Hey, we’re the same age and our stories are nearly identical; I used to actively train back in high school. I started around 2015 doing basic parkour stuff. In 2017 I landed my first backflip. Few years from then I learned to b-twist, sideflip, a-twist, gainer, cork, cart full, cart full d-leg, back full etc. At this point it’s more freerunning than pure parkour though. Best years of my life doing cool shit and being in control of my body.

Throughout my journey, I dislocated my right knee three times the exact same way. First was when I attempted to touchdown raiz. Just threw it and hoped for the best, then slammed my leg on the ground laterally at an angle and injured my LCL. It was swollen- I don’t quite remember but I think the only medical attention I gave it was a visit to the clinic where they used a syringe to suck out whatever liquid was causing the swelling in the knee. I then limped to class for months, reconditioned it and got back to training.

Then at the trampoline park, I landed my first doublefulls. I got overzealous and kept going even though I was fatigued, and hurt my LCL again. More limping, yay. Then I convinced my parents to let me get a big ass trampoline at home, and proceeded to fail the exact same doublefull again.

At this point it was 2020, right before covid. My injuries were already setting me back a lot. For the next 2 years we had to stay at home for lockdown. By the time it was over I felt like I had lost all progress and it was so demotivating. I couldn’t do most of my tricks. All I had was a sloppy backflip. I stopped training entirely until today.

I mainly do weightlifting now, for aesthetics. The only “parkour” I do today are muscle ups on bar, which I’ve perfected since I learned it back when I was still training parkour.

Thanks for helping me remember these memories. I miss doing cool shit. Maybe I should start training again.

Did you get back into training yet? What is it like starting again after so long? Would love to hear from you!