Parkour - file

Yamakasi was the name of the first band of Traceurs (Parkour practitioners) and the title of Luc Bessons’ 2001 movie. This is a clip from the movie but it’s worth noting that while the publicity focused on the Japanese urban samurai angle the word Yamakasi actually comes from the Lingala language of the Congo and means ‘strong body, strong spirit, strong person", though in French usage its meaning is closer to ‘high energy’.



George Hébert noticed in the early 20th Century that success in rescue attempts relied on the combined skills of athleticism, courage and altruism. His response was to go on and develop a personal exercise regimen focused on building ability in real life situations, this system exemplified his personal maxim "Etre fort pour être utile" - "Be strong to be useful."

He wrote: “A (Natural Method) session is composed of exercises belonging to the ten fundamental groups: walking, running, jumping, quadrupedal movement, climbing, equilibrium (balancing), throwing, lifting, defending and swimming, which are part of the 3 main forces; Energetic, Moral and Physical.

The true Natural Method, in its broadest sense, must be considered as the result of these three particular forces; it is a physical, virile and moral synthesis. It resides not only in the muscles and the breath, but above all in the "energy" which is used, the will which directs it and the feeling which guides it.”



David Belle is the founder of Parkour.

“Understand that this art has been created by few soldiers in Vietnam to escape or reach: and this is the spirit I'd like parkour to keep. You have to make the difference between what is useful and what is not in emergency situations. Then you'll know what is parkour and what is not. So if you do acrobatics things on the street with no other goal than showing off, please don't say it's parkour. Acrobatics existed long time ago before parkour.”