Parkour (French: [paʁkuʁ]) is an athletic training discipline or sport in which practitioners (called traceurs) attempt to get from one point to another in the fastest and most efficient way possible, without assisting equipment and often while performing feats of acrobatics.

[7] With roots in military obstacle course training and martial arts, parkour includes flipping, running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, plyometrics, rolling, and quadrupedal movement—whatever is suitable for a given situation.

[15] Parkour was established by David Belle in the 1980s, and it was initially called l'art du déplacement;[16][17][18] however the name "le parcours" had already been given to the activity by 1989.

[16][19][20] Similar techniques were known from French military obstacle courses,[16] and some authors see influence from Hong Kong cinema and Asian martial arts in Parkour.

[23][24][25] Raymond Belle used the term "les parcours" to encompass all of his training including climbing, jumping, running, balancing, and the other methods he undertook in his personal athletic advancement.

[26] His son, David, further developed his father's methods and achieved success as a stuntman, and one day on a film set showed his 'Speed Air Man' video to Hubert Koundé.

[29] The term traceur was originally the name of a parkour group headed by David Belle which included Sébastien Foucan and Stéphane Vigroux.

The first parkour jam was organised in July 2002 by Romain Drouet, with a dozen people including Sébastien Foucan and Stéphane Vigroux.

[21][22] In Western Europe, a forerunner of parkour was developed by French naval officer Georges Hébert, who before World War I promoted athletic skill based on the models of indigenous tribes he had met in Africa.

"[31] His rescue efforts during the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée on Saint-Pierre, Martinique reinforced his belief that athletic skill must be combined with courage and altruism.

Hébert set up a "méthode naturelle" (natural method) session consisting of ten fundamental groups: walking, running, jumping, quadrupedal movement, climbing, balancing, throwing, lifting, self-defence, and swimming.

These were intended to develop "the three main forces": energetic (willpower, courage, coolness, and firmness), moral (benevolence, assistance, honour, and honesty), and physical (muscles and breath).

After the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, he returned to France and remained in military education until the age of 19, when he joined the Paris Fire Brigade, a French Army unit.

Through conversations with his father, he realised that what he really wanted was a means to develop skills that would be useful to him in life, rather than just training to kick a ball or perform moves in a padded, indoor environment.

Some members of the group drew inspiration from Asian martial arts, notably the acrobatics of Jackie Chan such as qinggong displays in his Hong Kong action films,[21][39][22] and the training philosophy of Bruce Lee,[40] The group also was influenced by the martial arts films of Belgian actor Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Some members of the group were concerned how the public would view their discipline since the performance did not demonstrate all aspects of it, such as their hard training and their values and ethics.

[50] Châu Belle explains it is a "type of freedom" or "kind of expression"; that parkour is "only a state of mind" rather than a set of actions, and that it is about overcoming and adapting to mental and emotional obstacles as well as physical barriers.

[50] Traceur Dylan Baker says, "Parkour also influences one's thought processes by enhancing self-confidence and critical thinking skills that allow one to overcome everyday physical and mental obstacles".

Practitioners often use minimalist shoes, sometimes as a progression to bare feet, for better sensitivity and balance, while others prefer more cushioning for better absorption of impacts from large jumps.

[93][94] In a survey of parkour-related emergency department visits in the United States between 2009 and 2015, most injuries were reportedly caused by landing or from striking objects.

[95] American traceur Mark Toorock said injuries are rare "because participants rely not on what they can't control—wheels or the icy surfaces of snowboarding and skiing—but their own hands and feet."

[96] Initially featured in films of French director/producer Luc Besson, parkour was first introduced to the British public by the BBC One TV channel trailer Rush Hour in April 2002.

It featured David Belle leaping across London's rooftops from his office to home, in an attempt to catch his favourite BBC programme,[97] and captured the imagination of many viewers, especially when they learned no special effects or wires were used.

[99] Parkour is not defined by a set of rules or guidelines, a feature which has proven particularly attractive to young people, allowing them to explore and engage in the activity on their own terms.

[100] For example, in 2010 The New York Times published a short video featuring three young men from the Gaza Strip who were active members of the parkour community.

In 2006 the James Bond film Casino Royale featured Sébastien Foucan in a chase taking place early in the movie, sparking renewed media interest in parkour.

[105] Parkour was prominent in Live Free or Die Hard (2007),[106] again with stuntman/actor Cyril Raffaelli, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), choreographed by David Belle.

[114][115] Actor Stephen Amell learned parkour at Tempest Academy in preparation for his role as Oliver Queen in the television series Arrow,[116] and co-star Caity Lotz is also a practitioner.

Similar to Sébastien's freerunning, l'art du déplacement is less about the hard discipline of the original Yamakasi group; rather, it takes a participatory approach focused on making the teaching more accessible.

David Belle kept the term "parkour", saying the group contributed to the development of it, but that his father was the source of his motivation and had verbally communicated this method only to him.