Pxr

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pXr is a variant of Parkour, seen as involving more complex and dangerous tricks. There are three types of pXr. Normal pXr involves moving freely through your environment, like water flowing through a river. Condensed pXr is when you pXr without moving, like running or jogging in place. Semi-condensed pXr involes pXring on a treadmill that has obstacles on it.

Contents 1 History 2 Exhibitions 3 Tricks 4 References

[edit] History

pXr is a variant of the popular French sport, Parkour. Parkour, known as free running in the United States and Britain, is the sport of moving through one's environment in the most fluid way possible. Developed in 1989 by Sebastien Foucan and David Belle, parkour has become an international phenomenon.

pXr branched off of parkour by some Palomar State University (of Palomar, San Diego) students. It involves more extreme tricks, and as a result, a heightened level of difficulty. Recent controversy surrounds the sport, as it's been cited by the news and media as a danger to America's youth. Enthusiasts disagree, and continue to pursue the fluidity as a way of fun, a way of transportation, and a way of life.

pXr participants and exhibitions are documented on the recent DVDs Jump London and Jump Britain.

[edit] Exhibitions

Although pXr is not as well known as its parent sport, Parkour, it has increased in popularity tremendously since its creation. Competitions between "praxicers" (pXr practicers), known more formally as "exhibitions", have sprung up in many small fitness clubs as an essential component to aerobics programs. Praxicers may take part in any number of events, including freestyle, team, and spontaneous.

Freestyle pXr is performing a pXr sequence in a predetermined location, such as a school or rooftop. Points are awarded based on difficulty, fluidity, and originality. Team pXr is similar to freestyle except that the sequence involves many tricks involving two or more people. Any number of praxicers may be on a team. Points are earned on the same criteria as freestyle pXr. Spontaneous pXr involves praxicers performing pXr in a location not disclosed beforehand. Praxicers must utilize at least 65 percent of the objects in the location and design a pXr sequence immediately after being introduced to the location. A fifteen minute warm up session is allowed. All pXr events are scored on a scale of 1 through 100, with a 100 showing excellent, coherent, and innovative performance, and a 1 showing poor performance, significant pauses between attempted tricks, and/or failed tricks.

Popular locations for exhibitions include Los Angeles, California (USA), and Toronto, Ontario (Canada). Though originally limited to the United States, exhibitions are beginning to spread outward into the entire North American continent. Experts believe there should be exhibitions running in all the major countries by 2020.

[edit] Tricks

• Clep: A catleap, or jumping and grabbing a wall with your hands.
  
• Air float: Gripping two stationary objects on either side of you and utilizing your stomach muscles to swing your legs forward and hold them perpendicular to your upper body. Experienced pXr advocates have been known to hold the position for up to 3 minutes.
  
• Balançoire de pôle (Pole swing): A simple trick in which a praxicer reaches out while running, tightly grips a nearby pole, and swings around it, making a full circle, and resumes his run. The pole may either be standing upright next to the praxicer or extending horizontally above the praxicer (slightly more difficult because the praxicer must have sufficient momentum to swing upward and around the pole; also more dangerous, attempt with caution).
  
• Wall run: Using momentum to jump and run along a surface at right angles to the ground. A difficult trick; the record is held to be 7.1 meters by Evaos Ttam of California (USA).
  
• Bus Jump: Any jump of over 30 feet in distance off of an elevated object. Rob Racoosin coined the term after jumping off of a local school bus, over a fence, and into the Grand Canyon National Park. The term is now used to describe any jump of sufficient magnitude.
  
• Libérez la Chute (Free fall): Any drop in which a praxicer drops a distance of 40 feet or more to a roll maneuver out for fluid landing. Often more advanced praxicers add in aerials such as "Misty Flips" and other tricks while in the air. Famous Polish praxicer Mateusz Sathnur dubbed this trick its name upon being the first praxicer to successfully drop from the second to the first level of the Eiffel Tower (Paris, France) in May of 2000.

[edit] References

Johann Vigroux, Robert Pirès, Sebastien Foucan, and Jerome Ben Aoues. Jump London. 2003.
Foucan, Sebastien. Le Parkour: L'art de Mouvement. L'éditeur heureux d'Arbre, 2003.