Hi Blane, can you tell us something about yourself, maybe something that we don’t know?

I found Parkour (or it found me?) back in 2003 via the Jump London documentary. The next day I jumped off the roof of a gymnastics centre that many years later I returned to and I coached Parkour classes there for a while. 🙂

What are your other interests apart from parkour?

Outside of Parkour and other training activities I guess I am a simple man with simple tastes. I love 80s action movies, good chocolate, video games and spending time with good friends and family. I’ve also recently joined the London Fire Brigade as a firefighter and I’m really enjoying all of the rescue training we’ve been doing.

“Parkour is one of those disciplines that allows you to make progress and improve in many different ways and this isn’t limited to just physical capacities.”

When is part 3 of “to be and to last parkour” coming out?

Haha! Good question. Definitely before my next video. 😉

I will finish that article series and I’m currently rearranging a lot of my timetable to make more time for writing and reading as I’ve missed it a lot. So my answer is: First quarter of 2018.

After training for so many years what is the driving force that pushes you to persevere in parkour?

I am still improving and learning so much! Parkour is one of those disciplines that allows you to make progress and improve in many different ways and this isn’t limited to just physical capacities. I’m very interested in the psychological side and the idea of learning to control fears and doubts and I haven’t found anything else that comes to close to Parkour for this type of mental training. I also still see carryover to my everyday life and as I improve with Parkour I find myself becoming a better husband, a better father and a better person in general. I’m also still very hungry to seek out new challenges and face new jumps.

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Do you plan on doing something similar to 1000 muscle ups challenge and why?

Yes. Definitely. The 1,000 muscle up challenge is still the hardest thing I’ve ever done and I learned so much from it. I think in terms of endurance based challenges I’ve come towards the end of my interest with them, at least for now, and right now I’m more interested in the idea of strength challenges or performance challenges (such as a number of precisions jumps in a row). I’m also beginning to plan ‘physical journey’ that I might be doing with Kiell in the near future that people will hear more about closer to the time… but this type of thing will always be a part of my Parkour training as it allows me to test myself and explore my limitations.

Parkour on youtube in 2007 vs 2017 from your point of view?

Parkour on YouTube in 2007 = gold dust! It was a valuable learning resource and a quality source of Parkour material as there were very few groups/people uploading material.
Parkour on YouTube in 2017 = Hmmmm. For every 1,000 Parkour videos on Youtube there is probably only 1 worth watching. I watch around 10 Parkour YouTube videos per year now, ha! 😀

My life goal as a kid was to be a hero! I wanted to be strong, to help people and rescue people in trouble. I think my life goal now is just an extension of that childhood dream; I want to be a good person and to be strong enough to make good decisions in my life, and I want to be strong and stable enough to help others if they’re in need.

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Since you’ve traveled a lot, how would you describe the diversity in parkour communities around the globe? Is there something that you would like to point out, from specific country or organization?

The most surprising thing I’ve learned from travelling around the world for Parkour is that almost every community is exactly the same! Sure, there are some differences and the culture and environments shape how people move and what they focus on but ultimately I’ve learned that almost every community shares the same hopes, some of the same fears and the same positive attitudes towards becoming better people and better movers. The most interesting community to me is probably the Finnish Parkour community… there are some very special people in Finland and they are truly unique! 😀

What do you think are the key things most practitioners are missing out?

Quality. Repetition. Balance. Not rail balance, but balance in training and a holistic, healthy approach. I think lots of people are too easily pleased with what they can do and often they don’t really care enough about how they do it. Two people can do the same jump but there can be major differences in the details and in the quality of how it’s done. One jump might damage the body, the other might strengthen it. One might shorten a training lifespan, one might prolong it. It’s still a rare thing to find a practitioner that prioritises quality over quantity.

Skochypstiks clothing impressions?

I’ve always loved that Skochy have prioritised practitioner’s needs with their clothing. The garments are always super comfortable and I appreciate the focus on practicality with lightweight materials and zip pockets. I’ve never worn any other training pants that offer the same level of freedom for movement. I’m excited about the new range of Skochy Denim gear and would love to see more sweatshirt options in the future too.

You are a dad now, congratulations! How does your “Parkour life” look now? And how does your long parkour experience come through in your role as dad?

Thank you! You can read as much as you want and talk to mums and dads around you but nothing can prepare you for parenthood. It changes everything and suddenly you realise how much free time you really had before this big change happened. My Parkour life now is quite interesting as I feel like I’m starting over again from the beginning. I had to have a bit of a break from intensive training because of my daughter and because of my other fire brigade training but now that is over I feel super excited about getting back to serious Parkour training. I’m going to involve my daughter as much as I can and take her with me as she grows!

Talking with u trough this interview I got impression that I’m interviewing a Jedi. I felt the force inside your answer. So I can’t not to ask you additional question, are u star wars fan and what did you think on episode VIII ?

Yes, I am a Star Wars fan. Not a crazy one like some but I enjoyed the original trilogy especially and I’ve seen them many times. For episode VIII, I liked it! There were some amazing moments in there and it was a real treat to see some of those characters come back so many years later… I love a good comeback story so the Luke stuff was awesome, but it wasn’t quite what I hoped for. It felt like a middle film of the new trilogy and I think they’re saving the coolest stuff and the bigger twists for the next film. They also missed out on a huge opportunity to show some really cool Jedi training scenes with Rey and Luke. Overall I’d give it 6.9/10.  xD

Blane, it was awesome talking to you, thank you for your time. Wish you and your family all the best in the new year. Can’t wait for new stuff from you! 😀 
Keep sharing and stay in motion! 

Photography: Andy Day 

Skochypstiks Clothing
www.skochypstiks.com

Skochy Mag

Chris 'Blane' Rowat
Traceur / Coach

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