One of the most common questions parents ask when they bring their kids to one of our parkour gyms is about what to wear. Specifically, parents want to know if the shoes their kid already has will work for parkour, or if they need to drop some more cash on a new pair of athletic shoes.
If you’re a parent with this question, you’re in the right place.
In this article, we’re going to cover what kid’s of parkour shoes to look out for. Why and when kids would need to consider parkour shoes. Lastly, we will offer you a 10% discount code to our favorite parkour shoes specifically for kids who are a beginner or intermediate level.
Let's jump in!
Do kids need parkour shoes?
Short answer, yes, your child most likely does need good shoes. Unfortunately, many kids' shoes are pretty clunky and provide a poor foot-to-floor connection. Oftentimes, kids' shoes are so thick, if you watch kids climb a tree or a rock, you’ll see them try to use their knees, inner thighs, or sides of their feet to get a grip. This in part happens because the feel through their thick foam shoe is so poor, their brains are looking for other connections to provide feedback for the climb. If that’s all you needed, here is a link right to the shoes we most recommend to beginners. You can get 10% off using code FiM10
It’s likely that your kid’s shoes are already decent enough to give parkour a try. Any running shoe or multi-sport shoe-like vans ultra range are workable for their first parkour.
We suggest that new kids wear some kind of shoe, however later on training barefoot also has some great benefits. Be open to that when the time comes if suggested by a coach or you see your kid playing barefoot.
Avoid This in a Shoe!
Shoes that are very thick will provide such a bad feel are almost useless. Next, shoes with plastic on the underside can be a sigh slip risk and should be avoided. Finally, shoes with a soft foam underside will provide poor traction and will get destroyed quickly. Avoid shoes like crocs or sandals.
There is this YouTube video where famous athletes try to do parkour in crocks. It’s not pretty.
GET THESE : What Freedom in Motion Parkour Gym Recommends.
Freedom in Motion is a parkour gym with multiple locations and thousands of hours of experience working with kids and adults who are learning parkour. We have found that at the beginner and intermediate level, a pair of shoes like the Feiyue classics offer great all around performance while being one of the most affordable shoes on the market.
Check them out here. They offer kids sizes and a number of colors. Use code FiM10 for 10% off.
What we like about these shoes.
Light weight
Very flexible
Great grip
Great feel
Look sharp
Very affordable
Feiyue shoes are good for parkour
We wrote an entire in depth review of these shoes if you’d like to see how they stack up to other parkour shoes we have tried out. Click here to read more about their stats.
If you are ready to start learning parkour, come check out one of our parkour gyms or see our online parkour program to learn anywhere in the world! Visit our site here
Train Safe!