No Jumper - The Pasha Petkuns Interview: Parkour, Marrying Riley Reid & More

Episode Date: February 1, 2022

Pasha talks about his amazing skills, being an athlete, being sponsored by Red Bull, relationship with Riley Reid and more! https://www.instagram.com/pashatheboss/ ----- NO JUMPER PATREON http://www.patreon.com/nojumper CHECK OUT OUR NEW SPOTIFY PLAYLIST https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5te... FOLLOW US ON SNAPCHAT FOR THE LATEST NEWS & UPDATES https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_... CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE!!! http://www.nojumper.com/ SUBSCRIBE for new interviews (and more) weekly: http://bit.ly/nastymondayz  Follow us on SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ENxb4B... iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/n... Follow us on Social Media: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_... http://www.twitter.com/nojumper http://www.instagram.com/nojumper https://www.facebook.com/NOJUMPEROFFI... http://www.reddit.com/r/nojumper JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Q3XPfBm Follow Adam22: https://www.tiktok.com/@adam22 http://www.twitter.com/adam22 http://www.instagram.com/adam22 adam22hoe on Snapchat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No Jumper, coolest podcast in the world. And today, my boy Pasha, the parkour free running legend, is in the building. And we're going to do some educating. How you doing, man? Doing great. How are you? Excellent. Nice to have you on the show, man.

I've kind of become obsessed with the history of your sport over the last couple of months. Thanks to my boy Jimmy the Giant who has a YouTube channel where he's done a lot of very interesting content about parkour, free running. What do you prefer to call it? I don't really care. just wherever. Okay. I call it free running more, because I guess I do free running more than parkour.

What's the difference? Parkour is more like from A to B, the most convenient way. And free running would be like same thing with wood style in the middle. Adding tricks and flips and whatnot, whereas parkour is more about just can you get between these two things. Yeah, yeah. Very efficient way, yeah. Interesting. Okay, I didn't know that.

So you're originally from where? I'm from Latvia. Okay. Eastern Europe. Very small country, 1.8 million people. Okay. And so what kind of environment or neighborhood did you grow up in? Just, I don't know, just flat hills, that's what I call it. Really? So not like a big city?

No, it's a very small city. Okay. And there's nothing really there. That's what all the creative part come from. Okay. So what kind of stuff were you into as a kid in sports? I was into like action movies, Jackie Chan, Chuck Norris, all that. So I grew up watching all that. So from a young age, that just stood out to you when you would watch movies is like I want to do that. Yes, I remember bugging my mom to like, can you buy a Jackie Chan movie? I want to really, I want to watch it. Wow. That's awesome. Okay. And so how did you start to pursue it? You just started working on those kind of tricks? No, I saw this video on

YouTube 2005, it called the Russian Climbler. Okay. And this is what get me into it. I'm just like, I just want to be like that guy. I just want to do this thing. What kind of stuff were they doing? Was this like very, very early in the evolution of this stuff? Yeah, like very old school parkour stuff and just it was super cool at the moment right well and matrix came out major came out before but matrix was a big influence for me too because when neo did a backflip like a wall flip i was like whoa this is sick did you go out and learn it yeah how wanted that take you or was that like so was that like a dream trick we had like a corner couch in my living room so i just was practicing on the couch first when i was a kid wow yeah that's awesome um okay so were you doing like other sports or martial arts

I did martial arts before they take Wandoah for about like four years. And then we couldn't afford classes. So I stopped and end up on like streets doing my own stunts type thing. Wow. So what did your parents do? My mom is like she worked as a waitress and my dad, he left early. So I didn't. I mean, I know him, but he never really was part of my life.

Right. I grew up with stepdad and he was a firefighter. Okay. Is the average Latvians existence, is the quality? of life kind of low like the average person doesn't have much money yeah yeah Eastern Europe that's what it is right as average salary is like five hundred dollars a month right that thing yeah damn so do you have a lot of memories as a kid of like it'd be yeah all the best memories all the sorry oh was it hard like

from a financial perspective like did you grow up like really wanting to no we I wasn't poor or anything like that I just like wasn't like super rich or like super wealthy okay it was all right we had everything we need right right It's not like America where everybody feels like they need to, they're climbing this ladder and trying to be something else. All the best memories is from my hometown when I just start parkour, when I go out with my friends and climb trees. Right. So you guys were doing a lot of trees and stuff? We would go to the sand dunes mainly.

Oh, okay. Yeah, just like climb on top of the sand dune and just like throw your body down on the sand dune. Right. And so did you think that there was like a future in this or you were just passionate about it? Just passionate about it. I remember just was like I was counting how many tricks I can do I can do 10 tricks I can do nine tricks so like I can do 20 tricks like collecting all these tricks in my bag. Right. And so then this parkour like are you watching it kind of blow up or like when did it really start to get bigger online? The pick was 2005 to 2007 and it kind of slowed down after.

Okay. Yeah. But now there is like the I mean like 2005 and 2007 is what everyone was doing it. my town was doing it everyone was doing it like there was so many videos on youtube and stuff and now it's it's better to do parkour now because there's a lot of like videos tutorials and stuff a lot of gyms but back then people just wanted to do it it was like fashion right but you never lost interest in it no i just loved it i just feel like a superhero right i feel like i can survive the airplane crash just wait till the plane gets low step out of the plane were you uh were you sponsored back in the day or did it take you a long time?

Nothing really crazy back in a day. Even like when Red Bull starts sponsoring me was Red Bull Latvia. Okay. So the marketing is very small so they couldn't pay me as much. And later in life, I got sponsored by international. So all the sponsor came later. At first it was just like doing it for fun. Right.

Yeah. Yeah, because you're saying that you were doing it all the way back in 2007. Yeah. 2006 is where I start. I start on Christmas as well. 15 years ago. Yeah. Or so.

15 years ago, yeah. So what does this look like from your perspective? Like, have you just kind of been going out and grinding tricks, like, every day? Or, like, what is the lifestyle of a person who's interest in this kind of stuff? I don't know. For me, like, the world is a playground. You know, I see, like, weird corners or, like, slanted walls, and I'm thinking, like, what can I do with them? It's like a musician or artist.

You know, they're just, like, playing with words. I'm playing with my body and playing with an environment. Right. So do you spend a lot of time looking for spots? and like just going around just staring at stuff just thinking about what might be possible yeah just walking around is my favorite thing just walk around look look at the buildings and just create in my mind and just perform it later or right at the moment yeah what are the what are the best cities all cities are different like LA is pretty good you do like LA have a lot of like unique alleys and

stuff like that where buildings are close to each other right But yeah, it's funny how like it really affects you, like kids from England versus kids from like Russia. Completely different styles because they have the environment they have to play with. Right. Yeah, like from a BMX perspective, it was crazy the first time I went out to Barcelona because there's just so much artistic architecture. There's just so many, it's just very normal for there to be like a bench next to a slanted wall. And the bench has like some kind of weird grindable thing along the top or you know there's just all kinds of different sculptures and shit everywhere. So it's like completely different than L.A.

Where L.A. has a good reputation as having a lot of skate spots and BMX spots. But I mean, the architecture in L.A. is very spread out. It's not like shit as close together. Also like but then in New York too, when I think about New York, I mean, so much of the spots that we were excited about were like the cellar doors that are like basically non-existent on the West Coast. but man in new york everything is so crammed together so like there would be like a perfect rail in front of somebody's apartment building but it's new york there's no there's not like a long runway for you to get speed or whatever a lot of times the runway in front of this perfect rail would be like three feet so you wouldn't even look at the rail you know yeah usually big cities have this like little features where it's so big so you can find all this random stuff as you said like a rail next to someone's apartment building right why and i feel like in a smaller cities is not as common because they just don't have as much space so they're trying to you know use the most out of it right there are very few like public areas in l. like you'll see parks here and there but like in comparison in barcelona it's almost like every neighborhood just has all these different parks that people

could just hang out in and go drink a beer after work or whatever a lot of european cities have that and that's way less common in america even in park court like one of the best flows it's from Spain they have because as you said architecture allows you to do that right and they just like they so smooth and so nice they're like Spanish people just chilling doing amazing easy light move but it looks so beautiful really that's interesting so you very much notice different styles between yeah I can tell like where the guy grew up or like what environment he had because yeah it affects your style there isn't you can't escape that yeah that's interesting yeah I mean that's true for sure in bike riding and skateboarding as well like if somebody's from new york city a lot of times you can

really see it in the way that they choose to skate or ride bikes because it's just such a different environment out there there's just so so many less things that you can do so many less thing but then also so much more like such a yeah like it's funny like because if you if you like figure out how to play with with your limits you can really pull out more than you have a lot and you don't know where to start. That makes sense. When did you start to really travel to do it though? I start traveling when I was 18. Yeah, pretty much after I finished the school. I just start going to events and stuff. First, I moved to Ireland. Really? Yeah, because my family lives in Ireland actually. Oh. Yeah, they all moved from Latvia, working in Ireland now. Wow. They moved there because there were just

more jobs. More jobs and stuff, better, better like salaries. Interesting. And I worked there at a car wash for like a little bit and I'm like fuck I want to do something else with my life and I want to do something with parkour as crazy as it sounds it worked right did you always uh have jobs throughout your life like when did you actually start making money from parkour no really uh pretty much like as soon as i said like i want to make money like off parkour and I want to just somehow finesse it I pretty much did really yeah it started slowly and then it just like kept getting better and better and better like what are the opportunities to make money obviously I like a sponsorship. I did a lot of stunts in the movies. I was performing in Circus

Soleil.A. Yeah. Wow. What was doing Circus Soleil like? I didn't really like it to be honest because it was like very repetitive and the same thing every day. And I remember sitting on like a backstage and I'm like realizing that I know everything that's going to happen in the show like, okay, he drops the head and she comes and like do this and that. And I'm like, oh, it's going to be my life for next 10 years. So it kind of freaked me out. How long did you actually do it for? I did six months. Really? Even though I had a contract for a year, but then I went to talk to the director and said, like, I can't do it.

Right. And they kind of understood. But it was already three months in, so they let me wait another three months until they found a replacement. And, yeah, I escaped. Really? Was it paying good? It's like $140 per show, something like that. Okay.

And it all depends how much you do. And in Cirque, you have to build your career. If you like with Cirque for 10 years, you can earn really good money. money if you would serve for a year, not so much. But they're taking really good care of you. They're treating you like an artist and they have the best food. I miss food. They have like a food track there.

Really? Yeah, very healthy for like artists. Oh, nice. Pretty good. What was it like starting to get into movies and stuff? All of a sudden you were finding yourself going to L.A. and New York, I guess, to do movies? No, actually, first movie I did in China.

Oh, really? It's funny. It's never came out. Because they, in China is not that easy to film the movie. They have like a Chinese mafia or something like that. So, because, you know, if you get on Chinese market, it doesn't, like, you can film all right movie. And as soon as it's in theaters, that movie is going to make bank because of the population. Right.

But you have to follow so many rules. Like, you have, yeah. You know, China is strict with everything. Right. But they didn't follow some rules, and they did it very, like, behind someone's back. So no one led them to put the movie in the cinema. Wow. So they put $100 million in the movie.

movie and it went to trash. Holy shit. Just like that, yeah. Was that a big disappointment at the time that you didn't get to see yourself in this? Yeah, kind of. It was like my first movie never came out. You got paid though, right? I got paid, yeah. Damn, that's funny. I remember meeting a girl back in the day when I live in New York and she

you could tell that she was really full of herself that she was really excited about where her life was supposed to go because she had starred in this movie and she sends me the link to the movie and stuff and I start looking into it. I'm reading the press releases and stuff and I start to realize that she had filmed this movie like a couple years before, a bunch of big celebrities in the movie and shit,

but it clearly was not coming out, and it never came out. Oh, that's funny. And I was like, wow, I always think about that. Like, I wonder how much of a letdown that was. That was all right. Yeah. And then I did, like, I had movies. I did Six Underground with Ryan Reynolds,

which is on Netflix. I did a little bit of Wonder Woman where I was just, like, a coordinating one scene, like the second Wonder Woman. It's an opening scene when they were, like, Olympic games or something like that and they were running on these beams and stuff. So they hired me to just like direct the movement a little bit. To direct it? How did you?

Not like directed, more like choreography. Right. Yeah. But that's interesting. How did you start to move into that as opposed to just doing the tricks? True friends. Yeah. It's all about who you know.

Wow. Yeah. And I had a lot of like a lot of friends that do that stuff. So they kind of hook me up with the job. Right. What compared gymnastics. to parkour or free running. Like, how do you think about the difference there?

Because there are some similarities, right? I mean, they have, like, points and stuff, and they have, and they do routines, and they wouldn't do anything that wouldn't give them points in the routine. They wouldn't just go and play around with their body. They would just literally follow wherever. Okay, I will do triple back clip just because I could get more points. So I would do double layout instead of, like,

full in back out because they're going to give me more points. Like stuff like that. They're just playing this kind of game, like please the judges right and I'm just playing games to please my own feelings be like oh fuck this trick feels amazing right have you always because you have a shillah to Instagram followers and stuff have you always been heavy on the social media side of things or not really I just like because we used to do like show real stuff like when we film for a year and then you release it right film for a year

release it and now like since internet just keep progressing like you can't really do that And so I just start posting on Instagram It's funny because when I first started posting I would post like just Just wherever a parkour more like a parkour related stuff Like okay look I did this trick And then as soon as I start kind of mixing it with comedy a little bit Just like add a little comedy effect

That's where my followers kind of like accelerate Interesting Yeah And people like oh you're like Charlie Chaplin Boston Keaton Like stuff like that Those are my biggest inspiration too like old school movies like black and white movies interesting it did some good stuff yeah definitely wow that's that that is so interesting to think that that that is how that works okay so that is the weird thing about parkour is that there's you know

there's only so many people who do it but it seems like there's a very large audience who'd be down to watch it like especially in the early days that show will go crazy on youtube i notice when i look up videos and stuff they still can get millions and millions of views. Like, is that, like, how do you think about that? Like, who do you feel like you're filming for? And is there a big difference between stuff that you would do for a hardcore parkour audience versus stuff that you feel like it's going to get more mainstream love? There is definitely a difference.

Like, if you do some cool trick that never been done before and stuff like that, you would please the parkour audience. They'd be like, yo, this guy's sick. And if you do something more like silly little Jackie Chanish type thing that you would please, like, out of people. I feel like a lot of people feel related to parkour because they feel like they can do it. You know what I mean? Like as soon as you try to do something hard or like triple flips and stuff like that,

people like, whoa, he trains professionally. I don't like that guy. Right. And when you do like... Jumping between two buildings. Yes. It's like people see that and they think like fuck, like I could need to do that if I was being chased by a bear.

Exactly. Exactly. So that's the difference. When they can relate, then like kind of like more people will watch it. And if they can really relate, then... Parkour audience will appreciate that because they're like, oh, this is what we do. Right. And I can understand what this guy just did versus out of people like, I don't have any idea.

He just spins in the air like a cat, wherever. Like what kind of stuff do you feel like you're the most drawn to at this point? Have you slowed down over the years with doing like really dangerous shit? At the moment, I'm just doing this trick. It's called cork zero. So it's like a flip with no flip type thing. Okay. It's like a air windmill, you know windmills, breakdancing moves.

Right, yeah. So it's basically this, but in the air, it's a very technical, very hard move, and I've just been drilling that. Really? Yeah. And what's that look like? Just practicing it. Yeah, you're just practicing a gym's like fomped and stuff like that, yeah. Just do it make your body get used to their movement.

So like your muscle memory would recognize that and just like, okay, we'll let you do it now. Because at first when you start, you're like, your body goes. just like, what are you doing? And your brain goes like, we never did this before. It's like until you like kind of force it. And then your brain, okay, this is what you want. And then it kind of guides you to the way it's like natural for your body. Right.

Interesting. So how much time are you spending going to those kind of gyms as opposed to being on the streets? Lately I do it more because as I said, I'm working on this trick. But usually like it's all. It's not like I just parkour is my life and I just like I got here by just like running. You know, I drove here. I didn't climb over the gate and stuff like that. I didn't jump off your roof because a lot of people thinking that I'm doing this all the time.

Right. I just have a regular life. My bag hurts and stuff like that. So I have to, you know, slow down sometimes. Yeah. Right. But so. I definitely missed up the question.

No, it's cool. I'm interested with like the amount of time. So do you think of being in the gym as like? It's more like how I feel it. Yeah. It's more like how I feel. If I feel that I want to do it, I will do it. If I feel inspired, I would do it. If I don't feel inspired, it's just dangerous. Right. It's just like, that was, that's what injurious happens when you, like, you just don't know what you're doing. Your brain is somewhere else. Because it's like, it's a way of meditation for me. Because when I'm, like, doing this, that's the only thing I think about. There is nothing else I can think. because I'm kind of like playing with my body and putting myself in danger.

So like your body only focus on moment that you have right now. Right, you don't really have the option of focusing on anything else. Yeah, so it is like a meditation. Like I just, I would go somewhere on the line that I want to do and just like run around and do all these tricks.

And sometimes I don't even plan it. I just kind of like whatever happens. If I stumble this way, let me see how my body react and how my body would guide me out of this situation. But if you go on a trip with a bunch of other parkour dudes for a week and you don't have access to the gym and you can't really train like that, does that feel weird? Does it feel like more risky just doing the more dangerous stuff? I grew up with no gyms. Right.

gyms is a luxury now. Yeah, I grew up with no gyms. I learn all my stuff outside, which is really good because I know a lot of people, they would learn something in the gym and then they can't do it outside or they would do it outside once and then like, fuck, I have to go back to the gym. Which is when you learn it outside, you just like, okay, I don't. outside for the first time why what's the problem right does does that kind of get looked down upon when people are really really relying on the gym like they can't do shit without that yeah yeah it's definitely affecting people yeah interesting so i feel i feel lucky that i didn't have any gyms before right and even now sometimes i'll be do something i been doing something outside and i'm thinking like okay i have to pretend this is gym or like this is fomped under me not concrete right so my body stays calm and just doesn't freak out yeah wow that's so interesting um So when you think about the risk factor, have you had really bad injuries or have you been lucky in that way?

I just look at my elbow once on trampling. That's about it, actually. Really? One time I almost fall over building because I was like, it was like a roof gap and I was walking backwards and then I stopped right at the edge and I'm like, oh shit, one more step and I would fall over a building because my focus was just on that jump. Right. I was just like, I need a run up. Oh, shit. That's so crazy.

You haven't really had injuries, though, because, I mean, a lot of the tricks that you're doing, like, your head is, like, an inch away from smashing into, like, a rail or something. Yeah, because, like, I've been doing flips all my life, like, over 15 years. It's like, you know your hand, and, like, you can do this next to the table, and you know you're good, right? So I can do this with the flip, right? Boom, boom, boom, super close. So I can do this with the flip as well. So I just feel comfortable.

Have you always felt like you had, like, better hand-eye coordination than the average person, or that was something that you always were good at? in regards to other things as well? Maybe, but it's a tricky question, because I feel like if you give me like a skateboard or any other sport that I'm not familiar with it, I would suck, like any other person. I'm just like very comfortable with what I do.

And some people are like, oh, you should try this, you should try that. They give me all these ideas, but like, fuck, it's not my ideas and I don't know if I can do it. And they assume that I'm a superhero. It's a normal person. Have you ever messed with the Kandama? I try a couple times.

Okay. It didn't like come to you supernaturally? Not really, no. I still suck. I can't get a ball on that thing. I feel like you could get really good at it really easy just because you already have such a base of control in regards to that. Maybe.

No, I definitely like sometimes, like, when I do flips, I kind of try to, like, go into the slow motion mode. And it's funny how it happens, like, when you first start doing, like double flips and triple flips, it all just like this for you. And then over time, you can really see in the middle and, like, really control it. And, like, you can slow it down.

That's what is. crazy to me about condamas when I look at people who are really really elite they can do the most technical fucking thing but they see everything that's happening whereas for me even watching it never mind not doing it I can't even like keep up with what's happening but like somehow their hand-eye coordination or whatever is just so on point that they're able to actually perceive everything that's happening right in front of them and parkour strikes me as kind of like that but with more risk and a little bit more yeah more dynamic yeah sounds like that Sounds about right.

I just don't know anything about Kandama, except it looks cool. Yeah. I know a lot of parkour guys into Kandamas, too. Right. They would always, when we go on a trips, they would always bring Kandama and just like, when they stretch and stuff like that or just talking, chatting around, they would do Kandama. It's a nice, like, because to me, like, in comparison to growing up, Brian VMX, is exactly the same feeling when I, like, do a trick on the Kada as learning a bike trick.

And I feel like for your parkour dudes that play condominate, it's probably exactly the same thing where it's, it's very low impact. Because it's like you're just kind of moving your hand around for the most part. But then at the same time, like, it just gives you that satisfaction of just like wanting to control this object. Yeah, like you're doing tricks. You're still tricks. It's still like stuff is flying and it's action at the end of the day. Right. Definitely. I remember in school when I was in school, I was just like always would sit in school and just like flip pen and with a thing like, oh shit, I can do. this and then maybe like yeah I've seen dudes with like two cups I mean like Kondama guys and they can take like the one cup and just like flip the other cup and flip it four or five times and just catch it right back in the cup and when I see that I realize like oh okay like

I've seen them do it with pens where they just hold the pen cap or hold the pen and just flip the pen cap and I'm like oh like that skill is kind of transferable to other objects as well I play like a bottle flip oh yeah you're into that though that should start blowing up a years ago. Yeah, I have to get it. Shit. See, the water has to be a little lower. Yeah, it's a little.

Hey! Took me a million tries, but... Yeah, no, that was solid. Was you into the bottle, bottle flip stuff as well? Yeah, I love it. I did double. Depending on the bottle, every bottle is different, but like, sometimes they have, like, a little smaller bottles where I can do doubles and stuff. Right.

It's pretty cool. This one as well, like, when you just, like, let on your hand. I suck today. That's tight. So these sort of like themed videos that you do for Red Bull, how does that normally work? Like you've done some of these just big conceptual videos. Yeah, just like they or me come up with the idea and we just try to like make it happen. So yeah.

Like usually like it's last project I work on was like a pinball machine. So they built a huge pinball machine and I was inside it. It was pretty fucking good. Right. I love that project and it took me 10 years to like pitched it make it happen 10 years 10 years yeah because when I first got with down like fuck I have this sick idea and they're like yeah yeah cool good idea right and like all my work them I made them believe that I like I can do something like that right so they invest money into me which felt amazing but usually like what will park or like any

bamax or any park red bull athlete would do they would just like go to the city and they just explore the city, film around the city. Yeah, do you prefer that versus doing something like the pinball machine where there's this whole big thing built for it? I prefer, like, more of a project where you can control the set. Because I can do all these tricks and stuff, but as I said, like city or the environment limits you. But if you can come up with the spot, so you have idea for the trick and then you have idea

for the spot, or you can come up with that, like, you have a trick that you can't do anywhere outside. There is no spot. So you would come up with the spot. That would excites me more because it's like next step, I feel like. Yeah, that's always the part of bike riding that I was always the most attracted to was like the search, like finding the unique piece of architecture that you're going to do something on, then actually like figuring out the trick and then actually documenting it and filming it in a way that makes it that, you know, does it justice and shows the actual nature of the spot. That was always the thing that was attracted to me. And like, you know, I could go to a skate park and have fun for sure.

But it was always like that that feeling of doing something in the streets that just really appealed to me. And then through traveling, for sure, that was the great thing about it. It was just being able to go to a different city, like riding bikes through the city and just sort of feeling the local energy and stuff. And then just happening to come across stuff. I mean, that was the best feeling in the world. Yeah, same for me. I love traveling. I love going to different cities because, as you said, energy.

You can fill the energy. Right. Sure. And like doing something outside where it just built already and like you don't have to really like adjust anything. It's just already there and you just like you muster, master that's enough that you can just do it there. It's pretty good. Yeah, definitely. So in terms of documenting the stuff for social media though, like do you feel like that's basically what your sponsors expect from you at this point?

They just want you to hold down the social media stuff, or do they kind of want you to go to contests and events and stuff like that? Thank God there is social media right now, because back in a day, athletes, like, struggle with it. Because, like, how long can you perform on, like, a great level? Because it's always young people coming, and young people just destroying everything. What wasn't possible, like, five years ago,

they just do it in a run right now. Right. You know, so it's in every sport. So I'm happy that I had social media because I just, like, I started, Like long enough. So my name is kind of there. Because I got lucky with timing because if I started right now, there's no way I would be who I am right now.

Right. So they just want me to do social media and just like promote them on social media and that's about it, which is pretty cool. Do you look at the new generation of parkour kids and is it kind of mind-blowing, like how good they are and how young they are? It is, yeah. Really? I don't have any back pain. Yeah. Because you're how old now?

I'm 29. Oh, you're only 20. I'd be 30 this year. Holy shit. So you started super young, huh? Yeah, I started 14. Oh, wow. Okay.

Yeah. Wow. But so how do you feel like you can compete when they're learning these, like, super technical tricks? Like, do you feel like your creativity is your strong suit or your taste? Definitely my creativity is because I came from, like, nothing really was in my talent, so I kind of got to be creative with what I have. And just I don't know like now they're just like they have better endurance they just kids

Yeah they're playing they playing without thinking I'm think I think more now because when I was a kid I wasn't thinking as much I was just like okay this is sick I will do it and I'm like oh fuck should I even do it Yeah, it's dangerous I don't want to break my leg I have this shit to do I have that life is getting on the way getting harder so like that's why you should start when you're young and learn all the skills because then it's like natural for you and normal than later in life. I feel like it's harder because you put so much more fed. And even like I would see that in BMX and skateboarding over and over and over where, you know, if you learn to do a kickflip when you're nine years old and you just kind of keep messing with that

and doing that over and by the time you're 15, yeah, of course you're going to be good at it and you're going to be able to do it in a wide variety of settings. Whereas if you learn to kickflip when you're 15, yeah, you can get good of skateboarding and everything, but it's going to be so much harder. Whereas if you have that, it's almost like learning a language. If you learn a language when you're like five years old, it's like so much easier. Whereas if you're 20 and you try to learn a language,

your brain is already kind of solidified. It's just playing. It's all about you're just playing and not thinking. And a lot of times, even when I want to do a trick and I start over thinking, I can't do a trick. And I have to remind myself to just stop thinking. Just like do the first step. with the first step and then your body will guide you.

That's the best way. And sometimes I forget about it, but my friends would remind me. They, like, see me trying something. Like, you're thinking too much. I'm like, true. I have to do. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, one other thing that's kind of, I've seen happen multiple times in Condom or BMX or whatever,

is like you'll have somebody who grinds for years and years to go pro or whatever. And then meanwhile, there's 12-year-old kids who literally have nothing to do. and all the energy in the world and they'll just be grinding tricks and so then sometimes the dudes I know who work for years and years and years they might go pro by the time they're 22 or something but then meanwhile

there's literally like 12, 13 year old kids who have no responsibilities nothing else in their life like this this grown man might have to have a job and shit or never mind a family or a kid or a girlfriend and they got to do stuff like that but then there's kids who can just see the shit that they're doing on Instagram

try it themselves work their ass off and just get crazy good at it. You also see a lot of kids that will get into a sport. They will kill the sport for like a year or two and then they just disappear. Yeah. Because then they turn 16 or wherever and they like, oh shit, it's life. Yeah.

I see a lot of those kids too. Because I'm doing this for 15 years. So I've seen some like big names with quit and stuff like then. You're like, oh shit, I never felt this. I see this guy quit. I thought he's going to be there forever. And then you see some kids just appear on a horizon and they're like, kill the sport.

And then it disappear. And then you see some people, they just like move slowly, just step by step, nothing crazy. But they've been there forever. And it is kind of weird because like in skateboarding, it's like if you're good and you get sponsored, you could actually see how you could have a future with it to a certain extent. Like you could actually make some decent money and everything. Other sports, like in BMX, you have to be really, really like one of the absolute best riders to make any money. You know?

Like is parkour? Would you say it's an easy way to earn a living? No, there's only like, what, seven Red Bull athletes in all world. And it's still very young. Like, skateboard or BMX, you guys way ahead of us, like 20 years easily. We're still very young sport. And not that many people. I feel like maybe 10 people in the world make living out of it.

Okay. Maybe more, but, but like, I feel like pure parkour, you know, not like a gym owner or like a coach and stuff like that. Yeah, definitely maybe less than 10. Right. Interesting. One thing that I heard Jimmy mentioned that I thought was interesting is that parkour kind of struggles because there's not really like a thing to sell to the audience. You know, like in BMX, you sell bikes, skateboard, you sell by, or skateboard, you sell clothes. So all this shit to people, shoes, et cetera, energy drinks.

But then with parkour, it's kind of like, well, everybody just wears what? Like sweatsuits, fucking Nike track suits, shoes. Yeah. No, I know. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe you have to come up with like some special shoes, but I don't know. Like some people like to train bare feet.

That's the beauty of parkour, that you don't need anything. A lot of kids are like, oh, I want to start parkour, but I don't know what pants to wear. I don't know what shoes to wear. Like when I stopped parkour, I wasn't thinking. I was like, fuck, I just want to go and do it. Yeah. And that's kind of like a blessing and occurs. And again, like it's like if you want your sport to go that way, if you want your sport to go mainstream.

You know? For sure. Do you feel like as you've gotten older, though, do you really care about the sort of overall health of the industry? Because that's one thing that I see with BMX. When I was younger, it was more like, I don't give a fuck what's popular or what's cool. You know, like, fuck, like we just do this because we're hardcore. As I get older, I look at it more like a dad where it's like, you know, I want to see this sport do well regardless of, you know, how cool it is. Like if somebody gets into it and I don't think that they're the coolest person, it's kind of like.

like okay whatever like if they're gonna bring eyeballs if they're gonna make people pay attention to this then who gives a shit yeah really i i i wish parkour just like keeps growing and going going to all the right directions but i have any control of it like that ass i don't have any like i can't control it i'm just doing my thing and i hope it would inspire people and just from my side i wish all the best it's not like i don't give a fuck i do i really love that it's like my baby yeah i grew up doing that and i always make me happy when i see like oh red bull pick another athlete and stuff like that i'm always happy that means sport is growing right and i hope it just continue growing definitely but i don't know if you like i feel like you just need more people that we need

people that we need people that support people to do that because i feel like a lot of people don't like a lot of parents they wouldn't support their kids and that's why we don't have this great athletes You know, it's all about supporting and just like, I don't know, staying as a team, everyone. A lot of the kids that I knew growing up or whatever who were the best at BMX or skateboarding were the ones whose parents actually supported it. You know, drive them to the skate park, help them buy the parts that they need, etc. Whereas, like, if your parents aren't behind you, it is very difficult. Yeah, it is. They just keep telling you to, like, what are you doing?

You should do something real with your life. Yeah. Just let me do what I love. It's simple, but it's very hard. Yeah, for sure. Are you part of like a parkour crew or anything? Team Fereng. So that's like your heart, have you been with them forever?

Yeah, I've been with them 10 years. Okay. Yeah, it's like we have a little clothing line. And we used to film all these like show reels once a year type thing. Right. And now we kind of like spread because of COVID and all that. And like everyone lives in a different city, different country. We have a guy from Thailand, Australia, Germany.

Japan. Nice. And I'm in LA. So we all like all over the world. Right. But yeah, team for ang it's my my people. That's your affiliation. Interesting. Okay. Um, yeah, man, that's pretty dope. Um, so has COVID changed everything in regards to this? Were you traveling a ton before that? Yeah, I was traveling a lot. And I was actually excited. I was excited to stop traveling and move to LA and just kind of settled down because I traveled from when I was 18 to like I was 28. Yeah, I was traveling over 10 years and just, like, got tired because I wouldn't stay in one spot more than, like, two weeks. I would go somewhere, stay for two weeks, go somewhere else. I was a professional guest.

I would call myself. Right. Yeah. And it's fun. It was a guess. Yeah, it was fun. And I got tired and, like, kind of moved here. And then COVID happened.

And then I'm like, oh, shit, now I can do this. Right. And then you're like, oh. You know, sometimes, like, really, the way to appreciate something is to lose it. Then you're like, oh. Definitely. Yeah. Do you generally feel like the cops of security guards?

Do they, are they hard on parkour? Or do they kind of ignore you? Here in LA is super chill. Because I think there's not many people doing it, so it's probably easy for them to ignore. Yeah, and they're like, oh, you know, I don't know, they hate skateboarders for some reason. Because there's so many of them. This is the home of skateboarding. So there are, like, any decent rail in L.A., I mean, there's probably been, you know, 50 skaters a week for the last 10 years going to it.

Not 10 years, 30 years, 40 years, you know. No, they're pretty chill here. Other countries, yeah, they're more like strict. But I never had any problem. I never mess with them. I understand they're doing their job. I'm not trying to prove anything. I just like, okay, cool.

I want me to leave. I will leave. Come back on Sunday when you're not here. That's one thing I realized from watching videos on YouTube is that there are some famous parkour spots that have been like destroyed because people were just hanging out doing parkour on, which I never would have assumed.

Yeah, in England a lot. Yeah, it happened. They built, yeah, they had something in the, like, a backyard, wherever the, like, apartment building. Like, why the oldest people come here? Let's just get rid of this thing, so they're never going to come here again. Which I guess, like, if I was a property owner and there was just 50 random dudes doing backflips. Yeah, you'd be freaking out. You're like, what the fuck?

They're going to sue me. They're going to break their neck and they're going to sue me. I mean, it makes, I understand their perspective. Yeah. What do you feel like there's been anything that comes to mind that you, have contributed to parkour or free running that just stands out to you as like something you brought to the table that no like the biggest things you're known for by the the community definitely like i feel like the trick names i know like frisbees and stuff so what's a frisbee it's like a aerial twist it's like butterfly it's like an aerial twist so it's like carwheel with no hands okay but i did the tact and stuff and it doubles then i did dive roll free 60 so like it's like it's like a

like a dive roll, but you like kind of free 60 before that. Interesting. So those are like those are things. And now I'm working on this cork zero, which I didn't create that trick, but there is only like five people doing it in the world right now. Really? Yeah. And so what, how do you see the kind of spot that you want to bring it to?

Like have you done it in the streets a lot or you're just mostly practicing it? I did it on the street once. I just like trying to integrate into other setups basically because you have, you have, you have like you have basics like backflip side flip front flip and everything else is just like you playing with this free tricks yeah like you're doing off a wall you do it off like ledge you do it like precision on something you like changing the directions and stuff but it's all like backflip side flip and full twist right so yeah from your perspective this would just add like a whole new element to the arsenal yeah yeah and that's why I'm very excited because I did a lot of stuff I've been doing

over 15 years and I tried so many stuff and also I don't know like I'm playing with as I said I see like some unique spot and I would do something very creative there like a weird roles I like master of weird roles I do like all kinds of roles right and people call yeah like I call it parkour and posh core so yeah I definitely brought the style into like into parkour and free running interesting which like I just I just was myself and just do with what I love. So I didn't do much? Right. Have you ever wondered, like, or do you ever feel like your passion is

running out, or have you always just stayed super motivated about this? No, always, there's always more, there is always, no, never thought of, like, quitting it or anything like that. Right. Always wanted to do it, still want to do it. As I said, it's the best feeling. It just feels so good.

That's dope. Do you have any, like, objectives in the long term that you want to accomplish with it? Like, do you see, could you see yourself running a business related to this? Are you all about still just pushing yourself in your body as far as going to go? I will definitely push myself for another like year or two. I feel like I can.

And one of my dreams is just to come up with like some sort of storytelling through movement. Maybe make a movie and some stuff like that. That's what I'm interesting in because as I said, like I'm very inspired from like old school black and white movies. Like how they would tell story through movement. So that's what I'm learning right now, like telling stories from movement. Really? So you're interested in the video side of things as well? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. I can film parkour pretty well as well because I understand the movement. Like a lot of people, they can't film parkour. You would ask them to film and they would just hold cameras still. Or they can't read the body and they can really tell what you're about to do. Which I know like, oh, his shoulder went this way. Oh, I know what's you going to do. Right.

Sometimes I play with my friends. We watch Parker video and we just like call the tricks. just before he's about to do it, just from the set. Yeah, I do that too. If I'm watching someone and I'm wondering if they're going to do a bar spinner or a tail whip, I could just see a little bit in the way that their feet are positioned, but I could just tell what's going to happen. That's pretty cool.

I always be trying to predict the tricks as well. That's fucking funny. So, yeah, I didn't mention this yet, but I actually went to your wedding. I know. I remember you. You vlog from there. I watched the vlog. Right.

And so for those who don't know, you are married now? Yeah, you were married. It was a wedding. To Riley Reed. How did you guys meet? Ashley Muffeus. Okay. She asked me to call Ashley Muffeus.

Okay. So you... Ashley Petkins, actually, right. Oh, right. There you go. She's getting my last name now. So you never call her Riley? No, never.

Okay. How did you guys meet? Instagram. Right. You slid in her DMs? She slated in mine. Wow. Yeah.

Saying what? It was pretty great. I post about this book. Art of Not Giving a Fuck. Oh, okay. Yeah. He's like, oh, this is a nice book. And it's funny because a month before that, Alina Lopez slid into my DMs.

And I was like, what's happening while it was like, why all this porn stars? Right. In my DMs, I was like so confused. And so, yeah, and then we talk a little bit, and I ask her if she wants to film some videos. I'm like, I don't know, I'll flip over her or wherever. I don't know. Right. And then we kind of talked for a little bit, and then we didn't talk for a little bit.

and then we didn't talk for three months. And then she messaged me again. She's like, so you're done to do this video or whatever? I was like, fuck. And you were already in L.A. at this time? Yeah, I was in L.A. I was in L.A. I'm like, oh, sure, let's film this video.

But I didn't know, like, with who to go and, like, who's going to film the video. And she's like, I have my assistant. We can film the video. Oh, cool. So I went and filmed, like, one of the videos with her where I, like, did, like, a backflip of her butt. Okay, I remember that, yeah. Yeah. And so you guys just hit it off right away or what? Yeah, kind of felt the energy and I don't know, she's the greatest woman I've met.

Really? I love it. Yeah, she's so good. What stands out to you about her? She is a very great person. Just her personality and like the way she thinks about life and who she is. I don't know how to describe it. I know all this stigma that she does porn. I guess she did porn. Right.

But if you really like just put it aside and she's just amazing. You know, even with that, just a part of her. Right. So was that something that gave you pause? Obviously, I'm in a similar boat. My girl's naked on the internet as well. Was that something that ever kind of bothered you? Because obviously you went into it meeting her knowing that about her.

Yeah, actually, yeah, but I'd never understood how well known she is. Because I grew up in Latvia. I was watching like Russian porn and stuff. I wasn't, I didn't really know. Maybe Istanbul and I don't know. But anyway. I didn't realize how big she is. Right.

And, yeah, at first I was like, oh, shit. Like, is it normal, not normal? Right. And, but one, like, I had a lot of conversation with different people about it. And I had the best conversation with my friend Stas. And he said the best thing ever. He said, like, no matter what you're going to do, people, like, people are going to tell that you're stupid.

You know, because I was, like, it all came at the end of the day what other people say. Yeah. I never gave a fuck. If you don't care, then why the fuck? Yeah. You worry about what other people think. Yeah. And he said, like, if you care about what other people are going to say, no matter what you're going to do, they're going to say that you're stupid.

And I'm like, oh, that's very, very true. Yeah. So. I mean, I've seen your whole family at the wedding and everything. Yeah, they're super cool. They understand it's life. Right. And you're just like, it is what it is.

Like, what are you going to do about it? Right. Did, but did you encourage? She didn't kill anyone. You know, if she killed anyone, then it will be a different story. Like, I'll be careful. Yeah. She might kill you at night.

Definitely. But did you put the idea in her head to stop shooting, like, other porn? Or was that already something she was thinking of? She already stopped before. She already stopped before. She did girl-girl stuff. Right. Yeah.

Yeah, because, I mean, during the OnlyFans thing, that, like, especially as OnlyFans is taken off, it kind of at a certain point for somebody like her who makes an absurd amount of money from her fans directly, it's like, why would you keep doing it? Yeah, it makes, yeah. As I said, like, yeah, wherever people say, it just doesn't really matter. At first I was like kind of like oh shit it's a lot like a lot of people just came at me like what are I doing you stupid like why you care about that like I don't know for sure why uh this point what have you had any like people that you know or like

friends of yours like give you a hard time about it like because I like I don't know I could imagine that some people some people just talk shit and some people might actually be upset Like maybe two of my friends said something Unfollowed me Really? That's about it That's wild That's about it Like nothing crazy

Everyone I know and everyone I respect And people with the skills They never said anything Right They just like you happy My mom asked you happy Yeah You know

Because I prepared like my mom as well Like said like this is what can happen People can come to you People can fucking pull up the videos and shit Like you gotta be ready I just I just got to prepare A lot of like dumb people.

Right. And she never like she never care. She's like she seems like a nice girl. She met her in person. It's not like she just does it all the time. Like people listen to just goes around and have sex with people. I know. Like some of my friends like the dudes who do the podcast with me,

they came to my my kid's birthday party and she came. Yeah. And like, you know, a couple of them said to me afterwards that like, bro, like Riley and Tiana Trump, like they're so nice and like normal and shit. And I'm like, what the fuck did you? you think and they're like wow i just didn't know that like a porn star was like a normal person i'm like wow like that's crazy as fuck to me that you needed to like meet them in real life to know that they're just chicks to have a job yeah a lot of people don't they just don't understand they're living in

that bubble and they just think yeah yeah so crazy it is really crazy to be honest i don't know how that happened but i'm happy like i'm a happy man and she's amazing have the best time in my life yeah that's amazing i've seen you guys that's what matters and like people people think about you or they talk about you, but for how long they think about you. They think about you like two minutes and then like, okay, I have to go take a shit. I have to go take care of my kids. That's all. And why would you change your life just because of this two minutes of like someone else's thinking that you don't even know?

Right. Were you already a somewhat freaky dude? Or are you? Because I've heard, I don't know what I'm saying too much, but I've heard stories. My girl went on you guys as a honeymoon or no engagement party weekend. She said she might have seen you and your wife getting a little freaky with some of the other girls there and stuff. Was this the kind of thing that you were always into, or is this, are she opening your mind? I mean, she definitely, yeah, she definitely, I was always like she took me to a park or gym.

Like when we first started, like, when we first started, like, oh, my God, this is something, this is next level. I was freaky, but, like, in order to be freaky, you need a freaky person. You can be freaky with someone who's, who's, you know, you can be freaky with someone who's, not freaky it would be like weird because she's got 500 girls in her phone that she could text and be like hey come fuck my fucking husband and me together and they're like I'm there that's actually a weird thing I didn't really realize but my girls pointed out too she's like so many girls act so weird about Riley because she's so well known that they just like are super clout thirsty with her and stuff I'm like I guess I should already known that like that's

pretty obvious like I just already know that she's very popular but like I guess I just didn't realize how many people are just like on her dick. She's very careful with people though. She's like very, it's not that easy. It's like as easy as it sounds, it's a lot of, yeah, a lot of complication comes with it for sure. Definitely. But yeah, man, I heard you were having a good old time out on that boat. I have a, yeah, I have a great time. I have a lot of great time. I don't want to talk about it too much because, you know, family sponsors, yeah, family sponsor. Bad energy also like people are jealous and stuff. Definitely.

But life is good out here in L.A. Like, from your perspective, everything's going pretty well online. Yeah, I think it's good. Yeah. No complaint. Doing my roly-polys, having beautiful wife, five dogs. I feel very lucky. I heard there's an army of dogs over there at the house.

Those are her dogs, though, right? You didn't bring any dogs in? No, no, I did not. I grew up with no dogs, no cats. Like, never, like, and I wasn't sure at first, like, fuck it's a lot of dogs right yeah and no i love them all now they all love me too it's it's nice it's nice to have dogs i understand now people that love dogs before i didn't really i'm like it's just dogs they don't really talk they just you just have to take care of them but when you longly they

they're really there for you i've noticed that i'm very picky with pets and uh my cat passed away a couple months ago i'm sorry about that appreciate it and uh we're getting a dog this weekend. So I'm kind of like nervous, even though I know I'm going to love the dog no matter what, but I'm also kind of like nervous just because I haven't fucking ever had my own dog. I've had roommates who had a dog and then I ended up getting super close with the dog and we'd be hanging out with the dog all the time. But I never had my own dog.

So it's kind of scary. Yeah, it's like, it's just going to have one dog. So it's okay. Yeah, it's only one dog. You got five dogs. You had to go through a real learning curve there. Yeah, when people tell me like, yeah, I have one dog and so much, I'm like, Or like having a baby is like having a dog.

No. Yeah. Five dogs. It's like a bigger number. That is a weird thing when I talk to people about having a kid and like they're just like, oh yeah. Like my cat does this. And I'm just thinking like, wow. Having a cat is not that much like having a kid, bro.

Might be serious. Like I had a cat. They really kind of just do their own thing. I love cats too. You a cat guy? I had actually. I think I had a cat. But it got hit by car.

There's the only one cat I remember Interesting I love cats because they do cool Cool flips and they always learn on their feet The young ones My old ass cat wasn't doing any flips You gotta be on a diet Offly diet

Yeah I kind of live with that Thought in my head is like If I had gotten him to lose weight He might have lasted another six months Or a year or whatever You know? Because it's like that Ultimately they end up dying from being out of shape A lot

At least they have a good quality of life enjoying themselves. If I had been starving them all those years, it would have been no good. They would be like, I'd be so angry. I don't know. Every time I try to lose weight, because sometimes, like,

if I late, like, if I wait less, I can do better flips. But I'm always angry. Yeah. And when I'm chubby, I'm like happy. Do you lift weights and stuff, or are you just... Not really.

No. I would just, like, if I have to lose weights because I want to land some trick or something like that, I would just go on a diet and running. Really? Running is the best thing. So if you're going to try a really hard trick,

you would actually start to get in shape to get ready for that trick yeah wow interesting yeah get it done go back to normal that's crazy what would be your advice to any kids out there or watching this that want to get into parkour don't no i would say just start slowly because now the internet days it's so easy to get lost in all this and you'd be like oh i can try that Like, you know, you have to really, like, aware of who you are and what is your abilities. So start very slow and just like, don't listen too much. People listen to your body. Your body knows the best.

You'd be surprised. There's a lot of, there's a lot of experts. Your body is the best expert. There's a lot of know-it-alls on the internet is what you're telling me. Yeah. Nice. Step by step slowly. Yeah, test out the waters.

Sure, man. Well, it's super inspiring. just seeing you kind of live out your dream and everything. Actually, you know, the most inspiring thing I've seen was right after you got married, you went out and you had a trampoline ready, and you and all your groomsmen had special fucking elastic sewed into your tuxedo so that you could do crazy-ass flips on the trampoline right after you got married. Yeah, it was pretty good.

That was mind-blowing to me. I'm like, this is a person who's fucking serious because, like, if I was going to get married, I don't think it would cross my mind. Oh, I'm going to have bikes. I'm going to have a skate park at this. But for you, like, you were so hard for it. You're like, no, I'm doing this. Yeah, no, it was the best.

A lot of people commented like, yo, it's a dream wedding. Yeah. Because of that. That was sick. No, it was really good. And it was crazy, too, because, I mean, dudes are doing, like, triple front flips. It's not like they're just jumping up and now. No, they're, like, going for it.

No, yeah. All right, man, I appreciate you. Thank you. What's your Instagram? We'll link it in the boss. Pasha the boss. We'll link it in the description. so anybody who sees this can check it out.

Appreciate you, man. Thank you so much. Much love. Pasha. Same same. No jumper. Coolest podcast on world. Check us on YouTube, Patreon, only fans, TikTok, Instagram, all that shit.

Like, comment, and subscribe. We'll be back real real soon. Appreciate y'all.