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The History of Parcourse

May 5, 2015 in Fitness, Parcourse

The first parcourse trail built in the US still exists in the Mountain Lake Park of San Francisco’s Presidio. The parcourse begins at the beginning of 9th Ave, just north of the intersection of 9th Ave and Lake St.

A fitness trail or parcourse is of a path or course equipped with obstacles or stations along its length for exercising. The course is designed to promote physical fitness training in the style attributed to Georges Hébert.

In general, fitness trails or parcourses can be natural or man made, located in areas such as forests, parks, or other settings. Equipment exists to provide specific forms of exercise, and can consist of natural features including climbable rocks, trees, and river embankments, or manufactured products (stepping posts, chin-up and climbing bars) designed to provide similar physical challenges. The degree of difficulty of a course is determined by terrain slope, trail surface, obstacle height (walls) or length (crawls) and other features.

Urban parcourses tend to be flat, to permit participation by the elderly, and to accommodate cyclists, runners, skaters and walking. The new concept of an outdoor gym, containing traditional gym equipment specifically designed for outdoor use, is also considered to be a development of the parcourse. These outdoor exercise gyms include moving parts and are often made from galvanized metal.

I  highly recommend using a parcourse or a fitness trail to maximize body weight exercises. Anyone can start out on a parcourse–all ages and any fitness level.

What is Calisthenics and Isometrics?

May 5, 2015 in Calisthenics, Fitness

Both Calisthenics and Isometrics provide effective and beneficial forms of exercise. Sometimes there can be confusion regarding these terms but they are rather simple.

Calisthenics is a form of exercise that is often of a variety of simple, rhythmical, movements, that can be done without using equipment or apparatus.

They are designed to increase body strength and flexibility with movements such as bending, jumping, swinging, twisting or kicking, using only your own body weight for resistance and even someone else’s body weight plus yours . They are usually conducted in concert with stretches. Calisthenics when performed vigorously and with variety can benefit both muscular and cardiovascular fitness, in addition to improving psychomotor skills such as balance, agility and coordination.

Many groups around the world such as sports teams and military units often perform leader-directed group calisthenics as a form of synchronized training (often including a customized “call and response” routine) to increase group cohesion and discipline. Calisthenics are also popular in schools across the globe.

Isometric exercise or isometrics are a type of exercise where the joint angle and muscle length do not change during contraction (compared to concentric or eccentric contractions, called dynamic/isotonic movements).

Isometrics are done in static positions, rather than being dynamic through a range of motion. A parcourse or fitness trail, is a great place to practice, isometrics and calisthenics. Of course you can workout from home. But the parcourse is an advantage.

Benefits of Parcourse and Calisthenics

May 5, 2015 in Fitness, Parcourse

Being more than a fun activity, Parcoruse and Calisthenics offer tremendous health benefits for any fitness level. Parcourse was designed for this purpose in mind especially combined with calisthenics.

Here are some examples:

Improves cardiovascular health and increases in muscular endurance, speed and power.

Increases flexibility and range of motion.

It is free and available to use anytime.

It’s a growing awareness and is becoming more popular to the average person.

The first Parcourse that was created in the U.S. was in San Francisco in 1973.

Two primary forms of fitness used at the Parcourse are calisthenics and isometrics.
Calisthenics are a form of exercise consisting of a variety of exercises, often rhythmical, movements, generally without using equipment or apparatus.

They are intended to increase body strength and flexibility with movements such as bending, jumping, swinging, twisting or kicking, using only one’s body weight for resistance.
They are usually conducted in concert with stretches.

Calisthenics when performed vigorously and with variety can benefit both muscular and cardiovascular fitness, in addition to improving psycho-motor skills such as balance, agility and coordination. Isometrics are a type of strength training in which the joint angle and muscle length do not change during contraction. Isometrics are done in static positions, rather than being dynamic through a range of motion.

The Cheapest Way To Be Fit

May 5, 2015 in Fitness

A lot of people don’t realize that you need almost no exercise equipment or gym to be fit. You can do exercises with your body weight which can be done anywhere. This makes life much easier then always traveling to a gym.

Some basic things you can do which are very good for your cardiovascular health when done together or at least 2 or three of them are: running, bike riding, jumping rope, and swimming. When you do these exercises and you do calisthenics and isometric exercises for example push ups, pull ups, sit ups, squats, dips, and muscle ups, you will be taking your fitness to the next level with out spending money.

People also get the misconception that there are only a few exercises you can do with your body when there are really endless variations of things that all target different muscle groups.

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