Well, that scene was inspired by a sport/pastime called Free Running, also known as Le Parkour as it was originaly French.
If you haven't seen the chase at the beginning of Casino Royale, you can check it out in the video below.
Looks kinda fun doesn't it?!
Free Running is a sport/pastime/leisure time activity that is growing in popularity and the beauty of it is that:
- It doesn't require any specialist equipment
- It's great fun to do - no matter what level you're at
- It's an extremely good workout for your body, putting all of your joints through a full range of motion
We all know that postures are becoming more and more compromised as lifestyles become more and more sedentary, and the activities that people do participate in are often very linear. Running is a great example. There's no doubt that running is good from a cardiovascular viewpoint, but from a 'putting all your joints through a full range of motion' viewpoint...well, it doesn't really!
So what can we do to get a full range of motion workout? Well, in addition to your postural therapy program, Free Running is definitely up there as one of the best things you can do.
Last weekend, I decided to stuff myself into four seperate commuter packed trains and trawl from Surrey to North West London to check out one of the very few Free Running classes around. Before I go into any detail, I simply have to say that it was FANTASTIC FUN! (And an extremely good workout too...a bit too good in fact!)
Before I go any further, you should check out David Belle in action. This is the French guy who started it all and he is pretty amazing. Very inspiring to watch and a great incentive to keep getting up and trying it. So I may never reach his ability, but then, it's not so much the destination that's important, rather it's the fun of the journey.
It's all pretty spectacular, but watch out in particular for about 2 minutes 40 into the video where he jumps from one bar to another...the balance, skill, agility and overall strength just shows us what the human body really can do.
Inspiring eh?!
It was that inspiration that led me to go to a class, and while we didn't do anything quite as death defying as that, it was great fun nonetheless.
Now, I don't believe I've mentioned the fact that I was hobbling around like a little old lady all weekend have I?! It wasn't because I injured myself attempting to do a backflip or anything stupid like that (I know my current limits, which I will be expanding). No, the reason I was hobbling around was because of the warm up no less...it nearly killed me!
One of the instuctors could see there were people flaking (including me) and he kept shouting (with a big smile on his face), "come on, this is only the warm up!"
We did all kinds of fun and, most importantly, functional stuff to get the blood pumping. There were:
To name but a few.
Click on the links above and you'll see that these are exercises that are already in the Egoscue Practitioners tool box. We may not always use them, but they're there nonetheless.
The squats we did were no ordinary squats though! They had us balancing on tip toes and holding the squat position for a looooong time...and then we came up a little bit and held it some more...and then down a little bit where we held it some more. And up. And down and on and on.
I can safely say I have never had screaming quads like it!
So, if you want to get fit, have fun and play like you probably haven't done since you were a kid, then get yourself along to a Free Running class. I'm off again this evening and I hope to get some cool pictures and videos to show you...so look out for those.
If you are interested in coming along to the class I went to and am going to again this evening, you can find full details here. It's a mere £5 for just over two hours. Can it get any better?!
Have a great weekend and I'll talk to you soon.
Matt
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