I have made a lot of progress over the past few weeks. So far, I have learned the safety roll, the lazy, speed, easy, and Kong vaults, as well as the precision jump to an intermediate level. This week, I have been focusing on wall runs and tic tacs. As shown on the timeline below, I aim to be comfortable with these movements in a variety of settings by March 1st, when I move my focus to flips. I already feel much more comfortable trying new things than I did at the start of my training, and I have gained a lot of confidence in my abilities. I have also gained the skill of knowing how to practice movements by breaking them into steps, starting small, and working up bit by bit.
At the bottom of this post is a collection of videos showing my progress thus far with each trick. Though I haven’t been able to practice as much as I could’ve hoped due to weather conditions, Covid19 restrictions, and preparing for climbing competitions, I have been progressing reasonably quick, and I am confident that I will be able to reach proficiency with each of these movements by the end of the month.
| Plan: | Timetable: |
| Research the basic parkour movements | January 10th-12th |
| Find the best places to practice these movements | January 13th-15th |
| Plan the order and methods in which I will practice these movements | January 16th |
| Movement 1: Safety roll. | January 17th-23rd |
| Movement 2: Vault. | January 24th – Feb 6th |
| Movement 3: Precision Jump. | February 7th – 13th |
| Movement 4: Wall Run/Tic tac. | February 14th-20th |
| Combine all tricks, work on transitions, and continue to get more comfortable with movements. | February 21st-27th |
| Start planning how/where I will practice the front, side, and back flip. Set a goal and timeline with mentor. | February 28th |
| Work on front flip progressions. | March 1st-20th |
| Work on side flip progressions. | March 21st – April 10th |
| Work on back flip progressions. | April 11th – May 1st |
| Practice each movement in different environments until comfortable. | May 2nd-15th |
| Connect all movements and continue practice. | May 16th-22nd |
| Prepare and practice for the celebration, demonstration, and presentation of my learning. | May 23rd-30th |
I have trained alongside my brother who has been mentoring me throughout this process. He has been doing parkour and trampolining for a number of years now which makes him the perfect candidate to teach me parkour. He started doing parkour for fun in middle school with his friends, and eventually he began taking parkour classes, going to trampoline parks, and ninja warrior gyms regularly to train. He took a break from parkour last year because of a back injury, but he still has the experience and skill required to help me learn the sport.
For him, parkour is a stress-free space to learn and improve your strength and athleticism in a fun and challenging environment. He has enjoyed learning and connecting with people through parkour and watching himself progress throughout the years. He has found the parkour community to be very welcoming and encouraging. I have certainly enjoyed training with the people I’ve met at parkour gyms so far.
I have learned a lot from my brother in the last three weeks. One of the most helpful pieces of wisdom I have received is the difference between not having confidence in a certain movement and being afraid of that movement. Committing fully to skills in key to avoiding injury, since you are the most likely to complete the movement successfully if you are putting full effort into it. This is one of the most difficult aspects of learning new tricks because our instinct is to be hesitant, which is one of the worst things you can do. Hence why it is important to understand that while you should try to overcome fear, if you are not fully confident that you have the ability to complete the movement, then it shouldn’t be attempted. I found this to be an extremely helpful tool when learning new skills, and it has helped me to push myself hard while staying safe.
There are a lot of helpful strategies that my brother uses to communicate how to do different skills to me that I have picked up on. He is very direct and makes sure to explain exactly what your body has to do in order to complete the movement. He will explain it, give a demonstration, then slow it down and break it into steps with me. A great example of this was with one of the first tricks I learned, the safety roll. You may think that it is a simple movement that takes little practice, but it is actually one of the most difficult to perfect and possibly the most important foundation tricks as it allows you to minimize impact on large jumps. We started on a patch of woodchips, going through each individual step, gradually connecting them and getting faster until trying them from height. I think this method of teaching will be useful not only for myself to learn new movements in the future, but it is a technique that I can apply in my own teaching in a multitude of different areas in my life.
Below is a collection of videos showcasing my progress over the past few weeks. I have ordered them sequentially in terms of skill type and date filmed to show my improvement so far.
January 29th – 2nd practice ever
February 18th – 7th practice
- Precision Jump Precision Jump (1)
- Safety Roll
- Kong Vault
- Wall Run Wall Run (1)
- 180 Connection Connections
- Easy Vault
- Lazy Vault
- Speed Vault (1) Speed Vault
I have had a lot of fun learning this unique sport, and I hope to continue to improve as much as I have in the coming weeks. It is really nice to see how I have progressed thanks to the help of my brother. I am exited to continue to learn new skills and gain more knowledge from him in the coming weeks.