Last week we started an Adult Level 1 Parkour/Freerunning Class at Apex Movement. I was a little unsure of what to expect, especially considering I had a hard time understanding what Parkour was myself. I've seen the crazy videos of people jumping from roof to roof and climbing up walls, but I knew better than to expect that from a beginners class for adults. According to the website, "Parkour is an art of movement in which you train the body and mind to overcome obstacles."
Our first class began by measuring some benchmark skills. I'll admit it was quite the challenge, and I struggled to do even one pull up. Next, we learned quadrupedal movements (QM). The first resembles crawling on your hands and feet moving your opposite hand and foot together. At some point, we'll move to doing this on a bar. Finally, we moved onto the obstacle course. It immediately reminded me of when I was a kid and often made up obstacle courses on the playground and raced my friends on them. The course included running through a tunnel, climbing over several boxes, and balancing on some rails through the "hot lava." The time ended once you made it to the top of and eight foot tall box. I left with such a high that carried over into the next day, and I was so excited to return.
During our second class, we learned how to do Parkour rolls and worked on correct pull up form. I laughed to myself when they told us to go warm up with 5 pull ups before having us complete a pull up circuit. My goal is to get to four by the end of the five week class, since that's the recommended amount to move onto Level 2. I'm noticing that even though I'm having a hard time with the basic skills, I seem to do fairly well with the Parkour moves. According to the instructors, I'll be scaling a rooftop like a ninja in no time! Our next class focused on basic gymnastics including hand stands, cartwheels, and roundoffs. In an upcoming class, we will practice these moves on the vault, and I'm hoping we'll get to try out the foam pit! On my way home today, I saw two boys doing cartwheels over the cement divider in front of the school. It definitely reinforced the idea that everyone does Parkour as kids and we tend to grow out of it as we get older.
This past weekend, we went to Steamboat Springs with some friends. We went for a four mile hike up Mad Creek Trail. There was a historic barn at the top of the hike, and I even practiced my QM moves on the surrounding fence.
Later that day, we went to the Strawberry Park Hot Springs. We spent the rest of the night hanging out, and having fun. There may have even been a cartwheel or two down the middle of the road.
