Parkour or is a sport that involves high speed traversal of any area in such a way as to cover as much ground as efficiently as possibly - if you recall the opening scene in the recent 007 Film, Casino Royale, you’ve seen Parkour. There are two themes here that I felt related well to GTD, first, the idea of responding appropriately to any situation.

Parkour is about responding appropriately to the terrain through which a person is moving and is not about extraneous movements or tricks. Flipping and other stunts that do not contribute directly to getting from point a to point b as quickly and efficiently as possible are not part of Parkour, but a related discipline called “Free Running” that is a distinct activity according to the people who have been the most influential in creating this new form of movement and self expression.

The second theme relates to mental discipline and the ability to overcome obstacles through the power of the mind. I believe that mental conditioning is critical to performing at your highest level in any activity. As a professional cyclist I found that my physical performance was best when I regularly did mental training in addition to my physical preparation and I believe that the same holds true for GTD - in fact, I would go so far as to suggest that this is part of the reason why the weekly review is so important - it allows you to train your mind to accomplish the things you need to do and helps you prepare yourself for your upcoming efforts.

The video below features Parkour in the context of overcoming physical obstacles using your mind I hope you’ll find it as inspirational as I did.

Tags: Oliver Starr, Training, Video, inspiration //