For some reason the idea of weight lifting is often controversial within the Parkour community. There are myths about weight training that seem to be upheld by many people; namely that its dangerous, pointless, that the same gains can be made from bodyweight and that it will make you too heavy/slow when training.
Firstly addressing the dangerous idea; Any movement is dangerous when not executed properly, technique is paramount when training. Many traceurs will tell you this themselves, this is just as important when lifting weights especially when large weight loads are straining your body. With good technique any dangers are minimised. Parkour places HUGE stresses on your body, weight training can help prepare your muscles for these huge stresses and protect your body.
Pointless?; Weight training can give you huge strength gains from a short workout; often I can spend less than an hour in the gym and come out feeling much more 'worked out' then if I had been training Parkour for a few hours. The gains I have had from strength work like this is quite large, I went from having an average jump to having one of the larger jumps in my community quite quickly. My legs are extremely strong now and with doing Weighted Squats and Deadlifts my jump has increased. Also the point raised above: it has prepared my muscles for the high impact Parkour demands, I can land larger jumps and feel less impact as my muscles are able to protect me better.
Comparison with bodyweight; What makes more sense; hundreds of bodyweight squats or 5 weighted squats? 5x5 weighted squats can be done in 10minutes whereas hundreds of squats will take ages. Bodyweight definitely has its place, I'm not downplaying this. I personally do both forms of exercise; bodyweight and weights. However, I feel that weights have a really powerful practical application to Parkour and that everyone can benefit from them. Bodyweight progressions like handstand push ups and planches are really important but also so are weighted progressions like squats. Similar gains can be achieved from both ways, but bodyweight will take much longer. It could even be seen as inefficient to achieve the goals that Parkour needs?
Heavy or Slow when training; This is a myth, this will only become true when it gets to extreme levels and that requires practitioners to be building for size, whereas in Parkour pure strength gains are what we are looking for. Pound for Pound powerlifters are extremely strong and light, strong and light is something that appeals to the Parkour community.
Opinions on weight training?
, but thats pretty expensive in the long run.
