sum1:
I’m old.
I’m not saying my age, but it’s damn near 40.
I just precision jumped 6 feet from a rail to a post.
And I’m bummed out.
One’s the loneliest number.
All the founders are about my age, but have done this for decades.
Everyone at jams are basically now old enough to be my son or daughter. There is roughly no one my age in my immediate community.
Those that are younger and doing parkour for the same amount of time have progressed further and shout slogans such as “no excuses” and “make the time”.
Forget that. If lies caused cancer, they would be solid tumours.
I’m not complaining, I’m just realistic. I work for a living. A lot. I have a family, household to run, I help kids learn parkour once a week, and more. I had a surgery that basically upended my life for 3 months. When I started out 3 years ago, first time out I banged both knees.
I’ve learned a lot.
What I get in, I get in.
I know that I will progress and I am progressing. It’s at a slower rate. It’s consistent.
People will send videos of people age 71 doing rings. That’s awesome. BUT. That person was doing gymnastics for 40 years. It’s not a useful measure or inspiring for me on my current journey.
The videos that I see of people my age on their parkour journey…there are no videos of their fails, of their progress. Youtube is not my friend, and not a measure of progress. I wish them the best, and know they crave recognition or a testament to their accomplishments. I do not have the same craving for outside recognition. I wish them the best of it, but that is not the journey I am on.
There is no reference point except from where I started. And yesterday. And today. I can measure my own progress only.
There’s no one that takes this seriously for me, but me.
Some kids laugh. Let them. Those in their 20s treating training as some sort of glee club with a hierarchy…the snide remarks and exclusion don’t phase me: I have a family that loves me, I’m not looking for acceptance or approval from others.
I have nothing to prove but everything to myself, and to no one else.
I am grateful for those who have been mentors, positive in their approach or not.
I am a parkour practitioner.
Live free. Kong Hard.
You’re not old. I started practicing parkour at 36, that was 1,5 years ago. I train alone or sometimes with another guy roughly the same age who has done parkour two to three years longer than me.
I train almost daily before work. Before I started practicing I was in such a bad shape my feet hurt just from walking. Now I’m already fitter than I ever was, even in my younger days.
The only recognition I need is that I recognize some progress and I do.
Also parkour is not about the goal but about the journey. Many of the practicioners who do the huge jumps now won’t be around ten or twenty years from now, they will be too preoccupied with work, family or worse matters. Their knees may prevent them from doing parkour as well.
My father is almost 70 now and he is still working out. He started in the early sixties when bodybuilding was all the rage. Recently I’ve shown him some simple parkour techniques like the underbar and he tried them too.
My most important goal is to still practice parkour when I’m twice the 36 I started at.
At 72 I still want to be as healthy as my father is now. I don’t want to get injured along the way. So I train things that may look funny to others but I already get weird looks, raised eyebrows or even uhs and ahs from bystanders who are surprised at the “dangerous” things I do.
The most dangerous thing for people our age is to sit still all day and not to move. Then we die a little every day.