[Music]
Running, rolling, swinging, and vaulting
over every obstacle in your path.
It looks like something out of an action
movie, but this is parcour.
Defined as the act of getting from point
a to b as quickly as possible.
Youtube videos like this one have gone
viral reaching over 74 million hits.
But how do professionals get to this
level? By going to places like the Monkey
Vault.
Monkey Vault is Toronto's primary
parcour gym. It's been open for two years,
attracting parcour athletes from across
Canada.
Cody Marshall traveled all the way from
Winnipeg just to practice at the Monkey
Vault.
"My friend Mark, he used to live in
Winnipeg. I mean in
Toronto, and he came out here and trained
and
he introduced me to Daniel. It was really
cool and then once we did this
parcour summer meet, it felt like home.
Everybody thinks that, oh he's hanging
from a
crane. He's jumping from building to
building, that's what they must do.
But no one sees like, the progress that
we take
to get into things like that and we take
years and years of training just to do
something that big
but at first glance that's what
everybody sees."
Monkey Vault has everything a parcour
runner could need including structures
to swing from,
walls to climb,
and even a foam pit to practice flips.
Devin Kennedy, an instructor at the
Monkey Vault says the gym is designed
for a variety of lessons and workouts.
Primarily we focus on parcour and
general movement. There are a couple
levels of that. We're looking to add more
of them into it but
we focus on parcour and movement as its
own
special brand and then flips and
acrobatics are down on the side back to
play stuff for kids.
Just general workouts play and
all over kind of parcour exercises but
more geared for fun right." But the fun
isn't just for adults.
Kids 9 and up can play and take lessons
at the Monkey Vault too.
"So i just like to have this because it's
really fun
and you get really strong
from doing all the push like you gotta
get up there and stuff so you gotta
climb."
Lisa Savajari
has an 11 year old daughter taking
lessons at the Monkey Vault.
She says the lessons have helped her
daughter feel more confident and safe in
more traditional sports.
"I find that what they are learning here
at parcour really blends well with a lot
of different sports
more traditional sports that you'd you'd
be doing so
when I look at what it brings to her
skiing ability is it's going to give her
a lot more
confidence and and a better feeling for
her body and space
if she's you know going off a jump she's
going to be
a lot more aware of how to land. um
You know the the unfortunate side of
skiing is you're going to fall so
you know learning how to tumble and roll
um is really critical and the core
strength that they gain from something
like this
is is really good and just confidence
playing confidence is
goes a long way. Do I want to see my
my daughter vaulting off of tall
buildings and or
jumping between buildings with big gaps
not really but but what i have learned
from
watching them here is that there's a lot
of training involved and there's a lot
of calculated risk
and, and you know if she's ever going to
do something like that I'd, I'd like
to know that she's at least trained in
doing it."
Well there's no set safety policies at
the Monkey Vault,
Bristol Ren Warren says getting hurt is
part of the learning process.
"You're doing this kind of sport, you kind
of expect it to like get hurt,
but what you want to do is like try to
like know how to like bail it I guess.
But you try to save yourself."
"If i don't feel it or all the time...
control it".
Indoor parcour gyms like the Monkey
Vault are a great way for people to
practice their skills in the winter
before they go outside in the summer. The
Monkey Vault has plans to renovate but
for now that's under wraps.
I'm Robin Fiordan, Ryerson TV News.