A Parkour Life

Check out these awesome short documentaries from Julie Angel featuring Chris Rowat of Parkour Generations. Scroll down to read about my parkour life and my goals for Parkour Ways.









Teaching parkour is my life now and will continue to be my life. My goal is to create a safer and more reliable community in this area for people who want to learn parkour. There are too many people aimlessly jumping around and calling it parkour, or trying to throw the biggest most extreme tricks to impress others and calling it parkour. That is not what parkour is. With that said, another part of my goal is to get rid of these terrible misconceptions of parkour. There are too many groups, teams, organizations, companies, whatever you call them - ruining the original spirit of parkour. I want to give people a place to train and a community to train real parkour with.

Another goal is to give other people the opportunity to work for Parkour Ways - doing something that they love where they aren't treated badly and they are appreciated. Working 7 years in retail really left a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to working for other companies and I want to help some of my friends find work that doesn't require them to do something they don't want to do or go somewhere that they dread, day in and day out.

Perhaps the largest part of my goal is to help people live better lives. To help people get through rough times, to show people what they are capable of, to show them that they can get through anything. I want to help people become strong not just physically, but mentally. If I can't achieve anything else I mentioned above, I want to at least achieve this.

I'll make one thing absolutely clear: my goal is NOT to make money. Yes, I need to make a living. And yes, sometimes I will need money to move this organization forward to achieve the goals I just laid out. But Parkour Ways will never be about making money, and I will see to it that that is how it remains. I wish to continue to develop other instructors that can help me achieve my goals and I will always hand-pick these instructors based on my beliefs in parkour and my trust in them to uphold these goals and this spirit.

What are your life goals? Share them in comments here below, in the Parkour Ways group on Facebook, or you could even shoot us an email to share with us: contact@ParkourWays.com

The Way Forward

This is an amazing documentary and I definitely recommend that you make the time to watch this through. The quick film (49 minutes) touches on very many aspects of parkour that I think a lot of people should think about and learn about.

At the start of the video they briefly discuss what parkour is, how it got started, and other common things. Martin Svenselius of Parkour Academy Stockholm did a wonderful job of explaining things. The documentary also includes some insight into the minds of those who are running organizations that teach parkour. Martin explains that he would much rather be able to do what he does without money involved, but that it just isn't possible now.

Chris Rowat of Parkour Generations also makes an appearance in the film, discussing many issues including getting paid for instructing parkour, competitions in parkour and sponsorships. If you want to know how I feel about those subjects, watch the film and listen to Chris' words. I wholeheartedly agree with everything that he had to say!

Enjoy!

Nature's Gym Tour

I got to spend some time with Christian Litke last week, a new friend of mine I met last year when I did my scene for Shameless. Christian has been traveling the country with his wife Gina for Merrell and REI in this awesome van filled with some fitness equipment. They stop off in various places and set up different physical challenges for people to take.

I got to try out the Merrell Barefoot Run Bare Access 2, one of Merrell's newer shoes in their Barefoot Run line. The shoe was incredibly comfortable as soon as I slipped it on, without having to wear it in at all. It's pretty flexible and has a Vibram brand sole. The grip was pretty good on everything I walked on, ran on, or jumped to... including the van!

Check out the photos they posted to instagram while were were out:













If you're looking for some new minimalist shoes to try out, definitely try these. I also got to try a pair of the Barefoot Run Vapor Glove. They're also super comfortable and are closer to the feel of a very small shoe, like a Feiyue, except the sole seemed like it could be more durable with the Vibram rubber.