Post by Ronin-ukpka admin on Dec 19, 2006 8:46:35 GMT
The following is a basic introduction to parkour and some of the techniques used. I thought i would post it as it talks about the moves and tips for the move rather than just step by step guides.
I know that brad and charlie have posted links to this page in multiple threads so i thought i would pop it in here for everyone to see, use and benefit from.
*if for any reason you rather i didnt post this information then let me know and i will remove it*
Table of Contents
* **CONDITIONING**
* PROGRESSION
* CLOTHING
* Roulade [Very Important]
* Saut de précision [Precision Jump]
* Saut de fond [Jump with drop]
* Saut de chat [Kong]
* Passment [Speed Vault]
* Demi Tour [Turn Vault]
* Saut de bras [Cat Leap]
* Passe muraille [Pop Vault]
* Lache [Swing]
**CONDITIONING**
Now none of us want long term damage form doing something we enjoy and wish to continue. I suggest taking Belle's advice and get used to small movements which WILL develop your strength and safety to move on to "bigger" things if required.
Condition techniques should be used on all parts of the body, joints especially.
Conditioning for joint areas.
Ankles: Using rubber exercise (resistance) bands and thing such as step ups and heel lifts can increase mucle strangth around the ankles.
Knees: Step ups and squats are simple exercises that can improve the upper leg strength and increase kenee support and stability.
Hips: Leg extensions (forward and behind) and squat jumps.
Shoulders: Pulls ups and press ups
Wrists / Elbows: Hand grips, and opening and closing your hands until you can't anymore is good for grip and will help forearm strength. Getting used to just hanging for an amount of time is good aswell.
www.warriorforce.com/thehomegym.wmv
(taken from www.warriorforce.com )"simple" exercises that can and will, with wise use, improve performance and general health.
Don't go all out to start off with, that can cause severe pain and injury.
Exercises are usually put in "reps" and "sets".
Reps are the repetitions that you would do in one go, and the sets are how many of the reps you will do, eg 15 reps 3 sets, would make 45 in total. To set up a little programme, it is absolutely personal, determined by your physical ability. Many articles you will find are probably related to weights, but some of the best exercise you can do (and safest) is using your own body weight effectively. Certain types of exercises can train differnt muscle types.
As you will see from the video above, weights aren't needed!!
(simple terms) Parkour incorperates all energy systems and types of muscle fibres at one time or another. Aerobic for long distance running and continuous training, and anaerobic, in fast one off large/long jumps, such as in precisions. Swimming, running, rowing are great aerobic workouts and regular practice is the best heart conditioner, low intensity, high duration.
To train the faster muscle fibres and faster aspects of Parkour is to repeat tough exercises at a good speed and for a low/moderate (dependant on level) time. For example squat jumps will generally burn out most people legs quite quickly if repeated. Set a goal and aim for it, but they should be low goals with a high intensity (high speed and strength). Such as 15 squats (trying to jump as high or gentting continually higher as you go) with 3 reps.
These reps should begin to burn your legs (or wherever you are working) a little, not to exhaustion but to what you can handle.
As with almost any aspect of physical training, it takes TIME and commitment. You can just do this for a few weeks, it wont really help. My tips is to test out what you can do, make a little training regime for that month. The next month you make it a little harder.
The is called progression. As you progress in fitness and strengths you need to adjust your routine so that it keeps testing you and not staying the same.
www.trickstutorials.com
lots of tips on diet and nutrition, flexibility and conditioning.
www.teenbodybuilding.com/pope1.htm
Basic programme help and ideas...
Anyways hope this helps, this was written pretty quick and in a simplest form so I hope it helps. Any questions or need help with anything, please ask!
PROGRESSION
Use these moves to develop your own Parkour, be creative think 'what would be the best way to move through this environment while being as efficient in speed and energy as possible'.
Progression is seen in Parkour to varying degrees, both mentally and physically, this all depends on the individual.
Mentally, seen in confidence, and knowing where your limits are and when to stop. Judgement and concentration are key to Parkour, and the development of these qualities will make you a better traceur.
Physically the ability to "do" something that you couldn't before is the most readily available type of visible progression, e.g. getting stronger, running faster or jumping further/higher.
However without developed mentality, your physical ability as practically worthless and dangerous. You need to be able to judge your distance, limits and personal ability, to avoid, knocks, cuts, serious injury or even death.
Practice may be dangerous to the thoughtless and careless individual.
CLOTHING
Loose fitting, flexible, comfortable clothing.
Clothing is fairly important within Parkour training.
Traceurs combine flexability, toughness, precision and speed and need clothes that can suit the job.
Jogging bottoms: Cotton / Polyester:
Buy them quite large for freedom of movement, even thogh they are very "stetchy". Really cheap aswell, so you dont have to worry about ruining them. Jeans are not particularly suitable for a serious traceur.
Shirts: T-shirts
T-shirts and sleeveless vests a great, more specifically for warmer weather. Aim for a casual fit to allow free movement.
Trainers: Good grip and feel.
The only real "tools of the trade". These rough guidelines should help you purchase a "Perfect Parkour Pair."
- Good grip; a sole should have a grip all along the shoe, and especially in the area between the pad of the foot and the heel. Many shoes now have plastic areas, but grip all the way along is safer and more effective.
- Sensitivity/Feel; Parkour itself will develop with learning about sensititvity, being able to tell how environments will react by feel and touch takes training and parkour to another level. Trainers are important with this as alot of parkour is on foot, the more feel between you and rails, ledges, or anything you stand on, the better.
- Shock; to an extent, we use trainers to give our feet a time-out, shock absorbance in shoes can help, but this must not be taken over sensitivity, an equal balance is best.
**Note**
From past experience... Aasics in general are pretty good for training and fairly cheap. My chosen shoe are currently the Nike dart 2's and 3's, Great grip, Good feel, and I like them. Nice and cheap at around 26-35 pounds.
Most expensive aren't always the best. I would not recomend trainers with "air" cushioning.
ROULADE [Very Important]
Rolling:
Rolls are usually used when jumping from a large drop with a considerable amount of forward speed/momentum. In this situation, the roll is vital to maintain an effective speed, create a degree of fluidity and most importantly to reduce injuries such as shin splints, and joint problems.
Rolls are for many difficult to learn, a typical "gym class" forward roll is not effective in Parkour. The rolls are there for safety and are trained to absorb the impact of the ground on the body. Your weight must be distributed during the roll to prevent pain/injury in it's execution.
The first point of contact (from a drop) is at the feet, your feet should make contact with the floor, then allow your body to go down onto your hands. Your feet and arms/hands should take around 40-50% of the impact and the other 50% is momentum to push you through the roll.
The roll itself should take you over your more comfortable, dropped shoulder. (like rolling in a straight line but at a 45 degree angle) The path of your roll will take you from the shoulder, diagonally across your back, and to the opposite hip/side. During this the legs should be at a 90 degree angle in order to maintain the revolution and to be ready to get back onto the feet. From here your hands should be put down to help you get up and continue a run/Parkour.
Learning rolls:
Grass or mats are advised for learning, to get yourself used to the movement, but eventually you will need to take them to concrete. When learning with concrete or harder ground, you can feel where you are doing the roll wrong, and where you need to improve. e.g. feeling that you are hitting the notches of your spine.
Examples:
-Hitting the shoulder:
Too much weight is being put on the top of the shoulder; the contact should be directed to the outside of the top of the shoulder (deltoids).
-Hitting parts of your back/spine:
Remaining too curled up can lead to this. Let your back flatten to the floor at each area, of your back that touches the floor.
-Hitting your hip:
You are probably rolling too sideways, and should come over a little straighter.
The main thing with rolling is that it is a personal thing, as with all aspects of parkour. You may find it helps having someone show you how to do it, but you will find the way that you like and which is efficient. Like many of the movements it takes a long time to get used to/confident with them, so practice as often as you can, don't allow yourself to be frustrated some Parkour techniques ARE hard and need lots of practice.
My main tip is to try to learn them or harder ground or concrete. (Obviously not from a height)
Do it three times at maximum if you are hurting yourself during attempts. The first time, if it hurts, try to work out what you can do to stop it hurting in that place. If for the next 3 times you do it, stop and wait for an hour, carry on with your training then try some more rolls later. The pain will wear off after a little while, so you can practice rolls a lot and with a relatively small amount of constant discomfort. Remember more practice the better, so the more rolls you are able to try and vary, the quicker you will progress. {DISCLAIMER} "This ISN’T a sure fire way to learn, but I found it helps to learn on harder ground"
Saut de précision [Precision Jump]
Saut de Précision, Jump and landing on a precise area:
A precision jump is a movement from stationary to a given point. These are commonly used in situations that restrict a run up and need a large distance covered. They can be applied to many situations, commonly a jump to a very small point or area (e.g. rails, ledges).
**The main muscles used are within the leg (Quadriceps group, Vasti Group, the Hamstring group, Gastrocnemious and Gluteus Maximus), but the arms play a crucial and vital role within the movement.**
The swinging of the arms (in an upward motion) will make a huge difference to the length of your jump, The arms allow height and distance, when used in conjunction with the working legs. this is because of the centre of gravity is shifted upwards with the arms used correctly, allowing; to an extent, a higher and farther jump.
Extra care and much practice must be taken when using the precision jump between rails (small landing area) as balance will play a key role, maintaining balance when landing to avoid slipping and potential injury.
**Muscles to train for aiding performance of this specific technique.**
Saut de fond [Jump with drop]
Jump-Fall-Roll/Land:
A drop from a high or even a moderate distance can be potentially problematic and damaging to the body, inflicting small or large injury to the used areas of the body, commonly the knees, ankles and back.
A roll is used to help reduce the impact sustained by the legs and lower back, as well as continue momentum and speed to maintain flow.
The main tip, is to use as much of your body as possible to work with the movement. Aiming to move or drop quietly will require more effort, due to the use of a larger amount and variety of muscle groups, so don't just use your legs to absorb the impact, but the arms as you put them down, as well as the back. Mould your body to work with the movement.
Saut de chat [Kong]
Saut de chat. Cat Jump/Vault, Kong Vault
A basic and one of the most commonly used vaults within Parkour.
This basic vault, like many others, can be applied to many varying situations, but commonly long obstacles and waist/chest height obstacles. With a Saut de chat, your arms are placed on the obstacle while diving over it, basically your legs are tucked as they travel through your arms, moving at speed and clearing the obstacle.
**To some extent, in some situations (very high obstacle) a large amount of effort is used from the arms, in order to get your lower body up to an appropriate height to clear it. the main muscles used in this instance are the Latissumus Dorsi, Triceps Brachii and the Pectorals (chest).**
The main thing is to get your head forward and low which will bring your rear and legs up, so that your feet do not clip the edge of the obstacle. Keep tucked, and push your arms behind you (as your legs are passing through) to get further forward movement.
This technique is usually used with a two footed take off or a one footed (running) take off, into the vault. But the landing can be changed also, using a two footed landing (usually seen in a "Kong to precision"), or one footed landing, to carry on running.
There are several theories relating to take offs and SDC's, but generally, one footed take offs are better used when distance is needed after the vault, whereas two footed can give height. The main thing is power distribution and practicing both in different situations. Both take offs can be trained to be used in either situation so variance in training each take off and vault is important.
Most beginners aquire the two footed take off and will use that religiously. One footed take off, like anything new, may feel strange and awkward, this is because you are used to the old way of moving, but being able to change techniques will make you a more well-rounded traceur. Get used to "diving" vaults (two and one footed) as oposed to just placing your arms on the obstacle while your legs are on the ground. (Take off, dive, then contact an pass over)
The basic movement is to run up to the rail at speed and alike the diving technique, launch yourself at the rail arms stretched, taking off running and pushing with one foot/leg. The same general technique applies but you need to make sure your "non-take off" foot is swung up to come up with the pushing foot and into the crouched position. Then you rely on your arms to aid the movement and push upwards and then the rail underneath and behind you to gain extra distance.
Make sure you are very confident with your hand placement, especially on rails as a slip will mean you clearing the rail and head first into the ground the otherside. Practicing the vaults on a ledge with grace on one side is advised, at angles and different obstacles.
I have found that one footed take offs will get you further distance with a Cat Jump, especially if you have a very small run up for what you are aiming for. I strongly suggest that both one and two footed "take-off's" are learnt.
**Muscles to train for aiding performance of this specific technique.**
Passment [Speed Vault]
Passment. Speed vault
Speed vault's (hence the name) with practice are very fast and allow you to move seamlessly over an obstacle. They work well on high and low obstacles alike.
The actual technique is to have one hand placed upon the object while you body turns up onto one side, close to the obstacle, allowing you to almost "run" straight over the obstacle.
If for example you prefer to put your right hand down on the obstacle, your leg to push off for the vault would be the one closest to it, so in this case, the right leg. The left leg should be coming up behind, or already be up due to the angle your body is at (close to being horizontal, parallel with the wall), but nonetheless, higher than the right leg. The right leg should come up to meet the left, then back done to the floor, past the obstacle, to continue running. It is advised to learn the passment with both left and right arms being placed down, to enable efficiency in certain situations.
In most situations, the closer you are to the wall, the faster and more seamlessly you will travel over it.
It may be worth learning taking off from both sides and both legs, in order to improve your diversity in the varying situations of Parkour.
Learning Speed vaults (predominantly right handed) I took off with my left leg, swore by it and thought that was the best way, after a hefty discussion and once I'd recovered from my injury, I got out and tried the right leg take off, and it is, for me at least it feels alot better. Now I am used to it and I much prefer using the right leg.
But if you feel more comfortable using one leg over the other then do that. But I would recomend: Right hand = Right leg and vice versa, it takes a while to get used to using your leg that quickly but it is well worth it.
Demi Tour [Turn Vault]
Demi Tour, Turn Vault, Turn Vault to Cat.
The "turn vault" is commonly incorperated from a simple 2 handed vault.
This technique allows you to pass over an obstacle and get into the position seen in a Saut de Bras (hanging). These are a good technique to learn as they can greatly reduce the height/drop of a "jump", and therefore, have less wear and tear on the legs into the next movments.
These can be done with varying speeds and, relating to the the situation in different ways. However the most comon and effective was it to run up to the wall/obstacle, with a moderate speed, then place your hand along the wall so that you are able to turn around as passing over it. (Both hands on the wall/edge facing the same way, to the left or to the right)
From here, stagger your legs and swing them over the top of the wall and into the opposite side of which you took off from.
Your legs should then go into the wall (feet first) allowing you to absorb the impact and hang, as if you were in a "cat leap" position. Do not bring your legs up to close to your hands otherwise the leverage and momentum will pull your hands off from the wall and you will fall.
Main problems:
Sliding down the wall: You should aim to bring you legs higher or even stagger them a little in order to gain more friction.
This is a very effective and commnly used technique, I would advice you to learn it exactly if you havent beforehand.
Saut de bras [Cat Leap]
Saut de bras .Cat leaps. Planch. Climb Up
A very important technique to master. Commonly used when a gap is too far to jump/clear and land on your feet. You can take off running or from standing. You take off aiming your hands for the edge of your obstacle, a ledge or bar. The arms and legs almost make contact at the same time, your hands being on the edge of the top of the ledge and feet extended to absorb the impact. The legs will be extended upwards at about thigh/waist weight, and then absorbing the impact as your body momentum pushes the rest of your body into the wall.
The main thing for these is to work on you timing and judgement. If you don’t reach the wall, you may be in for a big drop or if you feet are too low, they'll slide down the wall, hitting you knees or body.
Another important factor if the leg positioning. Your legs should extend to absorb the impact upon contact but they must be relatively high to avoid sliding down the wall and to allow good grip on the wall, in order to climb up. Hanging in the "cat" position is good practice to understand where you, personally can get a good grip, and where you feel comfortable in the "hang".
Walls should be checked for not only hand grip (on top of obstacle), but grip for your feet (side of obstacle).
**Your legs do a lot of the work in the actual execution of the movement (taking off and absorbing the impact), so once again all the leg muscles can be trained in order to improve the power behind your technique.**
The "climb-up" of a Saut de bras, is rarely seen in a new traceur, which defeats the techniques purpose, Cat leaps are predominantly used as a last resort in order to clear the gap, then the traceur climbs up the wall/ledge to carry on their path. The climb up, requires a lot of (elastic/explosive) upper body strength, in order to climb up easily and quickly. Everyone has their own versions of climb ups, but one of the most effective ways, is the "muscle-up" approach. Being able to do "muscle-ups" from a pull up is a show of your strength. This consists of doing an ordinary pull up (forearms outwards/forwards), and from the pull up, continuing the upward motion from the head and shoulders all the way to the hip (arms straight down, supporting your body at the waist).
**For the climb-up, almost all of the upper body is used. At first, predominantly the Biceps Brachii, Deltoids (all are used to an extent) and Latissumus Dorsi. During the "second stage" of the climb-up (seen in a muscle-up) are the Pectorals, Deltoids, Triceps Brachii, Wrist (Flexors/Extensors) and the Trapezius.**
The main thing with climb ups is time, it takes a good while for you to even get the BASIC technique for a fast and effective climb up, and then to get it spot on will take ages again, but keep playing around with it, from a hang then going up and back down. This is a serious persistance area.
**Muscles to train for aiding performance of this specific technique.**
Passe muraille [Pop Vault]
Passé Muraille. Pop vault
This enables you to get onto the top of a wall or tall ledge, in order to get over it.
Wall “pops” are a must for this technique, as you need to be competent in the amount of height you can get along with the control of the movement. Basically a "pop" is when running to a wall, placing one foot on the wall, to then kick downwards, to propel yourself upwards and to the top of the wall, or to a height that you can grab the edge and pull yourself up.
A Passe Muraille, is the most commonly used way to vault over a wall that is too high for any normal vault. There are lots of variations for the end of this vault, for example, after the initial pop, placing the arms on top of the wall into standing then jumping down the other side, this is recommended in order to get used to the motion and momentum. Simple vaults include a saut du chat (Kong), passement (speed vault), or a thief vault (straight lazy).
**Muscles used include, within the "pop", the Gastrocnemious, Quadriceps group, and Gluteus. Within the upper body during the vault, commonly used muscles are the Trapezius, Latissumus Dorsi and the Triceps Brachii.**
Checking the wall for grip on the top and vertical of the wall is important to avoid slipping, and not clipping your feet on the top of the, which could result in serious injury if there is a large drop below
**Muscles to train for aiding performance of this specific technique.**
Lache [Swing]
Lache. Hang Drops. Tree swing.
Requires a good hand grip and swinging/dropping from one branch/pole to another.
Generally, alot of Laches are seen and practised in trees but they can also be used/practiced on things like scaffolding rails and such. Laches in trees are a good opportunity to get training in a different environment and surroundings.
Versatility, working with different textures and obstacles will make you a better and more rounded traceur. Variance maintains motivation and keep hard training more enjoyable.
As everyone has different levels of upper body strength, it's best to get
used to knowing what you can do, physically, start by just haning on branches of different thicknesses and climbing around, trying only to use your arms (and body obviously for swinging momentum).
From hanging, doing pull ups, swingin etc. You can guage a rough level of your ability. From here you can look at setting up some rough sets and reps (Look at conditioning area) to improve endurance of hangs/pull ups (as many as you can do) as well as, and perhaps more importantly, explosive/elastic strength. (Clap pull ups, etc).
Alot of upper body conditioning exercises can be find via this link:
www.drillsandskills.com/skills/cond/upper
A swinging grab. The basic movement is to hang on one branch and use the momentum of your body through swinging, let go at the peak of the forward swing and travel through the air to the next branch. When grabbing the next branch, control is important, you should aim to absorb the impact and guide your body down, not letting your body and shoulder joints drop to their extents. This can/may cause joint damage if repeated. These can be practiced on parralel or angled branches/bars, just play around with different ideas.
A Hanging Drop. Another common tree practice. Hanging from one branch and dropping downwards (at varying angles), down to the next branch where your weight it again cradled and absorbed to avoid joint damage. Make ure, if the branch is deirectly below you, you have some backwards swing to avoid hitting yourself on it on the way down.
I know that brad and charlie have posted links to this page in multiple threads so i thought i would pop it in here for everyone to see, use and benefit from.
*if for any reason you rather i didnt post this information then let me know and i will remove it*
Table of Contents
* **CONDITIONING**
* PROGRESSION
* CLOTHING
* Roulade [Very Important]
* Saut de précision [Precision Jump]
* Saut de fond [Jump with drop]
* Saut de chat [Kong]
* Passment [Speed Vault]
* Demi Tour [Turn Vault]
* Saut de bras [Cat Leap]
* Passe muraille [Pop Vault]
* Lache [Swing]
**CONDITIONING**
Now none of us want long term damage form doing something we enjoy and wish to continue. I suggest taking Belle's advice and get used to small movements which WILL develop your strength and safety to move on to "bigger" things if required.
Condition techniques should be used on all parts of the body, joints especially.
Conditioning for joint areas.
Ankles: Using rubber exercise (resistance) bands and thing such as step ups and heel lifts can increase mucle strangth around the ankles.
Knees: Step ups and squats are simple exercises that can improve the upper leg strength and increase kenee support and stability.
Hips: Leg extensions (forward and behind) and squat jumps.
Shoulders: Pulls ups and press ups
Wrists / Elbows: Hand grips, and opening and closing your hands until you can't anymore is good for grip and will help forearm strength. Getting used to just hanging for an amount of time is good aswell.
www.warriorforce.com/thehomegym.wmv
(taken from www.warriorforce.com )"simple" exercises that can and will, with wise use, improve performance and general health.
Don't go all out to start off with, that can cause severe pain and injury.
Exercises are usually put in "reps" and "sets".
Reps are the repetitions that you would do in one go, and the sets are how many of the reps you will do, eg 15 reps 3 sets, would make 45 in total. To set up a little programme, it is absolutely personal, determined by your physical ability. Many articles you will find are probably related to weights, but some of the best exercise you can do (and safest) is using your own body weight effectively. Certain types of exercises can train differnt muscle types.
As you will see from the video above, weights aren't needed!!
(simple terms) Parkour incorperates all energy systems and types of muscle fibres at one time or another. Aerobic for long distance running and continuous training, and anaerobic, in fast one off large/long jumps, such as in precisions. Swimming, running, rowing are great aerobic workouts and regular practice is the best heart conditioner, low intensity, high duration.
To train the faster muscle fibres and faster aspects of Parkour is to repeat tough exercises at a good speed and for a low/moderate (dependant on level) time. For example squat jumps will generally burn out most people legs quite quickly if repeated. Set a goal and aim for it, but they should be low goals with a high intensity (high speed and strength). Such as 15 squats (trying to jump as high or gentting continually higher as you go) with 3 reps.
These reps should begin to burn your legs (or wherever you are working) a little, not to exhaustion but to what you can handle.
As with almost any aspect of physical training, it takes TIME and commitment. You can just do this for a few weeks, it wont really help. My tips is to test out what you can do, make a little training regime for that month. The next month you make it a little harder.
The is called progression. As you progress in fitness and strengths you need to adjust your routine so that it keeps testing you and not staying the same.
www.trickstutorials.com
lots of tips on diet and nutrition, flexibility and conditioning.
www.teenbodybuilding.com/pope1.htm
Basic programme help and ideas...
Anyways hope this helps, this was written pretty quick and in a simplest form so I hope it helps. Any questions or need help with anything, please ask!
PROGRESSION
Use these moves to develop your own Parkour, be creative think 'what would be the best way to move through this environment while being as efficient in speed and energy as possible'.
Progression is seen in Parkour to varying degrees, both mentally and physically, this all depends on the individual.
Mentally, seen in confidence, and knowing where your limits are and when to stop. Judgement and concentration are key to Parkour, and the development of these qualities will make you a better traceur.
Physically the ability to "do" something that you couldn't before is the most readily available type of visible progression, e.g. getting stronger, running faster or jumping further/higher.
However without developed mentality, your physical ability as practically worthless and dangerous. You need to be able to judge your distance, limits and personal ability, to avoid, knocks, cuts, serious injury or even death.
Practice may be dangerous to the thoughtless and careless individual.
CLOTHING
Loose fitting, flexible, comfortable clothing.
Clothing is fairly important within Parkour training.
Traceurs combine flexability, toughness, precision and speed and need clothes that can suit the job.
Jogging bottoms: Cotton / Polyester:
Buy them quite large for freedom of movement, even thogh they are very "stetchy". Really cheap aswell, so you dont have to worry about ruining them. Jeans are not particularly suitable for a serious traceur.
Shirts: T-shirts
T-shirts and sleeveless vests a great, more specifically for warmer weather. Aim for a casual fit to allow free movement.
Trainers: Good grip and feel.
The only real "tools of the trade". These rough guidelines should help you purchase a "Perfect Parkour Pair."
- Good grip; a sole should have a grip all along the shoe, and especially in the area between the pad of the foot and the heel. Many shoes now have plastic areas, but grip all the way along is safer and more effective.
- Sensitivity/Feel; Parkour itself will develop with learning about sensititvity, being able to tell how environments will react by feel and touch takes training and parkour to another level. Trainers are important with this as alot of parkour is on foot, the more feel between you and rails, ledges, or anything you stand on, the better.
- Shock; to an extent, we use trainers to give our feet a time-out, shock absorbance in shoes can help, but this must not be taken over sensitivity, an equal balance is best.
**Note**
From past experience... Aasics in general are pretty good for training and fairly cheap. My chosen shoe are currently the Nike dart 2's and 3's, Great grip, Good feel, and I like them. Nice and cheap at around 26-35 pounds.
Most expensive aren't always the best. I would not recomend trainers with "air" cushioning.
ROULADE [Very Important]
Rolling:
Rolls are usually used when jumping from a large drop with a considerable amount of forward speed/momentum. In this situation, the roll is vital to maintain an effective speed, create a degree of fluidity and most importantly to reduce injuries such as shin splints, and joint problems.
Rolls are for many difficult to learn, a typical "gym class" forward roll is not effective in Parkour. The rolls are there for safety and are trained to absorb the impact of the ground on the body. Your weight must be distributed during the roll to prevent pain/injury in it's execution.
The first point of contact (from a drop) is at the feet, your feet should make contact with the floor, then allow your body to go down onto your hands. Your feet and arms/hands should take around 40-50% of the impact and the other 50% is momentum to push you through the roll.
The roll itself should take you over your more comfortable, dropped shoulder. (like rolling in a straight line but at a 45 degree angle) The path of your roll will take you from the shoulder, diagonally across your back, and to the opposite hip/side. During this the legs should be at a 90 degree angle in order to maintain the revolution and to be ready to get back onto the feet. From here your hands should be put down to help you get up and continue a run/Parkour.
Learning rolls:
Grass or mats are advised for learning, to get yourself used to the movement, but eventually you will need to take them to concrete. When learning with concrete or harder ground, you can feel where you are doing the roll wrong, and where you need to improve. e.g. feeling that you are hitting the notches of your spine.
Examples:
-Hitting the shoulder:
Too much weight is being put on the top of the shoulder; the contact should be directed to the outside of the top of the shoulder (deltoids).
-Hitting parts of your back/spine:
Remaining too curled up can lead to this. Let your back flatten to the floor at each area, of your back that touches the floor.
-Hitting your hip:
You are probably rolling too sideways, and should come over a little straighter.
The main thing with rolling is that it is a personal thing, as with all aspects of parkour. You may find it helps having someone show you how to do it, but you will find the way that you like and which is efficient. Like many of the movements it takes a long time to get used to/confident with them, so practice as often as you can, don't allow yourself to be frustrated some Parkour techniques ARE hard and need lots of practice.
My main tip is to try to learn them or harder ground or concrete. (Obviously not from a height)
Do it three times at maximum if you are hurting yourself during attempts. The first time, if it hurts, try to work out what you can do to stop it hurting in that place. If for the next 3 times you do it, stop and wait for an hour, carry on with your training then try some more rolls later. The pain will wear off after a little while, so you can practice rolls a lot and with a relatively small amount of constant discomfort. Remember more practice the better, so the more rolls you are able to try and vary, the quicker you will progress. {DISCLAIMER} "This ISN’T a sure fire way to learn, but I found it helps to learn on harder ground"
Saut de précision [Precision Jump]
Saut de Précision, Jump and landing on a precise area:
A precision jump is a movement from stationary to a given point. These are commonly used in situations that restrict a run up and need a large distance covered. They can be applied to many situations, commonly a jump to a very small point or area (e.g. rails, ledges).
**The main muscles used are within the leg (Quadriceps group, Vasti Group, the Hamstring group, Gastrocnemious and Gluteus Maximus), but the arms play a crucial and vital role within the movement.**
The swinging of the arms (in an upward motion) will make a huge difference to the length of your jump, The arms allow height and distance, when used in conjunction with the working legs. this is because of the centre of gravity is shifted upwards with the arms used correctly, allowing; to an extent, a higher and farther jump.
Extra care and much practice must be taken when using the precision jump between rails (small landing area) as balance will play a key role, maintaining balance when landing to avoid slipping and potential injury.
**Muscles to train for aiding performance of this specific technique.**
Saut de fond [Jump with drop]
Jump-Fall-Roll/Land:
A drop from a high or even a moderate distance can be potentially problematic and damaging to the body, inflicting small or large injury to the used areas of the body, commonly the knees, ankles and back.
A roll is used to help reduce the impact sustained by the legs and lower back, as well as continue momentum and speed to maintain flow.
The main tip, is to use as much of your body as possible to work with the movement. Aiming to move or drop quietly will require more effort, due to the use of a larger amount and variety of muscle groups, so don't just use your legs to absorb the impact, but the arms as you put them down, as well as the back. Mould your body to work with the movement.
Saut de chat [Kong]
Saut de chat. Cat Jump/Vault, Kong Vault
A basic and one of the most commonly used vaults within Parkour.
This basic vault, like many others, can be applied to many varying situations, but commonly long obstacles and waist/chest height obstacles. With a Saut de chat, your arms are placed on the obstacle while diving over it, basically your legs are tucked as they travel through your arms, moving at speed and clearing the obstacle.
**To some extent, in some situations (very high obstacle) a large amount of effort is used from the arms, in order to get your lower body up to an appropriate height to clear it. the main muscles used in this instance are the Latissumus Dorsi, Triceps Brachii and the Pectorals (chest).**
The main thing is to get your head forward and low which will bring your rear and legs up, so that your feet do not clip the edge of the obstacle. Keep tucked, and push your arms behind you (as your legs are passing through) to get further forward movement.
This technique is usually used with a two footed take off or a one footed (running) take off, into the vault. But the landing can be changed also, using a two footed landing (usually seen in a "Kong to precision"), or one footed landing, to carry on running.
There are several theories relating to take offs and SDC's, but generally, one footed take offs are better used when distance is needed after the vault, whereas two footed can give height. The main thing is power distribution and practicing both in different situations. Both take offs can be trained to be used in either situation so variance in training each take off and vault is important.
Most beginners aquire the two footed take off and will use that religiously. One footed take off, like anything new, may feel strange and awkward, this is because you are used to the old way of moving, but being able to change techniques will make you a more well-rounded traceur. Get used to "diving" vaults (two and one footed) as oposed to just placing your arms on the obstacle while your legs are on the ground. (Take off, dive, then contact an pass over)
The basic movement is to run up to the rail at speed and alike the diving technique, launch yourself at the rail arms stretched, taking off running and pushing with one foot/leg. The same general technique applies but you need to make sure your "non-take off" foot is swung up to come up with the pushing foot and into the crouched position. Then you rely on your arms to aid the movement and push upwards and then the rail underneath and behind you to gain extra distance.
Make sure you are very confident with your hand placement, especially on rails as a slip will mean you clearing the rail and head first into the ground the otherside. Practicing the vaults on a ledge with grace on one side is advised, at angles and different obstacles.
I have found that one footed take offs will get you further distance with a Cat Jump, especially if you have a very small run up for what you are aiming for. I strongly suggest that both one and two footed "take-off's" are learnt.
**Muscles to train for aiding performance of this specific technique.**
Passment [Speed Vault]
Passment. Speed vault
Speed vault's (hence the name) with practice are very fast and allow you to move seamlessly over an obstacle. They work well on high and low obstacles alike.
The actual technique is to have one hand placed upon the object while you body turns up onto one side, close to the obstacle, allowing you to almost "run" straight over the obstacle.
If for example you prefer to put your right hand down on the obstacle, your leg to push off for the vault would be the one closest to it, so in this case, the right leg. The left leg should be coming up behind, or already be up due to the angle your body is at (close to being horizontal, parallel with the wall), but nonetheless, higher than the right leg. The right leg should come up to meet the left, then back done to the floor, past the obstacle, to continue running. It is advised to learn the passment with both left and right arms being placed down, to enable efficiency in certain situations.
In most situations, the closer you are to the wall, the faster and more seamlessly you will travel over it.
It may be worth learning taking off from both sides and both legs, in order to improve your diversity in the varying situations of Parkour.
Learning Speed vaults (predominantly right handed) I took off with my left leg, swore by it and thought that was the best way, after a hefty discussion and once I'd recovered from my injury, I got out and tried the right leg take off, and it is, for me at least it feels alot better. Now I am used to it and I much prefer using the right leg.
But if you feel more comfortable using one leg over the other then do that. But I would recomend: Right hand = Right leg and vice versa, it takes a while to get used to using your leg that quickly but it is well worth it.
Demi Tour [Turn Vault]
Demi Tour, Turn Vault, Turn Vault to Cat.
The "turn vault" is commonly incorperated from a simple 2 handed vault.
This technique allows you to pass over an obstacle and get into the position seen in a Saut de Bras (hanging). These are a good technique to learn as they can greatly reduce the height/drop of a "jump", and therefore, have less wear and tear on the legs into the next movments.
These can be done with varying speeds and, relating to the the situation in different ways. However the most comon and effective was it to run up to the wall/obstacle, with a moderate speed, then place your hand along the wall so that you are able to turn around as passing over it. (Both hands on the wall/edge facing the same way, to the left or to the right)
From here, stagger your legs and swing them over the top of the wall and into the opposite side of which you took off from.
Your legs should then go into the wall (feet first) allowing you to absorb the impact and hang, as if you were in a "cat leap" position. Do not bring your legs up to close to your hands otherwise the leverage and momentum will pull your hands off from the wall and you will fall.
Main problems:
Sliding down the wall: You should aim to bring you legs higher or even stagger them a little in order to gain more friction.
This is a very effective and commnly used technique, I would advice you to learn it exactly if you havent beforehand.
Saut de bras [Cat Leap]
Saut de bras .Cat leaps. Planch. Climb Up
A very important technique to master. Commonly used when a gap is too far to jump/clear and land on your feet. You can take off running or from standing. You take off aiming your hands for the edge of your obstacle, a ledge or bar. The arms and legs almost make contact at the same time, your hands being on the edge of the top of the ledge and feet extended to absorb the impact. The legs will be extended upwards at about thigh/waist weight, and then absorbing the impact as your body momentum pushes the rest of your body into the wall.
The main thing for these is to work on you timing and judgement. If you don’t reach the wall, you may be in for a big drop or if you feet are too low, they'll slide down the wall, hitting you knees or body.
Another important factor if the leg positioning. Your legs should extend to absorb the impact upon contact but they must be relatively high to avoid sliding down the wall and to allow good grip on the wall, in order to climb up. Hanging in the "cat" position is good practice to understand where you, personally can get a good grip, and where you feel comfortable in the "hang".
Walls should be checked for not only hand grip (on top of obstacle), but grip for your feet (side of obstacle).
**Your legs do a lot of the work in the actual execution of the movement (taking off and absorbing the impact), so once again all the leg muscles can be trained in order to improve the power behind your technique.**
The "climb-up" of a Saut de bras, is rarely seen in a new traceur, which defeats the techniques purpose, Cat leaps are predominantly used as a last resort in order to clear the gap, then the traceur climbs up the wall/ledge to carry on their path. The climb up, requires a lot of (elastic/explosive) upper body strength, in order to climb up easily and quickly. Everyone has their own versions of climb ups, but one of the most effective ways, is the "muscle-up" approach. Being able to do "muscle-ups" from a pull up is a show of your strength. This consists of doing an ordinary pull up (forearms outwards/forwards), and from the pull up, continuing the upward motion from the head and shoulders all the way to the hip (arms straight down, supporting your body at the waist).
**For the climb-up, almost all of the upper body is used. At first, predominantly the Biceps Brachii, Deltoids (all are used to an extent) and Latissumus Dorsi. During the "second stage" of the climb-up (seen in a muscle-up) are the Pectorals, Deltoids, Triceps Brachii, Wrist (Flexors/Extensors) and the Trapezius.**
The main thing with climb ups is time, it takes a good while for you to even get the BASIC technique for a fast and effective climb up, and then to get it spot on will take ages again, but keep playing around with it, from a hang then going up and back down. This is a serious persistance area.
**Muscles to train for aiding performance of this specific technique.**
Passe muraille [Pop Vault]
Passé Muraille. Pop vault
This enables you to get onto the top of a wall or tall ledge, in order to get over it.
Wall “pops” are a must for this technique, as you need to be competent in the amount of height you can get along with the control of the movement. Basically a "pop" is when running to a wall, placing one foot on the wall, to then kick downwards, to propel yourself upwards and to the top of the wall, or to a height that you can grab the edge and pull yourself up.
A Passe Muraille, is the most commonly used way to vault over a wall that is too high for any normal vault. There are lots of variations for the end of this vault, for example, after the initial pop, placing the arms on top of the wall into standing then jumping down the other side, this is recommended in order to get used to the motion and momentum. Simple vaults include a saut du chat (Kong), passement (speed vault), or a thief vault (straight lazy).
**Muscles used include, within the "pop", the Gastrocnemious, Quadriceps group, and Gluteus. Within the upper body during the vault, commonly used muscles are the Trapezius, Latissumus Dorsi and the Triceps Brachii.**
Checking the wall for grip on the top and vertical of the wall is important to avoid slipping, and not clipping your feet on the top of the, which could result in serious injury if there is a large drop below
**Muscles to train for aiding performance of this specific technique.**
Lache [Swing]
Lache. Hang Drops. Tree swing.
Requires a good hand grip and swinging/dropping from one branch/pole to another.
Generally, alot of Laches are seen and practised in trees but they can also be used/practiced on things like scaffolding rails and such. Laches in trees are a good opportunity to get training in a different environment and surroundings.
Versatility, working with different textures and obstacles will make you a better and more rounded traceur. Variance maintains motivation and keep hard training more enjoyable.
As everyone has different levels of upper body strength, it's best to get
used to knowing what you can do, physically, start by just haning on branches of different thicknesses and climbing around, trying only to use your arms (and body obviously for swinging momentum).
From hanging, doing pull ups, swingin etc. You can guage a rough level of your ability. From here you can look at setting up some rough sets and reps (Look at conditioning area) to improve endurance of hangs/pull ups (as many as you can do) as well as, and perhaps more importantly, explosive/elastic strength. (Clap pull ups, etc).
Alot of upper body conditioning exercises can be find via this link:
www.drillsandskills.com/skills/cond/upper
A swinging grab. The basic movement is to hang on one branch and use the momentum of your body through swinging, let go at the peak of the forward swing and travel through the air to the next branch. When grabbing the next branch, control is important, you should aim to absorb the impact and guide your body down, not letting your body and shoulder joints drop to their extents. This can/may cause joint damage if repeated. These can be practiced on parralel or angled branches/bars, just play around with different ideas.
A Hanging Drop. Another common tree practice. Hanging from one branch and dropping downwards (at varying angles), down to the next branch where your weight it again cradled and absorbed to avoid joint damage. Make ure, if the branch is deirectly below you, you have some backwards swing to avoid hitting yourself on it on the way down.