‘Immediately, I was in love with it’: Parkour in London

The Parkour Generations gym is a far cry from the graffitied streets you’d normally associate with parkour. It’s standard stuff, vinyl terrazzo-style floor tiles, industrial piping, and bars across the walls. It’s located in a shiny new office park in Blackwall, Tower Hamlets, and the gym is empty 20 minutes before class starts. The evening class’ trainer, Arturo Vigil Jimenez, 34, is getting in a few reps before the session begins.

As the clock ticks on, the gym becomes livelier and other free runners arrive. Slim Skhiri, 50, an IT professional, has been a dedicated practitioner for many years. He enjoys the playful element of parkour. “Because I’ve been with these guys [Parkour Generations] for five years, I ended up knowing a lot of people and there’s a sense of community for sure,” he says.

Shannon Martin, 27, was introduced to parkour during Covid by watching YouTube videos and now trains every Sunday with a group of free runners.

“When lockdown ended in 2021, I decided to go try some classes. Immediately, I was in love with it, because it’s a really good way to express yourself,” she says. “Parkour has helped me come out of my shell a lot. It’s probably the best thing that I’ve found, to be honest, in my life.”

The beginners’ class is a challenge for the unfit. Even the warm-up is likely to leave anyone without a basic level of fitness out of breath. After a while, two wooden trunks of differing heights are hauled into the centre of the room. Arturo demonstrates how a free runner would approach the obstacle, or “challenge”.

“It’s probably the best thing that I’ve found, to be honest, in my life”

He shows the class how to place your hands on the edge of the higher box, raise yourself up, and vault over the top. The finish requires landing softly on the balls of your feet – harder to do than Arturo would make it seem. A “clean” landing of this kind is an essential part of the sport.

After an hour of swinging around poles and monkey bars, blisters pop on palms and profusions of sweat drip down foreheads. Some beginners are more natural in their movements than others, but in every case, Arturo offers an encouraging word. The dissonance between muscle memory and new information creates plenty of awkward moments and red faces.

Still, everyone cheers each other on and spirits remain high until the class is brought to a close. For some of the beginners, this will be their first and last class. Others will be back. Either way, names are exchanged and, for those who return, friendships may be formed.

Parkour was developed in the 1980s in France and is often attributed to a core team of nine members and their associates, dubbed “Yamakasi”. It was then popularised in film and television and spread across the channel to the UK where it was mainly practised by smaller groups and underground communities. It began to increase in popularity through social media in the early 2000s.

In 2017, the UK became the first country in the world to officially recognise parkour as a sport despite its controversial reputation as dangerous. Since then, the sport has been more regulated, and more funding is available for events.

Arturo’s relationship with parkour began in Asturias in northern Spain – a place he describes as a “very small town” where there “was not much to do”.

After his friend showed him a video of parkour, Arturo had an epiphany. “It blew my mind. I thought, ‘What is this? This is exactly what I’ve been looking for’,” he says. Arturo was 17 at the time and, with a natural inclination towards solo sports, he took to parkour immediately. “I ended up training all on my own, for quite a while,” he says.

After about six years, Arturo met parkour practitioner Axel Dupre, who worked for Parkour Generations in London. This pivotal meeting led to Arturo’s realisation that he could make a living from parkour. “I thought, ‘Wow, I need to go to England. I need to do it.’”

“You have this community by your side, cheering you on, and sharing that moment with you – it’s super powerful”

A year later, Arturo found himself alone in London and training furiously.

“The parkour coaching qualification was very, very difficult. And the challenges and the tests that you have to go through: it was really, really hard,” Arturo says. But he has come a long way since training solo every day.

“London had a very scattered community a while ago, but now everything’s kind of come together with these new guys, SupaXXL,” he says of the parkour community group that hosts “parkour jams” every Sunday in London.  “Loads of people who have never done parkour go there. You just go there and hang out with them. And then the more you go, the more they will know you. Everyone will always welcome newcomers to the community.”

Arturo started parkour alone, but he says that the best part about the sport is the people you meet and practice with. “Parkour is all about challenges,” he says, referring to the often-death-defying feats associated with the sport. “You might have a big jump to do or something that puts your adrenaline super high up. You’re super hyped to do it but you’re scared. But then you make yourself do it and after, you have this community by your side, cheering you on and sharing that moment with you – it’s super powerful.”

Parkour Generations is hosting Rendezvous International Parkour Gathering 2024 from August 16-18, 2024 in London.