Day 78 ! Parkour / Freerunning

Now this is a cool one. Someone suggested this to me and when I looked for classes, there aren’t a huge number of places that runs classes. But trusty cool new find, Skilltown (venue for Day 70 Tricks & Tumbling and Day 73 Capoeira) came up trumps and on a sunny afternoon, I had my first attempt at freerunning.

For those unsure, freerunning is centred around expressing yourself in your environment without limitations and was developed as a more inclusive form of Parkour, which is a discipline developed out of military obstacle course training where you aim to move past obstacles as quickly and efficiently as possible. Or, an easier way to describe it is the kick-ass chase scene at the beginning of the James Bond film, Casino Royale where Mollaka (played by Sebastien – a wonderful French name) is being chased by (rather unsuccessfully) by Daniel Craig. Basically it’s running and jumping seamlessly, regardless of walls, buildings or any obstacles.

Does that sound easy? Well it’s not. It’s really not.  But it looks pretty awesome if you can do it. Led by Instructor Cali from Day 70 Tricks & Tumbling, we started with a warm-up indoors before moving outside to a nearby wall. The first few exercises involved jumping onto the wall (hands free of course) then walking along the wall, hopping on all fours along the wall (like a frog), doing the same backwards and such like. I am pleased to announce that by the end, I was just able to jump onto the wall without hands (whoop whoop!). Most of the class had done the class before – but there was no embarrassment, everyone just works at their own level. And besides, it’s good to have better people in a class – gives you something to work towards!

Next exercises involved various ways to get over the wall smoothly – whether by placing hands down first and swinging legs over, placing one foot down first then swinging over or straightforward hurdling type movements. I found this tricksy if I’m honest - I didn’t do the tree-climbing, wall jumping that most do when they are kids – I am a bit clumsy when it comes to obstacles and jumping. I lack fearlessness, flexibility and agility. But, I think I improved over the first hour of the class…a little. It helped that it was a glorious sunny day, that the O2 music festival was blaring in the background and the class of freerunners-wannabes were all a friendly bunch. No-one laughed at me (I would’ve laughed at me), everyone encouraged everyone else regardless of the huge range of abilities.

For the last section of the class, Instructor Cali led us to a nearby wall, maybe just over 2m high. I feel pictures (or a video) will explain better than I ever could in words so check out the video below. And note, it may look pretty amusing but I was so proud to be able to do that – it was way outside the comfort zone! It sure is the most different Fitivity I’ve tried to far (and there’s only 2 days left to go!)!

The Need To Know:

- Where: Skilltown (http://ic-movement.com/SkillTown.html)

- Nearest Station: Hackney Wick (3mins)

- When: Freerunning on Sat 2-3.30pm. Other classes available!

- How Much: Day entry £2, then £5 per class or unlimited day pass at £14

  

The Want to Know:

- Who’s it For: For those who are brave and strong and want to try something wackily different!

- Sweat Scale: 6/10.

- Strength / Cardio / Flexi / Tone: Toning and strength

- Complexity: 8/10. Harder than it looks!

- Fun Factor: 8/10

- Changing Facilities: Some rough ‘n’ ready toilets.

- Instructor Inspiration: 8/10. Preferred Tricking & Tumbling teaching style

The Stats:

- Total Time: 47mins. Watch stopped by fat wrist again!

- Calories Burnt: 192. Decent at just over 4 calories-burnt-per-minute

- Average Heart Rate: 118

- Max Heart Rate: 152  

Instructor Cali and the Crew

Attempt 1

Attempt 2