Yu Hannah Kim has tackled swimming, parkour, and TV—and is taking on a new five-sport challenge
Yu Hannah Kim grew up in California with a single mom who “was the opposite of most Asian parents,” Kim says. Her mom, who moved to the US from Japan, told her: “Don’t be a doctor, or a lawyer, if that’s not what you want. Be happy in life.”
Kim spent her formative years swimming, going on to compete in Division 1 athletics at University of California, Davis. But health issues forced her out of the pool, and a winding path led her to parkour, obstacle course racing, and now modern pentathlon.
We checked in with this mom of three on her athletic past, her exciting plans, and how she focuses on fulfillment, with fitness as a fortunate side effect.
Q&A with Yu Hannah Kim
You grew up swimming competitively. Did you excel at an early age?
I was terrible at first. People actually pity-clapped for me. But I liked it, so I kept going, and I was able to get an almost full-ride scholarship to a university.
Tell us about your post-college years.
I finished at UC Davis with a degree in exercise biology with physiology and became a personal trainer. I was dabbling in different modalities of movement: yoga, boxing, jumping. It was the beginning of being curious about movement.
Where did the idea to try parkour originate?
I got married, had two kids, and was pregnant with my third, and I cooked all the time. I was at Whole Foods all the time and became friends with this cashier there, Cameron. He had taken a parkour class, and he always told me, ‘you should try parkour!’ I don’t know why.
What prompted you to act on his idea?
When I had kids, I didn’t do anything for myself. Nothing. I made homemade cheese, homemade crackers, no TV. It was neurotic, and I lost my identity. So at one point, he mentioned parkour, and I thought, why would I not do something for myself?
My mom started coming over once a week for three hours, and I would drive to the parkour gym, take a lesson, and drive back. This was my one hour of escape.
Did you enjoy it from the beginning?
I loved it because it was the first time in a while I had a mini-goal. The goal is to jump from here to here, I jumped it, and I felt good. I realized I’m a better parent when I do this one hour of me time.
So you started training in California. How did you link up with Bob Reese and Motive Movement?
We moved to Charlotte four years ago. Motive was a big part of it. I told my husband, I’m really serious about parkour right now, and I’m not going to move to Charlotte unless I can go to Motive every week for Bob. We also built a parkour gym that looks like a mini-Motive. Brett Sims [a co-owner of Motive] and his team came out and built a gym that looks and feels just like Motive.
What drew you to Motive?
They are so good at teaching in a safe manner. I’m such a scaredy-cat. People who know me as Parkour Mama (her social media persona) think I have no fear! But if you constantly push out of your boundaries a little bit every day, you go bigger. They break it down into segments, where you learn what your body is supposed to do. Then you put it all together.
Do you do parkour and obstacle courses for the fitness benefits? Or for other reasons?
It’s 110 percent fulfillment. The best part is, the fitness tags along. By continuing to work on getting better at these movements, there is no way for me to not be fit. It’s the perfect side effect.
People lock themselves into doing workouts they hate, but the point is having fun. That’s my biggest point to people: If you don’t like what you’re doing, you’re torturing yourself. Don’t make fitness torture—have fun! It’s good for the soul, good for the mind, and then fitness follows.
Tell us about your latest sport, modern pentathlon. What is it?
Modern pentathlon includes running, swimming, shooting, fencing, and—this was just in the news a few months ago—the fifth modality, horse racing, was changed to obstacle course racing. I was a swimmer, and I always said, I wish there was a sport with running, swimming, and obstacle-course racing! I’ve laughed about that with my friends. And now, here we are.
So you’ve done swimming, running, and obstacle course racing—what about shooting and fencing?
I just started this two months ago, so I am brand-new to fencing and shooting. I’d never shot a gun in my life or fenced. I’m taking classes and guess what, I’m in classes with 12-year-olds. Twenty-year-old me would’ve died, but now I don’t care, I just want to learn. Put me in!
What is your goal with pentathlon?
I’ve always had the dream of being on a national team for something, and I feel like it’s never too late. Why not try? I’m 39, and the national coaches said they usually recruit in the 20-year-old range, but I do my best when I have to prove people wrong. It’s more fun that way. There’s a lot of training, but I will likely be training with the national recruits soon.
What do your kids think of all of your pursuits?
I want my kids to never feel there is a limit to any possibility. They see me in competitions, and they compete, too. And it’s another way we bond. It’s really special. When they are learning parkour, and they see Mommy doing it, I think they look at me in a different way.
Hannah Yu Kim
Grew up: in Davis, California
Lives in: Charlotte
Age: 39
Trains: at Motive Movement in Greenville
Kids: 11-year-old twin girls and a 9-year-old son
Stay-healthy habits: Roller balls, physical therapy, massage, sleep
Favorite post-workout snack: Adzuki beans with oat milk, manuka honey, and a sprinkle of good salt.
Workout music: I get too excited while running, so sometimes I listen to jazz or slow love songs so I don’t run faster than I’m supposed to.
Downtime: I don’t have much. I get coffee with friends, and I love journaling.
Fun fact: Kim doesn’t watch television, but she is often on it! Find her on Squid Game: The Challenge on Netflix, Below Deck Mediterranean (on YouTube TV and Hulu), and World Chase Tag on ESPN2.
She Does What?
Parkour: focuses on efficient movement and navigating obstacles with style and athleticism
Obstacle course racing: A structured environment with challenges that test strength, agility, and problem solving. American Ninja Warrior (or Ninja racing) is one type of obstacle course racing.
Modern pentathlon: Until late 2023, the five sports included fencing, show jumping (on a horse), swimming, shooting, and running. As of August 2023, the International Modern Pentathlon Union voted that show jumping will be replaced with obstacle course racing at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
What About Bob?
Bob Reese is a parkour athlete, American Ninja Warrior finalist, and social media star who co-owns Motive Movement in Greenville. He has more than five million followers on TikTok and 5.6 million subscribers on YouTube, where he sometimes features Parkour Mama Hannah Yu Kim.
We asked Reese what it’s like working with Kim.
“It has always been a pleasure and challenging in a fun way. Hannah is physically capable of being one of the best in the world, but she is extremely scared of a lot of the skills she wants. She happily does every small progression possible to achieve her goals, and although it’s time-consuming, it is safer and probably the wiser way to learn things in any extreme sport. Also, Hannah is one of the hardest-working, most dedicated people I’ve met. She is willing to put in an exceptional amount of work and go above and beyond to accomplish her goals.”
