Parkour is the sport of rationally overcoming obstacles and moving around the circuit path. In it, a person overcomes physical obstacles (walls, fences, houses, etc.), quickly, without unnecessary movements, using the capabilities of his body and mind. It has been officially recognized as a sport by various sports councils across Britain.
Parkour is more than a sport, Parkour is a practical discipline, so a person can apply all the skills of movement in an extreme (extreme) situation. Parkour is not just a means of survival – it is a way of thinking that makes it possible to find your freedom in the stone jungle.
Benefits of Parkour
The obvious benefit of parkour is that it improves your ability to move between places. This is the very essence of parkour, practical movement from one place to another. You become aware of routes from one place to another that wouldn’t have occurred to you beforehand, and your ability to make use of these routes increases the more you train.
Physical fitness
Physical fitness is another benefit to parkour. It’s not just that parkour utilises and exercises every part of the body, it is that almost every technique and movement involves the whole body, giving you an incredible workout. It combines short bursts of intense activity with long periods of light exercise, increasing both your muscle power and stamina.
Builds strong mental side
The mental side of parkour shouldn’t be overlooked either. One of the vital aspects of parkour is that you must learn to assess situations on the move, on your own. The longer you practice parkour, the more you learn to trust your own judgement, because when practising parkour your own judgement is all that matters. The best person to judge what you can and can’t do is you.
Conquer fear
In the same way, parkour helps you conquer fear in everyday life. By actively seeking out situations where you experience fear you are forced to learn to overcome it. Once you learn how to cope with fear you can apply this to any situation, and you become much more confident as a result.
Builds self-confidence
Your own self-confidence also benefits from the fact that parkour still isn’t socially acceptable. Parkour is practised in public areas because the whole point is to be able to cope with practical situations that exist in real life, and so in order to practice parkour you need to learn to let go of the embarrassment of acting differently. As parkour becomes more accepted the problem will lessen and some of the benefits will be lost, but it is questionable whether parkour will ever become commonplace.
Teaches responsibility
Parkour requires that you take responsibility for your actions as well, and therefore encourages honesty and independence. Parkour is completely against the ‘compensation culture’ that has developed in recent years. Parkour does involve taking risks most people wouldn’t and since it comes down to your decision to participate, you can’t in good conscience ask anyone else to take the blame.
Final words
Parkour also makes you feel good about yourself. Parkour is about personal achievement. By taking full responsibility for the actions you also take full credit for your achievements without taking anything away from anyone else. Parkour also gives you a sense of freedom, because through learning parkour you remove some of the limitations placed upon you by society. Your mind opens to new possibilities.