Fit: No Fear of Flying

Map It:  Brookland 

IF JAMES BOND just jogged and lifted weights, he'd probably be dead. But 007 and his fellow action movie heroes somehow acquired the ability to shimmy up walls, leap from rooftops and soar over scaffolding to capture evildoers. These are feats the average schmo can manage, too — even without the stuntmen and special effects — with enough trips to Primal Fitness.

The Brookland facility, which opened in January, is one of the first gyms in the world dedicated to parkour, the art (invented in France) of maneuvering as quickly as possible through any environment. "People give these drawn-out explanations for what parkour is. But it's like tag. You're not going to get caught, so you just keep moving," says co-owner Mark Toorock.

While in the outside world that would mean instantly judging the surroundings to figure out which car to dive over or where to get a handhold on the side of a skyscraper, the gym offers a more controlled environment, which is conducive to drilling key skills.

So, Toorock sets up courses, such as a piece of wood in front of a vault, and then directs students on how to navigate the obstacles. In this case, that means running, placing one foot on the plank, leaping over the vault and then landing in a roll. (Rolling in parkour, unlike gymnastics, is done at a 45-degree angle so you don't crack your spine on concrete surfaces.)

It's trickier than it sounds, because any hesitation or stutter steps kill momentum. The idea, Toorock explains, is to get accustomed to making precise movements that can be adjusted according to the situation. "You can't redesign a building on the fly," he says.

But you can hurl your body through the air in tons of ways, which is another lesson students learn thanks to vaults of varying heights and a set of bars. Or, they can aim themselves straight into a wall with a cat leap, a move which requires catapulting your body high enough to grip the top of a wall and then pulling yourself up and over.

"For me, parkour is about getting over your fears," says 26-year-old Terrence Chau, who's been taking classes for two months. He's already capable of soaring pretty high for a guy who claims to be scared of heights. "You're running at that wall and, normally, you would stop. But in this class, you keep going."

It's also about being in shape, because without strength, agility, accuracy and cardio endurance, you're toast. Every class starts with conditioning, which usually includes squats (key for jumping and landing safely), pull-ups (so you can get over a wall after a cat leap) and burpees, which are a brutal squat-push-up-jump combo awesome for overall strength.

Much of the fitness philosophy comes from CrossFit, a rapidly growing program that mixes up Olympic weight lifting, kettlebells, sprints and more (see box above for the newest program in the D.C. area). The gym's "Primal Fitness" class is mostly CrossFit with a few parkour tweaks that aims to optimize students' functional fitness.

It sure beats chasing nefarious criminal masterminds. But Primal Fitness will get you ready to do that, too.

» Primal Fitness is located at 903 Girard St. NE. Its "Primal Fitness" class is offered four times each weekday and once on Saturdays. Parkour classes are Tuesday and Thursday nights, as well as Saturday mornings. It's $20 for a drop-in visit, or $120 for a month of unlimited classes. For more info, call 202-635-1941.

Photo by Michelle Repiso/Express