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Best Places to
Looking for optimal parkour training
grounds? When people think of park-
our, their mind usually goes straight
to heavily developed urban areas.
In any city, you’ll find the landscape
and obstacles necessary to pull off a
huge variety of stunts and acrobatics.
However, it is foolish for beginners
to dive straight into dangerous urban
environments without first training
elsewhere. A cyclist wouldn’t attempt
a 200-mile race without first pedaling
shorter distances. A surfer wouldn’t
paddle out into 30-foot waves without
starting much, much smaller. Train
safely before you go big. Regardless
of how physically fit you are, parkour
is no exception. Wherever you live,
you should have no difficulty finding
suitable training grounds. Here are
our suggestions for places to practice
parkour in your local community.
1. College campuses
Colleges campuses make for ex-
cellent
parkour
training
grounds
for a
number of
reasons.
Firstly, the
space and
architec-
ture are
usually
diverse
and interesting enough to allow
for ample experimentation. On
most campuses, you’ll find enough
rails, ramps, stairs and elevation
changes to keep you occupied for
a long while. Security will probably
be fairly lax as long as you aren’t
doing anything too disruptive.
They’ll assume you’re just another
eccentric student (which may very
well be true) and let you be. You’ll
also be a lot safer than if you were
frolicking about the downtown area
of a large metropolitan area.
2. Playgrounds
Playgrounds are basically de-
signed for parkour. Unfortunately,
they’re usually child-sized, but
with a little creativity, you can turn
them into a adult-sized training
facility. There are several advan-
tages here. One, they are a public
space (ignore the sign that says
“Designed for children under 12″).
Two, they have a unique set of
equipment that is made for climb-
ing and jumping. Three, they
often have soft mulch or rubber
underfoot, so if you screw up, you