Hm... A lot of our training looks and feels very similar to parkour, but there are many differences as well. Parkour is, after all, a specialization. At Fifth Ape we focus on many more skills to develop more complete athletes. Lifting, carrying, throwing, defense, and powerful running aren't part of a typical traceur's toolkit - we think those skills are just as, if not more, important.

For better or worse, parkour has also largely taken on a youthful, male, and urban persona. It is dominated by the very young and the very fit. Not that there's anything wrong with young fit guys, but we at Fifth Ape try to appeal to a wider audience.

The philosophy is different as well. Very briefly, parkour is all about overcoming obstacles. Fifth Ape is all about integration. You can read more here.

Finally, parkour lacks a pedagogy. Nearly all traceurs, myself included, learned mostly by trial-and-error. For Fifth Ape, I have worked very hard and applied all my training and experience to create programming and progressions that will allow anyone to make progress quickly and safely.

That's not to suggest Parkour isn't a major component of Fifth Ape training - it's probably the single biggest piece. But Parkour has become a bit of a loaded term and we'd rather keep our focus on developing strong, useful athletes. A recent quote sums up our perspective perfectly - to paraphrase: "'Parkour' is the thing that is argued about by people who don't spend enough time training."

Last updated on March 20, 2011 by Colin Pistell