CrossFit Athletic Group

Parkour and Freerunning have been kind of watered down by the mainstream and YouTube in the past few years as it has grown in popularity. Actually, watered down might not be the best term. Maybe "evolved" - kind of like CrossFit. (I wouldn't say CrossFit has been watered down either).

Since the beginning, CrossFit's goal has been to forge elite fitness (fitness being defined as work capacity measured across broad time and modal demands) and preparing you for the unknown and unknowable. As CrossFit's popularity grew, more people got involved and put their own twist on the program. We have MobilityWOD and GymnasticsWOD. There is CrossFit Football and CrossFit Endurance. Now, it seems that CrossFit is most commonly associated with competitions and The Sport of Fitness. Sometimes people lose track of the original purpose of CrossFit, but I think it's kind of a natural progression for CrossFit as a whole.

In 2005-2006, CrossFit began featuring an athlete named Jesse Woody on instructional videos for a new form of training called Parkour. The original form of Parkour had a very simple and functional purpose in mind.

"Parkour is quite simply the art of navigating any environment quickly, confidently, and effectively with only the capabilities of your body to aid you." - Jesse Woody, from his introductory CrossFit Journal article in 2006.

In other words, Parkour training gives you the tools to move through any environment (unknown and unknowable) in the most efficient way possible. This usually involves jumping, running, and climbing. But sometimes the obstacles in the way require more advanced forms on tumbling, flipping, and swinging. The more these techniques were taught, the more people began to put their own spin on them in their Parkour practice.

Today, we see many Parkour videos featuring random flips and acrobatics that would not necessarily be consistent with the original purpose of moving from point A to point B the best way possible. There are even settings where Parkour is treated like a sport - which can lead to the same confusion when CrossFit is referred to as a sport. So sometimes it's difficult to sift through the unnecessary stuff and find the goods. This video, for instance has a variety of both. Can you spot them?

In the end, just understand that if you get yourself where you want to go quickly and were unharmed in the process, then it was a good method for you and legit Parkour. So that means the parents doing a half-vault/half-climb over high boxes is just as legit as Jason, Amy, and Meghan Murley dive rolling over the same obstacle.

For a good intro to the Parkour methodology, click on the link above by Jesse Woody's quote.