Parkour Visions miniBlog

Jan 29 / 2:21pm

This week at PKV: vaults, running power, jumping flow

by Eric Jusino

Watch Parkour Visions students Oliver and Andrew playing at Gasworks and the gym on a rainy day:

Level 1 classes this week will cover some of the best vaults for getting over walls, railings, and other stuff that gets in your way. We'll cover step, lazy, and reverse vaults and some of their variations.

Level 2 will work on running power. You will sprint like madness and work hurdle deadly lasers!

Level 3 students will learn to jump like water. Because the last time you saw water jump, you were amazed and jealous.

Sign up online and we'll see you in class!

Filed under // curriculum

Jan 29 / 1:39pm

Parkour homework 1/30

by Eric Jusino

Level 1

Skill

(30 minutes) Find a good wall or rail to work your basic vaults on or set up a 2-4 boxes in the gym. Work sequences of step vault, lazy, reverse, and chest vault, varying your approach angles and the positions of the boxes. Work on figuring out how best to create flow.

Also, spend 15 minutes on wall passes and cat leaps

Strength

3 sets of 5 push ups with feet elevated on box, wall, or curb.

2 sets 30 second handstands against a wall

3 sets of 5 reps single leg squat deck squats

3 sets of pull ups (do one less than your max per set)

Mobility

2 minutes per side straddle stretch

2 minutes per side German hang (total time. Don’t stay in the stretch if your elbows start feeling sketchy)

Level 2

Skill

3 sessions of running, striding, and hurdling outdoors for 30 minutes.

Strength

3 sets of press handstand progressions

3 sets of back lever progressions

3 sets of 5 climb ups

3 sets 5 reps of Bulgarian split squats with appropriate weight

3 sets of 5 single leg squats progressions

Mobility

As at level 1

Level 3

Skill

30 minutes 3 days per week, work on routes incorporating running jumps, cat leaps, and wall passes

20 minutes of low line training

Strength

As at level 2

Mobility

As at level 1

Filed under // homework

Jan 26 / 7:28am

Parkour Visions featured in Seattle Magazine article

Posted by email

Seattle Magazine just published a fantastic write-up about all the different physical activities to do here in Seattle indoors, including parkour!

And then there is parkour, an extreme sport developed in the suburbs of Paris a quarter-century ago and now practiced in urban areas the world over. According to Parkour Visions (parkourvisions.org), a nonprofit dedicated to spreading the parkour gospel across the Pacific Northwest, the sport involves overcoming obstacles as swiftly and efficiently as possible using only one’s body. Participants (“traceurs”) climb on and leap and flip between buildings, pillars, poles, walls and banisters—essentially whatever is in the way.

Beyond the thrill of artfully and energetically moving through and around obstacles, parkour can also be a serious fitness-training workout and confidence builder. Parkour Visions recently opened the region’s first indoor gym devoted entirely to parkour on Queen Anne (1210 W Nickerson St.; 206.923.8864) where the group leads regular weekly classes for beginners focusing on movements, proper landing techniques and safety.

Read the entire article: 15 Ways to Stay Fit (While Staying Inside) | Seattle Magazine

Interested? Come on in and check us out.

Jan 24 / 5:28pm

Parkour Homework 1/23

by Tyson Cecka

Due the crazy weather last week shutting us down for a couple days we're just going to repeat the same homework and curriculum again. Please see http://blog.parkourvisions.org/parkour-homework-116 and get crackin!

Jan 24 / 2:23pm

How movement and play keeps your brain healthy

Posted by email

In the middle of these winter doldrums, it can be hard to get out and train rather than curl up with a blanket and go hibernate until spring. But in fact exercise and play help keep your brain alive and active. How well? According to several studies, actively seeking out mental stimulation through exercise and play can actually prevent Alzheimer's:

People who engage in activities such as reading and playing games throughout their lives may be lowering levels of a protein in their brains that is linked to Alzheimer's disease, a new study suggests.

"Staying cognitively active over the lifetime may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's by preventing the accumulation of Alzheimer's-related pathology," said study author Susan Landau, a research scientist at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley.

"Some of the literature has hypothesized this finding, but this is the first study to report that lifetime cognitive activity is directly linked to amyloid deposition in the brain," she said. "We think that cognitive activity is probably one of a variety of lifestyle practices -- occupational, recreational and social activities -- that may be important."

The report was published in the Jan. 23 online edition of the Archives of Neurology. (Source: USA Today)

Other studies have found that exercise also stimulates learning:

A new study published today, in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, studied the relationship between physical activity and academic performance. Researchers at the Vrije University Medical Center, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Amsterdam, the Netherlands found a strong correlation between physical activity and test scores. Dr. Amika Singh and colleagues suggest that physical activity may help improve test scores because of the increase in blood and oxygen flow to the child’s brain. Physical activity also improves a child’s mood and decreases stress because of the hormones released during activity.

(source: Education Week: Students' fitness linked to higher test scores)

So think of that the next time you need a brain boost after studying all day! So come into the gym out of the cold and wet and get moving!