It's Not As Dangerous As You Think...

One of the biggest critiques of Parkour and Free Running is that it is dangerous. While Parkour and Free Running can certainly be dangerous, they are not as dangerous as you might think.

Let me ask you a question: Do you learn to run before you learn to walk? Do you learn to walk before you learn to crawl? No, so why would you learn to jump down from 8 feet before you learn to jump down from 2 feet? The simple answer is that in Parkour, you actually don't -- you learn to jump down from 1 foot first, then 2 feet, then 3 and so on.

The problem with everything is what we see on television, movies, and the internet are these amazing stunts and everyone assumes that is what Parkour is. This is far from the truth. While this can be a part of Parkour, Parkour is much more than that (which I will get into much later). The guys we see on these videos are almost professionals and have been doing Parkour and Free Running for many, many, many years.

In Parkour, we progress very very slowly. Remember how I mentioned in a previous post that the aim of Parkour is to get from point A to point B as efficiently as possible? If we were to do something that's an almost certain danger, the aim of Parkour could be diminished. We cannot get places very efficiently if we are injured. How do you overcome that? Practice, practice, practice, more practice, and even more practice. Also though, we have to analyze what we're doing. Do we really want to always jump down from something 12 feet high, or is there an easier and safer way down that's almost as efficient. Function should always be ahead of entertainment.

Want an example of this practice? At a part of campus at Iowa State to never be named (and known to only those who recognize what I'm about to say), there is a staircase outdoors. On both sides of this staircase is a wall. However, one wall is about two or more feet taller than the other. This presents us the opportunity to do a cat leap. What I mean by this is standing on one of those walls, jumping across the stairs, and catching the hands on the ledge, feet on the wall, and pulling yourself up over the wall. At the very far end of this is a 12 foot drop onto concrete. At the other end is a huge drop of 6 to 9 inches (of course I am being facetious). When I first saw this, I practiced at the 6 to 9 inch drop part literally over 200 times. I drilled it into my mind how to do this. Slowly I moved to a drop that was 2 feet and did the same 200 times. After that, 5 feet. Eventually I ended up at the 12 foot area and completed it with ease the first time I tried without much nervousness at all.

Actually, many of us would just walk through various parts of campus and scout out areas that might be good for Parkour. We are not doing physical activity, but we are going through various areas, inspecting certain things that might be suitable for Parkour. For example, let's say there is a railing on top of some 2 foot high concrete block. We might see it and say "hey we can jump over this!" We will go to the railing and see how sturdy it is, as well as the ground where you might land, and the actual concrete itself.

The last thing we want to do is to get injured. Many have asked us if we run through campus without inspecting anything. This would not be very good. If there was a 20 foot drop on the other side of a wall we could not see, it might be almost certain injury. By analyzing and slowly practicing upon certain areas over a large period of time, we minimize the risk of injury as we prepare our bodies to know exactly what to do. The result of the videos we all see are hours upon hours of practice in each place as I have outlined above.

With Parkour, you get more acquainted with your own body, get much stronger and fitter, and realize what this great unit we call the human body and mind is really capable of. You slowly discover that "hey, if I train for this correctly and know the techniques, Parkour really isn't that dangerous, and it's very fulfilling and fun."

Now, in my day I have played and competed in numerous sports: Football, Gymnastics, Soccer, Baseball, Basketball, Softball, Tennis, Weight Lifting, Swimming, Skateboarding. You get the point. If you want me to be completely honest on which sports I've had the most injuries in? Gymnastics.. It is almost inevitable that you will get injured in gymnastics.

More honesty? The most serious injury I have gotten from Parkour is a banged up knee because I hit concrete trying to jump up a loading dock, twice. I went home soon after and soaked in a hot bath for 30 minutes because warmth increases flexibility. Two hours later I was walking almost completely fine and doing flips in a gymnastics center (not full force though to make sure I did not re-injure). My knees did not hurt the next day, or the day after, or the day after. Other than that, I've had a few small twisted ankles that I have had in almost every other sport which I could walk on a few hours later. Scrapes and a few small bruises, which I have gotten in almost every other sport (except scrapes in swimming). To be honest, after playing 10 years of competitive shortstop and centerfield in baseball, I had many more knee injuries, more twisted ankles, and more scrapes than I have had thus far in Parkour.

I remember in January on campus, someone slipped on the ice, hit their head on the ice/concrete and had to be carted off in a stretcher. All they were doing was walking to class. If we become fearful of everything, we become paralyzed to everyday life and our function and productivity could go down. I am coming to you from over 3 years experience in Parkour and about 22 years experience in other sports that Parkour really is not that dangerous as you might think, and it's not as dangerous as many other sports.

Let's think about it for a minute here. Injuries in Football, Hockey, Soccer, etc...what do they have in common? Well think about it, your injuries are most likely dependent on somebody ELSE. There are guys coming at you full force wanting to hit you, so it doesn't matter how great your body is, if theirs is too and they hit you hard, you're probably going to be hurt. In something like Parkour (just as gymnastics), your injuries are dependent upon your own fitness and skill levels. Ultimately, you are responsible for your injuries, which if you think about it can be safer if you're smart about it.

In short, think before you judge. Think of the training that actually goes into what you see. Personally, I am not a thrill seeker, but I find warmth if you will in Parkour. It is very possible within the limits of the human body.