Longevity, responsibility, and sustainability.. Today I’d like to share an inspiring video with you and talk about the importance of sustainable practices in your parkour training.

My example is Beau, the 47 year old freerunner from London, UK. Check out the video that Tim Shieff (Livewire) made for him below..

Beau didn’t start parkour until after turning 40, and over the course of the last 7 years has achieved arguably the best shape of his life. You can tell by his mannerisms and movement through space that he is in it for the long haul. For someone like him, it is paramount to practice intelligently in order to keep his knees undamaged and enjoy unrestricted movement throughout his whole life.

So how is he able to move like that at 47? Beau focuses a lot on ground work in his training, which means when he goes to learn bigger moves, he does so safely with solid muscle memory to fall back on. You can read more about Beau here.

When I lived and taught Parkour back in Scotland, I often trained with the guys from Parkour Generations and Glasgow Parkour. From them, I learned many parkour workout possibilities requiring almost nothing but flat ground..

If you want to do a certain huge roof gap, why risk your life while training it 6 stories up when you can do it safely on the ground?

Thanks to GPC, the workouts we did with Dundee Parkour started getting more creative..one example is a long set of rails we had to train on. What we came up with was to try and balance in different positions (walk, cat crawl, pistol squat) all the way down the rail. If someone fell off, they had to do 10 pushups and start from the beginning. In this way a simple set of rails became a several hour long workout, with a satisfactory burn of the quads and triceps for days afterwards.

If you can really push your patience with the basics, then you will almost certainly be ready when the time calls for that roof gap, cat leap.

In contrast, I see too many kids destroying and getting ahead of themselves in their training habits today. After watching amazing compilation videos, they are running for the gyms and training spots with a limited view on the discipline..I know, I used to be one of them. These people inevitably jump into trying moves they aren’t ready for.. that’s when training gains become unsustainable, and injuries are bound to happen.

It’s hard to focus on personal benefits and internal meditation when your mind is blinded by exciting new possibilities, but remember that consistent training and drilling will get you further than bursts of excitement.

Take Jackie Chan as another example, he is 59 years old and is still going strong! He had a very tough career and has put his body under a lot of stress..but he did it all with longevity in mind. Jackie diligently practices Tai Chi to relax and replenish his body.

If we love parkour, tricking, martial arts, or any sport, we need to remember the importance of maintaining healthy joints, muscles, and tendons. We need to make a conscious effort to take precautions against needless injuries, and put the time into stretching, warming up, centering ourselves, and understanding technique.

Anyway, to sum up my points..

– Take care of your body and you will thank yourself in the future.

– Always center yourself and come back to why you are doing something. This will help you to continue training and to avoid plateaus.

– Realize you don’t need to impress anyone, and small consistent goals will get you further in the long run.

– Always strive to stay consistent in your training.

Until next time,

– Rustic