How one man nearly DESTROYED Parkour 

excellent work jimmy

Going through the old RU-vid channel is like walking through an abandoned mall.

A man fears losing something important to him, and in his paranoia, takes actions that cause him to lose what he sought to guard. It’s a tale as old as time.

Head injuries can really change people's personalities drastically. Part of me feels bad for him

No idea why youtube recommended this to me but I’m glad it did. Good shit.

Pugilism: the English martial art of fighting with fists Judo: the Japanese martial art of grappling Parkour: the French martial art of running away

"In 2020 parkour has become a booming economy" me: hold on.. checks the date I see.. before the starts of certain worldwide event

It’s so cool to see someone go over this all... parkour has a few big people still, but it seemed to slip more underground for a minute, it would be a shame if the history was forgotten. Well structured and engaging video! Thanks!

I remember shitposting on the forums and being bad at parkour

This was great. Love this content 💥

Crazy trip down memory lane, awesome content. I remember going to London to meet with EZ and UF in 2009 to become a Sponsored Athlete, after a great day of training he eventually emailed saying I wouldn't be a 'good fit'.. I pretty much stopped training seriously after that. Still a gut punch to this day tbh.

Take a page from nudists. You don't need fancy clothes to run around the city being chased by police

This is the type of content the community has been missing.

Parkour: *exists* Shoe companies: stonks

0:40 When 009 sound system started playing I nearly died of nostalgia

so many stuntmen do crazy stunts and all of them almost die from climbing trees

Those wondering "WTF is digital penetration?" It's not "digital" as in being related to electronics or computers, it's "digital" meaning fingers.

Man this stuff brings back memories, from when i asked my parents for urban freeflow gear to train in when i was like 16, winning a free T from EZ himself on an urban freeflow facebook comp. To EZ threatening to attack me when i got into a mild argument with him online. Great times.

0:39 That music made me ascend to the gods in a matter of milliseconds. So much nostalgia.

Great video 👏👏👏 I really enjoyed the narration, the story is amazing and the images are such a vibe... So glad I got it recommended! Also I began watching parkour content because of storror back in 2012 and when you said they're now the biggest team that felt sooooooo good man

When you say the one man that nearly destroyed parkour all I can think about is Michael Scott

Please do LIVEWIRE: a journey through the wire

Gotta love the attention to detail you put in your videos Jimmy. You literally give the perfect history lessons in all cool things. And the man can flip too. Boom. Legend

Amazing video, came back to watch it a year later and it’s still amazing, every video like this you make is really interesting. Great content man

Really well done and pretty accurate. You don't give EZ quite enough credit, he (and we) started well before the release of Jump London, very shortly after "Rush Hour" aired on BBC. Some of the first events we hosted were around Feb / March 2003. Jump London aired in September, when we had already done an event with Seb as a guest. Ez was brilliant at copying popular designs and simply giving them a parkour twist. Really too bad that he was power hungry and greedy, as you mentioned, he started out quite likable.

Incredible stuff!

Didn't think I'd stick around for the whole video. I'm glad I did. Well told sir. 🤙

You did a good job here dude, comprehensive exploration, kept interest peaked right thru, even handed presentation, you'll do well making docos if that is where you're headed

I love the no-nonsense information. No random tangents, just straight to the point. Great video 🤘

I know nothing, absolutely nothing about Parkour and have never had an interest in doing it or anything. I have no idea why I got recommended to this. But I really enjoyed the video. Nice video ^^

Dude, this is an amazing documentary. Well done, my friend! Subbed.

Glad it was recommended, excellent video! Reminded me of me and my friends. 3 years ago I stopped doing parkour so I stopped seeing them. I really miss them, we always had something to do, never did I get bored by hanging out with them. Probably going to organize something with them even if we all moved on, I’m sure they’ll be happy to do parkour again!

Still remember being obsessed with parkour when I was like 10 and watching Laflair parkour after school everyday. Good memories.

6:32 that's my brother having his trousers yanked down on the right hand side lmfao

0:40 i wasn't expecting Trance - 009 Dreamscape... Old school RU-vid

Got recommend this video! Really well made! Can’t wait to see your new videos!

“In 2020 parkour has become a booming event” *haven’t heard the word “parkour” in years.*

I’m not even that interested in parkour but this video was very interesting and kept me watching. Great stuff

Phenomenal documentary bro! So glad I came across this. I just seen my little brother randomly wearing my old UF shirt from 2010 (he has no idea what it means) and had the sudden urge to type urban freeflow into youtube, stumbling upon this excellent story. I had always heard about the negative side of UF but this certainly filled in all the gaps regarding Ez. I actually feel sorry for the guy, considering that accident must have made him paranoid that he'll be left behind by everyone and become obsolete. Then within a few years, the whole scene hated him (with good reason I suppose). He must have so many regrets. It's probably the teen nostalgia in me but I sure do miss those days of the parkour community. Great work anyway, subbed!

I did always wonder what happen to urbanfree flow! Amazing video dude! I remember those days very well! I quit parkour a few years back to injury, which I still have problems with today,but quitting parkour made me fall back Inlove with skateboarding which I’ve done for many many years, and I’d love to get back into parkour as I also did that for so many years! Loving your content bro earn a sub! Have been re watching my old videos and you’re definitely inspiring to get started again! Keep up the good work! I’m a Bournemouth boy and we have a massive community down here! As I’m sure you know few big names from down here! Awesome to see the younger generation doing so well living our dream! Big up

Wow I had no idea about any of this at all... Thanks for the knowledge man! My earliest memory is when a friend of mine showed me parkour compilations on RU-vid

Fondly remember - Tim Shieff 09 showreel... I think i was 10 years old or something and didn't fully start parkour for a few years :) Loved this video dude! Can't wait for all the amazing videos you will bring this year x

Head injuries are no joke, even if there's "no lasting brain damage" they can really shift your personality. My sister took a bad fall, slipped and cracked the back of her head on a tile floor when she was around 20, and while it's been over 10 years and she's still a perfectly functional and intelligent adult, Her personality shifted quite a bit. She'd be quicker to frustration and harsh judgment, she became quicker to negative emotion, she'd forget small things that would make her feel isolated and insecure ("Why the heck didn't you tell me what time the event was? That's so inconsiderate of you." "No, I did tell you the time."), it would just be ever so slightly harder for her to concentrate on things. That is 1000x NO EXCUSE for what he was convicted for, however. But I can see how, in the early stages after his injury, EZ would shift his personality in that much harsher, irrational way.

I'm glad this was recommended to me, I was always somewhat interested in Parkour and it's history, and this video really delivered!

“It was every 13 years old’s *wet* dream.”

*first 40 seconds rolls in* CUE THE UNREGISTERED HYPERCAM BOISSS

I was wondering not even a week ago what had happen to this channel I so so looked up to in my teens... Sad story but thanks a lot for all the informative video you make! Keep it up!

Really well-researched, well-written journalism here. I’m not into parkour in any way so I don’t know anything about any of this stuff, but you explained it all so well that I didn’t feel like there was any part of the story I didn’t understand. The only name I recognized was Tim Shieff, who I know from his Ninja Warrior participation.

I remember winning one of their double hooded Glyph hoodies back in the day and then EZ refused to send it to me hahaha what a time, always imagined him ending up in pen

How wild it is to see this. I live in London and when Urban Freeflow kicked off big time I was about 15-16 and HEAVY into Parkour. I used to look up to Paul and follow Urban Freeflow religiously when I was a teenager. I rewatched Jump Britan so often. Like people said he used to be a cool guy and I still have an Urban Freeflow t-shirt I won through a compition on their facebook back in the day. I knew they disbanded and that there was a lot of internal conflict around them but never knew the details. I knew about Flexdem too but the sexual assault stuff is wild. I wonder what happened to his wife and daughter? His crime is strange because I know he beat up a pedo that was trying to groom his 13-14 y/o daughter years ago. It's a shame Urban Freeflow crashed down so hard the way it did. As the video says they did some amazing things for the Parkour community. Back when they were big it was a different world. Anything seemed possible. Solid fucking video, mate. 👍🏻

I started training back in '08 and even then I got a weird vibe about UFF just from the RU-vid and then I always wondered what happened to the guy. This was great, thanks for putting it together!

I first learned about parkour in middle school and loved it. I had so much fun running, climbing on rooftops, jumping and I was always practicing. Loved movies like District B13 and would constantly watch parkour videos online. But unfortunately I was bullied in school for my interest in it. I even had people who I thought were my friends come to my while I had a injured leg I got while actually doing parkour and say things to me like "Me and So and So discussed it and we decided there's no way you could actually do parkour. If you can actually do it show us a trick" which I stupidly did. I nailed the trick but hurt myself more in the process and they would still say they didn't think I could actually parkour and they think I only know a few tricks. I ended up stopping parkour in high school. I would still do a few things here and there but never really had my heart in it. Now as an adult I realize I should have never let them bully me out of my hobby but I did. I tried getting back into it a little while ago but I just couldn't get over the idea that if I hurt myself and couldn't work to pay bills then I'd be fucked. I never really did go back and try again after that. I used to be a big fan of urban freeflow and its kinda sad to see what happened to them. Great video man. Super interesting and well researched. I just found your channel today and I'm about to go bing your videos.

Your actually so under rated, nice video. I started parkour in August of 2019 and I find your videos very interesting

urban freeflow was basically the faze clan of parkour

Man i remember when a friend and I randomly stumbled on that Storm Freerun Volume 1 vid. It was mind blowing for us and we immediately started doing parkour ourselves. It also introduced us to Glitch Mob. Neither of us do parkour anymore, but we've been talking about getting back into it. Really cool that this vid randomly popped up.

You're a great story teller. Glad I found your channel

Dude Jump London was released on the day I was born, literally😱

I found Storror when they released their first 6 underground video and they've been my favorite channel ever since

That was well put together with alot research. Your journalist skills are very good. Well done Jimmy that was interesting.

This video was so good, i enjoy watching parkour but understand that i will never be able to perform it, you also have a very nice voice for the narrating 10/10 :)

I was on Urban Freeflow I loved it to begin with. It was amazing then it got dark fast! I miss the old Urban Freeflow still to this today. I even went to one of their gym events. Ahh and the old PFC team on there the Spamlords

That one dislike was EZ

Awesome edits man

Holy shit, that was deep. Many things answered as well, i remember all the good times seeing UF back in the day. Props once more for all the hard work you put into this. This is history. Well done!

Parkour and free running are different. Parkour: getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Free running: getting from point A to point B as creatively as possible.

Definitely do the one on Tim. I discovered parkour because of MTV's ultimate parkour challenge ✌️😃

This was in my Rec Box for ages and I was putting it off. Top Vid.

RU-vid recommended this to me. Thanks RU-vid. Great video. Kept me intrigued until the end. Oh and my friends told me what parkour was when I was 13 or so.

Really well made Kieren! I'd love to see more video's like these every once in a while. How about making one about the beginning to the end of the Flow channel?

Thats insane I read alot bout parkour besides training but how could I've missed nearly everything in that video Realy good work

Really high quality, keep going you will make it far I'm sure

I don’t know anything about parkour at all and had no idea about any of this. Also never seen a video on your channel before. Very engaging video really sucked me in quickly and made me want to know what happened. Yes it’s an interesting story but you are also a very well spoken creator. Definitely subscribed and will be watching more!

0:32 At first glance I thought it was loss

i can see you've put a lot of effort into this video, you really showed the story brilliantly. great job jimmy.

Thanks for this mad walk down memory lane! I was one of those 13 year olds at the time. It cracked open a whole new world for me, a kid that already knew he could impress his stupid classmates with how far and high he could jump was always going to get hooked. Would talk so much trash on that site, post some terrible videos (lucky this was before yt) and went to a couple of the Southbank UFF meets as well as an indoor gym session which they hosted with Sebastien Foucan. I still remember vividly how unbelievable that guy's physique was... he was a human triangle, with these massive broadshoulders. Such a shame to hear about how this all ended up, but having not seen much parkour for a good 10+ years, it's been wild seeing how big that Storror group have got... especially as they mostly come from within 20 miles of my hometown. They no doubt messed around on some of the same spots we did. Some kids are clearly smart enough to keep at stuff, sadly partying and wasting my money took my attention.

Just brought back so many memories, great video

Bang up job on this. It's so professionally executed and interesting from start to finish. Definitely looking forward to your next project!

Idk how this ended up in my recomendations but im glad it did. Nice work

Glad this was in my recommended, awesome video.

I just got into Parkour, and I love your videos!

This was just randomly recommended to me, good video.

Amazing job, thanks for telling this story so clearly!

So I used to do Parkour back in the day and this video was a huge nostalgia trip for me, thanks for making it. I'm slowly working my way through your videos. I might even get my Nike articulates out the cupboard and get back to training.

Great vid and very well made ! cheers

My limited japanes makes me read: "two mouth sideways-two two" Is it supposed to be a stylized guy vaulting?

Man RU-vid recommended this to me and now it caught me like hell

Love from king's lynn, Norfolk! Parkour here is still booming as ever ! The scene will never die out as long as we have lovely parks dotted around UK , because it's about the art , one thing big companies could never take away from us 🙏💯

Can I just say how much I appreciate you for using the song in the beginning of the video unironically.

Great job mate, im excited for the upcoming content. Keep it up !

I remember some of these connections and basically all of the youtube content from those days. I was irritated with UF for a long time and was happy when the ironic contest entries thing seemed to put the nail in its coffin. But I never had any contacts "on the inside", just the public statements. This video brings a lot of closure on stuff I had nearly forgotten I was curious about.

ive never done and probably never will do parkour but wow this was really interesting you are good at these documentary type videos!

Man the nostalgia hit from this video. I was there at the second parkour worlds. Livewire was absolutely mind blowing. I hung out with Kirby a few times as we lived super close to each other. And in UFs peak it definitely aided the community ... but it also held it back and there were plenty of grumbles. Parkour generations did great things back then. And I used to go on the flying squad forums because those guys were such incredible fun. But so many guys focused so hard on becoming a sponsored athlete and were more concerned with getting their face seen then actually training or helping others train. Its good to hear that the community survived even with UF gone. Sounds like it was for the better.

Good documentary - learnt lots, and that 16mins flew by!

I remember when i was like 12 years old. Im 32 now. I was jumping up on high boxes and did some parkour stuff. I've never heard about Parkour. Dont think anyone did at that time. And I said to my friend "There should be like a sport where u jump around on stuff and do tricks without a skateboard and stuff"

That was such a good video, how do you not have more atention, really well done👍

I’ve never done parkour but I would love to get into someday and definitely love this kind of content on RU-vid dude 👍

I wish there was a video with this level of research and presentation for every story of the history of parkour.

Oh I remember these good old days

Oh man, i used to read Urban Freeflow's Jump Magazine all the time in highschool. I still remember slacking off in IT class, reading the Jan 2011 issue and seeing a photo we had submitted got published. That made my day

as someone who didnt really grow up in the EZ era, this was really interesting. Thanks sm for this!