Parkour - the art of displacement is an art with the aim of moving from one point to another as efficiently and quickly as possible, but is Freerunning the same thing?

Parkour and Freerunning are different but not entirely. Parkour was developed prior to freerunning by David Belle. It consists of vaults and jumps. The deep philosophy behind parkour is not be controlled by your surroundings, which most people are. The have to walk along certain designated paths to get from A to B, but by using parkour there are no architectural boundaries and your path is free for you to choose.

It is not certain whether freerunning was initially supposed to be different to Parkour. The word 'freerunning' was first developed by Sebastein Foucan in order to make the word 'parkour' more accessible to an English-speaking audience. But freerunning now does differ slightly from parkour; the freerun philosophy is less about choosing your own path but more about fun and creativity. Freerunning involves somersaulting, flipping and flaring.

Some people say that Parkour and Freerunning are the same thing, and that parkour is a way of thinking and training, which helps you get from A to B as quickly and efficiently as possible, the vaults and jumps used are only by-products of this way of thinking and method to develop one's spirit and inner strength.

Now the differences between the two are getting even more confusing with the input of wushu, street stunts, grass gymnastics and tricking. Generally though, all these sports are being incorporated with freerunning more than parkour because of the more creative and open to change nature and philosophy of Freerunning.

Parkour and freerunning are very young sports and are still developing. The philosophy and difference between parkour and freerunning have many schools of thought surrounding them and all of which are valid.

There is one thing for sure; Parkour and Freerunning are extremely different to any other sport before them.