The Parkour and Freerunning Handbook Paperback – August 18, 2009

Anyone having an interest in Parkour should find this book beneficial. As other reviewers note, the bulk of this book talks about the sport of Parkour and how to prepare, practice and progress in the skill. The back of this book contains basic moves with step by step pictures and descriptions. Perhaps the best piece of advice gained from this book is that Parkour is not a strict set of moves but rather a chance to be creative and find the best way for "you" to move through space. Learn the basics to protect yourself from injury and then enjoy the journey expanding your abilities from point A to point B. This book also makes a great conversation piece if left on the coffee table.

Really, how could it? But, this book is filled with pictures and advice, both of which turn out to be useful and interesting. The practice exercises were the most helpful as they give you little tips of things to try to build up to the bigger stunts. There's plenty of helpful tips and trick and simple things like hand placement that makes some vaults easier. All in all, there's maybe 2 pages of information that's truly useful, the rest is just terminology and no brainers. But that's not the fault I don't think of the authors, it's a new sport, with no real rules, how can you really write an effective handbook? My advice, get the book if you like, its inexpensive and a motivational read, then get outside and run.

Dan Edwardes' introduction to parkour is a well-written and well-organized introduction to parkour, but unfortunately it's too basic and shallow an introduction. I do not think the first instinct of people who are interested in learning about parkour will be to buy a book -- there are too many entertaining youtube videos that offer a sexy taste of what parkour is like. And serious readers won't read this book about parkour -- there isn't any intellectual weight to the book, not enough about parkour's history and the psychology of its adherents. I think the vast majority of people who buy this book (including myself) are novice practitioners looking for a reference book, especially on more complicated movements and proper technique -- and on this front this book sorely disappoints.

It does take a while to finally get to the actual practicing set but the history of the movement and also the basics about preparing yourself and what you can expect are very necessary. Colored pictures are a must and this book has them, step by step: check, do's and dont's: check, tips: check. Its actually a quick read and geared more for the beginner but its still a good read. Recommend for the curious.

This book seemed to me to be more of a picture book with a bit of facts thrown in to spice it up a little. I expected more detail within but I guess I should have read the title when it said handbook it didn't mean book. A quick read. Very easy to skim through. Its worth looking over if you are just beginning parkour and want some basics.

This book is great for newcomers to the sport trying to understand how the heck all this stuff works. It covers history, philosophy, and the all the basics of parkour. There's some great warm up, conditioning, and cool down suggestions. And the last section covers specific techniques with step by step instructions and a few pictures to clarify. I highly recommend to anyone lost in the beginnings of becoming a traceur or anyone remotely interested in understanding the world of parkour/freerunning.

If I could give this book a 10 I would have. this book is great and has roughly 80 pages of just how to do the moves in images and the other 200 ish pages are more on the technical side of Parkour.Great Steal For A Parkour Enthusiast.

It was awesome, but after I tried one of the tricks...it was a massive fail. No thanks. Still a good book though.I had fun learning the thinking process of what goes into parkour but I am not athletic enough.

Awesome, there is no such book that covers the art of "parkour" like this.It gives all the basic introductory information you need to start learning parkour.Warning: Being a martial artist myself, its probably best that you learn some basic break fall techniques from an instructor for a couple months in something like a grappling art such as Judo that involves a lot of falling and rolling. That way you will be set, otherwise it can be quite dangerous to outright learn some of this stuff on you own without at least some minimal guidance.

Creí que sólo era una guía de movimientos pero viene bien explicado de dónde viene y que se necesita para progresar de manera segura... lo recomiendo a todos los que tengan interés en la disciplina para que sepan de qué se trata verdaderamente, si ya lo hacen, descubrirán nuevas herramientas.

様々な映像で目にすることが多くなったアレをParkourと呼ぶのだということを知ったのは最近のことだ。そして、ソレにはメソッドがあり、トレーニング法があり、レベルに差はあれど「一般人」にも実践可能だということを知ったのも最近のことだ。だからまだ、この本の良し悪しについては判断ができない。ただし、振り返れば、ソレをParkourと呼ばずに別の目的で実践してきた他のドメインの人々も多くいるのだろう。僕はその断片を別の側面から見ていたから、Parkourの部分の実践には至らなかったけれど。例えば、Marc MacYoungの Floor Fighting: Stompings, Maimings, and Other Things to Avoid When a Fight Goes to the Ground や、 Street E & E: Evading, Escaping, and Other Ways to Save Your Ass When Things Get Ugly には、隣町のギャングを「ヒットアンドラン」するためのテクニックとしてウォールランやランディングからのロールがさも当たり前のように散りばめられていた。もちろん各々の技術の呼び名は違うしヴォルトのやり方も我流だ。だが、世界中には必要に迫られて、人類が二足歩行を始めた瞬間に失った移動の次元を取り戻している人がたくさんいるのだということは想像に難くない。そして、Parkourとは失われた移動能力を「再獲得」し高めていく実践なのだろう。武術でもその他の戦闘技術でも「我の自由度の高さは善」である。移動の自由度が増えることはトータルな意味での強さを意味している。Parkourを見ていて、懐かしく切なくなったのは、きっとそこに自分が種として失ったはずの能力を手に入れた人々を見たからだろう。それ以上のことは多分「そちら」に行かねばわからないのだろうけど。 Floor Fighting: Stompings, Maimings, and Other Things to Avoid When a Fight Goes to the GroundStreet E & E: Evading, Escaping, and Other Ways to Save Your Ass When Things Get Ugly

Good information for someone just getting into the sport.

パルクールをするなら1度見ておいた方が良いかも知れません。ただ、全ページ英語なので英語が苦手な方は難しいかもしれません。この本の印象は自分は教科書みたいな感じです。