Getting Started with Parkour

The Beginner’s Guide to Getting Started in Parkour & Freerunning

Do you remember what it felt like to be a child when all your time was spent exploring
the world?

You grabbed, climbed, and felt your way around. Remember the first time you bravely
climbed to the top of the stairs? Or when you finally mustered the courage to jump off
the couch, and landed, grinning on the ground with a satisfying thud? Or how about
the time you raced, as fast as you could, sprinting across an empty space, just because
you wanted to? Remember when you were taken to the playground where you could run,
jump, roll, climb, laugh and get dirty with other children?

Joy. That’s what you felt.

Every time you were challenged, you stepped up to conquer that challenge. You had
the courage to succeed, and each success felt like the best thing in the world. You
were free. There was no stopping you.

But, we all grow up, or, at least most of us do. Society tells us that things became
off-limits. When did you stop going to playgrounds? When is the last time you went
barefoot in the fresh cut grass, and felt the ground with your feet? When’s the last
time you did somersaults or rolled down a hill until dizzy, and then laughed about it
until your eyes teared up?

We thought about these things, too, and realized there was no appropriate answer.

The truth is, movement is delightful.

Those of us that call ourselves traceurs (a practitioner of parkour) or freerunners
live that joy every day. At it’s heart, you will train parkour because movement and
exploration are fundamentally human. It makes you happy.

At it’s center, the discipline of parkour is about crushing self-doubt by learning
how to focus on improvement, by challenging yourself to be better than you are,
by connecting with other people in similar mindsets that want nothing more than
your success.

The rewards of training parkour are immense:

Improved physical health thanks to a high level of movement and activity
Massive amounts of body control: agility, balance, and power
Mental strength through problem solving, repetition, and increased confidence
Self-respect from accomplishing the seemingly impossible and “superhuman”
Be a part of the community of incredibly supportive, fun, and respectful people: friendship with other traceurs!

Parkour training revolves around two very important things: progression and repetition.
You don’t start trying to jump across a 10-foot gap, from the top of a railing to another.
You start by jumping in place, where you stand. And you do it over and over until you’re
comfortable enough to jump a little higher, push a little further. That’s how we all
started—even “superhumans” like the people on our performance team, the Tribe.

Parkour is a discipline. It’s hard work. It’s consistent training. There’s no secret
shortcuts. We aren’t born “superhuman”, with globs of confidence, coordination, and mental
toughness. We train into it. We learn to overcome obstacles. We learn to see the
opportunities. We strive to help others, so that their success becomes our success.

What about freerunning? Is it different from parkour?

The movements are the same, but the mindsets are different. Parkour is focused
on discipline, and challenging yourself for growth. Traceurs focus on training,
conditioning, and the most efficient ways forward. Freerunning is focused on
expressing yourself. It’s more about creativity, exploring, and playing around.

Start moving: the basic blocks of parkour

Now that you have a better understanding of why you should do parkour, what it is,
and you’ve taken your first step, we’ll move on to the second step. Let’s walk through
the basic foundations, which includes warming up, how to condition, and basic movements
like jumping, landing, vaults, and wall maneuvers.

APK Academy tutorials – old, but useful
Fight or Flight: Basic Vaults – great tutorials on basics vaults
RogueOperative’s Guide to Starting Parkour – excellent breakdown with movement links

Find and connect with other traceurs

All of the movements you’ve learned above can be practiced anywhere, by yourself,
but it’s so much better if you find other traceurs to train with. By finding a
local community, you learn first-hand from experienced traceurs. It’s much
easier to learn the movements when you can see them happening in front of your eyes.
It’s also much easier for an experienced traceur to guide your movement and point
out ways to improve if they’re standing right next to you.

How do you find a local community?

Google and Facebook seem to be great places to find local groups. Most major
cities around the world have established parkour and freerunning communities
that are run by experienced trainers. Smaller towns usually have a small group
of dedicated traceurs. Colleges and universities are also wonderful places to
find groups.

Head to Google and type in “parkour city state”, where you replace ‘city’ and
‘state’ with your location. Search around and you’ll probably find web pages with
groups nearby. You might also want to try “freerunning in city state”. If you don’t
find anything here, no sweat, there’s still hope.
Head over to Facebook and search for “parkour city state”. You might find a
Group or a Page belonging to a local community.
If you can’t find anything in your area, spread out your search to a nearby
major city. Even if it takes you an hour to train with a community it’s worth
meeting them a few times, especially if it’s your first time training. You’ll
find that established communities are well-connected within your area, so by
traveling to a major city with a larger community, you might run across other
people who live much closer to you!
There’s no need to be intimidated. In our experience, every group welcomes new
members with hugs and open arms. They are there to help you succeed and want
nothing more than to gain a new friend through parkour.

What about gyms or training centers?

Parkour gyms are beginning to emerge but are still a bit hard to come by.
If you’re interested in getting professional instruction, try a quick Google
search for parkour programs or gyms in your area. The American Parkour Academy
is based in Washington, DC and we have Affiliate Gyms in Minnesota (Fight or Flight
Academy), Florida (StrikeGym) and Hawaii (Precision Parkour).

If you can’t find a gym, don’t worry. Parkour was born outside and it will always be
practiced outside. In fact a lot traceurs prefer to practice outside. There are
hotspots everywhere. You can train in the woods, at local parks and playgrounds,
or on the curb outside your house. If you’re interested in training outside in
the natural environment, our friend Rafe Kelley has some great outdoor tutorials
and inspirational videos on his Youtube channel.

Thinking outside of the box: you could head to your local gymnastics facility and
visit them during their open gym hours. Call the gym and explain what you want to
do and see if they’ll let you visit to practice parkour. This is a great way to
practice some of the more advanced parkour and freerunning movements with mats
and trampolines in a safe and controlled environment. It’s also a great way meet
other “movement” enthusiasts and maybe a few other traceurs!

Another option would be to visit a CrossFit gym and ask if you could bring in
Parkour equipment (precision trainers, small railings, vault boxes) to train
natural movement there. These gyms are all about promoting natural movement
and typically have a lot of open space in which you could train during their
open gym times.

What should you expect in your first training session? What’s a jam?

If it’s your first time, you’re in for a treat. Everyone trains at their own
pace and level, so you don’t need to worry about killing yourself through a
workout. You should check out our guide on
what to wear, and what to bring.

When people get together to practice parkour, it’s called a jam. It’s not this
intense thing where you’ll be running for 2 hours straight. It’s much more relaxed.
Usually jams are centered around hotspots.

A hotspot is a place packed with obstacles that make for fun training. In a
typical jam, people start at one hotspot and train until they get bored or
want to move on. Then they walk to the next hotspot. Experienced traceurs
have built up a catalog of their favorite hotspots in the areas where they
train, so follow along and get to know your spots!

Another common jam is a conditioning session. These are jams focused on
training. There is usually a workout planned, and people come together to
work-out with others. Its much more fun to train with other people, and you
get to push yourself as you follow the group. You also get to learn new
techniques for conditioning your body.

Will people laugh at me? I’m scared of embarrassing myself!

Relax. Traceurs are well-known for being caring, compassionate, and respectful.
We love beginners! If you’re new to parkour, let everyone know. Experienced
traceurs will go out of their way to help you get started, and make sure you’re
comfortable.

If you’re scared of falling and embarrassing yourself, just stick around for a
few minutes. Even people who have trained for 10+ years fall down and laugh at
themselves. It’s part of the discipline. No one will laugh at your for failing;
we’ll work with you to pick yourself back up and keep trying until you succeed!

Scared of falling? Don’t be. As we mentioned earlier, parkour is all about
progression and repetition. You won’t be doing anything crazy, and you’re never
forced to do any sort of movement. It’s all under your control. The worst that
might happen is you stumble over a curb, or you might fall on your butt.
We all do it. As you fall, you’ll learn how to control your body. Before you know it,
you’ll be falling on purpose for practice!

Speaking of falling, should I prepare for injury?

You can prepare for a few cuts, scrapes, or bruises. In most cases, you won’t
even notice them until after you’re done. Experienced traceurs usually keep
a first-aid kit on hand throughout jams just in case more serious injuries happen.
You might want to put together a small first-aid kit specifically for parkour training.

Keep in mind that if you start climbing around dangerous places, there is a real
danger. But you’re a beginner, so you shouldn’t be climbing up on top of rooftops,
or jumping over death pits. Stay on the ground, and you’ll be fine.