PARKOUR GUIDE
Parkour is a physical activity that involves moving through various obstacles efficiently and creatively. It benefits all age groups by focusing on full-body workouts, cardiovascular endurance, and bone strength. Here are some of the benefits of Parkour for different age groups:
Michigan Parkour for All Ages, It's fun!
Need better balance, stamina, and fun in your life? Our health segment on Parkour gives people of all ages and abilities the ability to use this free and easy sport to amp up their health. This fun is sponsored by the Michigan Association of Chiropractors.
Children and Teenagers:
Physical Strength and Health: Parkour helps build tremendous strength by jumping, leaping, and hanging with total body weight.
Quick-Thinking Skills: It requires participants to negotiate obstacles quickly, exercising the brain and encouraging instinctive decision-making.
Creativity: Every obstacle in parkour won’t have an obvious solution, so participants must use their imagination to overcome it.
Confidence Building: Parkour builds confidence by allowing people to conquer things they would never have attempted.
Michigan Parkour Boost Sports Health
You’re wise to wonder if parkour is safe for children. But before you say no to the possibility, consider these benefits of parkour for kids:
If you’ve ever watched American Ninja Warrior, you’ve seen how jumping and leaping from place to place and hanging with your total body weight suspended below builds tremendous strength. And in a world where children have more and more opportunities to sit and do nothing, parkour is a fun and easy way to get the little ones out and active.
They might get bored of going “to the park…”
But what if you turned your average trip to the park into a “race” across the monkey bars, through the winding tunnels, down the spinning slide, and across the grass field?
That’s parkour.
Perhaps the most outstanding example of parkour in childhood history is this:
THE FLOOR IS LAVA.
You’re standing on the couch or kitchen chairs when suddenly, the floor of your home spontaneously combusts into a dangerous river of molten lava. You must now figure out how to get from the kitchen to your bedroom without losing limbs in the carpet-colored inferno.
It’s problem-solving at its finest: finding creative ways to get from point A to point B. And parkour might be the best way for your children to learn it.
We’ve all been that child in gym class who can’t seem to balance straight up while you’re stretching your quads. But parkour might help your child be the one who balances for awe-inspiring lengths of time…
As a child, there’s nothing like being challenged to climb an obstacle and having the confidence you can. It’s a fantastic feeling.
Today, in the US, there are thousands of indoor gyms and more online classes where children can learn the parkour skills that give them the confidence to solve physical challenges.
Adults:
Full Body Workout: Parkour workouts encompass total body fitness. Running and jumping over and through obstacles requires work from all muscles.
Cardiovascular Endurance: The constant moving and jumping increases participants’ stamina, ensuring your heart is strong and enabling increased oxygen supply to your body.
Bone Strength: Like many other high-impact sports, parkour helps develop bone strength.
Here are the Top 10 from Health Fitness Revolution and author of the book ReSYNC Your Life Samir Becic:
Parkour workouts encompass total body fitness. Running and jumping over and through obstacles requires work from all muscles. Parkour adds a fun twist to your usual static gym routine. It encourages play while tackling practical and fundamental movements.
Parkour requires participants to negotiate obstacles quickly. These sudden moments require you to exercise your brain and think on your feet. Practicing instinctive decisions making skills in parkour can lead to participants trusting their intuitive choices in everyday life.
Parkour encourages participants to use their imagination. Every obstacle in parkour won’t have an obvious solution, so you must use your creativity to overcome it.
Parkour builds confidence by allowing people to conquer things they would never have attempted before. For example, when you see a large wall that seemed like an impossible feat and learn how to scale and get over it, you may feel as though you can accomplish anything.
Skill-related fitness includes agility, balance, power, speed, coordination, and reaction time. In parkour, you have to call upon these skills when jumping, climbing, and balancing through obstacles. Though these skills aren’t required for everyday life (imagine using parkour to get to work!), they are still very beneficial in your arsenal to ensure your physical fitness.
The core is the center of your entire body and is responsible for helping you bend, twist, and transfer power and strength across your body. Developing a solid core through parkour exercises also helps to prevent lower back injuries. Having a strong core fostered by parkour helps you easily maneuver through obstacles.
Like many other high-impact sports, parkour helps develop bone strength. You do several lower-body and upper-body high-impact movements, enabling your body to build stronger bones from the impact they endure.
Parkour requires participants to be highly active. The constant moving and jumping increases participants’ stamina, ensuring your heart is strong and enabling increased oxygen supply to your body.
Older Adults:
Scaling of Abilities: Parkour coaches use scaling to help their students build strength and confidence. The same framework can also help older adults improve their functional mobility.
Understanding Falls: In parkour, athletes tend to fall when they miss a jump, slip on an obstacle, or lose their balance. Coaches always train their students how to fall without getting hurt.
Remember, safety is paramount in Parkour. It’s always best to learn these skills under the guidance of a certified instructor.
Michigan Seniors Use New Balance Technic
Here are some techniques from parkour that can be beneficial for older people:
During a fall, relaxing the body as much as possible is essential. This can help distribute the impact across a larger area, reducing the chance of injury.
If possible, try to roll onto one side during a fall. This can further spread out the impact and minimize injury2.
Focus on fleshy parts of your body like your thighs or buttocks. These areas can absorb impact better than bones or joints.
Where to Parkour:
Movement United Parkour & Acrobatics
Address: 24713 Crestview Ct, Farmington Hills, MI, 48335
Phone: (734) 812-3447
Open Hours: Monday to Friday 3:30 – 10:30, Saturday 10:00 – 3:00
Address: 971 Lynch Dr, Traverse City, MI, 49686
Phone: (231) 941-7751
Open Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday 3:30 – 8:00; Tuesday, Friday 9:30 – 11:00 | 3:30 – 8:00; Saturday 9:30 – 1:30
Address: 12936 Farmington Rd. Livonia MI 48150
Phone: (734) 228-1788
Address: 21421 Hilltop, Suite 3, Southfield, MI 48033
Phone: 947-282-6464
