This week I've been away in Manchester, one of the 250 contestants on Ninja Warrior UK, which starts on ITV on the 11th April (This coming Saturday!).
For those of you unfamiliar with Ninja Warrior, it's been running for many years in Japan, known as "Sasuke", attracting both serious and not so serious competitors to see how they fair at a challenging obstacle course which increases in difficulty and complexity each year.
As the series continued, people from around the world have ventured there to try themselves against the courses and other countries, now including the UK have recreated their own courses to challenge and test people in their countries.
Here's a classic clip of the Japanese course and Makoto Nagano with one of the only 3 or 4 people to have ever completed the course:
After auditions alongside 6000 others from across the UK, I was selected and joined 250 contestants on the UK version this week trying themselves and their training against the course. I am unable to share how the show and my attempts went, so you'll have to watch the show which starts on the 11th to see how we all did. It was a fantastic opportunity to test my own skills against the course and the camaraderie throughout the show and participants was amazing. My heat airs on the 18th April but if you want to see what I'm certain will be a great show, record or set a reminder for this Sat at 7pm! - Public thanks to my girlfriend for joining and supporting me throughout training and the show, thanks Jenna!
We will not be holding any classes on Good Friday and will return the week after with a second junior class in place of the later adult session, schedule below.
March: Wed 25th - Adult Outdoor Fri 27th - Junior Indoor from 6pm, Adult Indoor from 7:20pm.
April Wed 1st - Adult Outdoor Fri 3rd - NO CLASSES
Wed 8th - Adult Outdoor Fri 10th - Indoor Junior: Class 1 from 6pm and Class 2 from 7:20pm.
As ever, all classes need to be booked online via www.southendparkour.com - click "book online" to book up to a month in advance.
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Short post to explore 5 reasons for learning Parkour, they may not be what you think but hopefully they will help you understand what we're about and what Parkour and you, can do!
1. Health
Globally, the majority of us we are sitting or still for most of the day. Sedentary lifestyles increase a variety of health issues, we're not doing what we're built to do, MOVE!
We're built to walk, run, climb, vault, squat, lift, carry and chase. Not doing so leads to a 'wealth' of health issues which more often than not, shorten the quality of our lives. By moving more and realising where (using our surroundings) and how we can move (using our bodies safely), we start a journey towards doing what we're built to do, rekindling not only our ability to move, but our physical fitness ability and overall health.
2. Safety
We're all familiar with the "fight or flight" state, in a high stress situation our mental and physical response to a stressor is to either run away or fight to survive (We are built to move)!. Although these situations may be rare in the UK or "civilised society", things do still happen; fires, attacks, the need to chase, the need to reach, the need to escape.
Martial arts are a common practice in the UK, having dabbled in Wing Chun, Ninjitsu and Krav Maga, to varying degrees, we're often told, "Run first, but if you can't, as a last here's how to defend yourself."
Parkour develops the first part and is, in our opinion, as important as being able to handle yourself up close. As a practical example, a friend had a knife pulled out on him, he could immediately vault a rail safely and had a barrier between the attacker and him. Parkour is great for self defence, run, escape and move! If you've not practised escaping, running or vaulting under pressure, if your slip and are hurt, the attacker has you anyway... it makes sense to practice the art of escape.
Practising Parkour and movement also allows you to deal with mistakes better, through knowing your body and how to move. Most times when I fall, slip etc, my training enables me to avoid injury and still land safely, living to "flight" another day! We all make mistakes and will fall, Parkour tends to help us be safe doing so!
3. Fun
Parkour is fun! A big deterrent from most forms of exercise is that it can be quite boring, obviously it's perspective, but lots of individuals who try Parkour, latch onto it and continue. Competitive sports tend to focus your performance on other's ability, Parkour is different in that it accepts that we are all unique, we all have strengths and weakness and all move differently. You can't accurately compare yourself to another because you are and will be different! In training we move and explore, finding new challenges, new spaces, new situations to grow and develop. There is no ultimate "right or wrong" with Parkour as a practice, only what works for you and your movement in a given situation. We learn through challenges: personally and externally set; we learn through imagination and games: Playing "Stay off the ground" and similar games/ scenarios. Because we are all unique, we can set our own goals, to move towards them at our own pace and ensure our own safe and fun progression.
4. Benefits of Challenge
We face challenges daily in all areas of our, work, personal, social and recreational lives. In training and overcoming obstacles we have to apply our physical and mental being to overcome, practising practical problem solving skills. We physically and mentally overcome these challenges, we achieve. Through achievement, we gain confidence, building an "experience backpack", a collection of challenges faced and overcome, which we can apply to future challenges faced. People who practice Parkour tend to have a very similar attitude and approach to life in that things can be done and problems can be solved. Even if we don't know, we still try (as long as it's safe to do so), in turn, gaining experience and apply to our future personal conquests!
5. Adaptability Being an adaptable person is a very useful skill/personality. Tying in with some of the areas mentioned above Parkour practitioners, seek, try, gain experience, reflect and apply what has been learnt, what works and what doesn't work, to future challenges both mentally and physically.
As such, Parkour tends to aid people in other sports and other physical activities from having a good experience and understanding of movement. There is a mindset developed through practice, to very quickly risk assess, problem solve and develop creative solutions to problems or challenges presented. In a world where change is an integral part of society; jobs, lifestyle, time, family, friends, technology, having the confidence to adapt and change yourself is something many people can struggle with.
To quote Sebastien Foucan, In overcoming, we become.
START YOUR JOURNEY! Join us for a class or if you have any questions, please visit www.southendparkour.com
First of all, I'd like to thank all of the support so far and throughout the end of 2014. It's always inspiring to see younger, older, new and experienced practitioners involved with our classes and services. As much as we've only been officially trading since October, we've been involved in Parkour in one entity or another for well over a decade, having had the opportunity to travel and coach all across the UK and abroad. Following the announcements below it will become increasingly important to keep connected with news as an when it comes. Our facebook account will detail last minute spaces for classes to please ensure you are connected with us for important recent changes. Other unique content is and will be also added regularly via our twitter, instagram, and youtube so please ensure you follow!
Moving forward into 2015, we are please to announce a few new developments:
Firstly: Cheaper Outdoor Classes! Our weekly adult outdoor class, which explores Parkour in the real work is now open for anyone 16+ (With parental consent) and now reduced to £8 for 2 hours of outdoor, Parkour coaching. These classes put Parkour training where it belongs, out in the open, rain or shine, utilising spaces in Southend to learn, strengthen, challenge, adapt and overcome! Find out about these on our website www.southendparkour.com/classes
Secondly:We will be adding two new Southend classesfrom the 16th January 2015!
The first will be a "Junior class" for young people ages 8 to 15 years of age, taking place at an indoor training space in Southend for 1 hour & 10 minutes of Parkour movement development and functional fitness under our expert guidance. 6:00pm til 7:10pm The second class will follow immediately after for a 16+ (Senior Class) 1 Hour & 10 Minute class, challenging attendees to adapt and overcome through Parkour skill development and functional fitness. 7:20pm til 8:30pm. Wall frames, ropes, vaults and matting will help support your effective learning. As much as indoor training can't entirely substitute outdoor training, it can provide a great introduction to the practice and you'll still be challenged through fun and engaging guided practice; improving fitness and physical ability with our training.
Finally: We're going digital! You can now sign up and pay online to all of our classes via our new online booking system, booking up to a month in advance!
You can book via our website at www.southendparkour.com/classes, then click the "Book online" button. Using this ensures we can have spaces filled while not oversubscribing which may make a wasted journey for some. If you have any questions or issues, contact us through the email address listed on the system or contact us through our website, www.southendparkour.com/contact
Please read the information carefully before booking, to ensure correct dates/classes.
We look forward to moving with you this year! Thanks for joining us!
Tonight will host the last Adult Outdoor class of the year between 19:30 and 21:30, for 2 hours of structured Parkour tuition, training and guidance from our certified coach. Join us by messaging us on Facebook or via the website www.southendparkour.com/contact After tonight we'll be in hibernation on the class front, back with a vengeance in the new year with new classes and more opportunities to learn, improving overall fitness and your ability to overcome new challenges faced.
Parkour has only been in the public eye for the past 10-12 years, having been created and developed within the past two decades. As a new practice there is often misunderstanding as to what Parkour is and what it's about, here's the first post for Frequently asked questions:
What is Parkour? Parkour is a physical practice which develops functional movement ability. Parkour's practice improves muscular strength, coordination, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness and your ability to move safely and effectively. To us, Parkour embodies so many qualities: Strength, flexibility, fun, balance, exploration, coordination, respect, self-knowledge, community, persistence, discipline, longevity, powerful, endurance, challenge, adaption, function, creativity, inclusivity, progression, hard-work, self-confidence and self-knowledge. As a lifelong practice, Parkour will continue to grow and evolve through our own experiences and ongoing learning, sharing with others and journeying together. From it's roots Parkour aims to create a strong body, strong spirit and a strong person through training.
Is Parkour for me? Parkour is a training practice which develops functional and effective movement skills and techniques, enabling you to adapt and overcome obstacles faced. Parkour avoids the aesthetic and focuses on function. As such, Parkour is open to all, it does requires work and training to progress and a change in thoughts and approaches to continue to learn and develop within it's practice.
As much as everyone can begin the practice of Parkour through learning movements to better movement capabilities, Parkour is and should be hard, but rewarding work. "Être fort pour etre utile"- "Being strong to be useful". No competition, no pressure, just your personal goals and working to adapt and overcome, becoming a more capable individual through practice.
Is Parkour just about jumping off of things and climbing to high places? No. Unfortunately, a lot of media focuses on height and stunts, because it is more appealing to the general public. More often than not, climbing at height or taking large drop impacts are very unnecessary and more effective training can be done firmly at ground level to gain the same results.
If the aim is to move and keep moving, taking unnecessary risks, increases the likelihood of injury and therefore the inability to move effectively. In short, taking large impacts and spending more time at height, greatly increases the chance of a greater injury. Parkour is a very introspective practice, practitioners learn about their their capabilities and limitations through training and with time develop the confidence and integrity to effectively assess risk and make an informed and effective choice. To try something, or to walk away, train hard and try again when ready.
This is why, injury rates in true practitioners are often very low, there is no pressure, just you and your choices.
There may be situations where an individual may require a jump at height or taking a drop (such as in a real-life emergency), but if there is a safer and more effective means to get from "A to B", we should choose that option as being more effective and safe. We like to use the word effective to explain Parkour's practice. The fastest way down from a high space is to drop or jump down. This might be okay from 3 metres, but from 20 metres.... this will most likely result in injury; so it may not be the most effective choice of movements.
Our coaching sessions keep students firmly in the remits of their abilities and in a safe but challenging environment, as guided by our training and coaching experience, certification training and within National Governing Body guidance and recommendations. Is Parkour just for guys?Parkour is for any gender. Parkour does tend to be dominated by younger males, however, Parkour is practiced by both men and women of any age, across the world. Both genders, from experience, bring their own approaches and mentalities to the practice, teaching each other how to move more effectively through the sharing of different approaches to training and movement. What kind of clothing should I wear? We recommend loose fitting clothing which is comfortable to move in. Clothing can and may get stained, marked or ripped during practice so don't wear your favorite clothes! As for shoes; a simple, low profile trainer, preferably with a solid/complete sole (no plastic sections at the arch). We'd also recommend a small backpack that you are comfortable wearing while running to keep your smaller personal items safe.
