Parkour (or 'le parkour'; 'freerunning'; 'pk' or 'pking') is the sport of fluid urban movement. Invented in 1988 in the Lisses suburb of Paris by a small crew of traceurs including the ledgendary David Belle and Sebastien Foucan who recently featured in the BBC documentary 'Jump London', the sport (or art) of pk is essentially a conbination of running, athletics and acrobatics in urban environments.
It includes such techniques as the tic-tac (wall step/run); kong (a form of vault); and precision (two-foot to two-foot jump) among myriad others. Most watching traceurs pk would describe their movements as series of of actobatic techniques fluidly integrated into a continuous run from A to B, past, over under and through any obstacles in their path. However, that would be during a run (most of which are filmed, as with skaters). Most often, if you saw traceurs practicing they'd be honing individual components of their technique.
Certain individuals have chosen to explore alternative forms of parkour, such as running through traffic or passing through crowds quicky, while others, such as Team Ryouko or Xyndicate have attempted to blend pk's unique ideals with other forms of martial and athletic arts.
It includes such techniques as the tic-tac (wall step/run); kong (a form of vault); and precision (two-foot to two-foot jump) among myriad others. Most watching traceurs pk would describe their movements as series of of actobatic techniques fluidly integrated into a continuous run from A to B, past, over under and through any obstacles in their path. However, that would be during a run (most of which are filmed, as with skaters). Most often, if you saw traceurs practicing they'd be honing individual components of their technique.
Certain individuals have chosen to explore alternative forms of parkour, such as running through traffic or passing through crowds quicky, while others, such as Team Ryouko or Xyndicate have attempted to blend pk's unique ideals with other forms of martial and athletic arts.
by Flamsmark January 4, 2005
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What may be referred to by some as a sport or a discipline, but what is really a foolish activity done by losers that have no real ability to play any real traditional sports or marital arts.
Joe: Want to go to the courts and play some ball?
John: No, I suck at basketball so instead I'm going to do some parkour. You know that stupid activity where you go in a straight line and go over obstacles instead of around them?
John: No, I suck at basketball so instead I'm going to do some parkour. You know that stupid activity where you go in a straight line and go over obstacles instead of around them?
by Guru on a hill November 8, 2012
Get the Parkour mug.(sometimes abbreviated to PK), or l'art du déplacement (English: the art of movement) is the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one's path by adapting one's movements to the environment.
In short, it's the French art of "running away". Early iterations were witnessed in the Franco-Prussian War, World War I, and World War II. The key is to lay down your weapons, and run away from Germans.
If you recall - the French haven't won a combat engagement since Napoleon. They have folded 3 times to the Germans in the last 100 years. Their "resistance" sold out more of their friends and family than actually provided real resistance.
All of this led up to the development of parkour - the French art of running away.
In short, it's the French art of "running away". Early iterations were witnessed in the Franco-Prussian War, World War I, and World War II. The key is to lay down your weapons, and run away from Germans.
If you recall - the French haven't won a combat engagement since Napoleon. They have folded 3 times to the Germans in the last 100 years. Their "resistance" sold out more of their friends and family than actually provided real resistance.
All of this led up to the development of parkour - the French art of running away.
by Flaccid Tallywhacker January 3, 2011
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Get the Parkour mug.Conversations with good friends esp. when inebriated, that rapidly jump from topic to topic with no preceding explanation.
by ErinNina/ShiftySly October 11, 2014
Get the Topical Parkour mug.When you try to write an academic paper, but none of the sentences in your paragraph are cohesive. Academic parkour is recognized by the act of jumping between different conclusions without knowing where you'll end up.
by Norwegian Wineaholic November 25, 2021
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