- Nina
Eight reasons to try parkour
Updated: Jan 24, 2022
Access Parkour, Scotland's largest parkour coaching and performance organisation, turns eight this week. To celebrate eight years of introducing people of all ages and from all walks of life to the joy of parkour, we collected eight reasons for you to make the leap into parkour in 2022.

1. Doing parkour feels awesome. Whether it's swinging through the air, jumping between things, nailing a difficult route, doing parkour feels good. You leave classes feeling like you’ve accomplished something amazing. Plus, all the rumours about endorphins, serotonin and dopamine generation being supported by physical activity are true!

2. Parkour builds confidence. Challenging yourself physically is a great way to build confidence. Knowing you can achieve things that once seemed impossible can help you realise your own potential, strength and skills in other areas of life. Obstacles that seem insurmountable sometimes just need to be broken down a little and tackled with patience, practice and support from the people around you. Speaking of which..

3. Parkour is about community. Although not a traditional team sport, parkour has always been as much about the people as it is about the activity itself. Access Parkour classes exemplify this. It’s about going out and moving with other people and enjoying yourself. No competition. No judgement. No pressure.

4. The world is your playground. Walls become challenges; rails are for sliding on; pavements are for jumping to. The bric-a-brac of urban architecture and the chaos of nature is suddenly interesting, engaging and playful as you develop a newfound appreciation for the world around you. Creative opportunities are everywhere once you know how to spot them.

5. There’s no expensive gear. To do parkour, you need clothes you can move in and a cheap pair of trainers. That's it. Once it gets a wee bit warmer, you can even go barefoot! There’s no specialist equipment or long term contract at Access Parkour. You pay monthly or you pay per class and there’s no small print or extra hoops to jump through.

6. Parkour meets you where you are. Parkour is about challenging yourself. Because of that it’s incredibly easy to scale it up and down so that it meets the needs of every individual that walks into a class. Whether you are taking your first steps into exercise, or want to find a new challenge in your life, there’s an entry point in the world of parkour.

7. Parkour makes you fitter. We’ll never get tired of saying it. You don’t need to be fit to start parkour, but doing parkour will make you fitter. Parkour is a full body workout and you’ll leave tired and happy. Over time, you’ll notice feeling stronger, finding other activities easier and you won’t struggle with simple movements anymore.

8. It’s easy to jump in. There are classes to get you back in the game after injury or inactivity. There are classes where you can discover basic movements. There are indoor and outdoor options and there are classes every day of the week. There are personal training programmes and private coaching sessions. Beginning parkour couldn’t be easier.
You can book your first class at the following link: https://www.accessparkour.com/classes