Beginner's Parkour at Westminster Academy

Beginner's Parkour at Westminster Academy

20 October, 2008
by: Tripster

As far as casual workouts go, £5 is a pretty good deal. When you consider that most gyms won't let you in the door for under a tenner, Parkour Generations has a lot to offer. I've been a fan of Parkour, or “Free Running” for a few years, so I was more than excited to have a go. I spent my afternoon before the class on YouTube looking at their videos so I could get a feel for what I was in for. Needless to say the videos don't do the class justice. It takes a surprising amount of effort to look that cool.

I used to do martial arts and at one time considered myself fit, but my body was somewhat unprepared for the class. We began with the regular schoolyard drills of press-ups, jogging, stretching and jumping. After separating into five groups of roughly the same ability, we set about practising the skills that we would need if we were ever going to pull off a 20-foot high catwalk across a drainpipe.

The class utilised gymnastics equipment and chairs and benches found throughout the centre. The first station saw us jumping over padded vaults and onto a wall, where we were to hang on for dear life imagining that the floor below us didn't exist. Next we had to climb across a series of vaults and beams practicing our balance and agility. We then progressed to a series of leaps and rolls, the perfect response to falling off a roof. Finally, we ran, did press-ups and leg drills in order to increase our general fitness.

After we had jumped, ran, rolled and pushed ourselves to near extinction, we attempted a ‘relaxing' warm down of more press-ups, crunches, and stretches. The instructor on the night, Chris Keighley, is easygoing, but encouraging, and not as intense as the coaches who assisted him. I would encourage anyone who wants to learn how to fly, climb buildings, and increase their fitness to give this a try.

The Beginner's Parkour class is a must for adrenaline junkies looking for something new. Don't be put off by a lack of fitness either, as there are alternatives to most of the exercises until you build up your stamina. All in all the night was good fun, and worth the aching muscles I felt for days after. Still hard to negotiate stairs though.

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Tripster