HiggiE's 365 PK Challenge:Flow and Efficiency :Week 5
Flow and Efficiency: Week 5
By Eric Higgins
Last week I talked about breaking down movement, today we're gonna talk more about efficiency and flow. Below is a video I have put together explaining much of the same information.
I think of flow in two ways. I break it down as macro flow and micro flow.
Macro flow is an act of connecting one move to another. Parkour is not about doing one move at a time, it is important to connect multiple moves together to make a series or run of movements all together. This is what macro flow is.
Micro flow on the other hand is about the individual way you move within the movements. It is about the way you move and connect your body to your environment which defines the flow.
An individual has good flow when they move like a feather or water and not so much like a rock being dropped on the ground. Sometimes I see individuals doing parkour and they move in a very solid and clunky way. This is not flow, even if they are clunky and go from one move to another. Experience really shows when viewing how well someones flow is. Naturally if you have been doing parkour for a while you begin to be more efficient in movement which translated into your own flow. One way to start working on flow is to consider landing without your feet together, say when coming out of a palm-spin, put one foot down and take a step out of the movement, this will allow you to move on to the next move.
Flow is a lot like dancing as well. Dancers are on there toes and light in there movements. Ballerinas specifically make flow look easy. Ballerinas do very physically demanding movements, but when they practice and preform they make their movement very effortless so the presentation looks effortless. In parkour flow is achieved more through efficiency. The efficiency in the way you move from one trick to the next and the way you move within each trick.
Next week I wish to talk more about What Every Traceur Needs to Have to be able to do Parkour.
