Perfection
New generation parkour has become so fast paced! Tracers come into the game and can conquer all elements of freerunning in as little as two years! To some people this may seem the current case; to me it is much further from it.
When I first started training this was my particular mindset: I can vault through my legs therefore I can ‘Kong’. However, ironically a few years of improvement and hard training has led me to believe otherwise. My current viewpoint leaves room for me to be me more determined and motivated. For you see, just because I can accomplish a movement, that definitely does not mean that I have conquered or perfected it. I can always elaborate more, increase height, strength, speed, control, distance, noise and style. Even if one feels that they are at the point where they cannot improve an action any further; movements can be linked into combinations or the action can become challenging under harsher circumstances (rain, tiredness etc). David Belle is not at the standard he has reached now because of the quantity of movements he can express. It is because of years of experience and managing to turn this detailed discipline into a movement that looks and feels completely natural. I feel that the best way to accomplish this is by pushing your boundaries, finding new challenges and never accepting a movement as done and completed.
Fluidity also plays a major role if one seeks perfection in parkour. Travelling between one action to another can become as important as the movement itself. Whether it is rolls or foot placement; time should be spent on focussing on these ‘in-between movements’ to improve the overall content of your parkour.
Another large aspect to be considered is conditioning. How can you improve your physical state to compliment your training? I can see that constant involvement in a chosen physical activity or sport will lead to strength in the certain areas needed to improve, but to some this isn’t always enough. Conditioning started for me just one week into my training, I had no influences showing any right or wrong paths in parkour and this lead to a few months of pure experimentation. I can remember really struggling to climb and pull myself up onto walls which was a major disappointment to me as it limited where I could explore with my parkour. This straight away showed a flaw in my efficiency, the weakness was the result of a pure lack of strength in my upper body. Recognising this problem, I set to work instantly and began to experiment with different training exercises and regimes that would benefit my parkour. Within a month I could easily see and feel the difference and decided that conditioning had become an important part of my parkour journey.
I have realised that perfection is never possible in parkour but I can see that it will always be my goal. Many strive for perfection but do they know what it is?
When I first started training this was my particular mindset: I can vault through my legs therefore I can ‘Kong’. However, ironically a few years of improvement and hard training has led me to believe otherwise. My current viewpoint leaves room for me to be me more determined and motivated. For you see, just because I can accomplish a movement, that definitely does not mean that I have conquered or perfected it. I can always elaborate more, increase height, strength, speed, control, distance, noise and style. Even if one feels that they are at the point where they cannot improve an action any further; movements can be linked into combinations or the action can become challenging under harsher circumstances (rain, tiredness etc). David Belle is not at the standard he has reached now because of the quantity of movements he can express. It is because of years of experience and managing to turn this detailed discipline into a movement that looks and feels completely natural. I feel that the best way to accomplish this is by pushing your boundaries, finding new challenges and never accepting a movement as done and completed.
Fluidity also plays a major role if one seeks perfection in parkour. Travelling between one action to another can become as important as the movement itself. Whether it is rolls or foot placement; time should be spent on focussing on these ‘in-between movements’ to improve the overall content of your parkour.
Another large aspect to be considered is conditioning. How can you improve your physical state to compliment your training? I can see that constant involvement in a chosen physical activity or sport will lead to strength in the certain areas needed to improve, but to some this isn’t always enough. Conditioning started for me just one week into my training, I had no influences showing any right or wrong paths in parkour and this lead to a few months of pure experimentation. I can remember really struggling to climb and pull myself up onto walls which was a major disappointment to me as it limited where I could explore with my parkour. This straight away showed a flaw in my efficiency, the weakness was the result of a pure lack of strength in my upper body. Recognising this problem, I set to work instantly and began to experiment with different training exercises and regimes that would benefit my parkour. Within a month I could easily see and feel the difference and decided that conditioning had become an important part of my parkour journey.
I have realised that perfection is never possible in parkour but I can see that it will always be my goal. Many strive for perfection but do they know what it is?