Getting Good - Progression in Parkour

A deep dive into what progression in Parkour can look like and some ideas on how you can make moves.

Feeling stuck in your progress in parkour? Maybe you want to move up to the next level or feel like you are returning to the same familiar moves again and again when training. In this blog we talk about what progress looks like and how we can lean on others to help us to achieve more.

Learning new movements and achieving challenges is one way to progress in parkour. If you are familiar with our Fusion programme at Fluidity Freerun Academy, you can ascend to the next level to learn more advanced movements. Unlocking a kong then a double kong is a huge achievement without a doubt. Similarly, getting a certificate on ascension day can be one of the best feelings and should make you and your loved ones proud of your commitment to the sport. But is ticking off a move on the course list all that you can do to get better? 

Think about what you gravitate to doing when you train or come to class. Do you often repeat the move you know you can do with ease, redo a challenge you managed to get last week to remind yourself you can still do it? Are you sticking to the same equipment and using the soft blocks on the sprung floor over and over? This is your comfort zone.

To get better at anything, we must break out of the habit of sticking to what we know we can do and push to achieve the next step. This could mean switching up the environment and training on hard surfaces, increasing the distance, going higher, further or smoother.

But how can we move forward if we only know what we can do? This is where another person can push you out of your comfort zone. Learning and Development researcher Vygotsky (1978) came up with the theory of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). This is the gap between what you know you can do and what you could achieve with support from someone else. 

Reaching out to your coach is an action you can take next time you are in class or training alone. A coach can see what they know is achievable for you and push you towards the edge of your ZPD to achieve something you previously might not have attempted on your own. This can be through simple encouragement, helping you to break a scary jump into its fundamental steps, or finding a similar challenge at a different height or easier level to repeat and gain confidence before moving up to the mentally more challenging goal. 

Coaches can also help you with more long term goals like wanting to get stronger, combining movements more smoothly or facing your fear of heights for example. These goals are all equally useful for improvement in the sport and can add value to your training and allow you to add more to your training. The coaches and crew at Fluidity Freerun Academy can all help you to make progress. From jamming alongside you at the flips ‘n’ tricks evenings so you can get tips in a safe environment, to booking a 1:1 with a coach to work on a specific goal, we are all here to encourage and support you wherever you are in your journey.

Training alone, when done with specific movements and challenges in mind, can allow you to make some progress in parkour. But the real game-changer is when someone pushes you out of your comfort zone because they truly believe you can achieve it. The push from someone else with them beside you cheering you on is a community spirit that sets parkour apart from individual and competitive sport activities. We all want to get better, train hard and make progress together. Nothing is better than watching someone else overcome a challenge they have been facing and working towards for months, and celebrating this achievement together is a special moment. This can fuel your own motivation to reach your goals in the sport.

So, what do you want to achieve next? Why not ask your coach what they believe is possible for you, then make it happen!

Go send,

Demi

Reference

Vygotsky (1978) Zone of Proximal Development. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/zone-of-proximal-development [accessed:17/8/26].