Parkour Programming

[Jason Tanner]

6'1 male, 185lbs, 19 years old, 7 months of crossfit, 3.5 months of starting strength, and 2-3 months of crossfit again.

My goal is to write up a basic parkour program for newbies beginning parkour like me. I understand that a lot of explosive power, gymnastics and leg strength is all necessary to a great parkour athlete. So my goals are

1) improve my lifts such as the squat and deadlift to help retain and improve my leg and back strength ideally back to my end of SS program numbers and hopefully beyond (I could have continued with SS but unfortunately I had to end it for other reasons)

2) rebuild my olympic lift numbers after I have now a better understanding of the lifts, BW+ numbers for each lift and beyond. starting at 45lbs.

3) build a basic static hold strength for the most basic gymnastic moves such as handstands, planches, front and back levers, eventually transfering all these over to dynamic moves such as a (real) handstand push-up, front lever pull-ups, etc.

4) work on basic parkour moves in general, vaults, jumps, and rail balancing.

1st day,
-shoulder roll work
-gymnastic static holds that equate to 60 seconds (increase holds that equal to 60 seconds each session)(tuck planche, l-sit, handstand)
-Clean&Jerk (5x3)/ linear progress for C&J in weights as I have restarted due to me relearning clean&jerk

2nd day,
-gymnastic static holds that equate to 60 seconds (increase holds that equal to 60 seconds each session)(handstand,rail balance skill work*)
-Back Squats (5x3 or 3x5 with very small linear progress)
-gymnastic static holds that equate to 60 seconds (increase holds that equal to 60 seconds each session)(tuck front lever, tuck back lever)

3rd day,
-shoulder roll work
-gymnastic static holds that equate to 60 seconds (increase holds that equal to 60 seconds each session)(tuck planche, l-sit, rail balance skill work*)
-sprint work in HIIT ranging from 50-200 meters,broad jumps with landing into shoulder rolls, or various parkour training(vaults and jumps), leg pistols

4th day,
rest

5th day,
-shoulder roll work
-gymnastic static holds that equate to 60 seconds (increase holds that equal to 60 seconds each session)(tuck planche, l-sit, handstand)
-Snatch (5x3)/ linear progress for C&J in weights as I have restarted due to me relearning Snatch

6th day,
-gymnastic static holds that equate to 60 seconds (increase holds that equal to 60 seconds each session)(handstand,rail balance skill work*)
-Deadlifts (5x3 or 3x5 with very small linear progress)
-gymnastic static holds that equate to 60 seconds (increase holds that equal to 60 seconds each session)(tuck front lever, tuck back lever)

7th day,
2nd day,
-gymnastic static holds that equate to 60 seconds (increase holds that equal to 60 seconds each session)(rail balance skill work*)
-parkour session, vaults and jumps skill work, leg pistols

8th day,
rest


Questions

1) What's wrong with this program, for my goals to become a parkourer are my specific goals equivalent towards my broad goal of being a parkourer.

2) Do I really need to work on advanced dynamic moves such as front lever pull-ups or are they more or less pointless? I know many of the great parkour athletes have a lot of experience in gymnastics and are pretty strong overall.

3) If I needed to eliminate anything to put in more parkour sessions, what should it be? Take out back squats and deadlifts?

If you read through this whole thing, thanks for taking a look at it.

Jason

[Júlíus G. Magnússon]

The CA WOD seems like a pretty good parkour program. Adding some actual parkouring, of course.

Wasn't Jesse Woody doing the CA WOD?

[Jason Tanner]

Never really thought about it, but it does sound a bit in line with some things I need to improve on, functional strength and power. Anyone else have any inputs? Thanks for the advice by the way.

[Steven Low]

Looks fine to me. I'd try it and see if you can recover well enough on it.

Basically, you're going to use Parkour as a lot of your skill work. Generally, you can do it before your workouts (if it's not too long) as skill work is best done when fresh. Since heavy squats and DLs can be rough on the legs, you have to limit your impact in your skill training for Parkour.

1. Looks fine like I said. Could be modified a bit better I think.

You might want to get more Parkour specific work in.. or tailor exercises towards it more. For example, muscle ups and climbups are pretty essential and I don't see any dynamic pressing/pulling work in your routine.

The statics are great, but I'd definitely work some of the dynamic strength as well especially explosive upper body work. That's lacking in most traceurs right now.

2. I would say yes. Once you get strong enough you need the decreased leverage exercises if you're not working with heavy weights for your upper body. Depends on what your overall goals are though in conjunction with Parkour and learning various gymnastics progressions.

3. Probably remove the squats and/or DL. The oly lifts are similar enough that you get some strength benefit from the power work; however, you need to work significantly on your technique so you can start pulling heavier weights.

[Kelly White]

You guys do any slackline work for parkour?

I think every athlete can reap the benifits from slackline training.

[Steven Low]

You guys do any slackline work for parkour?

I think every athlete can reap the benifits from slackline training.
I know a bunch of guys that do. I personally don't know how to set one up or have the equipment to do so...

[Kelly White]

This is what I do.

Go to a home improvment stoor and buy a large rachet strap (it is easier to start with the wider ones)

Take a rope and make a loose wrap around a tree. (for the hooking point) Find another tree and do the same. Tighten down the rachet and you have one of the best training tools ever made.

The shorter and tighter the strap is the easier.

[Chris H Laing]

I know a bunch of guys that do. I personally don't know how to set one up or have the equipment to do so...

CFJ 27 is on slacklining i think. If youre interested you could check it out.

[michael blevins]

I've been getting a lot of people asking me if I train for parkour lately which kind of sparked my interest in it. needless to say I would be interested to see how your programming turns out. Just reviewing I think I would add as much explosive movements as possible ie: tuck jump, weighted box jump, burpee high tucks, etc. Also maybe add some real tumbling besides flexibilty and power they will help with hard landing and crash rolling. Good luck I hope it goes well

[Steven Low]

I've been getting a lot of people asking me if I train for parkour lately which kind of sparked my interest in it. needless to say I would be interested to see how your programming turns out. Just reviewing I think I would add as much explosive movements as possible ie: tuck jump, weighted box jump, burpee high tucks, etc. Also maybe add some real tumbling besides flexibilty and power they will help with hard landing and crash rolling. Good luck I hope it goes well

I would incorporate explosive work with skill work in Parkour. So combined your explosive jumps with a vaults or wall runs or other techniques. Well, I tend to like getting the most bang for my buck at least.

Er, and hard landings and crash rollings are NOT advisable. That's just dangerous.

[michael blevins]

I guess I should elaborate on " crash landing" I meant to practice roll outs on landings to absorb shock not to literally crash land, but to avoid the crash by break falling. similar to BJJ (instead of just avoiding getting taken down you excersize the fall and use your technique to absorb the shock) From what I see there are a lot of long drops involved in parkour, this is what scares me the most about the sport, sorry about the confusion

[Jason Tanner]

I will plan on switching out DL's and squats for more olympic lifts and power movements (tuck jumps, broad jumps, vertical leaps) as soon as my lifting numbers increase. As for the landing work, I have been doing plenty of shoulder rolls and eventually do plan on combining shoulder rolls into broad jumps, etc. as I feel more comfortable with shoulder rolls. Steven, as you said before about adding in explosive upper body work, you think push-up variations, wall balls, and push press and jerk should be enough for that? I'll be more than glad to start journaling in my progression online for anyone interested in my progress. Thanks everyone for their help so far.

[Steven Low]

You don't NEED explosive upper body work. Just upper body strength. Upper body explosiveness can be useful but not extremely so. I mean, if you have the strength to do muscle ups with +25% of your bodyweight you're gonna have a fast climb up and top out... and pretty much more strength that most of the traceurs out there. It's not something you need to work with explosiveness.

I'd say work overall strength with explosiveness on the side for upper body.

[Jason Tanner]

Haha, sorry about the misunderstanding. Finals have somewhat fried my brain. Thanks for the advice though Steven.