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Parkour/Freerun
For Health |
Health?! What do you mean health?
When people think about health they think doctors visits, colds,
medicine and hospitals. The World Health Organization (WHO)
defined 'health' as "a state of complete physical, mental and
social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity". While the term wellbeing has a new age feel, they do
have a point, health isn’t just about disease and doctors. It’s
keeping you in good functioning order and having the ability
overcome any challenges thrown your way. I’m of the opinion that
a health body equals a healthy mind.
Exercise is the performance of movements in order to develop or
maintain physical fitness and overall health. It is often
directed toward also honing athletic ability or skill. Frequent
and regular physical exercise is an important component in the
prevention of some of the diseases of modern life such as
cancer, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes,
obesity and back pain.
Exercises are generally grouped into three types depending on
the overall effect they have on the human body:
* Flexibility exercises such as stretching improve the range
of motion of muscles and joints.
* Aerobic exercises such as walking and running focus on
increasing cardiovascular endurance and muscle density.
* Anaerobic exercises such as weight training or sprinting
increase muscle mass and strength.
Physical exercise is considered important for maintaining
physical fitness including healthy weight; building and
maintaining healthy bones, muscles, and joints; promoting
physiological well-being; reducing surgical risks; and
strengthening the immune system. All of these can be acquired
through Parkour/Freerun, with its broad skill base and broad
range of fitness facets. So training in the discipline is an
excellent means of staying fit and healthy.
So what can Parkour/Freerun do for you?
Weight Loss And Diet
Engaging in a physical activity like Parkour/Freerun can tip the
balance of a person’s calories consumed versus calories burned,
with this kind of exercise and moderating your diet, it’s
certainly possible that it will have a significant effect on
your body composition.
Because of the nature of our discipline, a person’s
strength-to-body-weight ratio is a good predictor of success,
slighter-built people do better than more overweight ones, so as
soon as a traceur or freerunner starts to lose some excess
weight, they find out that they’re more agile and making better
climbs, jumps and so on. Fat will quickly be seen as excess
baggage to be carried around and with this mind set weight
management becomes important to practitioners.
Proper nutrition is just as (if not more) important to health as
exercise. When exercising it becomes even more important to have
good diet to ensure the body has the correct ratio of
macronutrients whilst providing ample micronutrients; this is to
aid the body with the recovery process following strenuous
exercise. We generally look to eat healthily and eat in the best
manner to improve what we do.
Strength And Power
While watching us move you’re seeing great expression of
strength and power. Jumping, landing and climbing require both
of these and doing Parkour/Freerun will improve both.
When starting from scratch, it is necessary to prepare the body
for the more strenuous demands to come by first giving it a
relatively light period of adaptation. Tudor Bompa calls this
phase Anatomical Adaptation, in which the main objective
is to strengthen the body as whole, correct muscular imbalances,
and prepare the muscles, joints, tendons and ligaments for the
prolonged and intense training to follow. Things like bodyweight
circuits, GPP training all prepare the body generally for the
multidisciplinary nature of Parkour/Freerun. You’ll not find
many practitioners who can not do a good number of pull ups,
push ups, pistols or jump very far. When a practitioner is
generally ready to go to the next level they may look towards
weights (weighted vests) and specialist conditioning workouts to
improve their performance further.
Balance And Proprioception
We hear a lot about how to keep our heart and lungs healthy, but
not so much about how to keep our balance and proprioception in
check. Our balance system includes all the senses in our body
that tell us how we are moving. |
This
complex system needs plenty of regular 'practice'. As children we develop
good balance by practicing balancing activities - walking along walls,
jumping and climbing. Too many adults give up these activities, but we
maintain and look to build such skills. Climbing, scaling and positioning on
top of objects requires great balance.
Proprioception is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts
of the body, where as balance requires a mixture of sight and inner ear
balance. Proprioception indicates whether the body is moving with required
effort, as well as where the various parts of the body are located in
relation to each other. The proprioceptive sense is believed to be composed
of information from sensory neurons located in the inner ear (motion and
orientation) and in the stretch receptors located in the muscles and the
joint-supporting ligaments (stance). The traceur/freerunner is using
proprioception almost all the time without realising it. The proprioceptive
sense can be sharpened through study of many disciplines. Several studies
have shown that the usefulness of these types of training is challenged by
closing the eyes, because the eyes give invaluable feedback to establishing
the moment-to-moment information of balance. A good example would be trying
to walk a balance beam with eyes closed.
When practitioners are moving through space, climbing or moving, the feeling
of effortless technique is achieved over time through a combination of
coordination, balance and proprioception.
Aerobic/Anaerobic Fitness
In general, aerobic exercise is one performed at a low to moderate level of
intensity over a long period of time. For example, running a long distance
at a moderate pace is an aerobic exercise, but sprinting is not. Playing
singles tennis, with near-continuous motion, is generally considered aerobic
activity, while golf or doubles tennis, with their brief bursts of activity
punctuated by more frequent breaks, may not be predominantly aerobic.
Parkour/Freerun covers both the bases with a mixture of running, sprinting
jumping and climbing mean that both energy pathways are thoroughly
challenged.
Mobility And Flexibility
Today’s sedentary lifestyles mean that over time people lose mobility and
flexibility. A lot of today’s modern back and joint complaints are a result
of bad posture, lack of regular movement and sitting in one place for too
long. Simple as this seems, it is a creeping issue that people only
acknowledge when its too late and need surgery or therapy.
The process of learning to stretch and move around over and under objects
involves the body working to give the necessary mobility to allow such
movements. The fluid movements in parkour and freerun teach a person how to
utilise their mobility to overcome obstacles. For an example a simple wall
pass requires lifting the legs through space. Without mobility to pull the
legs over, it couldn’t be done. By starting small and working up mobility
and flexibility are improved. Simply put “good mobility and flexibility
means a movement should be effortless”. The effortless movements we see are
achieved by working on progressive movement and build on mobility and
flexibility.
Why Parkour/Freerun For Health?
Parkour is a great form of exercise and those who are just getting into
parkour and freerunning, indoor gyms and workshops can provide a safe and
supervised environment for mastering the sport's techniques and becoming
comfortable with new movement and improving fitness. What we do gives a
great sense of well being through its philosophy, greater sense of freedom
and overcoming life’s challenges. However if philosophy isn’t you bag
however it is a gratifying way to get fit and stay in shape.
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Disclaimer
All of the information contained within these articles on the
Urbanfreeflow.com website are provided for informational and
educational purposes. This includes any videos, fitness
programs, fitness workouts and general articles.
In no event shall Urban Freeflow or any individual or company
involved with the development of these articles be liable for
special, indirect, incidental or consequential damages of any
nature, including but not limited to personal injury, loss of
anticipated profits or claims from third parties.
If you are unsure about your fitness levels, please consult
with a doctor before you carry out any exercises demonstrated
here.
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