The Traceuse
A woman's perspective and advice on Parkour

Parkour is, in essence, the art of forward movement: a discipline in which speed and efficiency when overcoming obstacles while moving from point A to B is the ideal. There is no shortage of inspiration from elite traceurs all over the world, most famously the founder David Belle. However, the number of female participants in the discipline, although rising, remains relatively small. This short article aims to cover some of the main issues women may be confronted with when starting Parkour and gives some general advice to any female traceurs out there.

The art of escape

Parkour promotes improved reflexes and physical awareness. Potentially it is the best form of self defence any woman could have when walking or jogging alone, because a trained practitioner of Parkour would have more options open to them in the unfortunate circumstance of being attacked or chased. Under these conditions, obstacles such as walls, gates and rails do not hinder the traceuse, but instead become routes of escape.

Preparation

Much like a martial art, Parkour requires only the dedication of the learner. However, wearing clothing that does not hinder movement and shoes with good grip will ensure that your focus is purely on your performance and not on your equipment.

Problems encountered

Although being female brings its own advantages, there are certain obvious factors that women need to be aware of; especially the fact that men usually have greater upper body strength than women. This means that often pulling up your own bodyweight can prove challenging -- and certainly tiring without prior conditioning. So, when a female starts to train Parkour, the movements which require using upper body strength do prove difficult. Examples of this being climbing up after 'saut de bras' (jump with arms/"catleap") and passe-muraille (overcoming walls, which, for larger walls, involves pushing up off the wall to help climb it). With this problem in mind, it is a good idea for upper body strength to be specifically tackled either at home or in a gym.
Other differences that should be considered are the facts that men bruise less easily, are less aware of minor injuries to body areas and have joints more well suited for taking force. However, this does not mean that women are potentially any less capable.

Advantages of the female build

Where there are drawbacks, there also exist advantages to being female. Most notably, women have greater natural flexibility than men do; this in turn can mean more extension of the joints and muscles without injury. Being of a smaller build can also prove useful in certain movements, such as running and jumping through small spaces at speed.

Heightened awareness regarding injury

A problem that needs to be highlighted when starting Parkour, regardless of gender, is how to avoid injury. Stretching before and after a Parkour session is very important and will reduce the chance of muscle injury before training, and remove lactic acid afterwards (it is lactic acid in the muscles that causes soreness the following day). I recommend stretching for 15 to 20 minutes before you start to train and 10 minutes after you have finished.

How you land is very important in Parkour, and a basic movement that needs to be tackled is rolling out of higher drops and landing well out of smaller ones. Landing well will prevent pain in the knees and shins and, in the long term, will protect your joints from injury.

Fears

Everyone experiences fear at some point when training Parkour. Our body has innate safety mechanisms to prevent us from injuring ourselves and, as you can imagine, running and jumping over/into/onto objects to begin with does not feel like a natural action. Therefore, in the beginning, a traceur has many fears to overcome. With training, confidence grows; it is important that you push your body as far as you feel confident and do not allow anybody to make you feel cornered into attempting something that you are not sure you are ready for. There will always be another day to push your level and face your fears.

Progression

It is not unusual in Parkour to go through phases during your training where your progression slows down then speeds up. This occurs because it can take time for your mind to catch up with your physical ability. Your body's capability may have progressed to a point where you are aware that you are able to confront obstacles that are more challenging, or techniques that are more complex. However, the hardest part of progression is overcoming your fear -- no matter how capable you are. It can be very frustrating during these times; however, by working on mental techniques and not slowing down your training, they can be worked through relatively quickly.

Article written by Liv Rowlands aka Flame
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