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Free Running

Posted by Mitch on Sep 15, 2009

Some months ago I watched this one particular commercial with interest. There were a few people who were running, but not running like what I was used to. They weren’t running for exercise; they were running for sport, and not on a track.

Free running is what it’s called, and it’s almost like an obsession with these people. Instead of just walking places, they run, but they don’t do it the easy way. Seems the purpose is to challenge their bodies by running, so they’ll climb stuff, jump over stuff, and anything else possible to do, all while keeping in motion. Well, they do stop every once in awhile, but only to execute some of the most physically amazing things you’ll ever see.

This is all based on a principle of Bruce Lee’s about total body control. He didn’t do the running, but many of the body principles he taught are contained within free running. Two things, though. One, this is for young people, because it’s very dangerous; you need a lot of flexibility. Two, it takes a lot of time to work up to it, which is why it’s for young people. I don’t advocate anyone doing this; I’m certainly not going to. But it’s fascinating, and I hope the two videos below show it better than how I’m talking about it.