By the end of Jane Henry\u2019s first parkour class, one week before her 46th birthday, her legs had turned to jelly. <\/p>\n
She had spent the past hour-and-a-half laying the groundwork to attempt manoeuvres such as the Kong vault, which, when mastered, would involve taking a running jump toward an obstacle and using her hands to leapfrog over it with ease. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very contradictory to what your brain would say is a smart thing to do,\u201d she says. And yet, ever since she walked into Vancouver\u2019s Origins Parkour 14 years ago, something about the sport that involves jumping, crawling, swinging \u2013 and generally, monkeying around \u2013 has always excited her. She had initially visited the gym to enroll her son in classes, but to her surprise, felt drawn to parkour herself. <\/p>\n
\u201cI watched what all these primarily young people were doing, and my brain said, \u2018I want to do that.\u2019 It just looked like so much fun and I didn\u2019t think about whether I could or not.\u201d <\/p>\n
Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Jane Henry, 60, has been doing parkour for 15 years.Alana Paterson\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n Now 60, retired from building houses with her husband and a previous career in fashion and costume design, Ms. Henry has outlasted her son in parkour by a long shot. She\u2019s found that the sport, which is centred on navigating built environments with your body, has improved her balance, strength, co-ordination and reaction time. <\/p>\n Parkour might not be top of mind for most middle-aged people seeking out physical activity. But some adventurous older Canadians, as well as those taking dedicated seniors classes in the United States and Singapore<\/a>, are customizing the discipline to meet their own health goals. For these enthusiasts, parkour strikes just the right balance of movement, problem-solving and play. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think age in itself is a limit as to what people can try,\u201d says Teresa Liu-Ambrose, a physical therapy professor at the University of British Columbia and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in healthy aging. \u201cIt\u2019s about individualizing the activity for the person.\u201d <\/p>\n The typical loss of balance, strength and muscle power in midlife can lead to a higher risk of falls<\/a> as we age. However, targeted exercises \u2013 such as those central to parkour \u2013 that challenge these trouble areas are \u201chighly effective\u201d in preventing falls, Prof. Liu-Ambrose says, reducing fall risk by upward of 28 per cent. <\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Alana Paterson\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n Origins Parkour instructor Tom Coppola says all newcomers to the sport start by trying exercises low to the ground, learning the core skills that underlie more advanced moves. While the gym doesn\u2019t offer classes for seniors specifically, he says their clients range from as young as 5 to \u201cas old as is willing to give it a shot.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI really do believe parkour is for everyone,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n He says the key to parkour is breaking down moves into bite-sized parts. For example, students are first taught a bear crawl, in which you move using both your hands and feet, before eventually using that quadrupedal movement to push off an obstacle or pull themselves on top of a ledge. <\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Werner Tanzo, a 50-year-old from Burlington, Ont., feels encouraged to keep going when he sees progression in his parkour abilities.Madison Pittman\/Supplied<\/p>\n Part of why Werner Tanzo, a 50-year-old from Burlington, Ont., took up parkour after a teach-your-parent session with his son was because improvement felt accessible and achievable. In one of his first classes at Play Project gym, Mr. Tanzo, an IT professional who stands 5 foot 7, was confronted by a slanted wall about six feet tall. The expectation was that he\u2019d eventually be able to run up that wall and pull himself on top. \u201cWhen you look at it, you\u2019re like \u2018I don\u2019t know if I can do that,\u2019 \u201d he recalls. <\/p>\n But by the end of the class, through instruction on how to use his momentum to clear the wall, Mr. Tanzo was able to complete the slanted wall run. \u201cIt encourages me to keep on going when I\u2019m able to see that type of progression,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n Part of achieving physical gains in a full-body sport such as parkour is building confidence in your movement and understanding your limits. When undertaking any new exercise program, Prof. Liu-Ambrose says it\u2019s important to start at your baseline and consult with a physician to ensure the activity is safe for you. Parkour moves can also easily be modified for someone at a lower fitness level or with limited mobility to participate at their own pace, Mr. Coppola says. <\/p>\n Challenging your body to move in different ways does come with risks. Mr. Coppola says some common parkour injuries include hand rips, which is when a callus is torn off by friction, and ankle injuries, such as sprains or impingements. <\/p>\n