Parkour at Ninja Academy
Now, it’s not the first time I’ve done parkour. I’ve taken two classes before in the now closed Ninja Academy in Las Pinas and Muscle Up Fitness Gym.
Among the places I’ve taken classes in, the Ninja Academy in Circulo Verde Industria has the best space. It’s a large, high-ceiling playground with different kind of walls, bars and obstacles that simulate things you can play with.
Ninja Academy offers several kinds of workshops from in parkour, gymnastics, archery war games, self defence to private coaching. If you’re not ready to commit yet and you can pay per session for gauntlet, martial arts, tricking, calisthenics and dance with prices ranging from Php 350 to Php 450.
For today, I did their Gauntlet class. Gauntlet is their beginner class that combines 30 minutes circuit training and a 30 minute obstacle course. The circuit started with a 9 lap warm up and had everything from body weight exercises, sprints, battling ropes and weights. To be honest, it was a manageable intensity, especially if you’ve done more intense circuit classes such as F45 and 360 Fitness. However, we went mid-afternoon and the heat just made it 10x harder.
I went with my friend Gem who despite it being her first time in a big obstacle course, managed to do so amazingly. It goes to show there is merit to having a base fitness level to truly maximise the experience of structured parkour training.
To already have a certain level of fitness wherein we can withstand moderate cardio and have reasonable upper body strength, we only had to really address one of the most important aspects of parkour — silencing your fears.
Most of what we really learned during the class was how to convince ourselves that things we can do on flat ground, we can do several feet in the air. We did, however, notice that we progressively became faster each time we did the obstacle course. From our first run of 2 minutes to less than a minute in our second, we realised that sometimes it’s just all in your head.
Our instructor was super patient in teaching us ways to land properly and encouraged us when we didn’t feel like we could make certain jumps. He was even nice enough to time both of us and get us excited to go head to head with each other.
Learning how to fall was actually the skill I found most useful and necessary to learn first. Being prepared to make mistakes safely makes it easier to make mistakes in general. You start to feel like it’s just part of the process and not something to be generally afraid of.
Admittedly, there are more difficult levels to the sport that will require more supplementary training in other endurance and strength building exercises but we didn’t do so bad for people who don’t do it very often. We’re quite keen on coming back soon!
Quick recommendations to make the most out of this class:
1. Don’t skip the warm ups – Parkour is a whole body activity. While it’s tempting to jump straight to the fun stuff, not warming up can lead to serious injuries or cramps. You can warm up by doing quick jogs before your scheduled class as to be able to request more time on the course than the circuit warm up.
2. Wear comfortable clothing that allows maximum flexibility – I can’t stress enough how important it is to be dressed appropriately. As the studio isn’t airconditioned and colored black, it can get extremely hot in the afternoon.Remember to also wear clothes that don’t
3. Wear shoes that grip. – You’re actually better off going barefoot than using slipper shoes as you’ll be prone to injury due to the smooth surfaces you’ll have to
4. Bring a friend who is just as game as you – Having someone of equal fitness level to match up against your personal times in the same obstacle course is a great motivation to do better (and not trip all over yourself). It’s easy to laugh at yourself also.
5. Go in the afternoon if you want more time and less people – If you’re shy and don’t want other people to see you the first few times when you don’t know what you’re doing yet and you have flexible work or study hours, I suggest to try going in the late afternoon. While it can be hot, it does cool later into the afternoon. They’re also not super strict on the time and with less people you can play with the obstacles more.
6. Go in the evening if you want to meet people and endure less heat – If you’re looking to build relationships within the parkour community, you can go later in the day where there’s generally more people. Be sure to watch the sunset before starting you class! Circulo Verde has a great view of it.
All in all, I had a really fun experience. I would recommend going with a friend to get your competitive spirit on and be ready to sweat it out!
If you want to try more classes like these, download Guava Pass and use my Promo Code to get discounts for new members.
Update: Guava Pass had recently closed, but if you’re still looking for alternatives to fitness studio access passes you can use my ClassPass Promo Code to get Php 1500 Off!
