Free running/ Parkour

I've tried it, some of the moves are VERY hard... I need to get in better shape lol
It's fun as hell though. I want to get into it again.
By the way, I'm Ebony Fox. I'm new, and happy to be on the site guys!

Ebony! Good to see you here!
-Rook

Thanks, Rook!

Ebony Fox wrote:

I've tried it, some of the moves are VERY hard... I need to get in better shape lol
It's fun as hell though. I want to get into it again.
By the way, I'm Ebony Fox. I'm new, and happy to be on the site guys!

Welcome!

Yes its great fun! but remember...its as hard as you make it!

The Magician wrote:

That's my plan too :/ Scottish till I die, but you Americans seem to be having all the fun!

we americans do not have all the fun, do you know how many people born here would rather be somewhere else? i love the ideals of america, but it has become a cesspool of idiocy, if you've seen the movie "Idiocracy" we are truly heading in that direction, as a whole we have some of the most lazy, ignorant people. we're supposed to swallow the "american dream" and its spreading across this globe. where i live no matter which main street there is a fast food restaurant. its horrible!

I'm more familiar with climbing and vaulting to do anything else like flips and I don't want a broken neck either.

Bandit wrote:

I'm more familiar with climbing and vaulting to do anything else like flips and I don't want a broken neck either.

Parkour isn't really about flips and tricks, that's more of a traceur's goal. And in reality as long as you're in decent shape and take precautions (i.e. not attempting a three story jump and roll onto a roof your first day) you will be ok. The worse Parkour injury I've ever had was an injury to my leg when I partially failed a jump and balance onto a metal pole. I landed the jump but accidentally hit my leg, bruising the skin and possibly cracking the bone.

You don't have to do crazy stuff in Parkour, it's all about getting from Point A to Point B fastest. Just start out slow. I never thought I could do a backflip but after four months of Parkour my friends taught me the technique and I started trying it.

Good tipice, the ability to be a better speaker, i also want to have.

spiderman wrote:

Good tipice, the ability to be a better speaker, i also want to have.

Yoda?!

So its nearly a year on from the start of this topic and i thought I would just run over it all again and see if I missed anything important or thought of any revisions and additional points to add.

Only thing that has sprung to my mind for now is height advantage...


Height Advantage

Being able to see everything from not only a slight distance but an elevated point, is a HUGE advantage. You can sit comfortably knowing you are out of harms way while scoping out the area like a hawk. After covering this i will tell you 2 examples of when this was very useful, I was unseen and barely had to lift a muscle!

1st you need to find a rooftop or ledge (get creative. Trees etc) that is easily accessible as you dont want to get yourself stuck there (that may sound impossible to some!) and you want to be able to get down quickly if needs be. Of course you need to pick a good location where you have a good line of sight, preferably a few good lines of sight, as you will be watching a large area and patrolling with your eyes rather than walking around and possibly missing stuff going on.

Once you have found a suitable one in an area you feel its beneficial to "patrol", make sure you know its layout as there may be sky lights (you dont want to fall through the roof, into a shop, with a mask over your face!), weak spots or porches, anti climb and vandal paint, barbed wire and different surfaces (eg. gravel which can create a lot of noise...so if that is the case of your chosen place make sure its not a house/flat you will be waking people up in with every step.).

Now its really just a waiting game...

Some nights you may be climbing down regularly and others you wont need to move at all.

You will soon learn what is normal behavior and what is suspicious form the way people move and the routes they take. Being higher allows you to asses the situation much better and you are able to decide the best approach without any external worries like members of the public distracting you.

If you work in teams then this can be an even bigger advantage as you can have an "eye in the sky" feeding you information and again covering more ground with their eyes than you could from a ground level.

I know this may not be useful to some of you as the area you live in may not have easy access to rooftops or bad lines of sight or both but for me it works great!

I have 3 very good roofs and one ok ledge, which i rotate depending on where the people are. One of them even has two whole separate street views with easy access both sides so I can cover a huge area that would normally take a minute or two to run on foot. Again I am very lucky to have such good spots where I live so unfortunately for some of you this would not be likely.

Some tips if you do decide this can work near you:

* Dont climb too high on your own. There is no point getting the good view if you cant get down quickly. If you work in a team with comms then higher can work great!

* Dont climb anywhere you can get into major trouble for...or stuck

* Ideal height would be something you can jump down from without hurting yourself.

* Be careful as to who might be able to see you climb on said roof or see you sitting up there...you dont want to be considered as the criminal. No l.e.d lit screens that draw attention.

* Take something to do. You should be taking a pen and paper out anyway but if not then take one to draw, take notes, write songs or what ever you enjoy!

* A hot drink is always nice and food if your in for the long haul

* Keep in mind the weather. Rain may hinder your climb down.

* Scaffolding can appear anywhere so keep an eye out as it is sometimes prefect!



As I said if I think of any additions to this topic i will add them when I can.


Stay safe and only do what you are confident with.


N.

Now how often has this helped me?

Quite a few times!

Im not going to pretend I live in "crime central" but this has come in useful many times...however most of the time I just sit there and do nothing as nothing is required from me.

I also only really go up on the rooftops when town is busy (Friday + Saturday) to avoid unnecessary attention and conflict (Alcohol is a hell of a drug = aggression for no F*ing reason)


Here are just two examples:

I was sitting up on one of my perches when...

1. An aggressive man seemed to be dragging an, almost, unconscious young girl with him up the high street. She was all over the place and fell over in a shop front crying. He kept trying to pull her up and eventually did only for it to happen again but I had already called the police. They turned up pretty quick and split them both up (much to the mans protest). Of course I couldnt hear word for word what was said but she was taken away in the police car (I dont think she said much but must of had I.D on her I guess - possibly underage but ill never know) and he was sent on his way...I made sure he got home safe

2. Two drunk guys stumbling up the high street - quite old. One took a piss a bus stop and the other walked on a bit. A girl walked over the top of the road (T-junction) in an unusually short dress and he looked as he was about to follow her around the corner out of my sight. He was probably just getting a good ol' look but I didnt want to take the chance and just shouted "Dont even think about it" in my attempt at a scary voice Im pretty sure he didnt even hear me but his mate did and he had no idea where it came from. They looked around for a bit and then strolled back to a pub on the corner.

Hello again everyone!

I have a free "schedule" at the moment and should have for a while so I have decided to do a small video series covering all of the above and after I might cover a few more topics but for now I just want to concentrate on Free Running/Parkour.

I'm not 100% sure yet whether i'll just make the whole thing and upload it or whether i'll do it in stages or both. I think this will depend on how long it is and the weather.

 I only started filming today but it shouldn't take too long to make so watch this space for updates! 


N.

That sounds great, Ninja.  Splitting the video into different sections sounds better as it will be easier for someone to find what they're looking for.  Looking forward to seeing them 

I haven't used any parkour for patrolling yet but it's a super cool and useful skill to learn.  I took a year or so of parkour classes and it was very fun and informative. I could definitely see how it could be useful too, like in a pursuit or something.