A question for the freerunners in the playground

I've been looking into parkour and free running for the last while. I've got down some basic movements and principles and I'd like to continue to grow within the two sports. The problem this presents is that the only pair of shoes I own has taken me as far as it can, since it's woefully innappropriate in design for this sort of thing.

So I ask: what shoes do you experienced traceurs recommend?

I have a fixed budget but I'm reasonably confident that I can finagle something as long as it's not exorbitant.

I'm not to well versed in the art of free-running, but a quick google search of "parkour shoes" brought me to a website dedicated to selling clothing made for free-running in.

I would link to it but I'm not sure if that would count as advertising, which is against the forum rules.

I think there's an American Parkour Association. Something like that. Anyway, on their site they sell freerunning shoes, or at least the ad banners do.

My brother bought a brand of shoes called "Feivue" for free-running recently. He seems to know what he's doing to a good degree.

I don't do freerunning but this video might be useful.

I do wear feiyues when I do wushu, and they are indeed very light canvas with no insoles and very little traction (depending on where I practice, the rubber soles go completely smooth within a few months). I don't like to run in them because of the lack of support (I also have trouble with shin splints) but they're good for kicks and martial arts because they're so light.

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Originally Posted by Ceric

I don't do freerunning but this video might be useful.

I do wear feiyues when I do wushu, and they are indeed very light canvas with no insoles and very little traction (depending on where I practice, the rubber soles go completely smooth within a few months). I don't like to run in them because of the lack of support (I also have trouble with shin splints) but they're good for kicks and martial arts because they're so light.

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No grip and the sole wears out quickly? That sounds like exactly the opposite of what I need. I'm kinda tough on shoes in general just from the way I naturally move, much less when I do something movement intensive, and I know I need strong traction.

If I don't get many more responses than this I may end up just having to guess/test some cheapo wal-mart shoes. I'd rather avoid that if I could though. Bad guesses can lead to unpleasant landings.

Edit: seems the guy that posted the video you linked has had a different experience with his feiyues. Do you know if yours are the french or chinese manufacture? Oh, and thanks for the link. It was somewhat helpful.

As a traceur with a few years of training behind me I can really recommend feiyues. They won't last very long, I normally wear out two pairs or so/summer, but they're cheap and great to train in.

They're light and got a really good grip, even while wet. Limited dampening is also a plus as you'll learn to land your precisions and drops more smoothly. Finally, the thin sole makes them good for balancing as well, since you'll be able to bend the shoes around bars a little, giving a better, more natural grip.

If you don't want that, check out the kalenji. Thicker sole, and heavier, but still a good grip. A classic traceur shoe :smallsmile:

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Originally Posted by DeusMortuusEst

As a traceur with a few years of training behind me I can really recommend feiyues. They won't last very long, I normally wear out two pairs or so/summer, but they're cheap and great to train in.

They're light and got a really good grip, even while wet. Limited dampening is also a plus as you'll learn to land your precisions and drops more smoothly. Finally, the thin sole makes them good for balancing as well, since you'll be able to bend the shoes around bars a little, giving a better, more natural grip.

If you don't want that, check out the kalenji. Thicker sole, and heavier, but still a good grip. A classic traceur shoe :smallsmile:

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I may have to revisit the feiyues then. The kalenji looks like it might be what I'm looking for, but I suspect I might have trouble getting a pair imported for a reasonable cost. The euro and the US dollar are close enough right now that the shoes themselves aren't too expensive, but I don't know how difficult or expensive it would be to get them across the atlantic. :smallsigh: Thanks for the tip though. :smallsmile:

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Originally Posted by Kelb_Panthera

No grip and the sole wears out quickly? That sounds like exactly the opposite of what I need. I'm kinda tough on shoes in general just from the way I naturally move, much less when I do something movement intensive, and I know I need strong traction.

If I don't get many more responses than this I may end up just having to guess/test some cheapo wal-mart shoes. I'd rather avoid that if I could though. Bad guesses can lead to unpleasant landings.

Edit: seems the guy that posted the video you linked has had a different experience with his feiyues. Do you know if yours are the french or chinese manufacture? Oh, and thanks for the link. It was somewhat helpful.

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Well, my experience with feiyues is all from wushu. We practice mostly on hardwood floor (like a basketball court), with jumps and kicks and stances but not much actual running. I say less traction because there's a few spinning moves like a front sweep where you don't want your foot sticking to the ground. I get less rotation if I try the same move in, say, running shoes, or even newer feiyues where the soles haven't worn down yet. On the other hand, the guy in the video uses feiyues for wallruns, and I have to assume you need pretty good grip for that (wallruns being completely outside of my ability).

If freerunners are recommending feiyues and saying it has good grip, please take their word over mine :smalltongue:

(Also, you can give your feiyues some pretty good temporary grip by dampening the soles a bit. We just rub the soles with the palm of our hand cuz we're usually pretty sweaty by then.)

I usually buy mine from the same website as the guy in the video, Kung Fu Direct.

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Originally Posted by Kelb_Panthera

I may have to revisit the feiyues then. The kalenji looks like it might be what I'm looking for, but I suspect I might have trouble getting a pair imported for a reasonable cost. The euro and the US dollar are close enough right now that the shoes themselves aren't too expensive, but I don't know how difficult or expensive it would be to get them across the atlantic. :smallsigh: Thanks for the tip though. :smallsmile:

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I really recommend trying a pair, they're not very expensive and nearly everyone that I know who have tried them are still using that shoe exclusively now, for both indoors and outdoors training.

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Originally Posted by Ceric

Well, my experience with feiyues is all from wushu. We practice mostly on hardwood floor (like a basketball court), with jumps and kicks and stances but not much actual running. I say less traction because there's a few spinning moves like a front sweep where you don't want your foot sticking to the ground. I get less rotation if I try the same move in, say, running shoes, or even newer feiyues where the soles haven't worn down yet. On the other hand, the guy in the video uses feiyues for wallruns, and I have to assume you need pretty good grip for that (wallruns being completely outside of my ability).

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Well, different shoes are good at good at different grips. I find that feiyues are really good for sticking straight jumps, but at the same time they're really good for quick directional changes, such as spinning as you said.

For wallruns, it's not that important what kind of shoes you got, it's more technique than anything else. I focus mostly on how good the grip is when doing rail precisions and similar jumps.

I gotta chime in and recommend feiyues also. Though nowadays I run in a pair of NB Minimus. The feiyues will serve you well.