Inspiration

Everyone who has practiced Parkour has felt that spark. Someone or something caught our attention long enough to compel us to investigate further and start out on this journey.

As we continue to learn, those that inspire us continue to influence and shape the way that we train. They help us to stay motivated and dedicated to what we have set out to achieve. In Parkour, most people’s methods of training derive from some form of inspiration. Usually practitioners are inspired by the words, actions or methods of the earlier practitioners, such as David Belle.

What influences us affects our training mentality, and vice-versa, our training mentality effects what influences us. As each Traceur grows, their own influences naturally change and develop over time. In turn, they too become an inspiration for others.

With that in mind, I’ve thought I’d share my five biggest inspirations below (in no particular order):

1. Friends and Family

I practise Parkour for a number of reasons. My friends and family are one of those reasons. Parkour has changed me a lot, in terms of maturity, direction and health. Parkour has also given me the greatest friends I could ask for and with them I’ve had many great memories.

Inspired by the earlier practitioner’s and their ways of thinking, Parkour has shown me how to be strong and how to look after my friends, my family and myself. I train in the thought that one day I know I’ll be able to make a difference whether it be protecting or helping myself, my friends or my family.

2. David Belle

David Belle is one of the key figures behind Parkour. The ideas for Parkour derived from his father, Raymond Belle, and his time in Vietnam and as a fire fighter. Raymond was a very strong individual who performed various rescues and endured hard training in ‘parcours’ (The French military obstacle course). Raymond passed his knowledge, experience and message down to David and from this we have Art Du Deplacement/Yamakasi/Parkour/Free Running.

So what inspires me about David? Firstly, and quite obviously, is his level; he is incredibly strong and extremely skilled in Parkour – he has accomplished great things and is a true testament to the untapped ability we as humans have. His mentality and reasons for training are something that I am also greatly inspired by: developing an ability to look after yourself, your friends, family, or even a stranger, whether it be escaping from someone/something, reaching someone/something or helping somebody.

3. Joe DeFranco

Joe DeFranco is a trainer from New Jersey, USA. His business, DeFranco’s Training Systems, is based upon improving athletic performance. The guy knows his stuff when it comes to strength training and, yes, you guessed it, improving athletic performance. Joe has worked with athletes from a variety of sports, from college football players all the way up to NFL players, from college basketball to the NBA, not to mention baseball, hockey and rugby. Joe’s methods are based around the Westside system of strength training and involve lifting maximal weight to build strength and sub-maximal weight for speed and/or repetition.

I’ve put a lot of time into reading and watching DeFranco’s stuff and it’s taught me a LOT about training like an athlete. I’m currently on a DeFranco programme and I’ve noticed massive improvements in my strength, jumping ability, speed and size as well as mobility and muscle tissue quality. DeFranco has certainly revolutionised the way I train.

4. PKBC Guys and Community Spirit

PKBC is ‘Parkour British Columbia’ and I’m referring mostly to the Vancouver guys, such as Res. They have a great attitude towards training and they’re all well-rounded practitioners. Along with this, we share similar views to them with regards to strength training.

What inspires me about these guys is the community spirit they have in their videos – they look like really great friends, having a laugh together, training hard and progressing. It just reminds me of what we can achieve together. In times where there is a lot of people arguing and debating various aspects of Parkour over the internet, it’s great to see communities like this just training hard and caring about their local community and not the politics of Parkour.

In Parkour, I’ve met people who I now regard as my closest friends. We’re all from different backgrounds and age groups, but we all connect with Parkour, train hard together, progress and have fun. This is what I want everybody who comes and trains with us to realise – that we are a close knit and welcoming community. Each person in the community supports the next and through Parkour we can be great friends too.

5. Fun and Progression

Obviously Parkour is great fun and initially a lot of us are attracted to it because of this. Parkour is truly unique and offers something different. Yet at the same time, it is very natural and useful to people. It is the ultimate form of human progression – there is always something you can work on and it’s all about trusting yourself and knowing yourself.

I’ve practised Parkour for over 4 years now and it truly is life changing. It dominates my thoughts – I think about training in some way all the time and I’m constantly looking to improve. (Beginners will note the ‘Parkour vision’ you gain as you walk around, noticing the different jumps and routes around the urban Landscape.)

The Future

Parkour is something that will stick with me forever – it’s too big a part of my life for me to imagine life without training in some way. It has helped me to develop and has put me on the path to becoming a strong person.
I find having a reason to train is very useful for finding motivation and to push myself, I suggest you all take some time and just think about why you practise Parkour and what you want from it.

A little insight to my influences – I hope you enjoyed it!

-Joe