The kids are enrolled in an online school and part of the curriculum is P.E. which I am in charge of (along with History and English).  We have been able to stay very active with a lot of hiking and walking and an occasional swim or bike ride but lately the kids have added their own twist to our walks, parkour. 

Parkour is a discipline developed in France based on military obstacle course training.  It has been compared to non-combative martial arts and is a creative way of viewing your environment and how to travel through it and get a workout.

The videos on YouTube of parkour are amazing to watch and capture the imagination of many people, my family included.  They are the ones of people jumping, climbing and flipping over rooftops.

It’s a cool idea and like all forms and fads of workouts there are different levels of interest, participation and commitment.  In my opinion, the goal of parkour is getting from one point to another with as much effort as possible.  In other words, a nice relaxing walk can be transformed into a “complex” environment of obstacles that must be conquered using any and hopefully all means possible.

This may include  running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, rolling, crawling on all fours and any other movements that will get your heart rate up and keep you from falling off of a wall, into a ravine or get you over or around any obstacle that you may encounter.  Everything about it looks dangerous and uncomfortable.

Parkour, like jogging or walking, can be solitary or with a buddy and is usually done in an urban setting (more obstacles of course) but in some areas there are parkour gyms.

Toledo seemed to inspire the kids to get their parkour on, Ashley especially.  Scott took her out for two hours one afternoon and she came back sweating and bleeding.  Grant was recovering from a cold but Ashley was so excited by her parkour outing that as soon as Grant felt up to it we all went on a parkour adventure.  They even wore special parkour outfits.  I just went along as photographer that is when I could stand to watch.

The kids are like monkeys but Scott did a good job keeping up with them.

This was an especially fun place to parkour.  I would take a few pictures and walk ahead on the trail so I wouldn’t spoil their fun telling them to be careful.

Scott showed off his parkour moves while the kids cheered him on.

The kids would stop and rest occasionally and enjoy the view.

This was two plus hours into the “workout” and they were getting tired and hungry and happy to sit and wait for us to catch up.

A view of San Martin Bridge from the parkour nature trail.

Parkour Team

One last obstacle for the day.