On a sunny Friday morning, a group of nine people gathered in a corner to exercise in one of Singapore’s public housing blocks.

Dressed in sports clothes and sneakers, some rolled their shoulders and stretched their calves. Others stood together in small circles, chatting in the morning sun.

For the next hour and a half, the conversation continued to flow as they jumped over concrete ledges, climbed over anything in their path, and practiced navigating obstacles around buildings. At one point, they took turns jumping over a railing, drawing applause from the rest of the team with each successful attempt.

There were no teenagers in sight. Instead, everyone in this parkour class was in their 50s, 60s, and 70s.

Find your balance

The morning session was one of seven classes that Tan Shie Boon, parkour coach and founder of Movement.sg, teaches each week in Singapore.

Parkour is often associated with young athletes performing daring jumps and spins while traversing urban landscapes. But in recent years, Tan has carved out a niche for himself in teaching parkour to older adults.

Instead of flashy stunts, Tan wants his students to learn how to avoid obstacles, regain balance and, most importantly, how to get up safely if they fall.

It’s a skill set he considers essential, given that falls are the leading cause of injuries among adults age 65 and older, according to the CDC.

“It’s a very common problem,” Tan, 34, told Business Insider. “To me it’s almost ridiculous that people overlook this.”

Tan’s path to this career was long and winding. When he was a student, he thought he would go into computing, but the plan never seemed quite right. At her brother’s suggestion, Tan enrolled in a local art school to study dance.

It was there that his interest in parkour began to develop. take root. A workshop led by visiting practitioners from France gave him his first real contact with the discipline.

“There’s something about how they carry themselves that’s aligned with how I wanted to live my life,” Tan said. “They’re very free-spirited and very dedicated.”

At a time when he felt limited by both society and his dance training, parkour, on the other hand, seemed powerful and liberating.

“With parkour, I felt like I could be myself,” Tan said.

Tan dropped out of art school and worked odd jobs to pay for his training at the now-defunct ADD Academy Singapore, a parkour school founded by that same French group. He became an instructor in 2015.

taking the leap

However, Tan’s focus on teaching older adults came about by chance.

In 2017, he met a then-64-year-old woman at a food court while waiting in line.. She asked him what he did and was intrigued when he said he was a parkour trainer. She had never heard of discipline.

“I showed her videos and she asked me if this could help her with her balance. I told her absolutely, because we practice balance a lot,” Tan said. The couple met the next day and started training together.

She told him she couldn’t walk without a stroller for stability, for fear of falling. After several months of training, Tan said, she became increasingly confident moving without assistance.

A local media outlet picked up his story and the media attention generated a wave of inquiries from retirees across Singapore.

“That’s when I realized this could exist,” Tan said.

Tan is not the only trainer adapting parkour for older adults. Similar programs have emerged across the U.S., including PK Move’s PK Silver program in Northern Virginia and Parkour Generations Boston.

Some of the people who reached out back then still train with Tan today. Among them is Sarah Wang, 61, a retired preschool teacher. Intrigued by the news coverage, she decided to give it a try in 2018 and has been attending Tan’s classes ever since.

Wang said she likes knowing that no two sessions are exactly the same. Each location offers a different environment to navigate.

“You can test yourself and challenge yourself,” Wang said. Outside of Tan’s classes, walking is her main form of exercise.

About six months after Wang signed up, her friend Ling Ying Ying did the same.

Ling, who attends classes twice a week, told Business Insider that she has noticed improvements in her strength and mobility.

“When I started the class, I actually had trouble going down the stairs. I had to go down sideways because walking normally caused my knees to hurt,” said Ling, 66. “After I started doing parkour, my knees got stronger.”

There is growing scientific interest in adapting parkour principles for older adults, Shawn Soh, an assistant professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology, told Business Insider.

Benefits include “improvements in agility, lower extremity strength, dynamic balance, postural control, coordination and environmental awareness,” said Soh, who is trained in physical therapy and specializes in orthogeriatric care.

It can also improve what researchers call fall efficiency: a person’s confidence in maintaining balance, recovering from a trip and getting up safely after a fall, he added.

However, Soh warned that the training comes with risks. Older adults, particularly those with osteoporosis or low bone density, may be more susceptible to fractures. He added that sprains, strains, bruises and falls are possible, and that higher-intensity movements can place greater demands on the heart and cardiovascular system.

“Older adults should understand their own health status, medical conditions and physical abilities before beginning any new activity,” Soh said.

Tan said his classes are designed with those differences in mind.

While teaching parkour to seniors may seem risky, Tan said he guides participants through the moves at their own pace. The exercises can be modified for those who are less confident or have mobility limitations, he added.

going the distance

Tan now runs the business alone. Each 90-minute class costs 35 Singapore dollars, or about $26, and most classes attract between four and 12 participants.

The work is enough to support him, although he said he earns less than when he previously ran another parkour training business with partners.

“I don’t live a lifestyle where I spend a lot, so it’s enough,” Tan said.

“Leading a team is very difficult,” he added. “I prefer my life now.”

Tan hopes that one day some of his former students will become coaches. For now, however, he says the lessons often flow both ways.

“If I get old, I want to be like them,” he said. “They show me that they have the spirit of never dying.”