Luke Albrecht 2016 Interview

This is the uncut version sent me by Luke on September 2016. For the shortened italian version look at this link.


Hi Luke, could you please introduce yourself? How old are you? Where are you from? How and when did you start doing parkour?

My name is Luke Albrecht, I've been doing parkour for about 11 years now, teaching for about seven of those years. No one is surprised when they find out that I'm Russian, but truth be told I was an orphan and was adopted when I was a little boy. I cannot express how blessed I am. My life here, all of the amazing things I've done and experienced, and all the amazing friends I have would not exist otherwise. All it took was for my friends and I to see that old-school “Russian Climbing” video on YouTube to get us interested in parkour. Parkour was very different from gymnastics, as it required an entirely different set of skills and ability, but that's what I loved about it and it completely captured me. I came to love the freedom of parkour and freerunning and the fact that you could do it anytime, anywhere (well, almost anywhere...).

After years of training, the depths of parkour and its philosophies sunk in as well and I began to realize the potential parkour had to change lives and help people. With that, parkour became my passion and lifestyle rather than my sport and hobby. Together with my friends we began making propositions at gymnastics gyms, YMCA’s, Rec. Centers (wherever we could) to teach parkour. At the time no one knew what it was, so it was difficult. But, we had some successes and just like that classes started all around South East Wisconsin and we began building a community. At the same time that I was growing in parkour I was growing in my relationship with Jesus which led me to undertake a bunch of missionary schooling.

My great dream is to go out into the world and move with others, to use my lifestyle and passion as a platform to invest in them and inspire them. I currently live in the Denver area, I moved out here from Chicago with my girlfriend once she finished getting her masters in Oriental Medicine. We love the mountains and we love the community here. I was quickly hired as Parkour instructor at a gym called Path Movement.


What is your sport background? Had you ever followed any other discipline so intensively before parkour?

I played baseball for a while in Elementary School, basketball in Middle School, and then in High School I did track and pole-vaulting for 2 years. Right as I was starting High School is when my friends and I were exposed to parkour and started doing it. It was more satisfying and rewarding than any other “sport” I had done. It was completely self-paced, you didn’t get yelled at by coaches, or made fun of by other kids. Parkour was something I could be completely in control of. The freedom and personal nature of parkour was just what I needed. It was something I could excel at rather than just be mediocre at it like any of the other sports I tried.


Colorado is home for a few "famous" parkour realities... how's the situation there? Is there a big community or different groups of people training on their own?

Colorado certainly has a big community, probably one of the largest in the United States. The community here has a big history as well as some big names. In Wisconsin I started the community and built it, I was used to parkour being “our thing,” something a few of us did that no one else was doing. Even when we’d travel to places for jams those communities were always small groups of people like us.

When I moved to Chicago much later for school, I entered into an already established community. It wasn’t big, but there definitely wasn’t a shortage of people to meet up with and train. The Chicago community was inviting, you didn’t have to earn your place and earn recognition. Even more than doing parkour, these guys just like to hang out and have fun together. What’s been interesting to observe are the differences in training among communities. The Wisconsin community travels, lots of walking and hitting up spots as you pass by them, never staying too long before you continue moving on. The Chicago community is very sport oriented. They have a number of spots that they’ll continue to go to over and over again. And they camp. Once everyone’s at a spot, they stay there for hours. Not many people in Chicago explore around (which is the opposite of me, because I love finding new hidden spots wherever they can be found). Like I said, they’re more interested in having fun together than seriously training. Parkour is a hobby for them, not a career. Not to say that they don’t work hard or progress.

Having been to the east cost several times for jams and such I’ve observed that they’re very serious about training. Everyone works really hard to accomplish their goals, and there’s very little talking. Here in Denver the community is somewhat exclusive. You really have to earn your way in. No one notices you unless you catch their eye. But that’s because everyone here is also very serious about their training and their “aloofness” is due to all the history here I imagine. It’s what I consider the “Apex Mindset.” Needless to say, I’ve made plenty of friends and we all have a lot of fun training together. The community here has two cultures: a gym culture and an outdoor culture. The gym culture sticks to the gyms and rarely ever goes outside, while the outdoor culture despises gyms and stays away from them for the most part. While I would definitely fall into the outdoor culture, I find myself in a gym quite a lot simply because I coach in one. But my outdoor spirit will never diminish. 

Your personal approach to parkour looks a lot different compared to many other american personalities (except for Eric Wolff and few others).How did you come up with this approach? Who inspired you through this movement evolution?

Here’s how I would personally describe/define Parkour:Parkour is often labeled as “The Art of Movement”. The infrastructure of parkour deals with efficiency and adaptation; it is the practice of moving through one’s environment effectively, with the obstacles around the practitioner being of no hindrance. The ever-flourishing nature of parkour escorts its practitioners into realms of creativity, discipline, fear, and victory. As an athletic art, parkour is beneficial to everyone who practices it, young and old, short or tall. The mind and body work together in perfect unison as the practitioner jumps, climbs, vaults, balances, swings, and even flips through his/her environment.

Through disciplined training, a practitioner works to master his/her ability to move as he/she pleases. The physical benefits of parkour go without saying, but most are surprised how much parkour exercises the mind as well. Facing fears, overcoming doubts, problem solving, unleashing creativity, and achieving significant victories time and time again keeps parkour an ever-climbing thrill ride as well as an inspiring spiritual experience. The world around us transforms into a sprawling playground, with every object and structure becoming an invitation for interaction—endless potential. Parkour helps us become a child once again, inquisitive, innocent, brave...and we learn how to become more than we ever thought we could be.
 

 

On your videos you appear not just to be creative and to possess an amazing technical property but also very physically strong. How much time do you spend on building your strength? Does it affect your personality and confidence when moving, or is it just athletic training to obtain skills?

 

I love this question, and I love to answer it. I get this question from a lot of people. To be honest, I do not workout whatsoever. I do not lift weights, I do not condition, and I do not do anything that would be considered fitness. I literally only do parkour, and I am passionate about being a living testament of natural progression. As I mentioned above, the more you move the better you get at moving. If I want to get better at jumping, I just have to jump a lot. If I want to get better at vaulting, I just have to vault a lot. I believe that by training parkour, and having that be what keeps me fit, the muscles I develop and the capabilities I apprehend are completely natural and completely practical. There are a few shirtless pictures of me out there that show how ripped I am (and I say that in all humility) but how my body looks is none other than the results of parkour itself. Am I a crazy diet person. I pretty much eat what I want when I want. Now, I certainly do not eat unhealthy, but I do not have any restrictions or guidelines for what I eat. From what I've heard, a wide variety and balanced diet will always be what is best for you.

Although originally based on sharing and friendship values, Parkour has a really strong individual basis, as is widely perceived in many videos, and lately it has become almost common to discuss competitions as something "normal" for the growing worldwide parkour community. Differently to many other "one-centered" videos, you like to film not just your own personal progress but your students' and friends' too, moving side by side with people of any age, gender or skill level...
How important is the sense of community for you? How do you perceive competitions and have you ever participated or wanted to participate in a competition (like the ones promoted by Apex Movement in your state)?

As you’ve guessed, I am very passionate about the parkour community, as my friends and I have basically created and built up the entire Wisconsin community. It is true what you say, I love to train with others. In fact, I very rarely ever go out by myself, and if I do I keep it very simple. I love when I get to meet up with my students and train with them outside of the gym and outside of the context of classes. Parkour has always been and will always be a way to spend good time with good friends. I don't even train to be better, it's more like I let each day to be what it is. Like an artist would improvise on a canvas, so is the style of my training. What comes of it comes of it. I think it is more beautiful that way, because it is it is entirely unique to that moments. It is raw creation. It will never happen again the same. That is more beautiful and inspiring to me than training to be able to do certain movements for certain situations.

I do not have a checklist of moves I want to learn. If I am inspired by what I see at any given moment, I'll make a mental note of it and it'll come out when it does. I have no interest in competition whatsoever. I have judged for several competitions, namely because I made good money for them, and it gives me a platform to spread my values and vision. I am not against others competing. Everyone has their own journey in parkour, there is no specific way to do it. If someone wants to take the competitive route, then there's nothing wrong with that. As long as practitioners stay true to themselves, they can't go wrong and they will progress no matter what path they choose. Competition require you to prepare before hand, which is anti-how I view training. It also compares people, and I do not think there is a place for that and parkour. How can you judge one person's unique movement against another’s? From what I’ve observed, competitions in parkour inevitably just become a huge trick-fest. It’s about who’s throwing down the biggest tricks regardless of flow, creativity, and other elements that I personally view as extremely valuable.

Competitions make it about the moves, not the movement. I personally think the competitive mindset has a tendency to create short-sightedness. This is verified all the more by countless students all wanting to learn flips while basic, fundamental movements like vaults and precisions remain completely untouched and in a messy state. It’s come to the point where I direct students to other coaches if they come to me asking me to teach them flips. I am not lying when I say that more students can do a back flip than a kong vault, and this is true everywhere I’ve taught. It’s because there’s the growing nature of competition, which is beginning to glorify a certain style of movement—namely throwing around a bunch of big tricks. Check out any popular parkour video on YouTube...it’s all flips and craziness, no? Ask yourself this; you and many others have said that my style of movement is incredibly unique...why is that? And should that be the case?

Again I am not against any of it, but what I am against is people getting caught up in the bandwagon and not thinking for themselves anymore. Abandoning creativity and creation and replacing it with popularity and self glorification. Parkour is not a cookie-cutter sport, it was never meant to be and it never should become that.

More precisely, what meaning does parkour have for you? Is it an art, a sport, a game or a tool to be better? How has parkour affected your life?

I do not train parkour as “the art of escape”. I have no interest in running from cops, or testing out my ability to flee from a situation. Though parkour was originally intended to help you train for emergency situations, I have lived 24 years of my life in no such situation and I don’t see it as practical to make parkour about that. True, I’m sure parkour will help me if an emergency situation should ever arise, by my take on parkour is much deeper, fuller, and spiritual than training myself to flee well. The best way I can explain my style of training is letting the environment around me dictate my movement, and exploring every possible interaction. I am passionate about moving smoothly and proficiently. I like each movement to lead right into the next, and to catch people off-guard with creativity. The world is vast, every jump is different, every environment and space is unique.

Parkour is an exciting journey with no plateaus! The better you get, the more you see. This is a saying I’ve come up with that I like to share with my students: “The more you see, the more you can do. The more you can do, the more you get to see.” The journey of parkour is a never-ending climb. You’ll never stop being faced with challenges regardless of your proficiency. I love the problem solving aspect of parkour. You’re constantly faced with challenges that you have to figure out. Some solutions are outside your ability and others are not exciting enough. Finding your own path, your own way is extremely satisfying.

Flowing across a space and then looking back at everything you just overcame is super fulfilling. Taking what you see in your mind and causing it to manifest in reality is spiritual. It’s pure, raw creation. Parkour is a platform for you to unleash your creativity. There’s so much one can learn about themselves by training parkour. Irrational fears vs rational fears, overcoming doubts, working hard to accomplish a challenge, viewing one’s self authentically and soberly. You cannot overestimate yourself in parkour, and you quickly learn not to underestimate yourself. A practitioner of parkour has no choice but to face their true-selves head on: no masks, no filters, not bullshit. This authenticity that parkour forces has created an incredible community of authentic people.
Everyone is excited about each other, everyone cares, everyone wants to help. Because of parkour I can go to a country on the other side of the world and stay with someone I’ve never met, just because we share a passion of parkour. Now my main focus and value that I’ve come to develop in my training is flow. I would define flow and being able to move smoothly and seamlessly—no pauses, stutters, or unnatural breaks in the the movement. I firmly believe that training variation develops flow.
Being able to apply any movement to any situation is super valuable. If you can do that, you're much less limited than if you can only do certain movements in certain situations. Being limited will result in a lack of flow. But being unlimited and having full control of your body and movement will allow flow.

Not only is it important to "not pass up a spot" but it's also important to train as many variations there as you can, to keep yourself sharp and developing your ability to move and apply your movement to a less-desirable situation. I've always been an advocate of making super easy movements become extremely hard to execute, all while maintaining the fluid and effortless aesthetic. I want people to be like "Oh, that looks easy" and then they struggle for hours when trying to do it themselves. This isn't a pride or arrogance thing, it's more of a “deeper realization of one's self thing.” We're quick to judge. We're quick to assume. Because something is "easy" we assume it's "easy." I love the paradox and satire of something "easy" being extremely difficult in reality. I love catching you on your bluff—again, not in a prideful way, just in an "expanding your worldview” way.


Has anybody from the original parkour background (L'Art du Deplacement from Yamakasi founders) influenced your point of view andthe way you've been practicingso far? Is the history of parkour well known among the american practitioners you train with?

It’s kind of hit or miss here in the States. Sure, people know about Yamakasi, Parkour Generations, and Parkour Origins and such, but that knowledge mainly goes to us adults. The majority of the parkour community is young. Teens, young adults who were swept up in the parkour “craze.” Their exposure to parkour is the popular parkour vids on YouTube. I don’t really relate with the old school fathers because I don’t drill movements. I don’t do the same cat leap 20 times in a row, I don’t do QM’s all the way down a flight of stairs, I don’t drill a specific precision 100 times. I think their main view of parkour was to be an alternative, practical form of fitness. They trained parkour to become strong and competent. “Be Strong to Be Useful.” I’ve never viewed parkour through the filter of fitness and working out. Parkour has always been a platform for creation and creativity for me. It’s in the moment, it’s impromptu. Doing 10 muscle-ups in a row does not sound fun to me. I would not do that. I definitely appreciate what they’ve done and it is because of them that parkour has spread all over the world. I guess my approach to parkour is more spiritual and about the aesthetic.


Lately you suffered from a really big injury to your right leg and you stated on your last path episode: "I'm not upset or troubled by my injury (as hard as that may be to believe), but for me, success in parkour was never about going bigger or better. It was always about adapting.(...) Because of that, my broken leg is not a "set-back". It's just a new context that I'll have to problem in. " Adaptation here appears to be a key to your way of approaching parkour, and also a positive mindset for creating new solutions out of a troubled situation.

Assuming that this is an important value to pass on to the younger trainees, aren't you afraid this could be misunderstood by many and perceived as a suggestion to move despite their injuries or need to rest? In hindsight, after your injury, where do you think the line between moving and choosing not to move should ideally be set?

Believe me, I am the last person to forge ahead and train despite my injury. That is foolish and can have disastrous consequences. There is a time for everything. I am not compelled to train because I am currently more concerned about my injury healing properly. I must wait until the doctors tell me that I can put weight on it, and even then I’ll have to be very careful. The last thing I want is to hinder it’s recovery or even sabotage it. I get one shot, so I gotta do this right. Will my leg and foot ever be the same? Who knows. Will I be able to jump as big? Who knows. The truth is, I don’t know how much functionality I’ll get back. And that’s what I mean by adapting. It will heal, but I will have to adapt to the final product. I will have to rediscover what I can do. I think the best way to go about my recovery is to do exactly what the doctors tell me to do. They know better than I what the body needs to do and undergo in order to heal the injury. When I can bear weight, I’ll bear weight. When I can start moving around again and training, I’ll start moving around again. This injury and it’s recovery is only for a short time in the grand scheme of things. I’ll be able to move my whole life, best to let this season be what it is and take the time to do it right.

Did you have any other important injuries before this? Are injuries a necessary part of the game or is it possible to grow avoiding them? Do you often experience among your trainees or training companions the will to rush into results not taking the required time and exposing themselves to serious damage? How do you face this situation?

This is definitely the worst injury I've ever had in my life. There have been a couple of other injuries that were beyond just bumps and bruises, but this one takes the cake. This is my first case of a broken bone (and boy, did I go all out with this one too). The second worst injury I've had is 28 stitches in my right shin. Another injury would include a separated shoulder. I've had 9 stitches in my forehead from a bar falling on it while scaling a building. I would never say that injuries are a necessary part of parkour. Even though they are inevitably unavoidable, they should never be sought after. I think training in such a way to do everything you can to avoid getting injuries is the best route to take, and the only route that stays true to the original nature of parkour. I’d say I did good in putting off a broken bone for 11 years.

Learning your basics, maintaining safe technique, and refining your foundations are of utmost importance. Hastiness is your worst enemy in parkour. No one is above a parkour roll or a safety landing. You don’t simply move beyond the basics. The basics are the pillars that hold everything else up. Regular and thorough maintenance is the only thing that’ll keep everything from crashing down. My injury was a complete fluke, in fact, all of my injuries have been flukes. I’ve never gotten hurt because I’ve rushed into something. I make it a habit not to. I do know plenty of people who do rush into things, are hasty, and could care less about the basics. But you see, these people are younger than me.


How's the common perception of parkour in the United States? Is it a wide known phenomenon or is it still growing?Is there prejudice and misinformation given by the media and, if so, does it make it difficult to be accepted by the people and institutions especially when training outdoors? 

 

I would say that most people by now have heard the word parkour. But that does not mean that they know what it is. Most people in the United States do not know what parkour really is and they just assume that it is crazy people doing crazy stunts across rooftops and such. Of course, we have YouTube and other mainstream forms of media to help further that perception. Parkour is definitely on the rise and it is growing at an insanely fast pace. Gyms are popping up everywhere, and it is not uncommon to have classes with 30 students in them these days. The interest is definitely there, but it is going to take a lot of work to help the general population understand what parkour really is. 

 

American ninja warrior is no help. Most people throw the two together in their minds. People think that American ninja warrior is parkour, and that parkour is American ninja warrior. 

Unfortunately the average parkour/freerunning athlete in the U.S. is that reckless teenager who saw parkour stuff of YouTube and thinks they can just do it without taking the time to develop a strong foundation. It’s no reason cities and security have a negative outlook on parkour and think it to be this dangerous, reckless sport and craze. Very few understand it to be a very disciplined, restful, art form. 

 

Unfortunately very few practitioners themselves understand parkour in this way either. But there are many of us determined to spread a positive message of parkour. We want it to be displayed properly and understood properly. We don’t want animosity with cops and security and even the general public. We hope it’ll come to be viewed as a beautiful practice and art form that empowers people in their lives. The first reaction you get from just about everyone when they see you doing parkour is “I could never do that” or “I’d break something if I tired that.” Parkour is seen as this distant thing far beyond the hopes or abilities of any “sane” person. That is simply not true. Parkour is for anyone. Everyone can really benefit from properly engaging in parkour. It has that potential.

What are your plans during this recovery period? Will you ever come to Europe? Are there any places here you would want to visit for parkour purposes? 

 

Right now I am mainly focused on recovering. I am having regular chiropractic appointments and regular acupuncture appointments. I am eating exactly what the doctors told me I should be eating and I am doing exactly what they told me I should be doing. I am literally doing everything I can to make sure that my injury heals the best that possibly can. Since I can't move around and train, I’ve definitely partaken in other areas of my life more than I had been. I’m writing music, I’m studying the Bible and memorizing verses, I’m doing front desk work at my job instead of coaching, and I’m watching a lot of movies and anime. I’ve still been making videos here and there, and I’ve been living out some of my parkour ideas through my friends and co-workers. I would love to visit Europe! There's not really anywhere in particular that I want to go so much as I just want to go anywhere and everywhere. I am not a parkour pilgrim, I don't feel that obligation to go to specific spots or famous places. My style of training utilizes whatever is around me, So my training and movement is satisfied anywhere. 

I want to see the world, I want everywhere I go to expand my worldview.