Will parkour make the jump into gyms through new fitness classes?

Coaching company Parkour Generations (PG) is hoping to give a leg-up to the increasingly popular parkour training discipline by launching its new MOV’ concept, a group exercise fitness programme designed for health clubs and leisure venues.

MOV’ is based on the practice of parkour – which has expanded substantially since its original development in France in the late 1980s – and has been designed by PG to bring the excitement and spontaneity of parkour into health clubs and expose it to a wider audience.

Parkour has been growing in popularity across the UK and activity pioneer Sébastien Foucan recently extolled its virtues at ukactive’s Flame Conference, noting there is still much that gyms and health clubs can learn from the discipline.

The new functional training programme – comprised of five different modules – has been designed to encourage people to step out of their comfort zone using the fundamentals of movement, in an accessible environment. The programme encompasses jumping, climbing, running, vaulting and balancing, which its developers say leads to greater fitness levels and muscle strength, as well as greater confidence.

“Parkour is an art of movement, a holistic training discipline that allows for free movement through and over terrain,” said Dan Edwardes, co-founder of PG.

“Responding to the speed of its growth and popularity, we have designed MOV’, with differing modules, so that there will be a programme to fit each operators needs or individuals goals or fitness abilities.”

The programme will be officially launched at Leisure Industry Week, with PG occupying stand H684 at the NEC in Birmingham from 30 September to 2 October 2014.