As seen in part one (See The origins of Parkour – Part 1: The mind behind the idea - Brief history of Georges Hebert) of this article, George Hebert, being inspired by the effective, natural, and athletic bodies that the Africans had developed as a result of their everyday activities, developed a training method which he called the Natural Method. This article serves to equip the reader with some insight into the technical and philosophical aspects of the Natural Method itself.
Georges Hebert set up this Natural Method, comprising of ten basic and natural human movements; to walk, run, jump, climb, walk on all fours, balance, lift, throw, defend and swim. Training all these movements together, in a fluent manor, would in his opinion, result in a completely effective human body, that would be ready at any moment, to assist or help another human being who was in trouble. Some would go as far to say that it is our duty to each other as human beings, to ensure that we always keep ourselves in a physical and mental state, which is most useful and helpful to other human beings. This idea can be summed up by his motto “Be strong to be useful”.
Practicing the Natural Method
For Georges Hebert, only the observation of nature could lead people to the true methods of physical development. He wrote:
“The final goal of physical education is to make strong beings. In a purely physical sense, the Natural Method promotes the qualities of organic resistance, muscularity and speed, towards being able to walk, run, jump, to move quadrupedally, to climb, to balance, to throw, to lift, defend yourself and to swim.”
Georges Hebert set up this Natural Method, comprising of ten basic and natural human movements; to walk, run, jump, climb, walk on all fours, balance, lift, throw, defend and swim. Training all these movements together, in a fluent manor, would in his opinion, result in a completely effective human body, that would be ready at any moment, to assist or help another human being who was in trouble. Some would go as far to say that it is our duty to each other as human beings, to ensure that we always keep ourselves in a physical and mental state, which is most useful and helpful to other human beings. This idea can be summed up by his motto “Be strong to be useful”.
Practicing the Natural Method
For Georges Hebert, only the observation of nature could lead people to the true methods of physical development. He wrote:
“The final goal of physical education is to make strong beings. In a purely physical sense, the Natural Method promotes the qualities of organic resistance, muscularity and speed, towards being able to walk, run, jump, to move quadrupedally, to climb, to balance, to throw, to lift, defend yourself and to swim.”
Traceurs practicing Parkour using the techniques as mentioned in the Natural Method training regiem
His training method consists of a mixture of all these ten movements in a continuous manor, lasting from 20 minutes to 1 hour. These movements are carried out in a sequence that allows for one part of the body to rest while allowing another part to work. This training method can be seen in most obstacle courses and was adopted by the French military and most other armed forces across the globe for its soldiers.
George Hebert insisted that training the body using useless movements is not functional and in a sense useless. His method meant only performing natural movements using mostly only ones own body weight. The idea is that this type of training would prevent any type of imbalance and would result in a the most well rounded physical condition.
His training method consists of a mixture of all these ten movements in a continuous manor, lasting from 20 minutes to 1 hour. These movements are carried out in a sequence that allows for one part of the body to rest while allowing another part to work. This training method can be seen in most obstacle courses and was adopted by the French military and most other armed forces across the globe for its soldiers.
George Hebert insisted that training the body using useless movements is not functional and in a sense useless. His method meant only performing natural movements using mostly only ones own body weight. The idea is that this type of training would prevent any type of imbalance and would result in a the most well rounded physical condition.
Body mind and spirit
According to George Hebert, the Natural Method not only involved physical training, but also included mental strengthening and moral development. These additional two aspects play an important role in the “whole” human being and also play a vital role as independent components behind the word “strong” in his phrase “be strong to be useful”. After all, how much help would another human be if he didn’t feel he had the moral obligation to climb into a burning building to save you, and how useful would another person be if he didn’t have the mental strength to swim out to sea and bring you back to shore against the tide. So to George Hebert, part of the Natural Method involved developing ones sense of morality, mental strength, and physical strength. He wrote:
“The final goal of physical education is to make strong beings. In the purely physical sense, the Natural Method promotes the qualities of organic resistance, muscularity and speed, towards being able to walk, run, jump, move quadupedally, to climb, to keep balance, to throw, lift, defend yourself and to swim. (Physical Aspect)
In the “virile” or energetic sense, the system consists in having sufficient energy, willpower, courage, coolness and firmness. (Mental Aspect)
In the moral sense, education, by elevating the emotions, direct or maintain the moral fibre in a useful and beneficial way. (Moral aspect)”
The true Natural Method, in its broadest sense, must be considered as the result of these three particular forces; it is a physical, virile and moral synthesis. It resides not only in the muscles and the breath, but above all in the “energy” which is used, the will which directs it and the feeling which guides it.
Now that we have discussed the man behind the Natural Method, and touched base on what exactly the Natural Method entails, we can round this 3 piece article off with “Part 3 – Parkour Today”.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
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