Practical uses of Parkour

[Philosofist]

Aside from all the other subtopics dealing with Parkour. What are some practical uses of parkour? Can you use it everyday? I find for me, parkour is a little like martial arts, where it is highly useful in times of danger. In China when the Japanese invaded many people learned kungfu as a practical way of self defense, I can see parkour as the same. But what are some other uses of parkour? Name as many as you like, from winning a game of tag, to catching a bus, perhaps like Mirror's edge be a messenger in a totalitarianist era, list them out, so people can start applying parkour to their everyday lives.

[Seng]

I use parkour techniques pretty regularly for little things at work- kong into/dropping out of the back of a truck bed, climbing up/down walls, moving through windows, standing with feet on opposite walls while fixing lights in high places, etc.

Here's another thread about how people use parkour at work (seems like it's most useful, not surprisingly, to law enforcement).

[hillexallen]

This comes at a perfect time, because I used parkour to avoid being late for a class today! I got a couple of weird look,s but at least I wasn't late.

[Fyrel]

From what my brother tells me, he does that almost every day. We tend to wake up late for school. XD

[hillexallen]

hehe

[Dogwithrabiez]

It's a combo bear vault to a thief past a railing, and then I make a mad sprint for it. There are several square tables in the way, but I figure it's faster if I just move around them rather than over, since they're not exactly right in my path...

But I will do it someday.

[Katrina]

Haha, nice. Who cares what everyone else thinks, right? :P

[Kirill]

I just dive-rolled out of the muni streetcar.

The doors were closing and i spaced out. So, i had to make it up.

[hillexallen]

lol seriously?

[hillexallen]

Yeah, I also do a lot of those "little" things that aren't really hardcore parkour, but they're helpful, and I couldn't do them id I hadn't been training parkour.

[kingtheking]

ouch...even with practice a dive roll down like 4 stairs onto concrete must hurt a lil bit right?

[Bio]

I get to use it at work on occasion to hop fences. Short chain link fences and cattle gates can be defeated really easily by kinda pop vaulting them and using the spring back to fling your legs over. Lots of fun, though the contractors look at me pretty funny sometimes.

There was a situation where if I hadn't had some forethought, I would have been using parkour to save my own life though. I anticipated that where I was standing on the bank of a canal was a bit dangerous because of these giant metal pipes that were being moved around with heavy equipment on the bank above me. So I moved off to one side in case one came tumbling down. Sure enough, a few minutes later the guy driving the loader messed up and sent one of them down the canal, exactly where I had been standing. If I hadn't moved, my only recourse would have been to try to jump across the canal and run up the other side as fast as I could (small canal, like an ag ditch), or potentially vault over the thing as it passed under me. Sketchy as hell, either way.

I think the most practical thing gained from parkour isn't necessarily the ability to speed through a place quickly, but rather the good fundamentals of balance and strength that give you access to otherwise inaccessible places.

[Fyrel]

Not specifically something I do, but I want to learn how to jump in the seat of a car through the window like Cyril does. It'd be somewhat useful at least.