Mark Toorock is a Parkour instructor and has been teaching Washingtonians the art of moving — getting around obstacles with acrobatic movements including jumping and climbing up walls — for three years.
What is Parkour?
Parkour is a training method that teaches the body and the mind to get over physical obstacles.
How did you get involved with it?
I was living in London and I saw the David Belle’s “Rush Hour” video and I said “If this guy can do this, then of course, I’m a human being, I have two arms, two legs, I bet I can do some of that.” And that’s how I feel about it — every person can jump.
How many broken bones do you have?
I have no broken bones, and I tore a ligament in my shoulder last year … and I have practiced for seven years.
How do you stay injury-free?
It looks extreme but let’s consider this: There are no wheels, so there is nothing to slip out from under you, we are not using skis, we are not going that fast. You only go as fast as you can run and jump yourself, so you make that decision for every movement that you do.
What does a Parkour workout include?
We always mix them up. There are things that we do for repetition—- to get better at, but we start with a thorough warm-up — we do some joint rotation, mobility work; and from there we go to skills training — jumping, vaulting, climbing up walls. Then we built a course that takes advantage of that skill and the student will go through an obstacle course and work on more complex sets of movements. Linking moves together, moving fluently, is where the essence of Parkour comes out.
Is D.C. a good place for Parkour?
D.C. is a great place for Parkour. We have a fitness gym here, D.C. Metro Parkour, the headquarters for American Parkour; we also have the most popular performance team, the Tribe. – Hristina Ninova
