Parkour (French: [paʁkuʁ]) is an athletic training discipline or sport in which practitioners interact with their environment by moving through it efficiently or creatively, often while performing feats of acrobatics. With roots in military obstacle course training and martial arts, parkour includes flipping, running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, plyometrics, rolling, and —whatever is suitable for a given situation. Parkour is an activity that can be practiced alone or with others, and is usually carried out in urban spaces, though it can be done anywhere. It involves seeing one's environment in a new way, and envisioning the potential for navigating it by movement around, across, through, over and under its features.
Historically, flips and other acrobatic movements were not considered essential to the discipline of parkour, and the term freerunning was applied to parkour-like movement that emphasized artistry rather than efficiency. However, as the parkour culture evolved, its distinction from freerunning became increasingly blurred. Parkour athletes now broadly agree that flips are unambiguously part of parkour.
