Despite what a sampling of YouTube and “People are Awesome” videos might tell you, parkour is not just for ripped 18 year old boys doing double flips. In fact, while these spectacularly athletic and often courageous feats may get the spotlight, they are not the actual majority of parkour practice. Instead, it is a practice enjoyed by many people of both sexes across a broad spectrum of age, physical ability, and risk tolerance. Classes are available for children as young a 3 years old, but today we’re going to look at the Over 40 crowd, which might be a bigger constituent than you think!
One of the main places to find inspiration is the Parkour Over 40 Facebook Group. You must be over 40 to join the 190 member and growing group, and yes, we card 🙂
There have been some incredibly forward thinking uses of parkour with populations even older than 40, most notably, Parkour Dance Company in the UK they are really the pioneers of using parkour and parkour like training to help mobilize older populations, with participants into their 80’s!
Our favorite quote from this video is “It’s as if we’re reclaiming the streets for the older generation” – This is right in line with one of APK’s core missions – to increase play among adults.
In the US, Arlington, VA based PKMove has been running PK Silver classes for the over 50 crowd for a while now and is doing great work with that.
There are a few individuals who we feel are particularly inspiring:
At APK, one of our core missions it to change the perception of play, exercise, and physicality, and the ages at which these things are acceptable and appropriate (hint: always). Check out our Getting Started section for ideas to get moving today. We’d love to hear your story about parkour over 40, or help you get started, drop us an email at [email protected].
APK Founder Mark Toorock who wrote this article is 47 himself. This video tells a bit about his story and journey through life.