See also

* Buildering — the act of climbing the outside of buildings and other urban structures.
* Georges Hébert — early proponent of the obstacle course, inspiration to Belle's family.
* Fitness trail — a fitness training attributed to Georges Hébert.
* Free climbing — a style of climbing using no artificial aids to make progress.
* Tricking — a sport with roots in different forms of martial arts and gymnastics, often mistaken for parkour by the media and public.
* Street stunts — "Urban gymnastics" an activity usually practiced both by free runners and tricksters.
* Yamakasi — a group founded by David Belle 3 years before parkour with emphasis on style, fluidity and freedom and a 2001 movie.
* Urban exploration — Parkour can be considered a sub-section of urban exploration.

In popular culture

Parkour has appeared in various television advertisements, news reports and entertainment pieces, often combined with other forms of acrobatics also called free running, street stunts and tricking.

The most notable appearances have been in Yamakasi, District 13 and Casino Royale movies and documentaries Jump London and Jump Britain.

Rivalry-free

On May 1, 2007 a campaign started by Erwan (Hebertiste), TK17 and Parkour.NET portal to preserve parkour's philosophy against sport competition and rivalry. Defenders argues that competition pushes people to fight against others for the satisfaction of a crowd and/or the benefits of a few businesspeople by changing its mindset. Parkour is unique and cannot be a competitive sport simply ignoring its altruistic core to self development. If parkour becomes a sport, it will be hard to seriously teach and spread parkour as a non-competitive activity. And a new sport will be spread that may be called parkour, but that won't hold its philosophy's essence anymore.

Free running

Free running is a term the meaning of which was once identical to parkour, but is currently often confused and erroneously used as a replacement for the term parkour. After David Belle and Sébastien Foucan went separate ways, free running evolved into an art that emphasized aesthetics, and regards the grace and beauty of the movement as more important than efficiency. While traceurs practice parkour in order to improve their ability to overcome obstacles faster and in the most natural manner, free runners practice and employ a broader array of movements that are not always necessary in order to overcome obstacles.
The meaning of the different philosophical approaches to movement can be summed up by the following two quotes:
Experienced free runner Jerome Ben Aoues explains in the documentary Jump London that

"the most important element is the harmony between you and the obstacle; the movement has to be elegant... If you manage to pass over the fence elegantly — that's beautiful, rather than saying 'I jumped the lot.' What's the point in that?"

David Belle and/or PAWA team emphasized the division between parkour and free running by stating:
“ Understand that this art has been created by few soldiers in Vietnam to escape or reach: and this is the spirit I'd like parkour to keep. You have to make the difference between what is useful and what is not in emergency situations. Then you'll know what is parkour and what is not. So if you do acrobatics things on the street with no other goal than showing off, please don't say it's parkour. Acrobatics existed long time ago before parkour. ”

—David Belle and/or PAWA team.

Equipment

Parkour affords great freedom and minimal cost to be practiced, but the following accessories are recommended:

* Athletic shoe
* Light T-shirt, sleeveless shirt or crop top
* Light pants or light shorts
* Comfortable underwear

All equipment or accessories are optional — it being possible to practice with gloves to half-naked and barefooted.

Basic Movements

These movements are a basic foundation. Parkour is an art which requires adaption, to attain efficiency, so practitioners should never limit themselves to some specific movements.

Basic movements

Synonym		Description
French	English
Atterrissage or réception	Landing	Bending the knees when toes make contact with ground (never land flat footed; always land on toes).
Équilibre	Balance	Walking or crawling along the crest of an obstacle; literally "balance."
Équilibre de chat	Cat balance	Quadrupedal movement along the crest of an obstacle.
Franchissement [fʁɑ̃.ʃis.mɑ̃]	Underbar, jump through	Jumping or swinging through a gap between obstacles; literally "to cross" or "to break through."
Lâché [la.ʃe]	Dismount, swinging jump	Hanging drop; lacher literally meaning "to let go." To hang or swing (on a bar, on a wall, on a branch) and let go, dropping to the ground or to hang from another object.
Passe muraille [pas my.ʁaɪ]	Pop vault, wall hop	Overcoming a wall, usually by use of a kick off the wall to transform forward momentum into upward momentum. A passe muraille with two hand touches, for instance one touch on the top of a wall and another grabbing the top of the railing of the wall, is called a "Dyno".
Passement [pas.mɑ̃]	Vault	General term of overcoming an obstacle by vaulting.
Demitour [dəmi tuʁ]	Turn vault	A vault involving a 180° turn; literally "half turn." This move is used to place yourself hanging from the other side of an object in order to shorten a drop or prepare for a jump.
	Reverse vault	A vault involving a 360° rotation such that the traceur's back faces forward as they pass the obstacle. The purpose of the rotation is ease of technique in the case of otherwise awkward body position or loss of momentum prior to the vault.
Planche [plɑ̃ʃ]	Muscle up or climb-up	To get from a hanging position (wall, rail, branch, arm jump, etc) into a position where your upper body is above the obstacle, supported by the arms. This then allows for you to climb up onto the obstacle and continue.
Roulade [ʁu.lad]	Roll	A forward roll where the hands, arms and diagonal of the back contact the ground. Used primarily to transfer the momentum/energy from jumps.
Saut de bras [so d bra]	Arm jump, cat leap	To land on the side of an obstacle in a hanging/crouched position, the hands gripping the top edge, holding the body, ready to perform a planche.
Saut de chat [so d ʃa]	Cat jump/pass, (king) kong vault	To dive forward over an obstacle so that the body becomes horizontal, push off with the hands and tuck the legs, such that the body is brought back to a vertical position, ready to land.
Saut de fond [so d fɔ̃]	Drop	Literally 'jump to the ground' / 'jump to the floor'. To jump down, or drop down from something.
Saut de détente	Gap jump	To jump from one place/object to another, over a gap/distance. This technique is most often followed with a roll.
Saut de précision [so d presiziɔ̃]	Precision jump	Static jump from one object to a precise spot on another object.
Tic tac [tik tak]	Tic tac	To kick off a wall in order to overcome another obstacle or gain height to grab something.