Parkour Roll Tips

If you aspire to be great at free running, scaling walls and landing impossible jumps like you were Spider-Man, then parkour is likely an activity that interests you. A person can get seriously hurt without some understanding of how this activity works. Landing on the hard ground after a leap from a high position can cause serious leg, knee, hip, back and other injuries. Going into a parkour roll is one way to prevent these injuries, but you have to do the roll correctly.

  1. Conditioning

    • Your body is not ready for parkour automatically. Those who take part in the sport have to condition their bodies to handle the stress that parkour causes. The fundamental needs your body will have while doing parkour are strength and explosiveness. Maintain a workout routine that uses moves similar to those you’ll encounter while doing parkour and do them in repetitions, pushing yourself farther with more weight or more reps to help your body build its strength and power. Good exercises for parkour conditioning include push-ups, pull-ups, squats, ankle raises, crunches and leg raises.

    Hop and Carpet

    • You may be tempted to take your newfound interest in parkour and try it out by leaping from a 15-foot wall and falling into a perfect roll on your first day. You shouldn’t try this. You must start small and learn to roll after leaps from low places. In fact, it is a good idea to simply hop into a roll without jumping off of anything until you master the roll itself. Also, you’ll want to roll on carpet the first several times you practice. There is no need in banging yourself up on concrete sidewalks if you haven’t learned how to make the maneuver yet. Your scrapes and bruises will arrive soon enough.

    Add Height Slowly

    • Gradually add height to your jump as you get more comfortable with the roll. After mastering the roll on carpet from a level hop, try it outdoors on a sidewalk. Then try it from a curb, then a one-foot height, and keep going until you can safely jump and roll from the heights you have set as goals. Remember that when you add height, the pressure on your body when you hit the ground will increase significantly. The idea is to recoil against the pressure of the landing and use your legs, arms and movement to shift the energy of the fall into a forward motion.

    Forward, Not Down

    • Before a parkour roll takes place there is usually a leap. The roll really begins with the leap when done correctly. Jump forward and not just down when practicing your parkour rolls. You will be able to land a roll from a straight downward drop eventually, but they are far more difficult and stressful for your body. Leap out in the direction of the landing spot with as much forward momentum as you can; this will make shifting the energy of the leap into a forward roll much easier and safer.