As parkour athletes, we pursue our craft in the elements, rain or shine. Progress demands flexibility, perseverance, and a willingness to get a little wet, dirty, and cold.

Just as exposure to a wide variety of obstacles strengthens your movement repertoire, exposure to a wide variety of temperatures, and other environmental features hones you into a tougher athlete.

Fair weather practitioners miss out on the opportunity to harden themselves into better humans. Steel hardens steel. Avoiding exposure to what some might consider inclement weather betrays your efforts to build yourself into badass.

If you catch yourself wanting to skip a training session because the temperature is dropping or precipitation is expected, flip it around and consider it a chance to take things to the next level. Be smart about how you interact with the environment, but don’t shy away from challenge.

Aside from getting outdoors regardless of the weather, you should also explore training at different times of the day. Early morning sessions have a different feel than midday efforts. Late night soirees compound complexity with poor lighting and greater fatigue.

What other elements might you play with? What about changing up your wardrobe? What happens to your ability to move if you aren’t in sweatpants? What about when you are wearing less-than-ideal footwear? Can you still perform the basics without getting tripped up?

You’re not going to have your best performance when your routine is scrambled, but that’s the point. Training under duress forces improvisation, and ultimately makes you better.

It’s said that the best photographers can take amazing photographs with simple point and shoot cameras. Expensive gear and ideal conditions aren’t necessary. They make do, letting their skills speak for themselves.

Likewise, a pro athlete in a tuxedo and dress shoes could still wow you with power moves. The animal beneath the clothing doesn’t care about attire.

Bottom line, you’re missing out if you don’t embrace every opportunity to train. Injuries aside, don’t let elements beyond your control keep you from becoming a better athlete.

Weather, time of day, clothing—let nothing hold you back.

While it’s a cool feeling to walk away from your first double kong, parkour gains need not always focus on going full beast mode. In fact, incremental improvements with basic skills is a much more important a goal.

The Japanese term “kaizen” relates to this phenomenon of continuous improvements achieved through small changes.

When you are always shooting to land a new skill or prove yourself on a monster obstacle, you are setting yourself up for burnout and potential injury. Striving for big performance bursts in a short period isn’t sustainable in any athletic discipline, and can (paradoxically) cause you to plateau sooner than necessary.

If you can implement kaizen into your training, your parkour career will last a lifetime. Disregard it, and, well, you do so at your own peril.

So, what does continuous improvement look like?

It means that you stay focused on the small details that make up your training.

What happens if you rotate your shoulders so your elbows don’t chicken-wing during your top out? Does how you point your toes during a muscle-up impact your ability to generate whole-body tension? What’s the best distance to take off for a dash vault? Will the position of your head at take-off alter your jumping ability?

By paying attention to nuances you begin to eliminate the habits and body mechanics that have been holding your back. Trial and error coupled with massive repetition cleaves away the faults that slow your progress.

Keep it up and continuous improvement is certain.

How do you know it’s working?

First, consider the subjective component. You feel more confident in your abilities. You have less fear with certain skills. You trust that your body can achieve what you aim to accomplish. Basically, you feel stronger and more competent. Maybe you even start to feel smoother, as if flowing over obstacles is becoming second nature.

Second, use objective measures to provide the hard data:

• Record yourself on video to observe for major faults in your technique. Does anything obvious scream for remedy? Sloppy posture? Heavy foot strikes? Watch, listen, and scan for biomechanics that need improvement.
• Use a stopwatch to time yourself for a given skill or specific run. Have you shaved a few seconds off your ability to ascend a given wall? Can you complete a set obstacle course in less time than last week?
• Pull out a measuring tape to quantify if your precision jumps are actually getting farther apart. Likewise, see if you are gaining height on the highest obstacle you can pop vault.
• Keep a small journal to record your best times, distances, heights, et cetera. Let Pearson’s Law be your new motto:

“That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.”

When you train methodically, continually improving your technique, and drilling better and better mechanics, you progress is guaranteed. Remember this concept whenever you are feeling stuck or discouraged.

Small changes accumulated over time yield big results. That’s the kaizen way.