly informative. Thanks!!! I've followed.
Seriously though, we're just out here supporting a dude who's doing some good stuff for the parkour community. Super happy to see him getting other sponsors though, he deserves it!
@@ViteRamen it was just a joke. We all love you for supporting one of our favorite creators but we just get tired of seeing the same ad every single video
Dude! For the last 6 years I was an olympic weightlifter. Won nationals every year but deeply inside I knew that parkour gave me more pleasure. I trained parkour from age 9 or 10. Developed to streetworkout, tricking, gym and eventually weightlifting. Your video gave me those parkour goosebumps just like I remember it years ago, Watching videos before training and feel those butterflies in your stomach that urges you to go out and train. Because of your video im gonna clean the rust and go out to play once again. Love from Israel❤
I'd love of a video that's a sort of "where are they now" with some of the older peeps maybe like all the dudes from upk, they were all so interesting to young me and I think it would be fun to see who's still training and what they're up to now
Great video as always. I'm amazed how you find all this old footage to illustrate the points you are making. Great stuff. Perfect mix of nostalgia and new motivation.
I definately remember that being an argument that I heard about when the notion of either had crossed my path back in school...I remember there were some kids that were rather angry at the people who were doing flips and such and especially at the people calling it "parkour", and that group being also angry when they did their efficient movements for the same course no flips or anything, just straight forward and were told that they were "too stiff" and that they needed to "loosen up" and things like that. I remember looking up the issue between them online and finding out about the actual meaning behind the name "parkour" and that there was a "sub-group" that was the "free-runners" who did the flips and such and had more fun with the sport...To me it was like comparing 2 parts of dance between that of your "Ballroom" dancing and your more interpretive dance or hip-hop dance...they are both the same sport, it's just different training that went into them, neither is less hard than the other, just a different approach...I always thought things like that were silly, and my friends on either side of the debate were given absolute HEADACHES when they tried to get me to take a side and instead of taking a side i told them they were all being dumb as it was just different versions of the same sport. >.> After a while they stopped talking to me about trying to get me to choose a side and instead would ask for impartial constructive criticism to help them improve their runs...even though i wasn't one who did either and still am not, I tend to have an eye for detail and so was able to help point out where some improvements could be made, or if they landed differently than before and so they took a spill but were unsure why, things like that. Over all it didn't effect me, but i do remember it being a HUGE deal for my friends and other kids when i was younger...though now those same people use the terms Parkour and free-running interchangeably *shrug* times change so do the meaning of words and how tightly people hold true to the original meaning tends to loosen over time as well...though that's my thoughts and opinions on the matter.
Another banger Jimmy - you’re making me get nostalgic and wanting to get back in the scene every time I watch one of your videos. I remember the huge divides and arguments - especially on the UFF, 3Run and parkour.net forums. I also loved the fact you used 3Run videos - I feel many of the young generation don’t realise how much 3Run, TCT (I think that was their name... with Liv?) and UF actually inspired thousands of us youngsters to get out and do parkour, Freerunning or even exercise!
I think the term "traceur" sounds pretty cool. I've been to these disciplines for a fairly long time and been around this debate. I see both aspects, the effiency and creative movement as valuable. They both have their uses. Nowadays I don't really care anymore about whether people do flips or not. I remember there was a time like 4 or 5 years ago when it was difficult to find videos without flips. Sometimes you would just want to find a video with really good flow and efficient movement without too much flips, and when you search for "parkour" all you got was videos of people doing mainly flips. Now I think there has become a better balance, probably partly because likes of Storror that focus more on efficient lines with less flips. I gotta say, it still is kinda annoying if you are working on something more "parkour" type of movement like a precision or something and people come by asking you to do a backflip. Maybe its more about the interruption of your training and the neediness people display, like "show a backflip (for me)". Like they want something from you.
The way I see it is there's 3 variables to parkour/free running, skill, speed, and style. Purely skill movements are rigid and technical, so this would be the parkour side, style would be more so how you can make it look, so the free running and flipping aspect, and then speed is the bridge between the two, can you do a stylish movement while being fast and precise.
"2 styles of the same sport" summed it up perfectly imo. Plus, Traceur is a sick name. I just never heard it used before. Freerunner sounds lame imo so ty for the education. The history was pretty cool too. Thanks.
the one thing that does irk me still is every now and again I'll come across freerunners who train outside once every two months, mostly in a gym, can't do anything parkour related, but are very good at flipping off things indoors and outdoors. To me they are very good trickers because they lack some of the fundamentals like even safety rolls. Not turning my nose at it, but calling it free running gets under my skin
IMHO I wouldn't mind them calling themselves freerunners, but to call yourself a parkour artist/traceur/equiv. definitely requires basic skills such as safety rolls.
Oh man I thought I was the only one who has noticed this trend. This especially bothers me when I see those “Gymnasts learn Parkour” videos the PK athletes don’t really teach the gymnasts any other PK related moves other than “cat pass/kong” and “precision”. I don’t see any other vaults being taught such as the safety, speed, lazy, dash etc… I also don’t see going them over safety rolls either.
Had no idea there was such divide between the two groups in some places. I was one of only a handful of people training around 2006 where I am so if anyone else wanted to come jump about on walls I wouldn't care if they wanted to do any inefficient movements! At the same time I was always more passionate about good old fashioned efficient movement and appreciated it more, and I did also have that slight snobby outlook on people who could flip but couldn't stick a jump. Edit: I should say, I do totally remember the endless debates and online arguments but I didn't know people would actively avoid training with people on the other side of the sport.
*Rule of thumb:* *Parkour* = getting through your environment as efficiently as possible *Free running* = Utilizing your environment to creatively express yourself through movement *Tricking* = Creatively expressing yourself through movement without utilizing your surroundings The thing is, you can practice capoeira and taekwondo. They are inherently different, even though skillsets transfer and they can be intertwined - for example in MMA. Capoeira isn't a martial art as such, but it can still be used in martial arts as a way of giving distance, balance, and fluidity and momentum to your kicks and punches and takedowns. In a similar way, Free running and Parkour are different, but they are not necessarily mutually exclusive in all scenarios. 90% of the time, a flip will be detrimental to a parkour run when the goal is to be efficient and maintain momentum, but in some few cases there is potential for overlap. Still, it would be detrimental to not differentiate the two arts of motion, as they are inherently very different in their purpose and what they achieve. Also the argument of "in reality, what most people do while practicing parkour, isn't actual efficient parkour runs, it's mostly just jumping from one spot to another etc that we think would be cool to do". I get the idea here, but in reality that's just called practice. You practice each part so you can string them together for a full run. Likewise a taekwondo martial artist will train the same kick over and over, the same single rotations. Even if they aren't actively fighting someone in a ring, they are still practicing taekwondo -key word being "practice". Practicing parkour and performing parkour are associated directly. You practice that climb up, that precision, that cat 180 over and over, you practice your mind to read your environment and practice that cool run, so that you are prepared for any real future parkour scenario that may involve similar needs. Or when a singer practices different notes over and over they aren't really "singing a song", but they are practicing so that they can sing a song with those notes in the future.
Found your videos since you did a few things about rollerblading, which were spot on. Really enjoying going back through your parkour content though, this is good stuff.
I've just started looking into this culture From an outsiders perspective, parkour seems like the sport side while free running is artistic expression. With some individuals combining both for personal challenge... and most importantly fun
I’m glad you bright this argument up. I wouldn’t have suspected that you had a “camp” once upon a time. I’m also glad to see you’ve out grown such a silly division. And you’ve adeptly highlighted just how silly this “division” is. Great work.
Damn man Im scared of getting into this comment section after all those petty debates back in the day 😂😂😂 I agree with most of what you said in the video. For me PK and FR are just synonims, there is no use to dividing them anymore 🤷🏻♂️
Nice one Jimmy, I like the "two styles of the same sport" line/idea. A small thing I would pull you up on though is that if we take David Belle's defenition of parkour from heaps of interviews, he very consistently says "Parkour is a training method to overcome obstacles ....fast and efficient...blah blah blah", the key words there being "training method". So the idea is not so much that Parkour is only doing direct A to B lines, but training for being able to do that, in case you ever need it in a reach or escape scenario. Parkour is the training with a particular intention, not the end result or movements and lines themselves, if that makes sense? To me, that's why the term "Parkour competition" is an oxymoron. You can't really compete at training. You can compete in skills and challenges, or with races etc...but if Parkour is a method of training to overcome obstacles, then a "parkour comp" makes no sense if you take it litetrally. For the record, I train both Parkour and Freerunning, do stunts for a living, lean more towards parkour than free running in my training, and am totally fine with comps. But, I do think that when it comes to wording/desciribing some of the comps we see, "speed run comp" instead of a "parkour comp" makes much more sense. Peace bro
Yes yes man. David Belle had a good philosophy I think it's important to really study his ideas if only to understand that whole side of things. It's very powerful stuff very much inspired by and reminiscent of martial art philosophy.
I've been waiting for this! Also, I hate it whenever I talk about doing parkour and people are like, "Oh yeah? Can you do a backflip? No? Then you don't do parkour."
Thank you so much for this great video! Fascinating, informative and entertaining :) For literally 20 years I've wondered what the difference is between freerunning and parkour! 😄
Love this video! Bro, can't wait for you to get to a million subs! also, how are you doing today Jimmy? (just callin u Jimmy, cuz it's easier. lol) but actually, how're you?
Lets get it man, love seeing this community growing! 💪 I'm very well thank you man, I'm going on holiday to the Lake District next week so I'm excited. How are you doing?
@@JimmyTheGiant wow that sounds awesome! I'm doing pretty good too, no big plans, but am going to start a parkour channel around Christmas time, and I can't wait! I've been doing parkour since the 6th grade (im in 8th now) and am still enjoying it. Good to hear that you're doing good man!
Being a spectator of the sport, I've always seen it under the single label of parkour. I also guess the term Freerunning could be interpreted as the freedom of expression through movement. Idk I have no real stand on it, but as long as you're happy with what you do then that's all that really matters Callum is more of an A to B and he's happy with that. Benj throws allot of flare into his movement and lines and he's happy with that On a final note, if you look a at a group like storror, they have a wide variety of movement specialties, and they learn and adapt from each other. Not all of them can kong like Toby or jump like Callum, so they still impress each other, so they respect what each other do that much more I might be looking into it a bit much but that's what I interpret
i'm so glad you covered this, i thought tbh this debate ended till like start of this year i posted in one of the parkour redits and got my ass cvhewed about it. also i agree what you think what parkour/freerunning is, its the same sport but different styles
I think “efficient” is a bit stretched out in terms of defining characteristics of parkour, because efficiency can also pertain to energy as well. It’s gonna be easier to walk up a flight of stairs versus running up a wall and doing a climb-up. Just a thought
I too have always thought that the word efficient was not the most accurate way to describe pure parkour. If I was being chased, I would likely expend a lot of energy and take the biggest drop or do the highest wallrun to get away. We are closer to a 4WD than a Prius.
I thought it was more about perfecting the movement you're doing, its efficiency, not that it's faster or more energy efficient than just running on flat or getting in a car or walking up stairs. Like if you're going to do a movement instead of making it rough or inserting tricks into it, you make it as clean/efficient as possible. The A to B thing never made sense to me but it sort of makes sense if you're thinking of only one movement.
I think that parkour and freerunning are the same sport with different styles and ways of moving. Like gymnastics has different disciplines but the person performing the skills are still a gymnast. Personally, I always preferred to be called a freerunner, although sometimes people said the 'parkour person' =). Got to go train parkour as a traceur or should I say 'trakuoer' lol.
I love that you referenced a clip from the documentary 'People in Motion'. It is actually the documentary that made me fall in love with parkour and is still one of my favourite parkour documentaries :)
When I was active in the scene waaay back in the mid 00s, the division was pretty clear between the UF forums and the ADD/parkour.net forums. At that time a lot was made of some David Belle quotes regarding Parkour not just as the art of movement (l'art de deplacement), by that it was also the 'art of escape'. In that the purest example that [still] exists of actual parkour is the chase scene in Banlieue 13. I recall that the parkour forums (not the UF nerds) reached a bit of a consensus that 'parkour' was actually not simply moving efficiently, but but taking the most inefficient route, in the most efficient way. The freerunners obviously didn't like this, but even now when I'm stumbling across videos like this showing what the scene has been up to in the many years since I stopped, I still find myself cringing at the 'freerunners' bouncing through an area with flips and spins like a human pinball - literally taking the most efficient route and in the most inefficient way possible. I really wish there was a way at getting back at those old forums and reading through the 100s of pages of discussion on this. Anyway, you make cool videos, one that was missing from the 'most important' one was the 'training 3' video (i think) by Jin of TCT. It had Witness the Fitness by Roots Manuva in the background, and i bet even by todays standards it'd still stand up. I was lucky enough to train with the TCT guys after travelling halfway down the country to Cambridge. Heady days. Cool story bro...
@@dreadfulmaniac3717 If you're looking for those old school style discussions, we've got a bunch of channels just for that in the JimmyTheGiant Discord channel :) discord.gg/vhVcvfu
If parkour is A to B, when Benj do this line we have to imagine he just couldn't run straight. For exemple We can imagine there is people to avoid in the way so he have to make is line longer and make detour . In my opinion it's still A to B.
Great topic - bewildering how this was so important to so many. in my experience passionate traceurs hated freerunning because they were terrible at flips and freerunners didn't care for parkour because they didn't have the discipline to practice parkour movement.
dead on with the analysis as usual. i agree with the idea of two styles of the same sport but i always thought it was hard to define the sport as a whole in that sense. with skateboarding it’s literally just if you’re riding a skateboard you’re skateboarding, but there’s so many different movement styles. people incorporate tricking, breakdancing, gymnastics, etc. into their free running styles so what’s to differentiate a really flowy type line from dancing? just the urban environment? spot on analysis of the difference between parkour and free running just being different styles of the same thing which i have always agreed with, but a think a more solid, common definition of the sport as a whole is needed
I discovered this channel a week ago and now I see how much I've missed - I didn't even know there was a division in the sport. And it sounds strange to ever have been one. Another perspective on the topic that plays with the definition - I've always seen them as one - Whenever I hear parkour or freerunning what I imagine in my head is freedom of movement. Simple as that and I think it's accurate. Btw great channel! Seems surprising that I found out about it so late.
Nice video! 100% agree with you. I think the Freerunning - Parkour spectrum can be extended to Tricking with Freerunning as the middle where obstacles can be included and Tricking is some pure kind of flipping.
Well made video bro ;) Will love for you to make videos about Parkour coaches and Parkour gyms. Sometimes I think educators are undervalued but I feel its most important job in a culture to cultivate and mentor the next generation
Very good opinion Jimmy I absolutely agree 🙏👍 and I am not neither tracer nor freerunner. The point is to enjoy what u r doing in the first place. That is what matters most 😁🤸♂️
can we all just apreciate the effort jimmy puts in his video like the best youtouber to ever live jimmy's videos are so interesting ive only been watching for like 6 months and im super amazed i love jimmy's videos more than this comment sounds i really apreciate the effort and pain he puts in his video!
Hello Jimmy, that's a really cool video and your vision about Parkour - Freerunning & co is yours like you said. I'm from France (so, this is my vision of speaking english) and few years ago I considered myself like a TRACEUR because I was fascinated by the Parkour History and I wanted to live the training method from "the founders". With years of training, adventures and meetings I understood something : I'll never experiment what "founders" lived about this training method because it was a very personal quest (different visions even between the "founders", ADD -> Art Du Déplacement). Si I chose my own way, experiment new things etc... But I'll not put a name on it because it's just personal. When i'm training with friends, some do vaults/climbing/flips or whatever but the most important is just to take pleasure, laughing, filming for the memories etc... I'm more concentrate on my own training method when i'm alone. In this time, we have the chance to do all these things. So, guys and girls, don't waste your time and move to find your own way and to get crazy memories to tell to your family, friends and maybe grandchildrens in the future. ENJOY THE JOURNEY. Flo
This guy is really good. Im hoping he gets into full documentaries in the future. Dosnt evan need to be PK stuff. He just a a real "nack" at telling a story. Keep doing what your doing man. All the best and thanks for all the awsome content. On another note, who do you guys think has the most efficient style? No problem with flips etc, but i think there is something special about minamalist things done with elagance.
This dude gets me in an insane level. I’m kinda young but I remember when all this was happening and after some time I just came to this same conclusion on my own. I simply love the movement and look to becoming better whilst having fun :D
haha man, I remember the online wars on different forums about this. Even the founders (David Belle & Yamakasi) had a discussion about this, so they said "L'art du déplacement". I have to admit I was a "Traceur" in the beginning, with the point a to b mentallity, but we always justified doing lines like Benj's as practice. It was a way to train to link movements together in a efficient way. Anyway, thanks for the video, as usual a good trip down to memory lane!
Just exactly this!!!! I love the community with every issue we have had and sometimes still have.... I still remember me beeing a 8 year old just flipping and then my mate tenz and noa telling me to start doing parkour when i got 12 and now its just a complete interaction between the 2
Great content as always! I just missed the mentioning of the Yamakasi since they were fundamental in the development of the movement. Parkour was a result of David going solo and all the interviews where David presented himself as "the one" lead to sooo much confusion that we still can feel. I think the whole Parkour vs Freerunning debate would not have been so stupid if all the founders were more involved with the international practicioners. For that, Seb Foucan was the only one who was doing somthing like this (and still is).
When I was younger and this divide was more prominent I was more into the parkour side of things. Something about the speed and efficiency and flow of it all. Nothing beats the feeling of getting a good line really smooth and fast. The frustrating thing for me was wanting to see videos of people doing what I was doing but at a much higher level. I wanted to see the ultimate in speed, efficiency and flow. So I would go to youtube and no matter what keywords I would put in when looking for parkour videos the most common ones would be some dude doing a gymnastics routine in an empty field, maybe with a ledge involved. That was what bothered me. The inaccuracy. It was as if you were desperately trying to find videos on longboarding, but could only find x-games footage.
The first 1000 people to use the link will get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership: skl.sh/jimmythegiant10202
Hello Jimmy, just wanna say your videos are amazing!
@@jackydevries7264 big love bro
get the bread
Been loving these history of Parkour videos you are doing, I'm new to your channel, so I might have missed it, but what's your take on Yamakasi, I got a bootleg dub of that film from my brothers friend and that was my introduction to parkour. Keep up the great work.
@@arthurkr222 I'll make a video on them one day
We all do parkour. We’re all free runners. Yay.
this
Ye
Lol, way to be wise guy lady.
I mean is there one parkour academy that doesnt teach you flips after 2 to 3 years
Yeah baby hell yeah
"If the majority of what you do is not pure efficient movement, you're a free runner"
Me, who doesn't do anything: I guess I'm a free runner now
Aah now i can send this vid to my friends because i dont want to explain it anymore, Thanks!
Truue
yep! :)
I got into Parkour AFTER I had already been a gymnast for years, so I of course was more of a free runner. Recently I’ve been working more on the “Efficient” moves as you mentioned, because one day I met some dudes at a local parkour gym who were like “You’re not into parkour, you just like to flip off of things.”
WELL NOW IM REALLY GOOD AT VAULTS AND PRECISIONS SO SUCK IT GYM DUDES.
I feel that passion bro
@@JimmyTheGiant I left the comment before I was even halfway through the video, then later you said “A lot of parkourists had a gymnast background” and I felt represented 😂
Great vid as always man. Definitely sharing this one with my friends. Keep it up brother!
Lol those people are no fun. I prefer pure parkour myself but I love watching the freerunners. I do a bit of freerunning myself but I prefer sticking a small line that goes big on the environment. I used to skate and I see parkour as more similar to vert skating and freerunning as street. This helps me make sense of the difference. Same sport, different style and use of environment
Love the attitude and confidence.
@@JimmyTheGiant same!
Another banger of a video! What a blast from the past to see that post from Alfred!
good to see you here m8
imo "traceur" sounds dope af, which is why i use it to describe what i train
To me it sounds like how a fan of lil Tracy would call themselves
I could not agree more. Traceur sounds very cool, far better than "rock climber," "Soccer player," or "golfer." Imo the only term that comes close is Martial Artist, it just has the same type of foreignness to it which gives it a little breath of newness to it.
@@mateoreynoso1996 to put it bluntly, it sounds "spicy"
@@MatthewTraceur yes lol
@@MatthewTraceur spot on
Great video. When I grow up I want to be a parkourist like you.
parkourista*
*exerts a painful roblox death sound*
Parkourian*
@@JimmyTheGiant lawls
I prefer tracerunner
I'm not even super into parkour/freerunning but I always find myself watching your content. I like the way you deliver info and you put a lot of effort into your vids
Honestly man that means the world
@@JimmyTheGiant brandon crabb i fell the same about jimmys content! so good
@@howlingwolvesgroup1821 ??? what happened here with the replies??
Bahahaha!! Jimmy!! You showed my best clips straight from the archives! =P
Great video as usual! Definitely a good common debate that persists to this day. Thanks for the feature.
Haha I was hoping you'd see so I could tell you I loved your shit back in the day! but when I was trying to find an athlete who had insane tricks but was new to parkour i remembered your older clips. All love bro!
When do you apear in this video???
@@Habsnska look for the shitty climb ups and sloppy free running.
@@MoveWIthMendoza what's the timing
Parkour back then: "Alright! Efficiency here I come!"
Parkour now: "Let's make things intentionally difficult for ourselves!"
I came to this realization recently when teaching. A lot of the time the challenges that we give ourselves can be done in ways that are a lot easier. To me this sounds more like pushing yourself and personal development than just A to B.
Fax efficient from a to b is like street skaters and the non efficient make shit difficult on purpose is showboating that shit like vert skaters
@@lastplace2905 dude this is 100% my exact interpretation too, going from skateboarding to parkour. Although I see it as opposite. Classic Parkour being vert and freerunning being street. But yeah I agree with the premise
I think you forgot about one side of the argument, Jimmy. When I first started with parkour in 2005, some people argued that they're only *practicing* for parkour, but not doing the thing itself. All the inefficient movement that's not directly from A to B, even if without flips, was just practice for a hypothetical situation that might occur. So, if you were running away from someone or escaping from a burning building or something like that, that would would be the actual parkour, where you'd probably go for the most efficient route. Sure, nowadays nobody would bother with this distinction, but back in the day, when people were seriously arguing about whether parkour is even a sport or just a "physical discipline", it was a different situation.
Kámo teď jsem zjistil že si Čech a mám stejnej názor. Upřímně dělám parkour a freerun ale říkám tomu jenom prostě "parkour". Ale jak si psal, kdyby šlo o vážnou věc dostat se z bodu A do bodu B tak bych zvolil tu nejrychlejsi moznou cestu bez zbytečných triků a flipů
@@daniel_toman wtf bro? englis
Parkour or freerunning?
"Italian community joins the chat"
Lol. As an italian freerunner I can say that, at least where I live, every movement that seems a little more difficult and agile than a normal action is considered parkour
probabilmente uno dei tanti motivi per il quale siamo ancora indietro rispetto ad altre nazioni
Can you explain? Not really familiar with Italian parkour.
@@lollodalber sicuramente. I gruppi più importanti dei primi anni, Milan Monkeys e ParkourWave, hanno speso un sacco di tempo a dibattere d queste sottigliezze e a perderci la testa sopra anziché lavorare su tutti gli altri aspetti.
Se non fosse stato per il Krap credo che la comunità italiana sarebbe rimasta molto più indietro rispetto a quello che è oggi.
@@reinismartinsons basically the same debate in other parts of the world.
Some people, the first groups to practice, went down the rabbit whole with the philosophy and this whole aspect of the discipline, going quite full nazi and insisting on a pure root to be preserved for the coming ages, arguing a lot againts flips, videos of big movements and jumps, snobbing people at jams and insisting to keep things as they were transmitted to them.
A lot of people, old and new, including friends of mine, still are arguing that the new generations have no values.
These discussions heated a lot of people, and a lot more argued passionatly.
I don't know well the current state of affairs, but I guess that the discussion has been, for the most part, settled, and the majority of the present community doesn't care that much anymore
On the topic of aerial awareness, one of the guys I used to train with in Horsham got knocked off his moped at a junction and instantly tucked into a sideflip in the air. Over rotated on the landing and still injured his leg, but the paramedics said that it was the reactions of that which were life saving for him. Incredible video once again! looking forward to more man!
Wow!
Years ago, I was in a cycling accident. On a bike path, going downhill, I hit a rock or a bump, lost control, and went over the handlebars. I have no idea what happened while I was in the air. I probably closed my eyes too. One moment, I was on the bike. The next, I was laid out on the ground at the side of the bike path. Thankfully, I was wearing a helmet and suffered only a broken clavicle. I think it could have been worse, but thankfully it wasn't.
But now I'm wondering if it's ever too late to develop aerial awareness...
If you were really doing parkour thus getting as far from A to B you'd take the bus
😂😂😂
😂😂😂 Well the definition of Parkour includes using just your physical abilities
But a bus is limited by roads, I suppose flying is the ultimate form of parkour. 🤔
@@stanleyezepk What about if you jump on top of the bus???????
@@jaredtweed7826 🤔🤔 well, jumping is a physical skill. Being atop the bus is fast and energy efficient.
Okay! You win. Genius!! 😁🏆
Slapping that Skater comparison at the end really made this video all come together! Good one
As a vanilla pedestrian, parkour appears to me like "someone running from the police", while freerunning seems like "showing off for TikTok".
I remember that period very well.
For what it's worth "Traceur" comes from the french verb "Tracer" that basically means to trace a line. Colloquially it means moving very fast, efficiently and with purpose, i.e. while ignoring distractions. Basically what you would do if you're evading someone. Perfect name for the original definition of Parkour, but you need some colloquial french understanding to appreciate it.
Small bonus, the original french word this kind of activity is Parcours (pronounced the exact same way). David Belle renamed it Parkour because he thought that the more efficient orthography of using a 'k' for the same 'k' sound and dropping the silent 's' fitted the original philosophy well. That looked kinda silly for french people back then, but with time it got accepted. Most lay people will still think it is spelled 'Parcours'.
Efficiency was backed into the DNA at the origins of Parkour in every way possible. Goes a long way at explaining why the Parkour vs Freeruning was such a heated debate back then. In early 2000s Flips felt all kinds of wrongs.
Oh man. This debate. I rember arguing amongst my parkour peers about the truth of this issue. Its very complicated, and interesting, and am so glad to hear your two cents. Cheers!
*In Russia we had such a debate since 2007* ))))
Italy too✌
Yeah. It is still going, I know few guys, who practice just "pure" parkour and they dont want hear anything about flipping or creative flow.
Yees great video as always👏🏼👏🏼
I think your arguments are valid. The comparison with skateboarding is perfekt
Loooove it, Thank you Jimmy for sharing this PK/FR knowledge, Love to hear in a future video about Parkour, Freerun, and Art Of Motion (ADD=Art de Deplacement=Yamakasi)
Much respect 🙏
I really enjoyed this video.
You have the perfect balance of:
- practical knowledge which informs your opinion,
- educating without being patronising,
- acknowledging your bias
- 10 yr old kids doing backflips can pee off
- and just being incredibly informative.
Thanks!!! I've followed.
finaly a sponsor on this channel that doent try to sell me noodles
buy my protein squiggles
Seriously though, we're just out here supporting a dude who's doing some good stuff for the parkour community. Super happy to see him getting other sponsors though, he deserves it!
@@ViteRamen in german I would call you guys Ehrenmänner❤
@@ViteRamen y'all some real ones 🍜
@@ViteRamen it was just a joke. We all love you for supporting one of our favorite creators but we just get tired of seeing the same ad every single video
Dude! For the last 6 years I was an olympic weightlifter.
Won nationals every year but deeply inside I knew that parkour gave me more pleasure.
I trained parkour from age 9 or 10.
Developed to streetworkout, tricking, gym and eventually weightlifting.
Your video gave me those parkour goosebumps just like I remember it years ago,
Watching videos before training and feel those butterflies in your stomach that urges you to go out and train.
Because of your video im gonna clean the rust and go out to play once again.
Love from Israel❤
I'd love of a video that's a sort of "where are they now" with some of the older peeps
maybe like all the dudes from upk, they were all so interesting to young me and I think it would be fun to see who's still training and what they're up to now
Great video as always. I'm amazed how you find all this old footage to illustrate the points you are making. Great stuff. Perfect mix of nostalgia and new motivation.
I definately remember that being an argument that I heard about when the notion of either had crossed my path back in school...I remember there were some kids that were rather angry at the people who were doing flips and such and especially at the people calling it "parkour", and that group being also angry when they did their efficient movements for the same course no flips or anything, just straight forward and were told that they were "too stiff" and that they needed to "loosen up" and things like that. I remember looking up the issue between them online and finding out about the actual meaning behind the name "parkour" and that there was a "sub-group" that was the "free-runners" who did the flips and such and had more fun with the sport...To me it was like comparing 2 parts of dance between that of your "Ballroom" dancing and your more interpretive dance or hip-hop dance...they are both the same sport, it's just different training that went into them, neither is less hard than the other, just a different approach...I always thought things like that were silly, and my friends on either side of the debate were given absolute HEADACHES when they tried to get me to take a side and instead of taking a side i told them they were all being dumb as it was just different versions of the same sport. >.> After a while they stopped talking to me about trying to get me to choose a side and instead would ask for impartial constructive criticism to help them improve their runs...even though i wasn't one who did either and still am not, I tend to have an eye for detail and so was able to help point out where some improvements could be made, or if they landed differently than before and so they took a spill but were unsure why, things like that. Over all it didn't effect me, but i do remember it being a HUGE deal for my friends and other kids when i was younger...though now those same people use the terms Parkour and free-running interchangeably *shrug* times change so do the meaning of words and how tightly people hold true to the original meaning tends to loosen over time as well...though that's my thoughts and opinions on the matter.
Another banger Jimmy - you’re making me get nostalgic and wanting to get back in the scene every time I watch one of your videos.
I remember the huge divides and arguments - especially on the UFF, 3Run and parkour.net forums.
I also loved the fact you used 3Run videos - I feel many of the young generation don’t realise how much 3Run, TCT (I think that was their name... with Liv?) and UF actually inspired thousands of us youngsters to get out and do parkour, Freerunning or even exercise!
I think the term "traceur" sounds pretty cool. I've been to these disciplines for a fairly long time and been around this debate. I see both aspects, the effiency and creative movement as valuable. They both have their uses.
Nowadays I don't really care anymore about whether people do flips or not. I remember there was a time like 4 or 5 years ago when it was difficult to find videos without flips. Sometimes you would just want to find a video with really good flow and efficient movement without too much flips, and when you search for "parkour" all you got was videos of people doing mainly flips. Now I think there has become a better balance, probably partly because likes of Storror that focus more on efficient lines with less flips.
I gotta say, it still is kinda annoying if you are working on something more "parkour" type of movement like a precision or something and people come by asking you to do a backflip. Maybe its more about the interruption of your training and the neediness people display, like "show a backflip (for me)". Like they want something from you.
well said
I had a vague idea of the "difference" but really enjoyed this in-depth description! Thank you!
"...but in fact, people did go around saying they want to be tracer. they even made a song about it"
It was a really necessary video for the community. Thanks bro!
The way I see it is there's 3 variables to parkour/free running, skill, speed, and style. Purely skill movements are rigid and technical, so this would be the parkour side, style would be more so how you can make it look, so the free running and flipping aspect, and then speed is the bridge between the two, can you do a stylish movement while being fast and precise.
"2 styles of the same sport" summed it up perfectly imo.
Plus, Traceur is a sick name. I just never heard it used before. Freerunner sounds lame imo so ty for the education. The history was pretty cool too. Thanks.
Been waiting for vid like this explaining the difference n that
A dangerous topic, but very important video to make!
I'd agree with your views on this. Your comparison at the end is the perfect way to look at it.
the one thing that does irk me still is every now and again I'll come across freerunners who train outside once every two months, mostly in a gym, can't do anything parkour related, but are very good at flipping off things indoors and outdoors. To me they are very good trickers because they lack some of the fundamentals like even safety rolls. Not turning my nose at it, but calling it free running gets under my skin
IMHO I wouldn't mind them calling themselves freerunners, but to call yourself a parkour artist/traceur/equiv. definitely requires basic skills such as safety rolls.
@@youtubeuser.1 do you think a free runner should at least be able to do basic vaults?
@@joe94c haha yeah probably now that I think about it not knowing basic vaults would be almost disrespectful
Oh man I thought I was the only one who has noticed this trend. This especially bothers me when I see those “Gymnasts learn Parkour” videos the PK athletes don’t really teach the gymnasts any other PK related moves other than “cat pass/kong” and “precision”.
I don’t see any other vaults being taught such as the safety, speed, lazy, dash etc… I also don’t see going them over safety rolls either.
dude... that is a really great video. I don't mean that your other videos are not as good but I enjoyed this sooo much.
(Also it's 'tra-ceur' - the 'tra' as in 'tram' and the 'ceur' as in 'certain'.)
Awesome video. Got an audible laugh from me with the "traceurs started attempting websters" clip
Had no idea there was such divide between the two groups in some places. I was one of only a handful of people training around 2006 where I am so if anyone else wanted to come jump about on walls I wouldn't care if they wanted to do any inefficient movements! At the same time I was always more passionate about good old fashioned efficient movement and appreciated it more, and I did also have that slight snobby outlook on people who could flip but couldn't stick a jump.
Edit: I should say, I do totally remember the endless debates and online arguments but I didn't know people would actively avoid training with people on the other side of the sport.
In France we have a word to regroup parkour and freeruning , it's "art du déplacement"
when i do parkour at leastone person per day asks me if i can do a flip and then i have to explain that parkour isnt the same as free runing
*Rule of thumb:*
*Parkour* = getting through your environment as efficiently as possible
*Free running* = Utilizing your environment to creatively express yourself through movement
*Tricking* = Creatively expressing yourself through movement without utilizing your surroundings
The thing is, you can practice capoeira and taekwondo. They are inherently different, even though skillsets transfer and they can be intertwined - for example in MMA. Capoeira isn't a martial art as such, but it can still be used in martial arts as a way of giving distance, balance, and fluidity and momentum to your kicks and punches and takedowns. In a similar way, Free running and Parkour are different, but they are not necessarily mutually exclusive in all scenarios. 90% of the time, a flip will be detrimental to a parkour run when the goal is to be efficient and maintain momentum, but in some few cases there is potential for overlap. Still, it would be detrimental to not differentiate the two arts of motion, as they are inherently very different in their purpose and what they achieve.
Also the argument of "in reality, what most people do while practicing parkour, isn't actual efficient parkour runs, it's mostly just jumping from one spot to another etc that we think would be cool to do". I get the idea here, but in reality that's just called practice. You practice each part so you can string them together for a full run. Likewise a taekwondo martial artist will train the same kick over and over, the same single rotations. Even if they aren't actively fighting someone in a ring, they are still practicing taekwondo -key word being "practice". Practicing parkour and performing parkour are associated directly. You practice that climb up, that precision, that cat 180 over and over, you practice your mind to read your environment and practice that cool run, so that you are prepared for any real future parkour scenario that may involve similar needs. Or when a singer practices different notes over and over they aren't really "singing a song", but they are practicing so that they can sing a song with those notes in the future.
Found your videos since you did a few things about rollerblading, which were spot on. Really enjoying going back through your parkour content though, this is good stuff.
I've just started looking into this culture
From an outsiders perspective, parkour seems like the sport side while free running is artistic expression. With some individuals combining both for personal challenge... and most importantly fun
I’m glad you bright this argument up. I wouldn’t have suspected that you had a “camp” once upon a time. I’m also glad to see you’ve out grown such a silly division. And you’ve adeptly highlighted just how silly this “division” is. Great work.
Damn man Im scared of getting into this comment section after all those petty debates back in the day 😂😂😂 I agree with most of what you said in the video. For me PK and FR are just synonims, there is no use to dividing them anymore 🤷🏻♂️
Nice one Jimmy, I like the "two styles of the same sport" line/idea.
A small thing I would pull you up on though is that if we take David Belle's defenition of parkour from heaps of interviews, he very consistently says "Parkour is a training method to overcome obstacles ....fast and efficient...blah blah blah", the key words there being "training method".
So the idea is not so much that Parkour is only doing direct A to B lines, but training for being able to do that, in case you ever need it in a reach or escape scenario. Parkour is the training with a particular intention, not the end result or movements and lines themselves, if that makes sense?
To me, that's why the term "Parkour competition" is an oxymoron. You can't really compete at training. You can compete in skills and challenges, or with races etc...but if Parkour is a method of training to overcome obstacles, then a "parkour comp" makes no sense if you take it litetrally.
For the record, I train both Parkour and Freerunning, do stunts for a living, lean more towards parkour than free running in my training, and am totally fine with comps. But, I do think that when it comes to wording/desciribing some of the comps we see, "speed run comp" instead of a "parkour comp" makes much more sense.
Peace bro
Yes yes man. David Belle had a good philosophy I think it's important to really study his ideas if only to understand that whole side of things. It's very powerful stuff very much inspired by and reminiscent of martial art philosophy.
I just call myself a parkour athlete now, it's way simpler, legitimises the sport when ppl consider us athletes and just sounds better
I've been waiting for this!
Also, I hate it whenever I talk about doing parkour and people are like, "Oh yeah? Can you do a backflip? No? Then you don't do parkour."
sees that you posted a new video : calm
its not a video about parkour : panic
Thank you so much for this great video! Fascinating, informative and entertaining :) For literally 20 years I've wondered what the difference is between freerunning and parkour! 😄
Honestly, as a 14-year-old boy, traceur sounds way cooler than freerunner
As a total outsider who just enjoys watching your videos, I can assure you.
Y’all are doin the same sport.
Love this video! Bro, can't wait for you to get to a million subs!
also, how are you doing today Jimmy? (just callin u Jimmy, cuz it's easier. lol) but actually, how're you?
Lets get it man, love seeing this community growing! 💪
I'm very well thank you man, I'm going on holiday to the Lake District next week so I'm excited. How are you doing?
@@JimmyTheGiant wow that sounds awesome! I'm doing pretty good too, no big plans, but am going to start a parkour channel around Christmas time, and I can't wait! I've been doing parkour since the 6th grade (im in 8th now) and am still enjoying it. Good to hear that you're doing good man!
Man, All you videos are extremely well put together, really enjoy them
Being a spectator of the sport, I've always seen it under the single label of parkour. I also guess the term Freerunning could be interpreted as the freedom of expression through movement. Idk I have no real stand on it, but as long as you're happy with what you do then that's all that really matters
Callum is more of an A to B and he's happy with that. Benj throws allot of flare into his movement and lines and he's happy with that
On a final note, if you look a at a group like storror, they have a wide variety of movement specialties, and they learn and adapt from each other. Not all of them can kong like Toby or jump like Callum, so they still impress each other, so they respect what each other do that much more
I might be looking into it a bit much but that's what I interpret
i'm so glad you covered this, i thought tbh this debate ended till like start of this year i posted in one of the parkour redits and got my ass cvhewed about it. also i agree what you think what parkour/freerunning is, its the same sport but different styles
I think “efficient” is a bit stretched out in terms of defining characteristics of parkour, because efficiency can also pertain to energy as well. It’s gonna be easier to walk up a flight of stairs versus running up a wall and doing a climb-up. Just a thought
I too have always thought that the word efficient was not the most accurate way to describe pure parkour. If I was being chased, I would likely expend a lot of energy and take the biggest drop or do the highest wallrun to get away. We are closer to a 4WD than a Prius.
I thought it was more about perfecting the movement you're doing, its efficiency, not that it's faster or more energy efficient than just running on flat or getting in a car or walking up stairs. Like if you're going to do a movement instead of making it rough or inserting tricks into it, you make it as clean/efficient as possible. The A to B thing never made sense to me but it sort of makes sense if you're thinking of only one movement.
Thanks for doing this Jimmy!!🙏
I think that parkour and freerunning are the same sport with different styles and ways of moving. Like gymnastics has different disciplines but the person performing the skills are still a gymnast.
Personally, I always preferred to be called a freerunner, although sometimes people said the 'parkour person' =).
Got to go train parkour as a traceur or should I say 'trakuoer' lol.
I love that you referenced a clip from the documentary 'People in Motion'. It is actually the documentary that made me fall in love with parkour and is still one of my favourite parkour documentaries :)
When I was active in the scene waaay back in the mid 00s, the division was pretty clear between the UF forums and the ADD/parkour.net forums.
At that time a lot was made of some David Belle quotes regarding Parkour not just as the art of movement (l'art de deplacement), by that it was also the 'art of escape'. In that the purest example that [still] exists of actual parkour is the chase scene in Banlieue 13. I recall that the parkour forums (not the UF nerds) reached a bit of a consensus that 'parkour' was actually not simply moving efficiently, but but taking the most inefficient route, in the most efficient way.
The freerunners obviously didn't like this, but even now when I'm stumbling across videos like this showing what the scene has been up to in the many years since I stopped, I still find myself cringing at the 'freerunners' bouncing through an area with flips and spins like a human pinball - literally taking the most efficient route and in the most inefficient way possible.
I really wish there was a way at getting back at those old forums and reading through the 100s of pages of discussion on this.
Anyway, you make cool videos, one that was missing from the 'most important' one was the 'training 3' video (i think) by Jin of TCT. It had Witness the Fitness by Roots Manuva in the background, and i bet even by todays standards it'd still stand up. I was lucky enough to train with the TCT guys after travelling halfway down the country to Cambridge. Heady days.
Cool story bro...
@@dreadfulmaniac3717 If you're looking for those old school style discussions, we've got a bunch of channels just for that in the JimmyTheGiant Discord channel :)
discord.gg/vhVcvfu
I recently learned that art du déplacement is actually different from parkour, thus making this debate even more complicated
@@dreadfulmaniac3717 oh snap that’s a name I haven’t heard in years!
@@dreadfulmaniac3717 Andi! Yes absolutely! He taught us in the UK so much. I'd totally forgotten about him!
Love this bro. I remember those day 😂
Also really enjoy the videos and athletes you chose to distinguish each style, such old school stuff.
*those days
What about the use of "Freerunner" and "Traceur" being modes we switch between ?
I love seeing the old storror clips in ur vids 👍
We do parkour, we are freerunners... In my opinion :)
This is what I call quality content mate!
haha
Great video 👍 Keep them coming
If parkour is A to B, when Benj do this line we have to imagine he just couldn't run straight.
For exemple We can imagine there is people to avoid in the way so he have to make is line longer and make detour .
In my opinion it's still A to B.
Yeah , agree
Great topic - bewildering how this was so important to so many. in my experience passionate traceurs hated freerunning because they were terrible at flips and freerunners didn't care for parkour because they didn't have the discipline to practice parkour movement.
Talking about free running
*shows tricking*
Lovely video mate! Again. Cool to see you always try to be objective!
Love your videos!!! But yeah 7 ads in between pissed me off😅😂😂
dead on with the analysis as usual. i agree with the idea of two styles of the same sport but i always thought it was hard to define the sport as a whole in that sense. with skateboarding it’s literally just if you’re riding a skateboard you’re skateboarding, but there’s so many different movement styles. people incorporate tricking, breakdancing, gymnastics, etc. into their free running styles so what’s to differentiate a really flowy type line from dancing? just the urban environment? spot on analysis of the difference between parkour and free running just being different styles of the same thing which i have always agreed with, but a think a more solid, common definition of the sport as a whole is needed
I discovered this channel a week ago and now I see how much I've missed - I didn't even know there was a division in the sport. And it sounds strange to ever have been one. Another perspective on the topic that plays with the definition - I've always seen them as one - Whenever I hear parkour or freerunning what I imagine in my head is freedom of movement. Simple as that and I think it's accurate.
Btw great channel! Seems surprising that I found out about it so late.
Great,vid man!
Absolute banger, and solid arguments as always, not surprising this video has next to 0 dislikes
Nice video! 100% agree with you. I think the Freerunning - Parkour spectrum can be extended to Tricking with Freerunning as the middle where obstacles can be included and Tricking is some pure kind of flipping.
Well made video bro ;)
Will love for you to make videos about Parkour coaches and Parkour gyms.
Sometimes I think educators are undervalued but I feel its most important job in a culture to cultivate and mentor the next generation
You defenetly deserve much more attention 🏅🔝🔝
Another brilliant video.
Excellent points and I do agree that they are different styles of the same sport.
Very good opinion Jimmy I absolutely agree 🙏👍 and I am not neither tracer nor freerunner. The point is to enjoy what u r doing in the first place. That is what matters most 😁🤸♂️
Today you’ve earned a sub, keep it up mate!
Great video, very informative and I love the idea of it being two different 'disciplines' within the same sport.
Jimmy thanks for the video i agree. Love the content man!
can we all just apreciate the effort jimmy puts in his video like the best youtouber to ever live
jimmy's videos are so interesting ive only been watching for like 6 months and im super amazed i love jimmy's videos more than this comment sounds i really apreciate the effort and pain he puts in his video!
another great video Jimmy, way to go!
Holy shit, 6 seconds in and I spot myself at probably the first 3run jam just after I started!!! Nice work man ✌️✌️✌️
Hello Jimmy, that's a really cool video and your vision about Parkour - Freerunning & co is yours like you said. I'm from France (so, this is my vision of speaking english) and few years ago I considered myself like a TRACEUR because I was fascinated by the Parkour History and I wanted to live the training method from "the founders". With years of training, adventures and meetings I understood something : I'll never experiment what "founders" lived about this training method because it was a very personal quest (different visions even between the "founders", ADD -> Art Du Déplacement). Si I chose my own way, experiment new things etc... But I'll not put a name on it because it's just personal. When i'm training with friends, some do vaults/climbing/flips or whatever but the most important is just to take pleasure, laughing, filming for the memories etc... I'm more concentrate on my own training method when i'm alone. In this time, we have the chance to do all these things. So, guys and girls, don't waste your time and move to find your own way and to get crazy memories to tell to your family, friends and maybe grandchildrens in the future. ENJOY THE JOURNEY.
Flo
This guy is really good.
Im hoping he gets into full documentaries in the future. Dosnt evan need to be PK stuff.
He just a a real "nack" at telling a story.
Keep doing what your doing man.
All the best and thanks for all the awsome content.
On another note, who do you guys think has the most efficient style? No problem with flips etc, but i think there is something special about minamalist things done with elagance.
This dude gets me in an insane level. I’m kinda young but I remember when all this was happening and after some time I just came to this same conclusion on my own. I simply love the movement and look to becoming better whilst having fun :D
haha man, I remember the online wars on different forums about this. Even the founders (David Belle & Yamakasi) had a discussion about this, so they said "L'art du déplacement". I have to admit I was a "Traceur" in the beginning, with the point a to b mentallity, but we always justified doing lines like Benj's as practice. It was a way to train to link movements together in a efficient way. Anyway, thanks for the video, as usual a good trip down to memory lane!
Just exactly this!!!! I love the community with every issue we have had and sometimes still have.... I still remember me beeing a 8 year old just flipping and then my mate tenz and noa telling me to start doing parkour when i got 12 and now its just a complete interaction between the 2
Great content as always! I just missed the mentioning of the Yamakasi since they were fundamental in the development of the movement. Parkour was a result of David going solo and all the interviews where David presented himself as "the one" lead to sooo much confusion that we still can feel. I think the whole Parkour vs Freerunning debate would not have been so stupid if all the founders were more involved with the international practicioners. For that, Seb Foucan was the only one who was doing somthing like this (and still is).
When I was younger and this divide was more prominent I was more into the parkour side of things. Something about the speed and efficiency and flow of it all. Nothing beats the feeling of getting a good line really smooth and fast. The frustrating thing for me was wanting to see videos of people doing what I was doing but at a much higher level. I wanted to see the ultimate in speed, efficiency and flow. So I would go to youtube and no matter what keywords I would put in when looking for parkour videos the most common ones would be some dude doing a gymnastics routine in an empty field, maybe with a ledge involved. That was what bothered me. The inaccuracy. It was as if you were desperately trying to find videos on longboarding, but could only find x-games footage.
You summed it up with the skateboarding analogy. They're both a different spectrum.