Runner Vision: How Parkour Transforms your World into a Playground

Anyone remember the nostalgic Freerunning game Mirror’s Edge? The red line that gave the player a clear route through the urban environment was called RunnerVision. No, it’s not a superpower - it can happen to anyone who practices parkour. In this blog we’re going to dig into what Runner Vision is and how you can harness it both in the gym and outside.

MIRRORS EDGE - GAMEPLAY FOOTAGE

When I started training parkour at Fluidity Freerun, I split the park into its sections: Concrete, Bars, Wood and the Sprung Floor. I trained sticks on concrete, big jumps on wood, balance on bars and flips on the sprung floor. I rotated round these sections every time I visited, thinking I was making progress in each area. What I hadn’t unlocked yet was my runner vision - the ability to find a path that connected them all. 

Connecting moves from concrete to wood to bars is a core element of parkour training for any athlete - the ability to move seamlessly on different terrain is the essence of navigating any urban environment you would encounter outdoors - freerunners need to make adjustments to their movements as they traverse the landscape - doing so seemingly instinctively.

How to develop your Runner Vision 

Is knowing how to confidently navigate across rails, high walls and gaps as easy as it appears on viral pov parkour videos? Realistically, it is built over years of experience for most athletes. Here are 5 ideas to get you moving in their direction and start building fluid lines of motion across your whole gym or spot.

1. Floor is Lava Challenge - Simply begin by navigating the entire space, setting a start and end point or loop and complete this without touching the floor. You can increase the difficulty by setting restrictions and limits such as no extra steps or no touching the same wall twice, for example. This will get you familiar with the space you use and flex those problem solving muscles ready for creative movement.

2. Practice flow movements - train specific connecting moves such as wall movements like climb ups and tictacs. Drill these until they feel comfortable to apply to hard surfaces then add them to a vault or single move you already know. This will improve your flow, get you thinking about how you can build up lines and understand how to move more seamlessly from one move to the next. 

3. Speed Trials - Set a route using markers and complete it as fast as you can. You can record your personal best then attempt to beat it. This forces you to navigate the space with limited time to stop and allows you to find weak spots on your route where you need to train a connecting move.

4. Get confident with highs and lows - dedicate time to train single moves at a height and transition from high to low and vice versa. This will enable you to unlock new routes and pathways using alternating levels, mimicking the real urban environment.

5. Add On Challenge - Best with others you train with, build a line adding one move onto the end each time. This will inspire you to try moves you hadn’t considered and it helps to have another pair of eyes to come up with creative ideas in the space and unlock other routes.

Once you have given these a try, hopefully you will begin to see parkour potential wherever you go! Unlocking your runner vision can keep you motivated and provide a near endless source of inspiration to move and play in different environments. The more you move in this way, the more likely you will begin to enter a creative flow state and enjoy the experience of being in your body as your mind computes the next move. The key to this is confidence in your momentum. The more confident you are in your connecting moves, the more automatic your movement will begin to feel. 

Ready to get up and running? Let us know how you use these ideas in your next training session in the comments!

Go send,

Demi