Bloomington Parkour offers people of all ages a way to improve their physical and mental well-being by practicing movements that have their roots in obstacle course training.

Parkour was introduced in America in the early 2000s. It originated in France. When the International Gymnastics Federation tried to incorporate it as a related discipline, parkour groups resisted, leading to national parkour organizations and leagues, Bloomington Parkour club founder and coach David Frew said.

Bloomington Parkour started in 2020. There are public meetups on Thursdays at the Warehouse and member-only practices Sundays on Indiana University’s campus. The club also offers classes for kids and adults.

“I'd say we're a sport, but we can be more,” Frew said. “We don't just have to be one thing. We can be an art. We can be a martial art. We can be a self-care practice.”

Parkour includes movements like running, jumping, vaulting, climbing, rolling and balancing. Parkour skills that are commonly used are a basic wall run, a cat grab, gargoyle and precision.

Frew got into parkour when he became a student at IU in 2014. Growing up, he did martial arts to help manage diabetes. Getting involved in what was IU’s parkour club at the time not only helped Frew maintain his health, but it also helped with his anxiety and stress as he adjusted to college.

“I don't relate well to people, so I'm this antisocial, unhealthy wreck with a horrible blood sugar,” he said. “My body is like failing on me at points, but parkour helped me stop that. It got me to touch literal grass with every part of my body.”

In 2018 the IU parkour club started to lose members and stopped meeting. Then the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 eliminated Frew’s job in the escape room business. That led to him starting Bloomington Parkour.

“I had a lot of free time,” Frew said. “I was kind of sedentary, and so I got back into parkour after about a year and a half off and started Bloomington Parkour from there.”

Frew has trained people from age 8 to almost 80 years old.

“Kids, you know, if they're very young, they might not have all their coordination,” Frew said. “So soft play stuff is fine for them, like mats and trampolines. But then, as you get older, maybe you can't take as much impact. So you try to find movements that work for you.”

Before a parkour training session, Frew recommends people do stretches and warm up exercises such as lunges, Cossack stretches and a light jog.

“I recommend loosening up, just doing hopping, shaking things out, get the synovial fluid going into the joints, get the blood flowing, a bit of lower body mobility,” he said.

People should avoid doing parkour on spring floors because they won’t be able to get a solid jump, Frew said. Solid ground that’s not wet, including grass and mulch, works. Doing parkour on concrete is something one can work up to, he said.

Frew said most beginner athletes shouldn’t do jumps above the knee or waist height until it becomes comfortable and easy. From there, one can progress.

“Then we layer on sports-specific conditioning, isometrics targeting specific joint complexes, longer holds, different kinds of mobility drill, specifically to target the areas that you're going to be using, like let's say a big landing,” Frew said.

To avoid injury, Frew said to practice the same motion with lower height and stakes, and progress from there. One shouldn’t push themselves and should listen to their body, he said.

Rest and hydration are important after a training session. Yoga can also help encourage blood flow, he said.

Bloomington parkour member Dustin Cherry has been a part of the club since around 2022.

Cherry got into parkour around 2010 before he started high school.

“I saw some cool videos on Red Bull, like Red Bull Art of Motion,” Cherry said. “They have some really cool content, and I saw people doing these flips and climbing buildings, just traversing obstacles. And I wanted to do it, so I just hopped in my backyard. I had a little picnic table, and I just started doing tricks on it, jumping off of it, flipping off of it.”

Cherry said parkour has not only helped him to stay physically active as a diabetic, but has inspired creativity.

“After getting into a training session, or even just sometimes looking at different obstacles, I'll just think of new ways to traverse them, or do different tricks,” he said.

Frew said he is committed to helping people “rip off Band-Aids,” even if that means doing just an okay version of the technique at first.

He said he doesn’t want a mansion or a lambo, he wants to get more people moving and living.