Tired of boring workouts? Then try Tempest Freerunning Academy in Vista for a full-body workout that includes parkour, free running and defying gravity.
What is parkour?
Simply put it is moving from point A to point B in a fast and efficient manner.
"There’s actually a technique about how to overcome obstacles in front of you," Tempest Academy co-owner Victor Lopez said. "If you have a wall, a small wall, a tall wall, if you need to go under a bar, there are actually proper techniques and if you didn’t know that technique and you were to race me, I would beat you."
Lopez is a former gymnast who along with three others has opened a string of parkour gyms facilities in Southern California. The one in Vista is the third and it opened this past January.
If you take parkour to the next level, Lopez said it's free running, which is parkour "plus it’s a little more creative so you have flips, you have a little more style."
Lopez hopes that once people come to train at Tempest they will leave with something he refers to as "parkour vision."
Stuntman Fernando Jay Huerto knows what Lopez means.
"You really learn awareness and how to think spatially," Huerto said. "Instead of going around an object you learn how to vault over it efficiently because that’s what parkour is — getting from A to B efficiently, so if there is an obstacle in the way you could go around it or you could go over it."
Part of that parkour vision is seeing the world as a playground. As a stuntman and fight choreographer, Huerto sees the world as not just a playground but as a creative canvas where parkour is an essential tool.
"A lot of movies and television shows and agents and casting directors are looking for parkour; it’s a necessary skill if you want to break in to the film and television industry as a stuntman," Huerto said.
Tempest Academy provides a perfect place to work on job skills with large trampolines, courses to run and a foam pit.
"The foam pit is the safest piece of equipment that allows you to do falls or flips and when learning stunts I would learn how to jump into the foam pit and I would flip over and pretend that there was an explosion and flip over and land in the foam pit. I hate going into the foam pit, it’s really hard to get out of," Huerto said.
Full-body workout for any age
Tempest Academy is also great for the beginner of any age.
"When we start a basic beginners class we’re working on jumping, landing, climbing, rolling and vaulting," gym manager James Paugh said. "It's basically navigating through your environment efficiently."
Unlike most gyms where you see people agonizing on a stair machine or doing endless minutes of cardio on a treadmill or bike, Tempest Academy offers a full body workout that's fun and different every time. Plus the design makes parts of the gym look like you're working out with video gaming's favorite parkour practitioner, Super Mario.
Paugh confessed: "You are basically just working every muscle you can and each time I go home I find new muscles that are sore and that I didn't even know I had. There’s a huge variety of skills each level or each of our first four levels has a ten-week curriculum because there are so many skills to learn and master and in our last couple levels there’s a 12-week curriculum."
Lopez added that parkour offers more than just a workout, it’s a philosophy of life that suggests any obstacle can be overcome — and overcome with style and creativity.
Tempest Freerunning Academy opened in January in Vista and is currently offering classes for all ages and skill levels.
You can check out Tempest Academy's YouTube Channel called Tempest Freerunning and especially this video that went viral, and Fernando Jay Huerto's stunt reel and YouTube Channel: Jabronie Pictures.
