Breathe Parkour

A well designed facility, but entirely money driven.
They trap you into low level «classes» to teach you how to advance through their levels.
When you pay for the opportunity to upgrade through these levels they hold you back to keep you paying for more classes and grading. Not even to mention the fact that the grading criteria includes details not explained in the lessons, all adding up to one big money grab. I question the qualifications of these coaches. Although expensive, this may be appropriate for little kids or lower level athletes.

There is a quiet revolution going on in Calgary, and it involves lots of vaults, jumps, rolls, falls and moves I can’t describe or ever imagine doing myself. It’s called Parkour. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you need to come down and investigate. Just be sure to wear some loose and comfortable clothing.
I’m sure by now you’re totally confused, but let me explain further. I know that I wondered what I was getting into when I walked in and saw a wonderland of wooden structures, foam pits, bars and handholds being scaled, jumped off of and navigated by toned young gentlemen. As the enthusiastic and passionate owner Steve Nagy explained to me, this is the ultimate «extreme» sport because it strips you down to the bare essentials. It’s just you, your own body and your own abilities. Ever see those You Tube videos of guys jumping between public buildings, flipping around bars and jumping from ledge to ledge like some sort of spider? How about chase scenes in movies like Casino Royale where they are flying over obstacles as if they didn’t exist? That’s exactly what this trains you for. Nothing is needed but you. As they say, «there is no competition in Parkour other than the one with yourself.»
I was wearing jeans, so I didn’t have the clothing to really go at it. I did give it a go though. Steve showed me how to land properly, how to barrel roll properly, and how to jump over a giant obstacle like I was sliding across the hood of the General Lee. I jumped into their second level foam pit and climbed on some bars. After all this, one thing was apparent: I’m not nearly in the shape I thought I was in. Doing this three days a week for a month, I have no doubt I’d look like I was chiseled out of marble.
It seemed like there would be lots of liability issues with people coming in gung ho and falling off walls or breaking ankles. They actually have a comprehensive training system that works you up toward those crazier stunts like jumping between posts that are five feet apart. The beginning levels all happen on the floor mats and mainly involve form and strength training.
By the end of it all, I was exhilarated. This was the last thing I expected to check out while in Calgary, and something I had no idea existed. If you live locally (which I unfortunately don’t), you owe it to yourself to see what they can offer and push your physical limits.