Learning to Learn and 'Useless' Techniques

Ive been thinking a lot lately about how instinctive my body is becoming in the way it responds to obstacles and movement.
Just simply assessing why I've moved a certain way.

There's the obvious ones, like a precision jump. The reason I've jumped the way I did is because I've drilled and drilled and drilled at the movements involved in jumping, therefore they consciously come from what i understand to be the correct way to move to perform a jump. For me, that's a direct link from the practice of a technique to the use of it.

This cognitive process is something that I beleive is trained, and comes from learning movements through repetition. You repeat the movements involved in jumping, then your brain knows exactly what to do when you approach a jump. Your brain is storing a 'vocabulary' of movements, which you can then call up and repeat at any time.
What's also important is that not only are you learning a movement, but you are teaching your brain to learn about these movements and their uses. When I practice a movement, I try very hard to 'record' the correct way in my brain once I do it and then the movement simply becomes a repetition of something my body and my brain understands. What I believe is also happening subconsciously are many other processes which are recording the different aspects of movement in ways I'm not conscious of. This allows my brain to recall any aspect or part of this movement and put it to use in ways I'm not even aware of.

This language and vocabulary idea is a great metaphor for what I'm trying to explain.
When you speak - sometimes you very consciously lift things from your vocabulary to use - but, more interestingly, sometimes the words just come out in ways you dont expect that creates a much more useful sentence than one you could have consciously picked from your brain. When you first learn to write you are very much regurgitating what you have been taught but as your learning and vocabulary develops so does the scope of your writing until you are using words in a more instinctive and sub-conscious manner.

The same applies with my 'vocabulary of movement.' As your movemment and repetition progresses, the way that your brain processes this changes. Your body starts to subconsciously understand these movements, and so can use it much more diversely - not just in situations where you consciously think they are useful.
What really made me notice this was a couple of movements I've adapted in the last couple of weeks, one I only discovered tonight.

At rendezvous 2 in London a few weeks ago, I did a lot of palm spins. I actually worked really hard to get them perfect in both directions. Now at the time, I was practicing it because it was something a couple of the Yamakasi guys had instructed us to do and I'm not going to argue with them! At the time DC(of team traceur) commented that he wouldnt usually train or teach this as it's not a 'useful' or efficient movement as such which I agreed with. We then carried on and it was great fun to learn and take tips from the yamakasi but to be honest I failed to see the movements use.
Then, last week I was out training precisions. I spotted a nice one off of a waist height wall and popped up onto it. It wasn't until the 3rd or 4th time I vaulted up onto the wall that I noticed instead of monkeying up and then turning round to face the jump(which I usually do), I was rotating 180 degrees on the vault and landing facing the jump. I was using part of the palm spin movement, for a completely different purpose.
My brain had stored this in my 'vocabulary' in London and found a use for it I hadn't really though of.

Last week, I was teaching in Port Glasgow. I was getting the guys to use a lot of monkey like movements and big side steps(you might have seen some of them in the parkour generations videos) in the warm up, to develop flexibility and core balance. A couple of the guys did ask how these movememnts were actually useful in a real situation and I did explain that for me their main use was for developing strength and balance - not as much for actual Parkour practice.
Then tonight I was out training with Liam, BJ and Zeno and we were working at moving over a big rock sculpture. I explored the best way for me to move over it and after a few repeats managed to make it over in one fluid movement. When I looked back and assesed how I had moved, I realised that I was using one of the big 'side monkey' steps to move over the top of the sculpture and place my feet in exactly the right place to come off. I would never have thoughtof using this - my brain simply lifted it from my 'vocabulary' and put it into practice.

These are just two examples of when movements I would not say are conventionally 'useful' have bled into my practice, because my brain has learned to subcosciously assessand call up these movements when needed.
Beause I have done so much repetition in my training, my brain is learning more about the movements than I consciously understand and it's learning to do it quickly.

Repetition of movement, ANY movement, will develop your parkour. Your brain must practice how to remember things and it will develop it's cognitive technique as well as you developing your physical.

I've discovered that every movement will teach you something, wether you think it is an effective on or not. THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO LEARN.

Grant

Attention To Detail

OK, I'm quickly going to get some things out the way.
Firstly the politics - Parkour, L'art du duplacement, Freerunning, 3run. They all evolved from the same basis and the same bunch of guys. Each have now moved down different paths, but what people who practice any or all of these disciplines must remember is that the Yamakasi started all this, and their ideas,training and philosophy apply to all of these disciplines. Among the original group of practicioners the modern distinctions and different aspects of movement are completely disregarded - they simply understand that the training and discipline is the same which then goes on to suggest they can all train together.
When I use the word Parkour for the rest of this peice I'm not concerned with the specific definition, but the spirit and idea behind it all. This should apply across the board, through all the different aspects and evolutions of the art of movement.
If you dont understand the above paragraph, don't bother reading on. If you do, we're off to a good start.

Secondly:I'm not claiming to be any sort of authority on Parkour. I simply try to convey my understanding of the art, some of which I have learned directly from traceurs who most certainly do have the authority to comment, including some of the originators of the sport. David Belle said that he never trained to be the best, it was always meant to be an exchange. Each traceur would try and bring something valuable to the next generation so that they could understand the Spirit of Parkour. I believe in this idea and that's why a run a website, teach my art in the best way possible and work extremely hard to try and be somewhat satisfied with myself at the end of every training session.

Your parkour should always involve an exchange of ideas to other traceurs of any level - please remember this. Please also remember to think critically about what you want to pass on, and make sure it is something you have discovered or learned which really has improved your training or understanding.

I'm part of the first generation in Glasgow, maybe even Scotland and the rest of the UK. Here is my exchange:

Parkour is a spirit, an idea, a "school of life"(laurent piemontesi). Yamakasi comes from the Lingala language which is spoken in the congo, and means "strong body, strong spirit, strong person". This should always be at the centre of your training.

"There is no rush, it is not a race, just take your time and be strong." (Stephane Vigroux)

I pose a question to all of you - how 'good' do you think you are at parkour? You have to think, and understand what being good at Parkour means, and this is the purpose of this article. What I'm really asking is what makes you good at Parkour?

In one word - Understanding. In lots of words - this:
Often, many new traceurs start with a misconception of Parkour, and so rush their movement - they try to learn a lot quickly and get a quick end result, which has no real lasting satisfaction in my eyes. I can't jump as far as some guys can in a week - but I know that a very high percentage of my jumps are controlled, strong and silent and that I understand the technique.
That is the train of thought that is the parkour spirit. Now when I approach the 'big' jumps that isn't how I see them. A larger distance is simply an extension of the the smaller footwork and jump training I have worked at so hard. I have no attitude of trying to get 'big moves' down. If you see me, or any other real traceur do anything which you consider dangerous or large, you must understand that it is not perceived as that by the traceur. It is an end result of training technique, not a month of building the courage to do a 'big jump.'

To be good at Parkour, you must train your technique and become strong and flexible, in order to move quietly and efficiently. You must understand that it is more important to train your movements to perfection that it is to be able to do a million 'moves.' Yes, diversity is important, but it should be acheived through slow and hard training. If you are strong, competent and ready then your movement will be confident.

This starts with footwork which will be the basis of my example for this article.

Jumping, Running, Landing and Balance.

How many of you can truly, honestly say that you have spent time analysing the movement of running, jumping and landing, and worked really hard on it to iron out all the mistakes, stumbles and heavy noises? I have and still do, and it can be boring at times.
The confidence of movement that comes with it is incredibly satisfying and is well worth the work.

There is a school of thought that says that 'vaults' are simply a bi-product of the true movement of parkour. In more detail - it is the approach and exit of a vault, flip, jump or any 'move' that is the real parkour. A traceur must be able to move confidently, and approach an obstacle confidently. You MUST understand this, as it will give you motivation to work on your elementary movement.

This then opens up another thought - what is an obstacle? Walls, Rails, Buildings. They are some obstacles. But have you though about the rock before the wall you might trip on, the holes in the ground in the approach to the rail or the narrow surface you must first traverse to reach the building?
Do you know how many steps you will take before you reach the wall or which foot is best to take off in a specific situation?
Everything that you pass is an obstacle, not just the things you can kong over or flip off.In my experience, this is what is important. This is what you should look for look for. In any situation under any strain or tiredness your footwork should be perfect and you should be strong.
If you dont have that basis or understand that you need that basis, you are not ready for any other movements.

I have been through this first hand, training with Forrest and Kazuma in London. Their warm up was a rail precision and balance circuit that involved some quite dangerous jumps. Although they would never ask you to do anything you weren't capable of they do go on the assumption that, unless you are a complete beginner, your footwork is seamless.
If it is not, they will happily tell you that it is simply not good enough. A traceur of some experience should be able to do this. Although this attitude can be quite demoralising it is, more importantly, motivating.
You can never be good enough.
You must understand that you can never be good enough if you wish to truly understand the spirit of Parkour.
No matter how much you work on footwork, there will always be a new environment to challenge you.
Perfection of movement is what you must strive for and you must start with the most basic and elementary movements. This is the Yamaksi's 'strong spirit.'

I'm not going to say what I think the next movements should be - I simply ask that EVERY traceur who reads this takes a step back, and explores the basic and elementary movement that allows you to approach an environment confidently. Once you understand the work that must go into footwork - to build strength and technique - this will bleed into every other movement you will ever learn. Be it a gainer, a massive kong or the smallest precision jump.
Remember that parallel to this you must train strength and conditioning excercises outside of technique practice as these will vastly improve your technique.

Conditioning is a real test of discipline and there is no doubt that this discipline then bleeds back into your technique practice. You can always be stronger and training technique is intrinsically linked with training strength. This is the Yamakasi's 'strong body.'

Understand the work. Understand you must be strong. Pay Attention to detail.
Combine all of these factors and you can become the 'strong person.'