The discipline that is called Parkour derives from the French word parcours and translates as ‘route' or ‘course’ and essentially is a way of physical training that involves running, jumping, climbing and vaulting techniques to navigate obstacles, of an environment in your path. The discipline was originally and more accurately known as L'art du déplacement which translates as 'the art of displacement'. Free Running is perhaps the most commonly used and recognised term as it was first introduced in the Channel 4 documentary called, ‘Jump London’ back in 2003. This term was used to help translate this new art form to the English speaking audience.

Practitioners of Parkour are called ‘Traceurs’. As Traceurs practice and learn new techniques they develop and an enhanced vision of their environment discovering all kinds of opportunities for movement. This is commonly referred to as your 'Parkour Vision'.

Originating from France by a small group of practitioners in the 1980's Parkour has grown into the World wide phenomenon that it is today. As a discipline Parkour is a physical activity that is often miss-categorized as a sport or an extreme sport, however, Parkour has no set of rules, team work or competitiveness. There are many different physical movements within Parkour, and some of them hold similar characteristics to gymnastics and martial arts. When performed with a high level of precision, speed and grace the techniques of Parkour will serve their main purpose which is to transfer your body in the quickest and most efficient way possible.

Many believe that Parkour is simply performing acrobatics outside when this is not the case. Parkour is an art of displacement and such acrobatic techniques are not fundamentals of the discipline and are performed for fun and visual purposes. Although these types of gymnastic movements are useful in relation to getting to know your body and being spatial aware, it is in fact simply the practitioner's choice whether to incorporate these movements.

Learning to do Parkour safely is something that should be taken very seriously which is why it is referred to as a discipline. If you are at the beginning stages of learning Parkour it is advised that you seek instruction from a qualified and experienced instructor for your own safety. ‘Repetition’ and ‘progressive learning’ are two commonly used phrases when it comes to learning the art. It cannot be stressed enough that repeating a movement over and over again is the only way to really grasp the concept of a particular movement, and it is the only way one will ever have any sort of control. The idea of progressive learning is to start small. As with any physical activity, there are always risks when trying to progress and learn more difficult techniques. The idea is for each risk to be a calculated and minimized one by being fully aware of yourself and the environment. Many beginners, especially youngsters, imitate experienced practitioners they’ve seen without really knowing or understanding the years of technical and physical conditioning training they’ve endured to be at that level. There’s a lot more to Parkour than at first, one might think.

Physical conditioning is another vital aspect of Parkour and part of its philosophy in which you train to better yourself every time to reach your full potential. Simple exercises such as press ups and sit ups are good but the best conditioning exercises are the use of the techniques performed in sets of a number you feel comfortable with. When most people start practicing Parkour they never really understand the importance of conditioning and that's why here at Nuperspektiv we make sure that we educate our students about the importance of the conditioning exercises that we introduce to them.