Swimming and other less obvious aspects of training

"My concept is that there is more obstacles to cross than what we think.
For instance, I always recall that distance is the first obstacle of all. A "flat" one, though running up and down hills is not quite "flat". If you have to run for 2 hours, or even more, or 50 kms or more, you should be able to do it.
In many emergency cases, distance will be the most prioritary or difficult obstacle to clear. Long distance running skill is important, definitely.
Water is one of them, a liquid obstacle. What indeed if there's water across you way ? What if you must swim underwater a 50 m long distance ? Isn't that an obstacle that require only your human abilities to go from A to B sh*t ? Think of A to B when it's time to save your own life...
What if you simply fall into the water ? SWIM.
Same with air. Air, lack of oxygen, toxic smokes in a corridor or tunnel to cross can be an obstacle. If you must run that 100 m long tunnel without breathing or you'll die, better is to be trained for it.
Same with shoes. What if you were to loose your shoes ? Can you still run ? What if the ground is frozen, or very hot ? Or full of sharp stones ?
If parkour to you is only reproducing specific moves you've seen on vids, you're totally missing the point, because you're just limiting your practice to what you think it is. But parkour is not only the moves you can put a name on, guys wake up !
You must make sure what you train for is going to potentially save your life or other's when needed, so train your body and mind for it, and don't limit that training to what you only know. It is all about adaptation to about any situation. You must think of circumstances that were not expected.
Again, if you loose sight of this purpose when you train, you're only having fun. What pushed David beyond his own limits when he was a teen was that he was always imagining such demanding situations. He was creating them in his head, then had to find solutions to escape the fictive danger he had imagined. I know because he told me.
His dad was a first a soldier, then became a great firefighter, rescuer, lifesaver. He was trained by the Methode naturelle, and trained and inspired his own son using the same method, which motto is "Etre fort pour etre utile", to be strong to be useful.
Strong means complete, able to run, jump, climb, lift heavy objects, swim, fight (self-defense), to be fast, agile, endurant, brave etc...both physically and mentally strong. Useful is about helping others.
Parkour is simply a modern and mainly urban declination of this discipline and philosophy.
Don't limit your practice to only its visual aspect, and don't limit your philosophy to what only suits you.
It's not about fun, parkour is so much more than that.
If you don't get it, you're lightyears away from understanding its true essence." ~ Hebertiste

"Completedness can never be achieved indeed. It is also so sad to see that whenever you stop training in a certain area (so you can make progress in an other one) you're going to regress more or less...I'm quite aware of this matter, myself training in many different ways to get multiple abilities.
It is also true that there is for every discipline so high standards (because of super specialized athletes performing amazing things each in their own specific field) that it might make you feel not so good...because to become greater you must specialize, dedicate enough amount of time and energy, of yourself, then you have no or much less time or energy to train in other areas, then how can you become or remain "complete" ?
In H?bert's view, it is important to be complete and useful. All your training must aim to that, complete training, useful training. It means it must help you face every situation of daily life, but also to cope with dangerous or emergency ones. You're not going to train because it's good for your back, or for your shape, or to loose weight, or to impress others, or because it's only fun or because it's the new underground craze, or because you can make a video, and so on...no. You train always for a useful purpose, obviously to become or stay healthy, but also to educate yourself, your body, your mind. To get a real life.
This is the reason why he was so interested in education versus sports. Sports to him was show-business, competition, elitism and specialization, all bad things to him.
You might be a champion, for instance a great swimmer. But what if you cannot run ? You can be a very powerful man, but what if you too cannot run well, or swim, or climb ? You could be a great fighter, but what if you suffer of vertigo and would drown in a river ? The answer to this issue is that it is much more important and useful to be "competent" in everything than to be excellent in one or two areas but poorly skilled in all the other kind of abilities that make a man complete.
What is complete then ? It Hebert's concept, it is all natural skills that any human being should have developed from childhood to adulthood, and that are things that a human can naturally do when raised close to nature, close to a natural way of life :
walking, running, jumping, equilibrium, quadrupedal movement, climbing, lifting, throwing, then swimming and fighting (self-defense) and also adapt and resist to difficult atmospherical conditions, or lack of food etc... But to be complete also requires to be brave, have a fighting spirit, but also to be altruist, respectful to others, all values that makes a person really strong and helpful to others.
You don't need to be an expert in any of those areas, but only to be able to perform any of these activities at let's say an "competent", sufficient level. And above all, you must not forget that all this is about "to be strong to be useful".
If all your training doesn't allow you to help others when it's needed, in Hebert's opinion it is then pointless. Altruism is a very dear quality in Hebert's heart.
Education through training means leading people to understand the importance of such values. Training is not the end or the goal itself. It is just a way to reach a higher goal.

You may ponder on this following Hebert's quote :

"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."

So this philosophy might help you reach a deeper parkour practice, if you wish so... " ~ Hebertiste

"Back to Hebert ideas, learning to cook, or to sew, actually anything is potentially good, constructive, useful. Even learning to play tennis, or to play guitar.
It is just that basically, they are not essential skills, not prioritary ones. He admired acrobats, some members of his team would sometimes include acrobatic exercices in their training, BUT only because they were already COMPLETE athletes. It's like if you're learning flips when you can't even run very long, or swim, or climb...you're not focusing on the prioritary things that are going to make you really complete and really useful." ~ Hebertiste

"Yes it's true, go from running to swimming then running again (and maybe on and on that way) requires adaptation. For instance, the blood circulation is a little different since you go from a vertical position to an horizontal one and back. IN the beginning, you might feel dizzy, especially when you come out of the water. Breathing is different as well. Swimming requires lots of relaxation to be efficient.
Last point but not the less, how do you swim with clothes and shoes ON ? If you get rid of them, how do you cope (with other obstacles, when all wet, maybe no shoes on anymore) when you're out of the water ?
That's thinking about unusual situations that simple FORCES you to adapt and find a solution. You've got a right not to think of such situations, and say for instance that it is very likely to never happen. Why would you train for something that might never happen ? Then why do you train parkour for ???"

"Whether you're in the nature or in an urban environment, elements are everywhere, always.
Adaptation to those elements is one of the keys to go further in training than only making the "official" moves of parkour, and "treating" your movements with such names as tic-tac or whatever...:-D.
Learning to train with elements for instance means maybe you'd go train with no shirt on despite the cold outside, or despite the rain. It means you're going to take your clothes off and dive into that lake. It means you're going to feel the air, maybe train lacking air (apnea), and realize how much air and breathing is important. Air, just like water, is element. It means maybe you're going to feel the ground not through your shoes, but through your natural sole, your skin, barefoot. Lots of natural sensations, and perceptions.
In fact it also means you're able and READY to experience some discomfort untill you find comfort where you thought you'd never find yourself at ease.
Eventually, it means you make ONE with the Universe, and that this time it is not only a conceptual thought in your mind you think is beautiful because you've read it in a book, but a feeling you've found by yourself, a feeling you've "paid the price for", a feeling of gratitude and intimate connection with the Universe which you're a part of.
Yes, something real that you actually experience, not think of. The more you think of it, the further you get from it.
This is "Etre dans le vrai"."

"You'll catch a cold if you're not trained to adapt to cold, also if your alimentation is bad.
Swimming with clothes on is difficult, requires a specifical training, but the first thing to do if you ever fall into the water is to get ridden of your shoes, then clothes. That's why it's good also to train not to wear too much clothes in the winter, and resist cold. It is possible to keep your shoes if you tie them together and put the pair around your neck, if you think you'll compulsorily need them after swimming. But it slowers the speed. Obviously, if you're not used to run barefoot, it is crucial to keep them...but if you're trained, you just cope with all these things. All depending on the situation. You're not facing these situations, you're imagining them and creating the circumstances (or partly) that are as much similar to those situations so if they ever get to happen, you're as ready as possible to go througout the danger.
If parkour is training also to survive a dangerous situation, why would you train to only specific kind of danger or obstacle ?
You won't loose you $$$ shoes when training, but if one day you have to get ridden of them to save your life, will you think twice about it ?"

~ Hebertiste

"What if you have to save your life but you're hands are tied up, or you're really sick with high fiever, or you're suddenly blinded, or you haven't eaten or slept for days ? What if you have to choose between saving your mom or your dad but cannot save both ? How can you train for such things, or can you be sure what decision you would make ?
What if during your lifetime you never have to use any of the skills you've trained so hard for ?
If both your legs are broken, if you're trained enough maybe you can crawl fast enough on your hands or elbows to escape that fire...? Maybe yes...maybe not...
If both your arms are broken if you're trained enough maybe you still can swim well enough to reach a safety place ? Maybe yes...maybe not.
If for some reason I'm too weak, I might not be able to cope with the situation and then might die, that is certain, except if I'm rescued fast enough.
There is NO warranty that your training will ever save your life. Some people sometimes can save theirs with no specific training. All depending on the situation.
There is NO warranty you'll ever have to use your skills either... " ~ Hebertiste

"Good swimmers don't make compulsorily good runners or jumpers and swimming doesn't make you more agile or endurant to parkour kind of efforts and moves.
Physical conditionning due to swimming is very specific, it has nothing to do with isometric kind of effort for instance. Take any swimmer than never trains parkour, apart from the technical aspect that obviously takes a while to master for a beginner, but regarding the only physical aspect, that swimmer will have his muscles all strained the day after. All simply because it's a totally different range of moves and efforts. So I don't think swimming is a great way to train the body for parkour. Swimming is a great way to train for...swimming, and obviously brings many physical benefits. Now, if you take a swimmer and a guy that never trains anything and ask them to try some parkour moves, the swimmer's better overall physical condition will be obviously an asset compare to the guy that never does any sport, for sure."

"Another illustration is running for instance. Obviously, training for a sprint is way different than marathon training, but there is more : running on a flat smooth distance and running exactly the same distance on a track and field kind of distance (up and down hill, with rocks, holes and bumps) is also a totally different kind of effort then adaptation (in the second case, you've got to be used to absorb more shocks, it's more a kind of isometrics effort, with many pace changes, plus better proprioception skill needed, so same distance, totally different kind of runner...).
Swimming is exactly the same. And this is why it's "easy" to be not too bad or even really good when you specialize a lot in any kind of sport or even specialty within a sport, but way more difficult when training to become a real complete athlete..."

~ Hebertiste