Real Parkour

The word comes from the French “parcours”, which literally means, “the way through”, or “the path”. What we now all know as “Parkour” with a “k” had its origins in a training program for French Special Forces known as “Parcours du combattant”, or “The Path of the Warrior”. It was David Belle, a French dude, son of a Parcours Warrior and the “inventor” of Parkour, who changed the “c” to a “k” and, along with his comrades, the Yamakazi, began the worldwide movement you are now officially a part of and which also includes the phenomenon known as Freerunning (confused yet? Don’t give up! You’re almost there!)

Parkour (French pronunciation: [paʁkuʁ]) is a training discipline using movement that developed from military obstacle course training.[4][5][6] Practitioners aim to get from one point to another in a complex environment, without assistive equipment and in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Parkour includes running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, rolling, quadrupedal movement, and other movements as deemed most suitable for the situation.[7][8] Parkour's development from military training gives it some aspects of a non-combative martial art.

Parkour is an activity that can be practised alone or with others and is usually—but not exclusively—carried out in urban spaces.[9][10] Parkour involves seeing one's environment in a new way, and imagining the potential for navigating it by movement around, across, through, over and under its features.[11][12]

Parkour was developed in France, primarily by Raymond Belle, and further by his son David and the latter's group of friends, the self-styled Yamakasi, during the late 1980s.[13][14] The discipline was popularised in the late 1990s and 2000s through films, documentaries, and advertisements featuring the Yamakasi.[4]