If you’re so Brooklyn that you’re European, there’s a new gym in Bushwick for you! Bklyn Beast (not to be confused with the Beast of Brooklyn) is the training center to pass on the French-born acrobatic street sport of parkour to Brooklynites who are up for the challenge. It’s pretty tempting – how much faster could you get to work if you could gracefully duck turnstiles, jump down flights of stairs, and swing your way into a subway car? But the question remains: would you pay $18 per class to learn at the gym what usually goes down in the street?
Sure parkour is pretty cool-looking. and turns Hollywood chase scenes from cop-and-robber status to secret-agent-and-international-conman epics. But it’s not just Casino Royale (or The Office) that we have to thank (or blame) for this new opportunity. It’s also, as always, the Internet. “Because of YouTube and people’s access to videos, they think it’s a lot of stunts,” owner Shem Rajoon told the Brooklyn Paper, explaining the hype around parkour. But it’s also a totally accessible sport. He clarifies: “You start at a fundamental level, and once you get that, you can do any of those other [stunts].”
The gym also offers classes in yoga, breakdancing, and capoeira, but let’s face it, all you care about is the parkour. An argument for joining the gym? It has a foam pit for leaping into, which sounds like a ton of fun. An argument against? It’ll cost you $150 to take ten classes.
So brokesters, we ask you: who out there is interested in fancy running? Will you forsake your newly acquired gym memberships only one week into the year to learn to run up walls?