Meet the traceurs: Bobby Gordon-Smith interview

Bobby Gordon-Smith started practicing Parkour before he even knew it existed. By the time he discovered that there was a whole community of traceurs, he was hooked. Bobby is now an affiliate coach at Parkour Generations, and coaches weightlifting when he’s not busy with Parkour. We chatted to Bobby about his Parkour life.

How long have you been a traceur?

I have been training for about 9 years officially. But I was always practicing climbing and jumping from a young age – I watched one too many Jackie Chan movies.

Why did you take up Parkour?

I was told about these people who practice movement (running, jumping, climbing) and that they called it Parkour. It inspired me to carry on practicing some of the things I had been doing. It didn’t occur to me for a long time to look it up on the internet, but when I did, I found a handful of people doing the same thing.

How do you prepare before you start a Parkour session? And what do you do afterwards to recover?

I would usually do a general warm up which would include light jogging, jumping and some dynamic mobility drills. Then I start drilling the basic techniques found in Parkour, progressively increasing the difficulty and impact of the drills. After a few weeks of training your body begins to adapt to the physical demands of Parkour. When you start out it’s normal to get a lot of muscle soreness, especially in the legs. The best advice I can give about recovery is to allow an appropriate amount of time between heavy sessions and try doing some light movement on your off days. Eventually you should find that you can train more frequently.

Where is your favourite location to practice Parkour?

Anywhere that has a lot of rails and walls is good for drilling basic techniques. But I see potential for different movements everywhere I look.

Would you say that Parkour has a strong accompanying culture, e.g. music or fashion?

When I started out, there was no deliberate attempt to look a certain way for Parkour. We just wore the clothes that we thought would be most suitable for training. It probably has developed into a bit of a look now though: £5 tracksuit bottoms with blood on them and whatever good shoes are available at the time. It seems to draw in an interesting array of people though, from “extreme sports” kids to quite intense people who practice moving in an almost religious way…and everyone in between. I wouldn’t say there’s one type of person who does Parkour, but it’s probably slowly heading the way of other “extreme sports”, which is a shame I think.

You can see more of Bobby on his youtube page, here, or follow him on Twitter @overhuman

Meet the traceurs…

We speak to the directors of Parkour Generations, the largest and fastest Parkour organisation. Parkour masters Francois ‘Forrest’ Mahop and Dan Edwardes share a slice of Parkour life, blessing the art of movement in all its fearlessness and flexibility.

Dan at work in Tokyo

How long have you been a traceur?
Forrest: Nearly 11 years
Dan: 11 years, began training in 2002 when parkour was almost unknown to the world outside of the founding communities in France.

Why did you take up Parkour?
Forrest: I have done many sports before while I have always learned about myself, parkour was is another sport for me where I can learn other aspects of myself.
Dan: I had been training in fighting arts since I was 9 years old, always looking to become as capable and functional as possible, physically and mentally. Parkour immediately struck me as the ultimate challenge, a true test of one’s capabilities, strengths and commitment. I was hooked from the first day’s training. Parkour asks deep questions of who you are and how much control you have of your body, mind and fear. That self knowledge is incredibly valuable and rare, and of every discipline I have practised nothing has revealed more to me.

How do you prepare before you start a Parkour session?
Forrest: A solid Warm up
Dan: Parkour is a pure form of natural training, and requires proper understanding and maintenance of the body. A thorough warm-up is necessary before every session, to prepare for the physical demands of training and to prevent injuries – exactly like any other athletic discipline.

And what do you do afterwards to recover?
Forrest: Stretching session and a recovery session 1-2 a week.
Dan: Active recovery post-training includes adequate stretching, myofascial release, hydration and nutrition. Protein, nutrients and good carbohydrates are essential!

Where is your favourite location to practice Parkour?
Forrest: Everywhere is a potential parkour spots.
Dan: Anywhere. Parkour is a concept that should be applied anywhere and anytime. That’s one of its great strengths.

Would you say that Parkour has a strong accompanying culture, e.g. music or fashion?
Forrest: I think this sport is still very young with its own identity and it’s too early to provide a justified argument on this matter.
Dan: Practitioners typically like to wear clothing they can move comfortably in, so sweat pants and loose tops are preferred, along with light, flexible sports shoes. But all is personal choice and the practicing community is so massive now as to be very diverse.

Run Forrest, run.