Dan

  • Parkour: More Than Movement

    Parkour: More Than Movement

    Mobility. Strength. Flexibility. Power. All wonderful attributes of a healthy body: but what’s the point of having these things, indeed of having these amazing bodies, if they aren’t then being put to good use in enabling us to lead lives of wonder and adventure? For me, physical fitness and even movement skill itself are only…

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  • Stop Deconstructing: Start Moving!

    The deconstruction of movement in the fitness industry is rife. I’ve encountered so many ‘experts’ and methods that reduce what are the most natural and holistic aspects of our athleticism in an attempt to identify their component parts and so produce some kind of holy grail for understanding movement, when in actuality all that is…

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  • The Art of the Hero

    The Art of the Hero

    I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people. Maya Angelou I was raised on tales of heroes. The seed was planted by my mother. She read me the entire Lord of the Rings saga, one chapter per night every night, long before I could read…

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  • Practical Movement over Functional Fitness

    The buzzword ‘functional’ has become so misused that it now means next to nothing, and for effective training I favour practical movement over functional fitness any day of the week.

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  • Turning Point | Parkour Generations Documentary

    One of the best documentaries made on parkour, the Turning Point is a fantastic TV series produces in the USA which seeks to highlight pivotal moments in the development of an organisation that works to better the world in some way. This documentary follows the lives of three young people in London, detailing how parkour…

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  • Breaking the Line: A Parkour Documentary

    Documentaries on parkour typically showcase the extreme elements of our discipline and focus solely on the movement spectacle that results. The guys behind Breaking the Line were a refreshing change in that they wanted to go deeper into the origin, principles and core values of the discipline of parkour, things I much prefer discussing and…

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  • Keynote for Dance UK | Pushing Physical Boundaries

    Being asked to deliver the keynote talk for the fantastic Dance UK organisation in London was a real honour and a great pleasure, and gave me the opportunity to air some thoughts on the importance of pushing physical boundaries and how I view injury as simply feedback – something that is not necessarily negative or…

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  • Interview with Parkour Generations Korea

    A little while I ago, during one of the trips to South Korea to run an ADAPT certification course and a couple of workshops, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by the fantastic guys at Parkour Generations Korea on all things parkour. During the interview we covered: Beginning parkour training Handling injury A philosophy…

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  • The Hero Round Table

    The Hero Round Table

    I was recently invited to speak at an event called the Hero Round Table in Michigan, USA; a conference that discusses and promotes the principles of heroism and provides real-life examples of people who bring these concepts to life all over the world. Now, it goes without saying that when someone invites you to an…

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  • Nature’s Athletes: Adapt or Die

    Here’s a truth I want everyone who doubts their physical and mental potential to keep at the forefront of their mind: beneath the shell of the soft, sedentary people we have become lie the raw materials of nature’s most adaptive and capable athlete. The key word here is adaptive. If you’re not already convinced that…

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  • No Easy Jumps

    No Easy Jumps

    It is quite common for us as practitioners of parkour, I think, having broken a new jump or mastered a new movement or overcome a new challenge in training, to then look back and remark: well, that was easy. And it is good, in a sense, to be buoyed by such achievements and successes in…

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  • Move Like a Human: Why You Shouldn’t Exercise.

    You ready for this? You need to stop exercising. And you need to start moving instead. What do I mean by that? Well, when we think of exercise we typically imagine high frequency, low variety repetition of consecutive and limited movement patterns. You hit the gym or the sports ground or the running track 3-5…

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  • The Natural Born Heroes Tour

    Several years ago the world of running experienced a seismic shockwave that was the emergence of barefoot running, which has gone on to spawn the minimalist shoe trend and whole new ideas on running rehab and technique around the world. That movement was largely kickstarted into action by the work of one man – a…

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  • Well Rounded Athlete Interview

    My good friend and colleague at Parkour Generations, Chris ‘Blane’ Rowat, and I had the pleasure of being grilled by Justin Goodhart of Well Rounded Athlete fame. The podcast became known as the Tao of Parkour, and was basically a damn good chat about all manner of training concepts, ideas, methods and so on. Justin’s…

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  • Elite Training Programs Interview

    This was a great discussion with Wes Kennedy of Elite Training Programs, a USA based strength and conditioning group of coaches who really know their sh*t. Wes was particularly interested in the Parkour Tactical™ and elite athlete training programmes we run at Parkour Generations, so we mainly focused on those areas but also managed to…

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