"The Cimmerian moved in a blur of blinding speed. He was like a tiger among baboons as he leaped, side-stepped and spun, offering an ever-moving target, while his axe wove a shining wheel of death about him." - From the Conan story Phoenix on the Sword, by Robert E. Howard

"He was never motionless or in the same place an instant; springing, side-stepping, whirling, twisting, he offered a constantly shifting target for their swords, while his own curved blade sang death about their ears." - from Xuthal of the Dusk, Robert E. Howard.

Equipment

Balance Beam Balance Walk along the beam without falling; that's about the most rudimentary drill you can do with this station, although we can certainly invent some other drills on this apparatus. At the end of the beam, you are expected to turn around and go back. This is where most people fall, because you need to turn on one foot, while finding the next place to step, which is behind you. Accept this challenge like a barbarian, by advancing to about the middle of the beam and turning around, stopping, then turning around again. If that's too easy for you, then we'll have to find something to make it more challenging for you. If (or when) you fall off, get back on again, right away. In fact, you can make this into a brutally effective drill by hopping back onto the beam immediately while switching foot positions, then hopping off while switching your feet again. The balance beam is most often found at the end of parcourse sequences - the idea is that if you are tired by pperforming the previous exercises, your balancing abilities will be greatly challenged - and, after a while, greatly improved!
Plum Flower Pole Balance This is not the proper name of the parcourse station, and in fact the drill we're doing here has nothing to do with the intent of the original parcourse design. The parcourse poles are not spaced with the idea of training the way we're training, so some of the poles are almost too far apart for ordinary civilized humans to span. Embrace the challenge! The Chinese Shaolin kung-fu warriors further their skills on something like this, and it is from them that we get the name, plum flower pole. But you don't have go to China to practice this, if you have a parcourse in your area, or some freshly felled trees, come to think of it. Kung-fu warriors perform complex forms on top of these posts, in their own style. You don't need to get too fancy at first, just step from one to the other without falling to your doom.
Log Hop Explosiveness Jump over each log, landing on the ground, then immediately hop over the next log. This is the drill, pure and simple. One thing needs to be said about this: this is a simple plyometrics drill that trains explosive strength in your legs. This will help you make really fast movements, such as running and leaping side to side.
Vaulting Explosiveness Similar to the idea of the log hop, this explosive exercise requires you to hop up from the ground, supporting yourself with your hands, and land on the other side. Quickly vault back to the other side. Unlike the log hop, this drill emphasizes lateral movements, so it is becoming a more sports-specific application of the original exercise. Practice this regularly and your ability to evade attacks by tigerish leaps will be enhanced, you can be sure of that.
Climbing It's very important to note that all free-climbing as shown here, be done on rock and cliff faces that are not high enough to cause serious injury were you to fall, which is what we often call bouldering. Never climb alone. Rock-climbing, or bouldering in this case, is an exciting sport that stresses your ability to balance, your strength, and your courage. In order to climb a rock face, you often must plan your several moves ahead of time, so it becomes a sort of rough-and-ready form of chess! High cliff climbing must be done only with the assistance of climbing harnesses. Your local park department may offer classes, or ask at a nearby outdoor store.
Once you find a parcourse in your area, return to it often. Do not make this a once-in-a-blue-moon event. Panther-like agility comes from constant practice. If you can't seem to find anything similar to a parcourse in your land, you can either improvise something similar to what you see here, or use your imagination and invent some new drills based on the principles shown here. The original parcourses were simply built of logs. On the other hand, if you find yourself in the city and deprived of logs that you can arrange yourself, look around for other man-made obstacles waiting for your discovery. A curb in a parking lot can make an excellent balance drill, and a park bench, if used with care, can provide a number of explosiveness and balance drills for the barbarian athlete willing to make creative use of it.