Dan Edwardes

The French founders of parkour were motivated by the singular desire to become ‘strong’ individuals, but not just muscularly strong: rather, strong in the sense of being anti-fragile. By that I mean capable of managing a wide range of physical demands, from running a marathon to climbing a building to lifting a heavy weight, to escaping danger or moving at speed over terrain.

The early training was thus focused on acquiring the physical (and psychological) attributes required to be able to withstand any demands the world might throw at you. It was quickly understood that only a highly robust, resilient, durable and strong body could sustain this kind of training, and so the concept of building one’s body armour was born.

As with all things in nature, the rigid and inflexible is prone to breaking under enough stress. It is the flexible and the elastic which can ride out any storm, bending and adapting to stresses in order to survive them.

Your body works in the same way: train to make it rigid and unyielding and it will break eventually: but build supple strength, elastic power and a broad base of mobility and flexibility and it is more likely to endure more scenarios without injury or breakdown.

Build your body armour wisely.