BASIC MOVEMENTS

As both disciplines require various physical movements to go through and around obstacles, movements are executed accordingly as going over, going under, or just merely passing through. The movements discussed herein are basic movements that can be practiced for individual development, so as to feel natural and well executed for safety reasons.

Landing: learning how to land properly and safely is a must. There are two types of landing techniques: landing on the balls of your toes and rolling.

Correct landing technique is landing on the balls of your toes and crumbling (or bending knees as you land) to cushion your fall before putting down your heels. This lessens the impact of your landing, from injuring your knees because of shock. Slapping the ground is also advisable to maintain your balance during landing, especially when coming from high places. Of which proper rolling technique is also essential in cushioning your fall as it helps you to recover your body balance from a landing. The roll is a forward roll where the hands, arms and diagonal of the back contact the ground, minimizing impact and preventing a painful landing. It is often called a breakfall.

Standing Jump and Precision: as jumping is an essential movement in overcoming obstacles easily, it is but proper to practice jumping. Begin from jumping in position, determining the height of which you are able to jump. Good practice as well, of proper landing as you do this exercise. It also helps develop leg strength and muscle memory, for the movement to be natural.

As standing jumps is to height, precision jumps is about distance. Begin from standing in your place and targeting a landing position farther from where you are. Determine how far your jump can carry you without losing your balance as you land. Repetition and practice will develop your jumping power and motivation to go beyond what you thought you can’t reach. Proper landing can also be carried out during jumping practice to develop the skill.

Balance: is walking while maintaining one’s balance on an obstacle.

Cat Balance: is the quadrupedal movement on an obstacle while maintaining one’s balance using both hands and feet.

Hang, Swing, Underbar: are movements used which involves reaching an object (hang) to assist in overcoming an obstacle (by swinging over) and landing safely. Underbar is another type of hang-swing movement, by jumping or swinging through a gap between obstacles, or in its literal form– going under the bar (gap).

Drop: is literally jumping down from something and onto the ground safely.

Vaults: are the basic movements of overcoming obstacles, as it requires jumping over with the arms supporting the body in a jump, and landing safely. There are many types of vaults but these are the basic vaults one can start practicing with and develop:

Lazy Vault
Monkey Vault
Turn Vault
Reverse Vault
Speed Vault
Dash Vault
Kong Vault

Wall-Up/Passe Muraille: is a climbing movement that is done in overcoming a tall structure (usually a wall), by use of a step off the wall to move the body upward and reaching over to climb onto and over the obstacle.

Muscle-Up: is a climbing movement wherein the arms are used as a support to get your body from a hanging position into a position where the body is above the obstacle.

Gap Jump: a movement that requires jumping over gaps, or jumping over long distances, and landing safely.

Cat Leap: is to land on the side of an obstacle (usually a wall) in a hanging/crouched position with the hands gripping the top edge, holding the body, ready to perform a muscle up.

Tic-Tac: is a step off an obstacle (usually a wall) to gain height to overcome an obstacle or reach for something.

Palm Spin: is a movement used to overcome an obstacle or for flair, by jumping over with the arm/s supporting the body as it changes position thus doing a spin. As Parkour is about moving efficiently, in Freerunning, usually a combination of basic movements and different discipline stunt techniques are executed with ease, as it is more of into aesthetic beauty of the movements. Usually a mastery of the basics leads to further developing or improving a skill and the following movements can be practiced but with much caution and guidance are strictly advice for proper execution and safety reasons.

The following techniques and skills are presented for educational purposes.

Flips: are graceful expression of movements executed in order to clear an obstacle.

Reverse Vault: instead of performing a vault in the most efficient way, this vault is executed by adding a 360 degree spin horizontally to make the movement more aesthetically pleasing as well as increasing coordination.



Try to perfect efficient movements or make good, clean combination of movements. It is not just about being the fastest but rather, moving efficiently and gracefully in the most efficient time.