Parkour practitioners are among the early leaders in hit television show Australian Ninja Warrior.
The series sees contestants negotiate an elaborate obstacle course, claimed to be the toughest in the world.
Sunday night's debut put on display the impressive skills of so-called parkour twins Brodie and Dylan Pawson.
But Melbourne Parkour president Chippa Campbell, who has met and trained with the Pawsons, said the practice had many benefits outside of competitions such as Ninja Warrior.
He said parkour was a training method in which people developed the ability to move from one place to another as effectively as possible.
"People often equate it to running away from the cops, but most parkour people are more likely to run to someone to help them than to run away from doing something bad," he told ABC Radio Melbourne's Monique Bowley.
Parkour, he said, had an underpinning philosophy that had nothing to do with winning competitions.
"You don't do all of this stuff just to look cool; you're doing it to better yourself so you can be a better person in the community.
"Even if it's as simple as being physically and mentally healthy from doing your exercise, then you're helping by not putting a load on the health system."
Mr Campbell said that having grown up in the country, parkour had helped him connect to the city.
"I never really liked the city ... parkour sort of makes it OK," he said.
"You see it as something more than just a bunch of busy people with no time for anyone else."
This isn't about training to win
Mr Campbell said while parkour techniques might help contestants do better in obstacle course races, parkour associations such as Melbourne Parkour avoided holding competitive events.
"We don't want it to become a competitive sport because then it all becomes about doing parkour to win competitions," he said.
Parkour associations such as his are campaigning against its inclusion in the Olympics.
Mr Campbell said it was a pastime that did not require much money.
"There's obstacles all over the place, so you don't need to go to a special gym or anything like that."
He said he feared that making parkour a competitive sport would make it more exclusive.
"They will eventually work out what the best body type is and it will all become about training to win."
Parkour is for everyone
Mr Campbell said women and men of all shapes and sizes attended Melbourne Parkour's regular city classes.
He said people as old as 70 had come along.
"You get 40- or 50-year-olds going, 'Oh, I'm too old'," he said.
"You're not too old, it's starting slowly and progressing comfortably.
"If you stick with it long enough and you train correctly you can do a lot of stuff that younger people can do."
