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The metaphor only stands if you're willing to admit that your startup is entirely frivolous, strictly a trend, and flashy without any attention to substance. S

by shpoonj 15y ago

The metaphor only stands if you're willing to admit that your startup is entirely frivolous, strictly a trend, and flashy without any attention to substance. So yes, your startup probably does have a lot in common with parkour. Shouldn't we change that?

benatkin 15y ago
Reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4 "Don't mess with my cadence."
zacharycohn 15y ago
I'm not sure why you think parkour is "frivolous, a trend, or flashy without any attention to substance." I've been training parkour for almost 6 years, and I've seen a lot of misinformation out there. Parkour is all about improving yourself, being creative, and play. We focus hard on increasing strength, flexibility, durability, speed, balance, and coordination - in addition to more specific skills like climbing, vaulting. But creativity and play is one of the best parts of parkour - finding fun or silly ways to wiggle through tiny spaces, swing through a jungle gym, or games to play in a field. Seeing the changes in our students' attitudes when they first walk into our gym versus after they've been training for a year or two is amazing. They look healthier, they are more confident, and they are happier. Parkour is more than just a trend in the fitness industry - it has the breadth and depth of something that is rooted in what the human body was designed to do. It isn't a game (contrary to the OP's post), it has no rules, it has no rankings or belts or levels. It's scalable to any person at any level of fitness and it's capable of constantly providing new challenges. So I'm not exactly sure where you're getting your facts from, but it's likely based on shitty youtube videos of dumb kids jumping off of their roofs. Misconceptions from these videos are something I've spent years fighting, educating people one at a time.
- brain5ide 15y ago
  You seem like a marketing guy for the "parkour 4 hackers" putting it against traditional martial arts just like the hacker culture is against corporate culture. I'm not against that, just a notice.
  - lionhearted 15y ago
    > You seem like a marketing guy for the "parkour 4 hackers" putting it against traditional martial arts just like the hacker culture is against corporate culture. I've corresponded and chatted with Zach on the phone a couple times. I've got to tell you - he's not so much a marketer for parkour as someone who has been able to reach more joy and self-perfection through a discipline. And I train in martial arts and not parkour at all, and Zach has never given me a hard time for it ;) I don't think he's anti-anything really, he's one of the nicest and most open-minded, cool, and creative people I've connected with in the last year. He's probably sharing on parkour because he really loves it and thinks others could have better lives through it too. I'm happy he's doing so - more education from experienced people is always welcome.
  - zacharycohn 15y ago
    I'm not sure where you got the impression that parkour is "against" traditional martial arts. I had been training various martial arts for about 7 years before I started parkour, and then kept training for another 3 or so afterward. I'm a huge fan of martial arts, as are many traceurs. I'm not so much a marketing guy for "parkour 4 hackers" as I am a marketing guy for "people finding something they love and doing it." It's been incredibly influential in my life and it's helped make me who I am. Because of that, I do tend to go out of my way to help correct misconceptions and misinformation.
    - brain5ide 15y ago
      Cool, really cool. I'm now trying to get into shape(loose weight, improve breathing and stamina) with simple jump rope and hope to start training something specifical in near future so looking into different stuff. I didn't want to offend you or something. That post about parkour being without any kind of rankings/belts just seemed like an argument against those rankings a bit, which just related to the hacker culture for me, that's all. Sorry for the trolling about it ;)
      - zacharycohn 15y ago
        No worries. Never any hard feelings or anything. :) Do you know what you want to train in the future? Whether it's parkour or not, I'd love to chat and see if I can help you find what's a good fit for you. Email is in my profile.
Cushman 15y ago
You're misinformed. Le Parkour in its original form is about fast, efficient, fluid and aesthetic navigation of obstacles without stopping. Later practitioners merged this with traditional acrobatics and martial arts moves to create a style sometimes differentiated as "free running", which is much more about the exhibition value of the performance. Since it's flashier, and easier to film, you usually see this in videos— but lots of people will tell you that's not "real" parkour. (Not in a bad way; it's just a different sport.)
dasil003 15y ago
First of all, it's important to separate the actual quality of something from whatever trendiness Hollywood/Madison Ave bestows upon it. Second of all, startups on average are chasing trends much more than actual traceurs are.

by shpoonj 15y ago

benatkin 15y ago

Reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn29DvMITu4 "Don't mess with my cadence."

zacharycohn 15y ago

I'm not sure why you think parkour is "frivolous, a trend, or flashy without any attention to substance." I've been training parkour for almost 6 years, and I've seen a lot of misinformation out there. Parkour is all about improving yourself, being creative, and play. We focus hard on increasing strength, flexibility, durability, speed, balance, and coordination - in addition to more specific skills like climbing, vaulting. But creativity and play is one of the best parts of parkour - finding fun or silly ways to wiggle through tiny spaces, swing through a jungle gym, or games to play in a field. Seeing the changes in our students' attitudes when they first walk into our gym versus after they've been training for a year or two is amazing. They look healthier, they are more confident, and they are happier. Parkour is more than just a trend in the fitness industry - it has the breadth and depth of something that is rooted in what the human body was designed to do. It isn't a game (contrary to the OP's post), it has no rules, it has no rankings or belts or levels. It's scalable to any person at any level of fitness and it's capable of constantly providing new challenges. So I'm not exactly sure where you're getting your facts from, but it's likely based on shitty youtube videos of dumb kids jumping off of their roofs. Misconceptions from these videos are something I've spent years fighting, educating people one at a time.

brain5ide 15y ago
You seem like a marketing guy for the "parkour 4 hackers" putting it against traditional martial arts just like the hacker culture is against corporate culture. I'm not against that, just a notice.
- lionhearted 15y ago
  > You seem like a marketing guy for the "parkour 4 hackers" putting it against traditional martial arts just like the hacker culture is against corporate culture. I've corresponded and chatted with Zach on the phone a couple times. I've got to tell you - he's not so much a marketer for parkour as someone who has been able to reach more joy and self-perfection through a discipline. And I train in martial arts and not parkour at all, and Zach has never given me a hard time for it ;) I don't think he's anti-anything really, he's one of the nicest and most open-minded, cool, and creative people I've connected with in the last year. He's probably sharing on parkour because he really loves it and thinks others could have better lives through it too. I'm happy he's doing so - more education from experienced people is always welcome.
- zacharycohn 15y ago
  I'm not sure where you got the impression that parkour is "against" traditional martial arts. I had been training various martial arts for about 7 years before I started parkour, and then kept training for another 3 or so afterward. I'm a huge fan of martial arts, as are many traceurs. I'm not so much a marketing guy for "parkour 4 hackers" as I am a marketing guy for "people finding something they love and doing it." It's been incredibly influential in my life and it's helped make me who I am. Because of that, I do tend to go out of my way to help correct misconceptions and misinformation.
  - brain5ide 15y ago
    Cool, really cool. I'm now trying to get into shape(loose weight, improve breathing and stamina) with simple jump rope and hope to start training something specifical in near future so looking into different stuff. I didn't want to offend you or something. That post about parkour being without any kind of rankings/belts just seemed like an argument against those rankings a bit, which just related to the hacker culture for me, that's all. Sorry for the trolling about it ;)
    - zacharycohn 15y ago
      No worries. Never any hard feelings or anything. :) Do you know what you want to train in the future? Whether it's parkour or not, I'd love to chat and see if I can help you find what's a good fit for you. Email is in my profile.

Cushman 15y ago

You're misinformed. Le Parkour in its original form is about fast, efficient, fluid and aesthetic navigation of obstacles without stopping. Later practitioners merged this with traditional acrobatics and martial arts moves to create a style sometimes differentiated as "free running", which is much more about the exhibition value of the performance. Since it's flashier, and easier to film, you usually see this in videos— but lots of people will tell you that's not "real" parkour. (Not in a bad way; it's just a different sport.)

dasil003 15y ago

First of all, it's important to separate the actual quality of something from whatever trendiness Hollywood/Madison Ave bestows upon it. Second of all, startups on average are chasing trends much more than actual traceurs are.