5 fun ways to get fit in 2015: Parkour

By Asha Macam

Jan 5, 2015 | 10:57am Manila time

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The term Parkour already sounds fancy and its movements — running, jumping, climbing, swinging, balancing, rolling and vaulting — look fancier. But, explains Coach “Raven”, “When we were kids, all of us did Parkour, we just didn’t know the name then. He is the founder of the Philippine Parkour FreeRunning Association established in 2008, and recently, its training camp, Ninja Academy in 2014.

“Parkour can help remind you of [those] childhood instincts [to be strong and fearless] and get one step closer to becoming [as swift and quiet as] a Ninja,” he adds. There’s no age limit to Parkour. “Founders of the discipline were in their late 30s to early 40s and are still kicking it. [The] oldest practitioner in the US is 60-years old. As long as you can still run, hop or jump, you can still use Parkour as an alternate workout,” explains Raven.

Founded in France during the late ‘80s by Raymond Belle, his son David Belle and Sébastien Foucan, Parkour, meaning “the course,” is also called FreeRunning. It is a fun, holistic discipline that uses movement from military obstacle course training. Male practitioners are referred to as traceurs (path tracers), and the females, traceuse.

The move: A lot of the so-called “moves” in Parkour are very strong on functional movement that inspires both upper and lower body dexterity, like running towards a high wall and then jumping and pushing off it with one foot to reach the top. As you learn to nimbly move and work through various obstacles, your reaction accelerates, and landing properly and safely ensues.

The goal is to be able to land effectively and softy with both feet regardless of whether the landing space is wide or narrow. Traceurs and traceuses tap in to their built-in GPS’ when they negotiate paths. They often explore and even create various “moves” out of these challenging obstacles, finding the fastest way out, up, down or forward.

Ninja Academy offers a Parkour-focused workout called the “gauntlet” (to challenge, try or attack from two or all sides)—a high-intensity conditioning workout that gets the body stronger, more agile and flexible, and yes, Parkour-ready. The gauntlet is divided in to 3 sets: First, the DRILLS (workout), second, the SKILLS (Parkour moves), and third, the FLOW (non-stop Parkour movement).

The takeaway: Players learn to adapt to all kinds of structural scenarios, become creative with techniques, and discover freedom of movement. Parkour also helps bring man closer to its surroundings in both rural and urban settings.

Investment: PHP350 for walk-ins and PHP290 for students with valid and current school IDs. The gauntlet is free for both walk-ins and members. For more info, visit www.parkour.ph, or follow Philippine Parkour & FreeRunning Association on Facebook.

Tips on getting started as a traceur or traceuse:

1. Respect turf. “We teach the community to always respect the environment, because it is our playground. We obtain permits as much as possible, and when unable to do so, we play around a bit. But if we really can’t convince the guards, we leave immediately.”

2. Don’t rush (for now). “Whenever we train beginners, we tell them to start slow. We teach progressive training. In all our workshops, we always get positive results with no major injuries (fractures, etc).

3. Think OOTB. “As long as you are willing to get out of your “comfort” box, then you’re good to go. We had one guy who tried doing a “roll’ but could neither jump nor roll when he first started. One day he was able to do a proper roll in our workshop, and was so happy to have finally done it.” Watch the story here:

4. Dress comfortably. “Comfort differs among practitioners. We recommend jogging pants and t-shirts. As for footwear, we suggest aqua shoes, like those of OLLO, which are really made for Parkour.

Location: Ninja Academy is located at 155 Dr. Sixto Antonio St, Rosario, Pasig, Metro Manila. Tel. +63 2 4048770

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