Frugal Fitness: Parkour

Verity Payne finds out how expensive it is to take up Parkour and the potential benefits of doing so

Hello and welcome to frugal fitness on lovemoney.com, where we look at ways at getting fit without breaking the bank.

This week we are looking at the art of ‘free running’ which is also known as parkour.

Parkour is the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within your path by adapting your movements to the environment. It involves running, jumping, vaulting and any other movements that help you get from one place to another.

So will Parkour Improve your fitness by leaps and bounds?

Interview with Dan Edwardes – Instructor, Parkour Generations

It’s very different from the monotony of the gym. The motivation is that it’s so much fun, it’s so natural for you to move in this way, and just to feel your potential. After you’ve been training a little bit-  say, a few weeks-  you begin to do things you didn’t think you’d be able to do and you very quickly see results, your fitness goes up and you begin to get a lot stronger. Your balance and special awareness improves pretty quickly. You’ll notice that in a few weeks training.

It seems like a lot of fun, but couldn’t jumping on and off things be quite dangerous?

It’s no more dangerous statistically than rugby or horse riding, but like any athletic pursuit there are risks to it. You’re using your body, so there’s risks of spraining ankles, getting bumps and bruises, can’t avoid that kind of risk and we don’t want to remove that risk.

It should actually make you safer in life. It should make you more coordinated, more spatially aware, better balance, stronger, fitter, healthier heart so you avoid the more obvious risk in life of heart disease, obesity and things like this.

So Parkour can make you physically fit but does it challenge your mind too?

Interview Naomi Honey – Instructor, Parkour Generations

It’s a complete mental workout as well and that’s the really great thing about it. There’s one week you might not be able to do something then a month later you come back to do it and you’ve been training a bit more, you’re a bit stronger and you can do it and it’s awesome.

Now the question that’s sprung into my mind, Is it frugal?  

It’s really cost-effective particularly the indoor classes. It’s amazing. it’s £6 for 2 hours and it’s the biggest work out you’ll ever do, it’s exhausting. You get really fit and really strong and that’s way cheaper than the gym and to be honest the outdoor classes there more expensive, but same again its really good value for money.

So it’s really good for your fitness and classes are really affordable, but will I need to get some special training gear?

Interview with Dan Edwardes – Instructor, Parkour Generations

No, you just need a pair of you shoes your comfortable moving in, normally just running shoes or trainers, sports clothing that’s fine  anything again your comfortable moving in and you don’t mind getting hot and sweaty but there’s no special gear no equipment needed.

So let’s jump to the verdict:

To give you an idea of price, classes at parkour generations, who are featured in this video cost £6 for and indoor class and £10 for an outdoor class. The great thing is that the first class is free so that you get to try it before you have to part with any money. You can find out more on their website at: www.parkourgenerations.com

You can find out if there are classes near you by visiting the UK Parkour Association at parkouruk.org

Parkour challenges the mind and the body and gets you incredible fit and apart from the cost of a pair of trainers its free to get in to, so it’s totally frugal