parkour 

I'm thinking the guys before me don't even practice parkour in the first place...

Parkour is not a sport, in that there are no rules, teams, or points. It is not about competition or showing off.

It shouldn't be confused with freerunning. Freerunning is more about free-movement and involves more tricking.

Parkour can be thought of as being chased by someone. You want to get away as fast as possible, right? But lets say you begin running into rails or walls or other obstacles as such. If you go around them you're only wasting time and energy.

The trick of parkour is to use as little wasted movementt while going past an obstacle. This is why most consider tricking and flips "not parkour" as they simply aren't necessary and will most likely slow you down in someway.

To parkour is to be able to control your body and mind into one being, so that you can find a path quickly, and move your body in a way that the path can be followed into the next path you're given. If you're running towards and obstacle and start to slow down in order to maneuver around it, most likely you need to practice more.

"This guy was chasing me but completely gave up when he realized he couldn't keep up with the path I was going."
"The bus didn't come, and I only had 10 minutes to get to work. I realized it was the perfect opportunity to put my parkour-training to work."

parkour by Danny Day October 15, 2006

Parkour 

In simplest scientific terms, Parkour is a method of movement that focuses on maximum conservation of momentum in order to create a fluid and painless way to get from point A to point B.

Parkour can be seen in the french film Banlieue 13, starring one of Parkour's creators, David Belle.

Parkour by julianfromct March 23, 2007

Parkour 

A style of movement developed in France to insure that they could flee in any direction, at any time.

No Frenchman that is skilled in Parkour need ever fear capture.

Parkour by Madfat June 24, 2009

parkour 

Parkour is a discipline not unlike martial arts, but rather than practicing fighting or self defense, it is about moving efficiently

Parkour is a way of moving from one place to another as quickly and as efficiently as possible by means of jumping, vaulting, climbing and other such things.

Parkour is not to be confused with freerunning, which is more focused on aesthetics (i.e. flips, aerials etc.) rather than efficiency. Freerunning is considered an extreme sport, wheres Parkour is a practice for personal benefit rather than showing off.

One who practices Parkour is known as a traceur

I saw this guy using Parkour to get to wherever he was going. I saw him climbing walls, vaulting shorter walls and jumping to get wherever he needed to be as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

parkour by InfiniteSingularity December 15, 2008

parkour 

Le Parkour (also known simply as Parkour, PK, or free running)was invented in 1988 in the Parisian suburb of Lisses by a group of teenagers including the legends David Belle and Sebastien Foucan, who formed a clan called the "Yamakasi", or new (modern) samurai. it is a sport in which practitioners, called "traceurs, run, jump, climb, and roll rhrough rooftops, gaps, pipes, practically anything in an urban environment. it demands great physical agility, and masters of PK, such as Belle, are able to jump over cars, leap 9-meter distances from one rooftop to anotherIt has been described as "obstacle-coursing" or "the art of movement". the fluid art of parkour is sometimes combined with the smooth flow of such arts such as capoeira and Xtreme martial arts. examples of such hybrid practitioners are Team Ryouko, the famous Toronto martial arts stunt team, and the mysterious Xyndicate, a tiny, underground clan located in the eastern United States.

"PK is as 1337 as break-dancing!"

parkour by ------1xX~*Hellhawk*~Xx1------ July 27, 2004

parkour 

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.

'want to come pk tonight?'
'i do parkour'

parkour by Flamsmark January 4, 2005

Parkour 

When you learn to walk from playing Mario.

Look over there! That guy is really good at parkour!

Parkour by Kwing November 29, 2009