New Small Vault Box

Check out the new small vault/step box!

Overnight Movement Jam This Weekend!

Parkour Ways is hosting an overnight MOVEMENT jam this weekend at Vie Personal Fitness to celebrate the end of the season as we move our equipment indoors again! The jam will start outside and will likely move indoors after the sun goes down and the temperature drops!

This isn't a parkour-only jam. You're free to train any discipline you'd like! The cost is $15 - a very reasonable price for a 14 hour gym session like this!! Registration is limited! Read below!

- Plenty of indoor and outdoor space to utilize for whatever you want to work on - parkour, tricking, capoeira, breakdancing, yoga, weightlifting, etc!
- Cost is only $15/person for 14 HOURS!
- Music played inside and outside! Bring an iPod/phone/mp3 player/laptop/CD if you want to share yours!
- Healthy snacks will be provided! There are always water bottles, Gatorade, cans of Monster Absolute Zero, and snack bars for sale (cash only). Absolutely NO alcoholic beverages allowed.
- IF you want to sleep you are welcome to sleep on the floor... just make sure you're out of the way!
- Ages 12 and up!

- EVERYONE MUST BRING A SIGNED WAIVER (unless you have ever been to a Parkour Ways session before)!!! Print the waiver here: http://www.parkourways.com/documents/Parkour_Ways_Waiver.pdf

- REGISTRATION IS LIMITED!! Sign up in advance here to make sure you get a spot:

Sign Up!!

Open Gym Price Drop!

Open gym sessions at Vie Personal Fitness are now just $5! We're no longer offering the packages of open gym sessions, but we've dropped the price for drop-ins to make it more accessible for everyone! Open gyms are currently scheduled on Saturdays from 12:30p - 2:30p, on Sundays from 1:00p - 3:00p and temporarily on Tuesday nights from 6:30 - 8:30p (those Tuesday night sessions will end on October 16th).

Now that the sessions are only $5, you will no longer pay for the sessions through our online registration system but you can still pay with a debit/credit card when you get to the gym. Open gym sessions are subject to cancellations in the event that our regular classes are cancelled (empty/zero signups) or if there are not enough sign ups for the open gym (minimum 4 needed, you can see the number of people signed up on the schedule). If you're planning to come to an open gym session, make sure you sign in for it on the website (select "Register as Unpaid") in advance. If you're signed in for the session and the session gets canceled, you will be notified via email. If you need to find out whether or not an open gym session is still scheduled to occur, you can call!

For more information about our classes and sessions: www.ParkourWays.com/classes

Parkour Ways Welcomes Ekaterina Kartashova!

Ekaterina Kartashova is a female practitioner of parkour originally from Russia. She made her move to the United States 10 years ago and started training parkour about two years ago. She decided to start training parkour because she was afraid of it and thought it would be a great challenge for her to take on. When she learned about some of the philosophy that parkour entails, she realized that this is what she has believed in her whole life. She saw the opportunity to learn many things from training this splendid discipline.

Having had no sports background, it was very difficult for Ekaterina to get started with her training. Her fears kept her grounded, and one by one they formed into hopes of new little victories for her. She trains in order to live the way that she has always felt is right for her:

"I want to live my life with the knowledge that anything is possible, that any obstacle can be overcome. That there is never such a thing as 'I can't'. There is always a way when it's something you truly want."

"I want to give peolpe joy. I love seeing people happy and enjoying their movement through life so if something I know can bring a smile to their face... well, that's why I love to share parkour with people."

Some years ago - before she started training parkour, Ekaterina found out that she had a pinched nerve in her spine. This condition kept her from any running, jumping, or any other similar physical activities. "I would walk and collapse randomly in the street because my legs would just stop carrying me", she said. "But parkour makes it better. The common exercises we do on a daily basis have made it possible for me to not only run, but train consistently in this discipline which is in my mind one of the most difficult and serious disciplines out there."

Since starting her journey of parkour, Ekaterina has trained with world-class parkour instructors from Parkour Generations (UK) on several occasions and even with the Yamakasi (the founders of parkour)!

Ekaterina will be joining us for a special $5.00 open gym on this coming Saturday, August 4th. Don't pass up this opportunity to train with an experienced female practitioner and a wonderful person! You can sign in at the link below (sign up as unpaid, payment will be taken at the gym):

Sign Up Here!

Ekaterina leaves us with this additional food for thought:

"Each day is a new chance to conquer yourself. To believe in a higher power than fate. And find your connection to that power is stronger than you thought. Thus each day is a chance to change your life. To manipulate the obstacles you face and reach a new place of peace. Each day we trace ourselves unto higher ground. Each day is parkour."

Farewell Masa Suzuki Jam!

This will be a fun weekend at Parkour Ways with some special guests!! Masa Suzuki has spent the past month of July right here in Chicago training with the local practitioners and working with a group of kids in Austin, Illinois, instructing them in parkour. Tomorrow, Friday August 3rd, we will be hosting an open gym from 7:00pm - 9:00pm to see Masa off before he travels back home!

Here is a video Masa put together of his time spent here:



Sign Up Here!

Ruins

Jeffrey Strening and David Yip came out from Chicago to train with myself and John Conway out in Indiana last Friday and my good friend David Gall came along to snag some shots. A large number of great photos in this set, click here to see the full gallery at the site!











Photos by David J. Gall

American Rendezvous 3

American Rendezvous - one of the biggest and most exciting events of the year for traceurs and traceuses! Parkour Horizons (www.ParkourHorizons.org) hosts this event annually and brings out some very admirable coaches from across the pond to help us all learn and get stronger together. This year's Rendezvous was led by a generous amount of Yamakasi (www.ADD-Academy.com), and Parkour Generations (www.ParkourGenerations.com) instructors from abroad: Chau Belle, Ben Odoyer, Francois 'Forrest' Mahop, Dan Edwardes, Chris 'Blane' Rowat, Tony Thich, Thomas Couetdic, Chris Keighley, Annty Marais, and Dominic Willoughby. Julie Angel and Andy "Kiell" Day also made the trip out for the event and gave some very interesting presentations. Julie Angel has a PhD in parkour. That's right! She makes parkour documentary films and has a book out on the subject as well. Andy "Kiell" Day is a photographer who takes some stunning shots of parkour practitioners. Andy also enjoys rock climbing and he even ran a climbing session during the training on Monday.

The event was a huge success with a great turnout on all 3 days! Everyone put hard work and strong effort into the warmups and all of the drills throughout the weekend, we start together - WE FINISH TOGETHER!

Thanks to Parkour Horizons, Parkour Generations, and the Yamakasi for putting the event together and making us all train extra hard!