Chapter 4: The Importance of Parkour
Parkour is the ability to get from point A to point B as efficiently as possible. Essentially, Parkour is simply a matter of cutting corners in the distance you travel—to put as much space between you and your enemy as you can. Then you make a clean getaway.
You come to a wall: leap over or climb? You lose two seconds. A ledge: jump, tuck and roll at a sprint, or stop and lower yourself? Another five seconds. Learning the basics of Parkour and practicing them will iron out the wrinkles in the way you travel by foot.
There is a great section about Parkour in Apocalypse Tuesday’s: Epic Survival Skills. There you can learn the basics of how to run, jump, and fall properly, as well as a host of other great skills.
Unlike long distance running, Parkour is based on sprints and jumps. You’re literally using your muscles to spring from place to place. When running long distances, you’re using the same muscles over and over again with a steady and gradual increase in difficulty. Parkour, however, is like giving your muscles a power up and maxing out in speed and intensity with every move. Therefore you need to train your muscles in a specific way.
Here is a brilliant beginner’s routine to get you started turning your body into a Parkour body:
10 squats (building up to plyometric box jumps)
10 push-ups
10 leg lifts on your back with both legs
10 pull-ups
**click on the exercise to be taken to learn proper execution.**
Do two sets of this list, every other day. If some (or all) of this list is too hard, reduce your reps per set for the hard exercise(s) until you can do two sets. If you can only do 1 pull-up per set, don’t sweat it. Just strive for 1.5 pull-ups, and then 2, etc. Or just hang and flex if that’s all you can do. The most important thing is to do at least 10% more next week than you can this week. Always progress.
Here’s how:
Every week, add 1 or 2 reps to each exercise set (2×12, 2×14, 2×15, etc.)
After doubling the reps for each exercise (2×20), add another full set to your workout (3×20; you may have to temporarily reduce reps on that final set back down to 10 or less). When you’re finally able to complete a 4×20 routine, strive to do each rep a little faster with slightly more explosion. This will make your workout more plyometric and aerobic, and build your body for Parkour.