Parkour and free-running are fine for athletic types, while planking and the lying-down game are great for lazies, but suspended somewhere in between we find the leisure dive.

Blending the action-packed art of diving and cavalier nonchalance of sipping a cocktail, the actual site (Leisure Dive) started as a Facebook phenomena with a few pictures and spiraled out of control from there.

Variants include: hopping off a bike in mid-jump, or holding something other than a drink. Other details aside, though, appearance is critical – the less you look like someone prepared to splash into a pool (or other body of water, or hard-packed dirt) a few moments after your photograph is snapped, the more convincing the effect.

For those wishing to get in on the game, the instructions are as follows: (1) Grab some friends, a decent camera, and head somewhere chill near a body of water. A swimming pool works. A lake will do. A river? You crazy. (2) Put on a bathing suit. Or a linen suit. Or a koala suit. Anything leisurely. (3) Grab something that says you are just a chilled out individual. A piña colada. A pitching wedge. A harpsichord. Whatever. We all unwind differently. (4) Find a nice perch from which to jump. Make sure you have a leisurely backdrop and a safe landing. (5)Now jump in, and embrace the leisure. Tip your glass. Pop your elbow. And most importantly, look at the camera with a face that says, “Does this suit make me look awesome?” The answer is yes. And, SNAP.

Anyone who’s already familiar with parkour – the jaw-dropping urban sport that involves astonishing acrobatics including gravity-defying jumps – probably stared in disbelief at a video showing a trio of parkour enthusiasts scaling buildings and bridges with the help of hooked ladders. Created as an ad for a sports drink, the video undoubtedly sparked many people to google the dubious new sport of ‘pomparkour’.

So what’s got people up in arms about it? As it turns out, pomparkour is the fictional creation of advertising agency BBDO for ‘V Energy‘, a guarana concoction from New Zealand. And conveniently left out of the video is the fact that these guys are professional stuntmen equipped with safety ropes which were edited out of the final video (check out proof below).

Around the same time the video debuted, a blog about the sport materialized, featuring a few photos and a small amount of info. A Wikipedia article on pomparkour also appeared, but was quickly flagged as a hoax or at the very least, mere self-serving advertisement.

So is it a fictional sport, or just a rad new form of parkour in its infancy? Time will tell whether serious practicers of parkour will embrace this offshoot and pull some ladder play into their movements. Even with safety ropes, the guys in the ad perform some breathtaking stunts, earning quite a bit of well-deserved attention.

Black Friday . . . are you preparing to battle the holiday shopping crowds? With the economy in a slouch, you had better be ready to fight for the best sales. You have to be fast and first into the store. You need amazing skills to navigate parked cars, blocked aisles, any obstacle that comes between you and that steal of a deal. Can you run faster, climb higher? Perhaps you should brush up on your ninjas skills before you go into the battle of the urban ninjas?

(image credits: morznet)

These skills have been around for a long time, but not always associated with shopping. It’s an extreme sport called Parkour. This is what might happen if you get between a free running, monkey-style shopper and his or her sale. Maybe you should take a few tips from this unique style. You can’t argue that these are some of the most awesome urban ninjas you might ever encounter, sale or no sale.

Will you meet this guy in the crowd or are you this guy?

Will you meet this guy in the crowded mall or are you this guy? Granted, he is not your average holiday shopper. However, he makes quick work of any urban obstacles and continues to travel smoothly on his set course. He is an urban ninja. His sport is parkour, free running, an extreme combination of martial arts, gymnastics, climbing and precision jumping.

What might happen with females, cell phones, and sales?

What might happen with females all calling each other on their cell phones and on the hunt for the best sales? What if you saw all those parked cars in the swollen parking lots full of shoppers as less of a pain, more like play? What if walls were not a barrier, but a mere challenge to vault or wall run? Could be your shopping excursion is an excuse to practice cat leaps, tic tacs, or precision jumping to navigate the urban jungle.

1st Person Battle Route for Beating the Shopping Crowds

The sidewalks will be crowded; you know the madhouse it will be on this shopping scene. It’s important to have a plan, a route that is faster than everyone else’s. So you have walls in the way or fences between buildings? Think out of the box to beat the crowds. Need help formulating that plan? If you strapped a camera on your chest, here is what it could look like free running your way to battle the bulge of people and the crowds for the Black Friday shopping steals.

Plan to swing on the clothes racks!

The advertisements show some great deals, but the department stores only stock 50 items at that price. The weekend after Thanksgiving is usually a big boom and those stores put out extra clothing racks in the aisles. That doesn’t really help clear the way for you to get to the racks with the great prices on clothes. It’s important to practice your urban ninja skills moving in and out of the racks. No clothes racks handy? How about honing your moves through bars like these guys? This is their video response to BARbarian.

Female hard work, you never know what you might do

(image credits: Parkour Generations)

That tree, the playground, there are plenty of places for you to practice your balance, your speed, your urban ninja skills in the urban jungle. Jump that wall. You might want to start practicing your Black Friday skills today as opposed to right after you’ve stuffed yourself with a Thanksgiving feast. Go over those people; take a shortcut up the tree and over them. Ladies, you know you work hard. Play hard. You never know what you might need to do in your quest for the best deals. Go forth and conquer!

Females can do it better…Shopping? Oh no!

How very different you might be able to plan the fastest shopping route if you cut through a playground or cut through abandoned buildings. Or perhaps jumping from pole to pole might get you the advantage? It wouldn’t hurt any of us to take a few shortcuts or to take some single-minded determination pointers from some of the greatest women free runners around. No offense, gentlemen, but females can do it better. Just shopping? Oh no!

Dude Spinning

Walls, playgrounds, tires . . . reoccurring themes that you might not encounter on your way to shop. However, if you did, you could learn some wickedly sharp moves like this dude. Most of us would give this guy some space. Or he might just spin over the top of you. He has some seriously crazy-slick spinning moves. How great of a shopping excursion could you have if you had freedom from obstacles via airborne inspiration?

You couldn’t stop this dude in a simple store aisle

Sascha ‘Cionn‘ Hauser of Austria looks like a normal guy in a suit. But if this dude wanted through or past you in a simple store aisle, you couldn’t stop him. He is also known as BARbarian, a free runner known for his amazingly creative and inventive smooth moves. If you could copy a page from him, no other shopper in the world would be able to stop you or dare to get between you and that steal of a deal.

Ladies…and you thought they were watching football?

(image credits: parkour rosario, King Fisher World, Parkour Generations)

Ladies, if you consider yourself the shopping queen not to be topped by a mere mortal man, then consider this for a moment. You thought they were watching football or out playing poker, but what if the man in your life is practicing up, ready to give you a run for your money? Not possible? Don’t be so sure. Take a look at these dudes. A crossbreed of skills makes them capable of being thieves who would not get caught or stunt men, all courageous and determined to beat you this year in the holiday shopping crowds.

Ninja Skills and Determination from Belgium

It’s fairly safe to assume everyone loves a great deal, so in that Black Friday crowd you can expect a few fellow shoppers in a less-than-jolly holiday mood. In fact, some might be near a foamy-mouthed frenzy the day after Thanksgiving. It’s time to break out your urban ninja skills, but remember they can be dangerous. Gaëtan Bouillet offers a few tips on what determination to win as the best can get you. Be thankful for your health. Be thankful the worst you have to endure is shopping in the crowds from hell. Perhaps try to inject a little holiday cheer?

Practically since the inception of parkour in 1997, it has been used in cinema to aid in great storytelling – including urban acrobatics and mainstream media. There are twenty basic moves in parkour, and while in homemade parkour videos we don’t often see them performed in combos of two or greater (out of sheer complexity!), through the magic of editing, an entire sequence of moves can be cut together to look like one non-stop stunt sequence, often to breathtaking effect. Parkour founder David Belle has said the philosophy behind parkour is “You want to move in such a way…as to help you gain the most ground on…something, whether escaping from it or chasing toward it.” and this philosophy lends itself perfectly to the narrative structure of a great action film or commercial. Here are some of the best parkour moments in films and commercials. (Guest article from the esteemed editors of Cineleet)

One of the first to leverage the spectacle of parkour in cinema was founder David Belle himself. In 1997 Belle created a group of traceurs (parkour practitioners), free-runners, and street acrobats called Yamakasi. Inspired by this group, Luc Besson scripted a heist film by the same name in which the Yamakasi clan rob from the rich to pay for a heart implant for a young boy injured while imitating their stunts. Here’s a couple of thrilling sequences where they’re being chased by Doberman Pinschers and over the rooftops (a popular parkour theme) by cops.

Yamakasi:

The success of Yamakasi led, understandably, to a sequel, Les Fils du Vent, in which the Yamakasi crew travel to Bangkok, Thailand to fight the Yakuza. In the opening credits, Yamakasi play a (highly competitive) game of capture-the-weathervane ball across the rooftops of the city. Check out some of the Capoeira-style soccer kicks. We’ll see more of that later in this post.

Les Fils Du Vent titles:

Perhaps the best known example of parkour in film is from Banlieue 13 (District B13), a Luc Besson-produced action flick about a government conspiracy to nuke the most gang-infested ghetto in Paris. In the film’s riviting opening, David Belle narrowly escapes the persistent and agile thugs sent to get him. Watch how fluidly he slips from one floor to the next!

Banlieue 13:

One of David Belle’s fellow traceurs in the group Yamakasi was Sébastien Foucan. He’s also one of the founders of free running, a discipline similar to parkour, but with the focus being more on the movement aesthetics (although they are sometimes considered interchangeable). In the opening of Casino Royale, Foucan’s character, Mollaka gives James Bond a chase that would be an acrophobic’s worst nightmare up an unfinished construction site in the Bahamas.

Casino Royale:

Most people probably wouldn’t expect to see parkour in a film by the late Anthony Minghella, director of The English Patient and Cold Mountain. In 2006’s Breaking and Entering, Rafi Gavron plays Miro, a traceur hired to break into architectural firms. Here’s a compilation of scenes of some of the impressive stunt work from this film.

Breaking and Entering:

As soon as advertisers realized they could make a buck or two by exploiting the panache of parkour they wasted no time doing so. To its credit however, Nike went one step further in its “Presto” campaign by approaching parkour with a much-needed humorous tone, proving it didn’t have to be pigeon-holed into the action genre.

Here’s David Belle (again), going above and beyond the call of chivalry for a very fickle lover, who’s got a little surprise for him.

Nike “First Love” commercial:

Now it’s Sébastien Foucan’s turn in the spotlight, fleeing for his life through city streets and rooftops, from the angriest chicken ever.

Nike “Angry Chicken” commercial:

The traceur featured below is Chase Armitage, a key member of a crew called 3Run. Chase has been engaging in parkour and freerunning since he was 14, and it shows in this XBox spot. It’s amazing how the high-speed photography demonstrates how fluid and graceful moves which normally occur within a fraction of a second can truly be. The spoken text also elegantly captures the spirit behind freerunning.

Xbox “Slip” commercial:

And once again, here’s the incomparable David Belle, a little older, yet still in phenomenally good shape, performing some pretty nifty acrobatics in this BBC One commercial. Ever the iconoclast, Belle improvises his own way to beat the rush hour traffic home to watch some telly.

BBC “Rush Hour” commercial:

Finally, not technically parkour, here’s a commercial featuring a particular type of street acrobatics known as Capoeira. Capoeira originated in Brazil and is distinguished by its fluid kicks, sweeps, and headbutts. While some of the ball-passing has probably been executed in CGI, the acrobatics themeselves are nevertheless impressive to watch.

Fifa 3 commercial:

Check out Cineleet for insider film information, footage and triva.

Next: More Freerunning and Parkour

From urban buildering to building jumping, Parkour and free running have increasingly hit the big time, being featured in action-packed mainstream movies and prime-time commercial spots. Still, it’s important to remember that these amazing arts of urban building jumping, climbing and running originated in offbeat locations and abandoned buildings. These videos feature some of the more raw and original free runners who made this extreme urban sport what it is today. Scroll to the end for some awesome medleys and remixes!

This Latvian Parkour video features a truly great rough-and-ragged multi-story abandonment. It is well-scripted and timed – each sequence was clearly planned out in advance. The camera pans cleanly to follow the action as this free runner braves precarious building edges and makes amazing jumps. As the video progresses and the music changes the focus shifts from daring to stylish about midway through.

This Russian free runner would do Spider-Man proud. He brings an excellent blend of power, speed and style and pulls off some amazing tricks. Best of all: he makes it look easy, starting off with a mind-blowing flip-spin. Sometimes the camera has a hard time keeping up and you get the feeling you’re missing some of the best parts. All the same this is one free running video definitely worth watching.

These Toronto free runners are almost like urban ninjas complete with flying kicks off of various urban furniture. One of the nifty aspects of this particular video is that they do a lot of tricks in close sequence leaving the viewer wondering what would happen if one guy screwed up a jump in front of another. All in all the splicing is a bit too forced but there are certainly some good tricks in here. There are some rather ‘cute’ tricks too like jumping and floating back down with an umbrella.

While there are definitely a few extreme building-to-building jumps the emphasis in the above Parkour video is definitely style above all else. There are a number of simple mid-air tricks that don’t even involve buildings as well as some high leaps to the ground involving awesome twists and spins. However, there are some good buildering and free climbing shots here as well.

If the video prior to the one above focuses on style then the above one is definitely about height, distance and control. There is a lot to be learned here about landing and rolling out of a jump correctly in order to avoid serious pain and possible personal injury.

Some free runners find wonderful out-of-the-way parks, playgrounds and deserted buildings but this guy takes on the urban environment head on from statues and cars to bus stops. The onlookers are clearly a bit shocked to see him running and climbing around but largely don’t mind.

Parkour is traditionally a fairly male-dominated sport but there are some female free runners out there including this one. Her tricks aren’t particularly outstanding but she has a good grasp on the basics and is worth including in this collection simply for the novelty and gender variety.

This video has a lot of stardard Parkour tricks caught on a conventional and shaky hand-held camera. Still, there is one in particular that is worth watching for: a hand-hop across a picnic table. One has to wonder: is this guy completely unafraid of getting the world’s deepest worst sliver?

The above Parkour medley video splices together some great scenes from a variety of free running videos from around the world (including a few shown above). By editing the speed and splicing in repeated frames you get a good taste of the range of styles out there in a few short minutes.

This medley really spans the spectrum of free running and Parkour approaches, styles and moves. There is some distance jumping, some complex tricking and a lot of high-up on-building action. Some scenes are slowed down, others are sped up and they range from individuals to sizable jumper groups.