The Takeoff | A Parkour Podcast

The Takeoff | A Parkour Podcast

by Max Henry

Season 1

The Secret to Great Training is Joy | The Takeoff feat. Flynn Disney

In today's episode, we have parkour athlete and movement mentalist Flynn Disney on to chat about the relationship between our training, our emotions, and our internal narratives. Despite nearly 1.5 hours of runtime I feel like we barely scratched the surface of Flynn's training insights and I think more than anything it indicates how much attention to detail he puts into his coaching, guidance, and overall framework for development. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did, and I can't recommend enough checking the links below to get even more depth on Flynn's perspective! Follow Flynn here: @flynndisney Substack: https://flynndisney.substack.com Flynn's Recommendation: https://youtu.be/66aCaw_27Oo?si=C98nS_wnPUVV5Cla Recommendation Accompanying Text: https://web.archive.org/web/20190820003834/https://eightyeightdays.com/human-writes/parkour-re-establishing-context-and-the-introduction-of-the-superstimulus/

Can We Make Parkour More Accessible? | The Takeoff feat. Ihab Yassin

On this week's episode, I have Ihab Yassin (@little.parkour.hulk) on to chat about accessibility in parkour and his mission to help raise visibility for athletes with disabilities in the parkour community. Ihab has been training parkour in Germany for over a decade and achieved an incredibly high level. He also has dwarfism - and has used his platform to advocate for more education, accessibility, and understanding when it comes to disability within parkour. In this episode, we dive into how parkour has affected his life, concrete ways that the parkour community can continue to make the sport's narrative and education/competitive structures more welcoming for people with disabilities, and why visibility is so important in parkour - not just for athletes with disabilities but for everyone. As always thanks for watching and drop some love for Ihab in the comments! - Max

Why Alt Parkour and Being Yourself Are So Important | The Takeoff feat. Davis Vasconcellos

On today's episode of The Takeoff we have Davis Vasconcellos - one of my best friends in the sport and "Uncle Davis" to my daughter. Davis, Sean, and I spent the past 3+ years shooting the next long format piece for Point A...which I have been working a ton on over the past month. With that in mind, I wanted to bring Davis on to talk about what the process of filming was like for him and get some hot takes on how his relationship to parkour and the community has changed since we started shooting in 2023. As always, I hope you enjoy this one! If you haven't seen it yet - or it's been a while - you can check out the trailer for Davis's piece "Still Here" on @pointaparkour - Max

What Does "Style Parkour" Even Mean? | The Takeoff feat. Denali Siruno

Today, we've got Denali Siruno ( @denali.siruno ) on to chat about style, aesthetics, expression, and how we define novelty and creativity in parkour. Denali has an insanely technical style that draws heavily from tricking and has competed in most major style comps, including SPL and KOTC. He is also known for being willing to share some good-natured hot takes online regarding style in parkour and how the concept of style in our sport is constantly being reassessed and pushed by the next generation. In this episode, I wanted to give him space to share his thoughts on what "style" in parkour even means - if anything - and how we can constructively judge, compare, and talk about it from his perspective. I definitely came away from this episode with some fresh thoughts on style comps, judging, and general expression in the parkour scene. Curious to hear if y'all do as well! - Max

Are We Letting Down the Next Generation of Parkour Athletes? feat. Sam Coppack

This week, I'm chatting with Sam Coppack - lead coach at Nova City and early days UK practitioner - about the recent Project Underground 13 comp, his perspective on the UK's growing gym/youth parkour scene, and what we may be neglecting when it comes to delivering the best possible parkour experience to the next generation of practitioners. This conversation was an absolute pleasure and (as you probably can tell) involved quite a bit of off-the-cuff brainstorming that may lead to some interesting and implementable places for coaches, gym owners, and community leaders down the line. I'm very curious to hear what your thoughts are on this one, particularly regarding the whole non-competitive youth events question I brought up. Does your gym do any inter-facility youth events that aren't competition specific? Let me know! And as always thanks so much for taking the time to listen. - Max

A Brief(ish) History of Parkour feat. Callum Powell

After a short hiatus, we’re back with a big one - a brief (ish) dive into parkour’s history with Callum Powell, nerd supreme of all things parkour. Callum just released his first book, “What is Parkour?” which covers parkour’s culture, history, and practice through hilarious anecdotes from his own training and adventures alongside STORROR. I had the privilege to proof-read quite a decent chunk of it over the past few months and I have to say…I didn’t think I’d ever laugh out loud at parkour non-fiction but here we are. In this episode, we cover the development of parkour - from the founding Yamakasi group to the modern day - in broad strokes, and try to leave references for an interested listener to dive deeper into anything we skip over. Hope you enjoy it and check out the links below for some of the key reference points we make throughout the episode! Callum Powell, “What is Parkour?”: https://www.thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk/products/what-is-parkour-the-sport-with-an-identity-crisis?_pos=1&_sid=5a6f0b197&_ss=r&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnREnSf2HlzEHcHlfxq1nOFWLVexrvtMHRTEPjU1OIAoPADks2yrDrn3CmODU_aem_94H_DUiBXAGopJKACLm51A Julie Angel’s “Breaking the Jump”: https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Jump-secret-Parkours-rebellion/dp/178131554X Jump Britain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TJurAP9l-Q&t=1234s J ason Paul’s Russian Parkour video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2flqoWkVM0&t=1294s Matthias Mayer’s Eastern Parkour video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSziShdcEmY&t=5286s New Year’s Eve Eve Jam Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpA61Cty6fI

How to Create a Million Dollar Parkour Gym | The Takeoff feat. Jimmy Davidson

On this week’s episode, we have Jimmy Davidson - owner of Freedom of Motion in California and one of the minds behind Motion Mentors. He is also the author of Million Dollar Parkour Gym, a book that aims to help parkour gym owners create a space that is not only fun and authentic but also runs on all cylinders as a thriving business. Whether you own a parkour gym or not, I think you’ll find this episode really insightful. We dive into some of the biggest problems gym owners face today (with some simple and actionable solutions) and talk through where the sport may be going next - particularly as the current generation of young kids training parkour in gyms around the world grow into teens and young adults. Links for this episode:Motion Mentors website - https://www.motionmentors.org/ Million Dollar Parkour Gym book - https://www.motionmentors.org/book Motion Mentors Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/0BouhCqyFAkLvvnyH8a9vS

How Surviving a Nightmare Fall Helps Answer Parkour's Hardest Questions | The Takeoff feat. Marcio Filipe

In this episode, Marcio Filipe ( @hgmrtgiv ) walks us through both his terrifying bail in Portugal and how handling the recovery has helped him answer some of the toughest questions parkour athletes ask themselves during their training. It was amazing having Marcio on to share both his story and his absolute love of parkour. He's a true parkour nerd, and we dive into some of the content that helped him become the best precision parkour athlete our sport has seen so far. I hope you find this episode insightful. In some ways, it raised as many questions for me as it answered, but I think that is often the mark of a good conversation. Be sure to follow Marcio on both YouTube and his socials (@marcio.filipee) keep up with his training and recovery. Thank you as always for listening and I'll see you next week! - Max

Building a Global Parkour Federation | The Takeoff feat. Robbie Corbett

Robbie Corbett is the co-owner of WFPF and main brain behind both the WFPF coaching certification and USA Parkour competition circuit. In this episode, we dive into his parkour origins story and how that led him first into the stunt industry and then into his current role with WFPF, and what WFPF is up to in 2026 - including the upcoming USA Parkour Cup in Austin, TX. As always, thanks so much for listening. My apologies for the slight delay on this episode - as you can probably tell the whole family has been fighting a cold and sick kiddos make editing on a schedule a bit tougher. Enjoy the episode and I'll catch you next week! Max

Getting Fitter, Faster, and Stronger | The Takeoff feat. Alec Blenis

Alec Blenis is one of the biggest voices in the hybrid training space right now. In addition to holding the record time for Murph and boasting a 2:40 marathon time alongside some really impressive strength numbers, Alec Blenis is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the current state of evidence-based training. It was a blast getting Alec on to chat about the fundamentals of running faster, training harder, and getting nutrition right when it comes to parkour - and how parkour athletes can get a ton out of an extra hour or two of strategic cardio work each week. If you aren't already, follow ‪@alecblenis‬ both here on YouTube and on the 'gram (his posts are equal parts hilarious and educational) and check out his programming via the links on his socials! Couldn't recommend it enough to anyone in the parkour space looking to build a better training engine without sacrificing power. As always, thanks for listening and I'll see you next week! Max

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