Intro to Parkour: Basics I

[stealththief]

More stuff on parkour from another forum, thought I'd port my useful posts here as well.

I'll cover landing, rolling and jumping in this article, they're the basest basics and should be worked on continuously no matter how good you think you are. I'll start with landing.

Landing comes in two variations landing with precision and landing without precision. If there is too much forward momentum however you should crouch into a forward roll, the best way to find out when to roll and when to "slap out" is to experiment with speed and height somewhere soft (like a mat or some grass). The first technique I'll explain is the "slap out".
The slap out is exactly what it sounds like a means of distributing impact by slapping the ground. When approaching the ground bend the leg very very slightly, you want them the be bent enough that it's easy to further bend them but not so bent that they won't bend any further once you hit the ground. Spot the landing spot on the ground while you're still in the air (or better yet before you take off). Make sure you hit the ground on the balls of the feet and bend the legs to slow down your fall instead of stopping and then bending. The arms should come down in front of you and hit the ground with the palms and fingers while leaning forward slightly. It's pretty useful because if you have a bit of forward momentum you can keep it by using the arms to press off against the ground and push you up and forward. When landing exhale. However it's important to know that many jumps do not require a full slap out, the situation may simply call for the knees to bend less than 90 degrees and a bit of forward leaning.
Precision landing is a whole different creature. It is accomplished by keeping the feet close together and deeply bending the knees and spreading the arms out sideways. Land on the balls of the feet and lean forward or backwards to maintain balance. Precise one footed landings are called cranes and they are identical except only one leg is used while the other is kept straight. Precisions will be tough initially so choose something that isn't too thin and practice on that and gradually work to thinner rounder things until you can land on the smallest rails you can find.

Rolling is probably what most traceurs stress the most after landing in terms of safety. Not every jump will involve falling straight down, in fact a lot will have you moving downward and forward at the same time, these are the jumps that require a roll when landing. Rolling can be as simple or as complex as you make it. I'm going to make it as detailed as possible in hopes that you can correctly roll just by reading but only practice will make you roll your best.
When you're in the air do everything you would if you were going to slap out, (spot landing, prepare the legs etc). However the landing here differs from the slap out as soon as the balls of the feet hit the ground, instead of bending straight down and slapping the ground you bend the legs while leaning forward. Use the hands and arms to slow your forward fall, by placing both palms on the ground with the dominant arm bent slightly inward and in front of the other arm. As you continue moving towards the ground turn the head away from the dominant shoulder. Touch the dominant shoulder to the ground and roll with the momentum diagonally towards the opposite hip. Be sure to exhale while rolling from shoulder to hip as you want the muscles to be tense when rolling but loose when landing. The feet should be underneath you with either both on the ground or one on the ground with the other leg folded underneath you, for parkour get used to having both feet on the ground. An alternate method for more distance in the roll or for when there is a lot of forward momentum is to use the legs as springs, land and bend them and then extend them while falling forward before touching the shoulder to the ground.

Jumping, a large factor in many more advanced techniques such as wall runs and vaults is a key skill in parkour. A large misconception in outside the parkour community is that jumping is about getting high off the ground, this is wrong the idea is to lift the body. Wait that's confusing, it might sound it at first but try this: jump as high as you can straight up, it really isn't that high up, now jump while throwing your arms up and bringing your knees to your chest. See the difference? The first jump you tried to get high up, the second one you aimed more at lift your body.
Jumping in parkour uses the whole body, the arms should direct a jump as well as help lift the body, the legs free space beneath a traceur to allow them to clear higher obstacles and core brings all the movement together while maintaining control and influencing direction. The entire body should be used when jumping as explained. The arms are swung in the direction of travel, the legs are either brought up to the chest to allow a traceur to clear high obstacles or brought up and forward to allow a traceur to land feet first against a wall or onto a far obstacle.

Hope this helps any tips, questions etc are welcome.