Leaping Tall Buildings in a Single Bound

[Plant Woman]

My bones ached just watching this video .

[cappuccino]

Talk about knees of steel. Clearly they've had a lot of training but it's all too easy to land just a bit off - instant shattered bones.

[Stormlight]

Here's another one.

Pretty spectacular stuff.

[MonCapitan2002]

I wonder how they did the wire work. Those are some impressive visual effects. You'd almost think they were actually doing those stunts.

[Stormlight]

It's called Parkour and it's pretty real.

[MonCapitan2002]

Nah. I think its special effects. People can't do that.

[Legs]

Sure, but can they do it in heels?

[pescifish]

Originally Posted by MonCapitan2002

Nah. I think its special effects. People can't do that.

Go watch one Cirque du Soleil show and you'll see what super things people can do.

While I was watching the first video, I was reminded of an incident years ago when my long time boyfriend and I were at my folks' house. We were all outside in the front yard watching some rubberband propelled flying thingamagig my wheelchair bound dad had just gotten to play with. It ended up on the roof, so my mom started to tell my boyfriend where the ladder was, but he said, "no need." He took a drag on his cigarette, considered grounding it out but it was just started, so he handed it to me to hold and ...

He took off running up the incline of the front yard, literally ran up the 6 foot block wall around the backyard, stopped momentarily on the top of the wall, did a 90 twist while taking one bounce step which launched him up and over, landing solid on the roof. He took a couple of leisurely steps over to the twirlygig thingie, got it, and simply walked off the edge of the roof with a rolling somersault land on the downward sloping front lawn.

The whole thing couldn't have taken more than a few seconds and he ended up casually walking to my dad, handing him the gizmo and then reclaiming his cigarette for another puff.

Freaked us all out, especially since he never did or practiced that sort of thing. He did have a freakishly amazing awareness and control of his body, with uncanny ability to master new physical activities very very quickly. In this case, though, he said he used to do that sort of running up buildings stuff all the time when he was a teen.

[Legs]

Wow.. how was he in bed?

[pescifish]

You probably didn't expect me to answer. However...

show spoiler

• near perfect control for erection regarding rise, release and hold
• nearly instant reload
• high drive (multiple sessions per day and times per session)
• sex only got better and better even after 12+ years; his focus was the mental/emotional and his body could always back those feelings up

Some other accomplishments that were astonishing were consistent bowling scores in the 225-250 range after only about ten nights of bowling; and golf scores under 100 for 18 holes after only 3 weeks of play. Oh and he could drive any car like a stunt driver (or maniac, depending on one's perspective.)

[MonCapitan2002]

I am guessing you are still with the guy.

[Legs]

[viscousmemories]

Very cool! Made me want to go jump off a building.

[Legs]

vm

Don't do that.

[viscousmemories]

Oh don't worry. Fear is definitely a factor for me.

[livius drusus]

Is it against the law? I think it should be, just because it would be hilarious to see cops trying to catch them.

[The Lone Ranger]

It's pretty cool, I think, but it also seems somewhat irresponsible. (Not that I oppose people doing what they want with their own lives.)

I heard a report on NPR about it recently. One thing they pointed out was that these guys train very rigorously before attempting these stunts -- so maybe it isn't as irresponsible as it seems at first.

They also mentioned, however, that the police were not exactly happy about people pulling these kinds of stunts. (Aside from the very real danger of serious injury, some of them apparently like to sneak into restricted areas like power plants to practice their moves.)


I've had enough gymnastics and martial arts training that I can do a lot of the moves portrayed, but there's no way I'd try things like leaping from second-story windows onto concrete unless I had no choice! I suppose that, with sufficient training, it wouldn't be all that dangerous (I see skateboarders here on campus pulling similar stunts -- for instance, some of them like to skate right off the library and onto the pavement below; most of them are smart-enough to wear pads though), but I can't help but wonder what the injury rates are for these Parkour guys. Just one bad landing and you'll be lucky if you wind up in the hospital instead of the morgue.



Sort of off-topic, but it reminds me of something I friend and I used to do in college. As it turned out, the hallway in our dorm was just wide-enough that if you stretched out, you could push against the opposite walls with your hands and feet to "walk" up the walls. My friend Jim and I got pretty good at it, and we'd frequently "walk" the entire length of the hallway along the walls.

There was nothing dangerous to it, of course, but it was kind of fun.

Sometimes, I'd be sitting in the dorm room with my roommate when we'd hear a pair of *thump*s as first one then another hand (or foot) hit the top of the door. Either I or my roommate would casually note, "Sounds like Jim's climbing the walls again."

Cheers,

Michael

[Miisa]

I have seen similar stuff before and I think it is really cool in a "the world is my climbing frame"- kind of way. I do think they probably have to keep it up from childhood, we used to do that sort of stuff on a smaller scale when I was about 10. I'd love to be able to do it now.