Why conditioning is important!!!

Towards the end of last year i cut out a lot of the conditioning and focused primarily on my technique. Not because I find condition too hard or boring like many people think who try Parkour. I cut back on the conditioning to enable my body frame to become lighter and to really improve my technique by focusing on just doing Parkour. Yes I became leaner, yes I improved my technique and yes my jump and Parkour vision increased.

So I should be happy that most aspects of my Parkour was improving... What I did overlook was my resistance/body armour from being very strong, had now slowly decreased, and the larger jumps and drops where becoming more demanding for my body even though I did not notice at first.

During the Springtime this year, i was given a little warning from a small fall at Vauxhall in London. It was just a simple fall and I saved myself. So what's the big deal? Well I managed to injure my wrist, which took a good almost three months. I have bailed and saved myself many times before in the past, but I have been strong and resilient enough to handle it. However with my body's strength was not as strong as it should have been, therefore I picked up an injury.

Over the past months this year I have also read in online forums, videos and even seen Traceurs who neglect their conditioning in favour of doing the big jumps and drops, as they want to do the so called impressive stuff right away, only to find out their body cannot handle it. Parkour is not a race to see who can do the biggest or most dangerous obstacles. It is about improving your abilities safely and sensibly through training and helping others.

I would also like to point out that Parkour did not start out with the original French Traceurs/Yamakasi doing big jumps right away, but was born from strength training, from who could lift what, how many reps and various strength, power and edurance challenges; from which the urban obstacle cource evolved from to what we know as Parkour/ADD/Freerunning.

There are many Traceurs out there who can do the big impressive jumps in less the time it took the older or more experienced ones to do. However fail to see the short comings from dilution. I cannot express how important it is to read Blanes article "Dilution"

I will take my own path in Parkour and if it takes longer than others, then so be it! I want to be doing Parkour long term. So conditioning will be a balanced and integral to my Parkour training, and help me to be strong and resilient.

To be really good at anything takes plenty of time and repetition and does not happen quicky, and taking shortcuts will show!

Zeno