Parkour falls and rolls?

[Michael Lynn]

I figure landings and rolls are a requisite basis for parkour. However, I have no idea what the proper form for both are.

I know how to shoulder roll from martial arts, but not from a significant height.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
-Mike

[Patrick Donnelly]

http://www.crossfit.com/journal/libr...Compendium.pdf

Here's some good stuff from the guys at AmericanParkour.com

[Allen Yeh]

Have you checked this out?

http://www.americanparkour.com/conte...gory/4/60/377/

[Darryl Shaw]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OnrS3awx4Q

[Harry Munro]

This came through the post today: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...manual&x=0&y=0

Covers absolutely everything I would ever want/need to know about tumbling! First print 1938.

[Blair Lowe]

Look up some videos for forward, backward and sideways breakfalls and shoulder rolls. When you can do these smoothly, progressing to doing them by jumping up then landing and going into the rolls.

Progress to dive rolls as well. Typically it's best to do diamond your hands and bend your elbows to absorb some of the force from a fall into the roll.

It's best to do the forward breakfalls (into a shoulder roll) on your forearms and not your wrists. Your wrists will be happy if you absorb it with the forearms. They won't otherwise.

For parkour, I train these first on grass or sand, then perhaps bare dirt then concrete/asphalt/blacktop. Learning these on a soft surface, like a gymnastics floor or judo floor or wrestling mats may teach you that the mats can absorb some of the force when in outside conditions they cannot.

For kids or out of shape adults, I would probably start with mats or some sort of tatami/gym floor.

Do not slap the ground. One, because where you do parkour is concrete and asphalt not tatami or canvas floors with foam padding underneath. Doing so would be a wonderful way to sprain your hand or possibly fracture your forearm if it were to hit something like a parking bump.

Tuck your chin on a backward breakfall. This will help so you don't whip the back of your head into the ground.

[Steven Low]

Check out a lot of the American Parkour tutorial vids on youtube.

They were made for beginners.

[Leela Seville]

With how uncoordinated I am, I could never EVER picture myself doing Parkour. It looks insanely difficult and not for the faint of heart. Heck, I'm only entering myself into the world of body building and I already feel like I'm going to pass out from just VIEWING some of these intense exercises. XD

Either way, I was actually going to ask a question: are there any parkour groups in Indy or in the mid-west.

[Steven Low]

Yeah, check out American Parkour forums. They have regional/state boards so you can hook up with people in your area to jam.