Parkour: Wall Techniques

[stealththief]

In a run you'll often come across walls that are in your way or close to other obstacles, these may have to be climbed or they could be used to clear other obstacles. The wall techniques I'm going to go over are the tic tac vault, the tic tac, vertical and horizontal wall runs and a variation of the horizontal one.

The tic tac vault is basically a speed vault with a slight variation, you kick off the wall with your top leg. It can be performed in two way; jumping and kicking at the wall then placing the hand on the obstacle to be vaulted while in midair then passing over it. The other is to start like a normal speed vault but to kick off a nearby wall while over the obstacle for a little extra push.

The tic tac is not complicated and is the first step to horizontal wall runs. It's a bounce off of an obstacle to reach another location. It's good for landing on walls in cat or passing over adjacent obstacles at an angle. To perform a tic tac run at the wall at a 45 degree angle, lead with the leg closest to the wall when you jump at it. Use the same leg to absorb the shock and then spring off the wall, turn your upper body towards where you want to travel, swinging the arms in that direction will give a bit off pull to increase distance, but don't over exaggerate the movement, it will make losing balance easy.

Vertical wall run, the mythical ability to run up walls, known to ninja as shoten no jutsu. There's no secret to it people, it's all about practice. Run at a wall at a slow jog, when you get about one or two meters away from it, sprint! jump straight from the run, (no hop) and place the ball of the foot on the wall (if your real flexible place the entire sole of your foot). Once your foot contacts the wall swing the arms upwards while straightening the leg. Initially you'll fly backwards but with practice you'll move upwards.

Horizontal wall runs are cooler than they are practical, you won't have to use this often but there are situations where you'll use it every now and then. Approach the wall at an angle at a medium to high speed. Jump forward but not too high and place your closest foot onto the wall and push both down and back to move up and forward. quickly place the next foot onto the wall and continue forwards. Your last step should be a tic tac away from the wall.

Another type of wall run is the turning wall run. It's like spinning against a wall. Approach and place the first foot like the first wall run. However instead of bringing your leg around to the wall spin your entire body towards the wall and tic tac off with the second foot. This one is a bit confusing to explain, watch a video of traceurs doing the technique for a better explanation.

[darktorn]

Nice i've been meaning to learn some of this stuff for a while, much appreciated.

[Borninshadows]

All of Taihenjutsu is great stuff.
Nice work Stealth.

[Dethkreep]

I really need to practice some of this stuff. It would be great to add to my arsenal of evasion.

[Ghost]

The vertical wall run (i call it a kickoff, but i'm probably not using the right terminology though ) probably the single parkour technique i find myself using the most. It can be a little loud depending upon what material the wall/side of building is made out of, but on hard surfaces like brick and concrete it's possible to make this very silent. Like Stealtheif said - it's all about the practice.

[Xanatos]

The vertical wallrun is great. I can scale a 4m high brick wall with no problems.