Phil has had a bit of an on-and-off relationship with parkour in recent years but has made a solid comeback with his feature in the parkour movie Capstone. Now, before we dive in, we must apologise for the blast from the past with this early 2000s photo. It turns out Phil is one of those rare individuals who has mastered the art of avoiding the camera.
I got into parkour while on holiday with my family in the North of France. A new friend and I saw a man doing flips on the beach. I wasn't particularly eager to meet him, but my friend had recently watched Jump Britain and went to say hi. The guy was quite passionate about sharing his practice with us. Before leaving the area, the man asked where I was from. When I said Cambridge, I noticed a spark of interest in his eyes because he had connections there, and they happened to be the most skilled duo in parkour at the time!
Simply put, my mother desperately wanted me to be a great piano player, and of course, my teachers wanted me to focus on my studies. Parkour was the first thing in life that I felt I truly wanted to be good at. And with a lot of practice and a little learning, there is wonderfully exponential growth in what one is able to progress to.
I'm sure if you heard me on a podcast or in person, you'd catch me jokingly criticising various aspects of the sport and sharing strong opinions on what is or isn’t impressive. But at the end of the day, that’s all just personal preference. I know it holds no real objective weight. It might be a bit pedantic of me, but I don’t think parkour itself can change; it’s just movement. People can practise it however they want, and sometimes, I even find myself inspired to dabble in their ways of moving.
The Cambridge community was brilliant for many years. There was a core group of practitioners—those who lived in Cambridge—and then a number of others who regularly visited from neighbouring towns to train.
I wanted to take a more methodical approach to training. I needed to focus on physiotherapy for my left leg, supplementary weight training, and movement repetition. Doing this independently in a smaller city felt like exactly what I needed. Plus, the gym I use here has an incredible spa, which is a nice bonus! All of this is building toward an exciting solo project that, with the right ambition, you should expect to see before the summer.
The song, the cliffhanger at the end, and the fact that 65% of the clips feature the two of us moving all played a part. It could also be that some of the movement is highly technical, and the pacing of the video was quite unique at the time.
New movement challenges will forever excite me. For example, I’ve been training at IMAX in London on and off since the early days (granted, not so much in the last seven years—but let’s ignore that for now). Just the other day, I thought of a really interesting challenge there that I can’t wait to try. I’ve already done a physically harder (I think) but less interesting version of it, so I’m pretty sure it’s possible.
Beyond that, staying agile is really important to me. As I get older, I’ve been leaning more toward endurance-based challenges as well—triathlons being a big one. So, if any elite swimmers are reading this, feel free to send me some advice!
I think, like all social media, parkour is often represented through its most exciting and standout moments. People like to share the exciting bits of their lives - new adventures, new additions to families, new homes, done-up vans, the list goes on. Naturally, in parkour, you mostly see the end result—the best moves after hours of practice. However, there are representations of the build-up, too, showing the steps, methods, and safety precautions involved. Storror videos, for example, often highlight this process, and I’m sure other aspects of parkour’s media presence do as well—you just have to look for them.
I think, as cliché as it may sound, my biggest advice is exactly that: carve your own path. I don’t like giving generic advice because it really depends on what each individual wants to get out of parkour. But if I had to offer something universal, I’d say: look after your body. Don’t push yourself all the time. Constant overexertion increases the risk of injury and can be inherently exhausting.
If I could give advice to my younger self, I’d encourage him to be content selling himself a little. Set up a professional avenue—a website linked to an independent YouTube channel, for example—and just let it run. That would have been a smart move.
There are plenty—probably just as many that go the other way, too. But let me think… A recent long trek I did for charity taught me a lot about perseverance and self-discovery. I’d say one of the biggest lessons is the importance of staying cool, calm, and collected in stressful situations—it makes a huge difference. Of course, parkour isn’t the only activity that teaches this, but it’s certainly one of them.
I’m hoping my solo video project will find them! But of course, you can follow me on Instagram: @_philydee.
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