Calluses are like good friendships; it takes time to form them, but they help you when you really need them and it hurts when they rip...off...but not if you moisturise them...well, ok the metaphor kinda failed there but you get the idea.

Ask most people what physical activities you train in parkour, and most of the time you'll get the same answer: running, jumping and climbing. If you look at the training of most people, though, you'll see a whole lot of running and jumping, but not very much climbing. If you are one of those people who train parkour but doesn't climb very much, go out of your way to start climbing more.

A few weeks ago I hooked up with John Bourne for our first session of buildering in far too long. London is a curious place when it comes to buildering for a few reasons: hardly anyone does it, which is strange given the popularity and growth of parkour; there's a large number of climbers who live and train in the capital; and there's a distinct absence of rocks to climb.