To be certain it’s easy to be impressed when it comes to parkour and the things that many practitioners do, but it’s also enough to shake your head and wonder how they get away with so much since like it or not, they do tend to cross the line when it comes to the risks they take. Granted, they’re taking calculated risks that factor in their skill level and they’re more likely than not scouting out each course they run before getting down to business, but there’s a risk in everything you see in the clip, no matter that risk is obviously a part of this sport. One could go so far as to say that there’s risk in every sport, but the last time anyone in the NFL or MLB fell down it didn’t involve multiple stories or bone-breaking impacts that would leave them wrecked beyond repair or possibly dead. If you suffer from anxiety than parkour videos are probably not something that you should be watching, since these are usually pure adrenaline that can lead a lot of people to believe that it’s so easy that anyone can do it. Well, given the right kind of training and the experience that is needed, sure, it can be easy, but it’s never going to stop being a risk since not only does it involve death-defying stunts and moments that might leave a person injured beyond belief, but there are times when parkour participants are not entirely welcome in certain areas since their course might run through someone’s property that doesn’t want them there.
With all that being said, parkour is an awesome sport since it does require a great deal of training and conditioning to be able to perform many of these moves and it does require a lot of timing and coordination so as to avoid the kind of injuries that might be on the minds of anyone watching. The type of balance that is required as well to simply stop on the edge of a building without going over is phenomenal, but it’s also one reason why a lot of people tend to believe that some parkour moments, caught in the first-person perspective like this, might be edited to look a lot more impressive than they really are. People might think that there’s no way to fake something this impressive, but the truth of it is that the kind of belief placed in clips such as this is amusing since almost anything can be faked these days if one knows how to do so. Parkour is sometimes made to look far more impressive than it really is, no matter the sudden twists and turns to the left and right and the clever editing that’s been done.
There’s no doubt that some of it is real, that parkour is in fact very real, but the idea of risk-takers walking without worry on the edge of one building or another is stretching the belief systems of many people to the limit since the truth is that playing up on the edges of multi-story buildings and running across rooftops throughout a city is bound to end badly at one point or another. Even trained and seasoned parkour experts can experience accidents that might leave them unable to do as they please for weeks to months at a time. But with the calculated risks that are taken in some instances, accounting for as many variables as possible, and taking into account what local authorities might think of their good time, parkour is a huge risk to one’s health and reputation. It’s something that’s easy to be envious about since being able to move like this and to have this kind of agility is something that many people might wish for, but it comes with a great deal of responsibility as well. The fact that there’s any question as to the authenticity of some of these videos is evidence enough that while it’s impressive, it’s not quite as possible to convince people that all of what they see in the clips is bound to be real. The numerous variables that go into this sport, such as the weather, the wind conditions, and the many obstacles that might exist that could end up tripping a person up during a run, make it hard to believe that it’s one hundred percent real.
It’s still fun to watch without a doubt since it can inspire and even create various ideas of how to revolutionize the practice, but one has to take parkour with a big grain of salt, just as you would with anything else. Be impressed by it, enjoy the thrills it can give, and definitely don’t be put off by any divisive talk, but don’t buy into everything without taking a long, hard look at it first.
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