Jump City

I've been watching this show for quite a few weeks now and it's staring to feel like it's beautifully made... to deliberately piss us purists off.
Everything in this show is against the original philosophies of Parkour. If you thought competitions like Redbull AOM is diluting parkour, Jump City is even worse.

For a start, players battle against each other with parkour, flips, tricks, stunts and what not... to win a tournament. Parkour wasn't intended to be competitive. It was meant to be a process of self development - achieving mastery over your environment in peace, without the pressure of competitions. We've said this enough, now let's look at some new issues.

I've noticed that judges award more points if athletes flip of big heights. They call it "difficulty". Parkour or even Freerunning are not about jumping off heights recklessly. It's relatively easy to jump off heights but it takes its toll on your joints even if you don't feel any pain. Jumping UP heights, even 5 feet is what's difficult. But newbies won't get that. They're in a hurry to do the "crazy stuff" without proper conditioning or training. Shows like these send the wrong message.

People get injured in almost every episode which is obvious for a competition. But the worst part is, they encourage athletes to still push themselves even when they're injured. Be it Cricket or Parkour, we all know how injuries worsen if you don't stop stressing your injured body part immediately. Parkour is about developing yourself to be capable in the long run, not winning a meaningless competition in exchange for bio-mechanical damage or injuries which might show again in later years.

They claim parkour to be a dangerous activity (fact) and indirectly market it as extreme and reckless to attract viewers (just my perception). But Parkour involves steady progression. Safety is an important aspect of it.

Now why am I writing this? I by no means am going against the show, and I definitely don't intend to be autocratic and tell you not to watch it. This post is just to let you guys (especially the newcomers) know what's what. Watch the show but don't interpret the stunts as Parkour because they're not.