[local] Free parkour classes at the Athletic Playground in Oakland

[mattbell]

They're Tuesday 7:30-8:30pm, Thursday 7:30-8:30pm, Saturday 2:30-3:30pm, and Sunday 4pm-5pm

It looks like they have a lot of other good classes too.  The first class is free, and then it's $15/class.  Who wants to go with me?

http://www.athleticplayground.com/

Comments

[spoonless.livejournal.com]

I used to go there a couple times a week, while I was living in Oakland. Their classes are definitely fun, and affordable.

I mostly went to the Parkour classes, but occasionally tried other things like the Aerial class (silk climbing, and trapese).

I eventually ended up switching to another gym, but main just because of the location--without a car, it took me about an hour each way with a combination of bike and BART. I then found an adult gymnastics program that I could walk to, much closer.

Currently I go each weekend to a similar gymnastics program in Chicago. I have to admit, that while "Parkour" sounded cooler at first, I think in the long run I am getting more out of the more traditional gymnastics stuff. Athletic Playground is fun, but it's very small and they don't have much equipment. The main thing I would miss at this point at a place like that is the trampolines... the gyms I go to now I spend most of my time working on flips and stuff, on trampolines... also, the floors have springs in them that help absorb the shock and allow you to jump a bit higher which is fun.

[spoonless.livejournal.com]

Also,

One thing I didn't understand all that well before trying both Parkour and regular gymnastics... is that at least half of the impressive stuff in those Youtube videos is actually not Parkour, it's regular gymnastics (different kinds of flips, handstands, cartwheels, handsprings, etc.)

The Parkour part of it is basically jumping over stuff, between stuff, and onto stuff, while using different artful body positions to position yourself. After a while I realized I was more interested in the flips and handsprings, which is what I work on now... they did not teach those at the Parkour classes, although the instructors all knew how to do them. Those fall under the category "tumbling".

[ferrouswheel.livejournal.com]

I really sometimes wish I lived in the Bay Area!

(Particularly today when it's wet and miserable in Wellington)