American Parkour

Today I tried my first roll on concrete and it hurt my spine a bit. I think it's because I'm really skinny and my spine sticks out a little bit when I bend over. Has anyone had a similar issue and have any advice on how to not hurt myself in the future?

On thing you can do is watch the video that shows david belle's rolls and try to mimic them.

Second thing is curl up in a ball on concrete and wobble around and find a path that doesn't include pain and incorporate that into your roll.

These are things that were told to me when I was having problems with mine.

if your having pain it doesnt sound like your doing them right to me whatch this video and see if you are doing something different than this  http://youtube.com/watch?v=5tJAyNxig_A

Also, seeing as you said just a BIT of pain, when you start rolling on concrete you will have a little pain. Like everything else in parkour, you have to keep practicing and progress slowly, and condition yourself, and then it won't hurt. I still have pain in my lower back when I roll on hard things, but its not like it doesn't go away. As long as the pain goes away, and I assume it does, it will prolly just take time to get used to rolling on concrete. I mean, its not like you can have a perfect roll. In a perfect roll, no matter what surface you were on, it would feel like grass, basically. And no one on earth can do that.

Rolls should NEVER EVER EVER hurt.  Ask any one who has been doing it for more then a year!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please M2 or one of the Tribe back me up on this.

I listened to Idiots like the ones on here and now I have permanent damage!!!

Don't listen to them.  Rolls are an art and should NEVER hurt.

Try several hundred rolls on grass first.  Any areas that feel even slightly bumped / bruised will feel much worse on concrete.  Try rolls from a standing position before taking them with speed and height.

I'm skinny with a "bony" spine, and rolls should NOT hurt, even on concrete / asphalt.  There isn't a conditioning phase where you learn to deal with the pain of bruising your spine, pain simply means poor technique.

Strangely, what helped me the most was not using my hands AT ALL.  Unless you are falling from a great height, you should be able to roll directly from your feet to your preferred shoulder without even touching the ground with your palms.  Everybody's roll appears to be slightly different, but that (along with practice) seems to magically keep anything hard on my back from hitting the concrete.  Parkour rolls definately aren't vertical, but erring on the side of too horizontal can cause the same problems.

i agree with freestylefox here i mean any pain to your spine is serious pain that should not be ignored otherwise you will suffer further down the road in life

Wow I like that video, is pretty cool.. Oh yeah thats me  ;D


Ill back that up. I have seen videos where they say, trust me it hurts but you just gotta deal with it WRONNNNNNNGG... if you are performing a good roll they should feel soft and smooth.

haha woops i shoulda referenced to you ozzi....that is a really nice tutorial it helped me a ton

Well seeing as everyone seems to disagree with me, I'm gonna defend myself. At the start, when you first learn rolls, PAIN IS A TEACHER!!! It shows you what to do and what not to do. SO at first, you prolly will feel pain. Did any of you get it perfect the first time? I seriously doubt it. I'm sure that you felt some pain, and then you realized what you were doing wrong, and you fixed it, and it didn't hurt anymore.
Also the thread starter did not specify what kind of pain. Does he mean spine pain like, bone pain? If so, then yes, you're doing something wrong. But if it is just surface pain, which is what I figured, then it prolly IS just being new to rolls. For example, if you scrape your back on a roll, I would say that you maybe did a little thing wrong, but it is no big deal. Another example, if on one roll you maybe hit your back a little, and then on the next one, it is ok, then GUESS WHAT!!! You made a mistake, but your roll technique might not be all that bad.

I don't appreciate being called an idiot. I may not have a whole lot of experience, but I do know that my roll technique is pretty good, and I have never hurt myself doing ANYTHING in pk or fr. So please, if your gonna jump down my back and flat tell me I'm wrong, realize I may be confused, or I may have taken a different meaning of the original post.

Oh man, No one made any reference to you being an idiot.

 I saw a tutorial one this guy said while rolling it would ALWAYS hurt. Which is wrong. You might feel disconfort in the beginning not pain. If you are still feeling pain, seeing that you wonder if it will go away you might be doing something wrong, on the other hand a friend of mine says it always hurts on hip and I checked his rolls and they look fine. It might be that some peoples hip bones are a bit bigger than normal..

Here is that video, there are a few thing wrong with that technique but i wont get into it.

Sorry but I kind of took that to mean me. Its not that you called me anything Ozzi, and maybe FSF didn't mean me either, but I just got a little pissed off when he said that.

And yes, that is what I meant. Discomfort is a lot better word than pain, cause I guess that is what you feel. I was just trying to make sure that no one tried to fix technique that was fine, only because it felt a little odd or hurt a little.

Oh I forgot  about that guy's comment, yeah I really dont think he used he best approach by calling idiots in here. If he has permanent damage is no one but his own fault. I just preffered to ignore it.

Anyway, yeah like on my tutorial, I rolled about 20 times on concrete to shoot it so at the end I was feeling a little disconfort, nothing to bad. But yeah if it is pain what one feels, there is something that needs to be fixed.

We are cool bro...

are you calling me an idiot? and if so..why?

Huh, me..?? no man, someone was talking about this

so basically i'm just starting parkour. and i figured that rolls and landing would be the best way to start. so at first my rolls sucked, but now their coming along pretty well. i can jump off low heights into a roll blah blah. so now my right shoulder is pretty sore. its probably normal since im just starting, but is their something i could be doing wrong?

If its sore a lot of the time, then that is bad. Videotape your form and look at it, and compare it to a GOOD roll tutorial (like Ozzi's) and see if your rolls look the same. A small amount of pain that disappears quickly is ok, but if pain persists then it is bad. So it really depends on how long your shoulder hurts for, IMHO.

if your just starting parkour you shouldnt be jumping off any heights untill your joints/form/muscels are ready so if there is pain then you should go back to doing rolls while kneeling.

1)WOW, Ozzi, you just keep cranking out awsome tutorials like a machine. If everyone like your tuts. as much as I do your karma would look something like this-  +23987/however much you have been smited

2)I tried to roll on concrete once and i hurt like crap so i stoped and gonna vid. Myself when i can.

3)Learn to roll on concerete properly before you try drops-TRUST ME CONCRETE IS UNFORGIVING AND HARDER THAN YOUR HEAD

Thanks man. yeah video yourself so we can all help you..

 I wish my karma was 92708750745 lol

I keep trying them, but something still feels a little bit off. I have about a minute of me practicing it that I decided to upload. I mumble to myself about how bad I thought the first roll was. Whoops.

If any of you want to check it out, it's here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=oe4AuYjUIPw

Hey bro, the rolling looks good, but the starting and ending position need to be fixed. Yous right knee is up, so you should be rooling on your right shoulder. If you feel more comfortable rollong on your left shoulder then lift your left knee and kneel on your right. Same thing when you finish, your left left should be in front on your right leg. Watch my tutorial again... try to repeat what you see in there.

Karma isn't really important. After you've been active on the boards for over a month you start to recognize who everyone is and what they're personality is like and suddenly karma loses it's meaning.

Zxmbies: The rolls are pretty good overall, I just have a couple suggestions. There is really no point in putting your left leg out when you start your roll, because if you put your foot out before a roll while doing parkour, that defeats the purpose of a roll. They are meant to dissipate force, and once you take a step the force is all gone, so there is no benefit. Practice landing on two feet and then going into a roll, with no pause between landing and rolling(or only a very, very small pause...think milliseconds).

Someone else can read this and see if this suggestion is right, cause I don't really know from the video if this is what he is doing. It seems like, after you make first contact with your shoulder, you kind of land straight on the ground with your back, as opposed to rolling into it. This hurts your flow, and it is prolly more painful than normal rolls. So really try and imagine the roll where you never lose contact with the ground, but the contact you have is short and only one point of your body touches at one time. That sounds a little weird, but I'm basically saying have better flow.

In regards to the legs yes you are right. As Ozzi said you should be rolling on the same leg you have up. However when considering a new traceur always encourage baby steps first. Which is to say, Zxmbies should look forward to practicing on two feet soon. However for the moment it is obvious he still needs to learn the basics on the ground plane before moving up.

Tis true. Just make sure you can unlearn the one-foot-forward, before you start two-footed rolls. Cause if you can't, you will basically have to start over again.

 I dont think you need to "unlearn" the starting position you just gotta be able to transition, knowing both wil be more helpfull than knowing one.

Thanks for all your help guys. The rolls are coming along great. They're becoming near painless except for one thing. Let's say I'm doing a right shoulder to left hip roll. When I come through the roll, my lower left leg slams into the ground. Now I've seen M2's tutorial on rolls too, so thankfully I haven't shattered my ankle, but I feel like if my ankle were where my left leg foreleg was, it would get messed up. Basically, my left leg comes down hard, not smooth. I don't know how to stop that from happening so... any tips?

tuck it in more, you have it straight out, keep it tucked as you roll.

did anyone eelse mention that instead of following the perfect form ozzi demonstrates in his tut i.e. from shoulder to opposite hip, he's coming out of the rool with both hips down.  this can put a lot of strain on the spine because it naturally curves back in that area.

 
 I am sorry my friend, but I never come out of my roll with both hips down. I have been rolling for over 50 ;D years, I learned that a LONG LONG time ago. ;D

 Look at the ending position. By leading with my right leg on front all the time, the hips tilt making IMPOSSIBLE for both hips to hit the ground I am getting to the final position. If I were hitting both hips my ending position would be chest facing the front both legs coming forward together.

 Sorry to disappoint you, but there is almost nothing wrong with this technique, and I say almost because I am not perfect.  ;)

oops, i must've missed a clarity point.  i was referring to Zxmbies video of his technique.  from what i saw he was coming out both hips down.  i watched your tutorial ozzi.  i was able to clean up my own rolls with it.

yea...Zxmbies you have to lead with your other hand

ive been doing them for almost 14 years...and i have them down perfect...

like earlier today...i clipped my feet doing a monkey i normally do all the time but i didnt this time and i took a face first dive but luckily i tucked and rolled out...i did land on my shoulder but it woulda been a lot worse if i hadnt of rolled

also...learn both sides...cuz sometimes you cant always roll right or left sided...it depends on how you come out of something...which foot you have forward...but if you land with both feet side by side then you can roll which ever side you prefer

i wish i had a good camera so i can make a tutorial but ozzi's good enough

another thing...ozzi...i see you doing this...but most people don't realize...but in order to have an good efficent roll you want to be facing the same direction you go into the roll...the same direction and not off to the side

exentually...when you get it down you can come out of it in any direction you wish...to the left side...the right side...even backwards...its all about foot placement

: ]]

I'm new and just started to try doing rolls.  I'm rolling from right shoulder to left hip.  At first my shoulder hurt, but I tucked my head more and now it doesn't.  However, I'm getting some bad pain on my hip.  What can I do to prevent this?

Hmm...i think it might be that you are landing on it instead of rolling on it...but idk exactly...just try to get the feeling along the diagonal "line" on your back...sorry if that doesnt help...thats all i cant think of

That might be the problem.  I'm too tender right now, but when I'm feeling better I'll go try it slow on the unforgiving concrete and hopefully I'll found out what I'm doing wrong fairly quickly... ;D

I am not sure if you are saying I am facing off to the side or not. I have also been rolling for over 15 years if not more (Im 27, been doing martial arts and what not all my life), I can roll from pretty much every position. I do face forward, although it really doesnt matter because your body follows where your eyes spot.

It might look a little tilted because I am on a sitting position so my shoulders are slanted a bit. But trust me, I have the roll down, you might have  noticed I roll different ways on the video, to the side, backwards, dive roll etc.

I am always open minded about new techniques but when it comes to my rolls I really need little or not advice. Thanks though.

Oh did you think I was critquing your rolls? haha sorry...no you're rolls are perfect...but thank god for judo when i was younger to teach me how to fall and roll...it really helped a lot.

i've got a question about rolling if nobody minds. well... it's kind of about rolling. kung fu has taught me how to fall, how to roll (even from tall things), and how to dive and roll, but how do you go into a roll from a dive through something? i keep hitting the back of my calf on the top of the thing i'm diving through and having to limp around for ten minutes before i can run again. i'm assuming this isn't supposed to happen.
P.S. i hope nobody minds that i'm asking this on a thread of somebody else's.

it just takes control...you should practice with something softer haha...you can even do a little demon drill of the month with the duct tape for underbars...but just put 2 strips of duct tape and try to dive roll through the space

haha I know tell me, but thanks man, I just get really sensitive about my roll... sniff sniff** lol

I think i got my roll down finaly, i just need to try it afew times on concreat, the places where i parkour dont have much, mostly parks and school trailors.

try practicing rolling in grass until all you feel afterwords is a little dizzy.  I know when i roll i feel like i never even touched the ground

really practice a "dive" kinda roll. jump up, land with your "hands"( mostly to absorb a little impact from that hop of a dive you do) and then ease your way into that roll.

helps alot.

will do.

ADTitan, I strongly disagree.  A good roll will result in facing nearly sideways when you come out of it, because you're coming off of that hip.  To face the same way you came in, you need to twist a hell of a lot..  Check out any of the originalt raceurs and you see they face (as in, their chests are pointed toward) a diagonal path away from their original orientation, then they push off to one side of their hip to return to running in the direction they were originally faced.

Ozzi, MA rolls do not have direct transfer to Parkour, though they are very VERY similar.  In any case, I see nothing wrong with your rolls (other than when you come out of front tucks, as we've discussed before).

Animus, I sort of disagree. I think for many people, yes, a good roll results in facing nearly sideways. Stephane V for example. However, for some people, that's not so. My roll is very forward and I get no pain from it at all. Same goes for ozzi. If I do a sideways roll, the side of my hip hurts too much. That's just due to my body type. However, for a skinnier person whose bones stick out more, my roll would hurt. I think that saying "a good roll results in this or that" is never correct, because different rolls work for different people, and also, different situations. You'll often see David Belle do a martial arts roll, as well as a more sideways one, depending on his environment.

When rolling i dont think you should roll down your back on concrete...you should roll from shoulder to your other hip for best effects, I do it and it doesnt really hurt but your bound to be hurt when you roll

'

Whew, thanks man.

Well i'm pretty much a noob, but when i roll, i kinda feel my spine crack and sometimes it feels good and other times it doesnt.
I'm a pretty skinnny guy so my spine sticks out. Any thoughts?

Big question some friends and I have had lately: hit the ground or collapse into it?

I think that collapse into it makes more sense in cushioning your impact, but I see Belle and some others basically punching the ground with his feet to start the roll.

That's because of his leg power, he can instantly resist the force.

The point is, I guess, you resist as much as you can. If you collapse, then you probably jumped from too far.

Well the main point of rolling is to cushion the impact. I know it also helps to change your momentum but that is more of a bonus.

You are using "collapse" differently than I am. With your "collapse," your are suggesting that you jumped from way too high and are hitting the ground with way too much force to counteract. I mean that at the moment you hit, you transition straight into the roll. I see quite a few people who hit the ground and then just jump into the roll as though it were two different things. That may help you get up and continue smoothly, but it does not help to cushion the impact at all. I think it should all be done as one motion.

The purpose of a roll, Veloce, is to transition downward force into horizontal momentum. If you just land and roll, you're not diverting much energy, and your body is basically taking the maximum impact, then you're kinda rolling at the end for no reason. Watch david belle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWJHSyjVMY8&feature=related

At 1:03 you can see him divert the downward momentum with his legs into forward momentum, making his landing nice and smooth.

That landing of his is of course an exaggeration, because.. he's.. David Belle. You don't have to BOUNCE off the ground from a 10 foot drop, but you should not be collapsing, you should be resisting, and your legs should hold a non-acute angle while your weight transfers forward, otherwise you have collapsed and your legs have already taken the damage. Once you get to the point of collapsing, why not just tap out? You're already there. If you're saying to yourself well there's too much impact to tap out, then I revert to what I said before. You shouldn't have jumped that much distance.

oof, not liking a lot of what I see here, just in this last page.

I am of the opinion that you should go with what works for you. The roll is a movement that you should experiment a bit, to try to better understand, do side rolls, back rolls, twisting rolls, incorporate it into and out of qm. all of these methods should increase your body awareness, along with being potentially useful techniques. If you aim to do rolls well then know that a good roll will not hurt, even on concrete.

I agree mate, I train rolls every way, and I have about 5 different rolls I use, from martial art style rolls to a more forward roll, to a sideways parkour roll, depending on my environment, but the question stated here was to resist the ground or collapse into it. Simple question, and we're discussing it. Not talking about what's right or wrong, talking about what works best for your body. And I think no matter who's body we're talking about, collapsing is bad for it.

Well then I guess my idea is just different... you think rolling has little to do with cushioning the impact?

What's more important, transferring momentum from some jumps or not having to get a knee replacement? I see rolling as a way to keep as much stress off of your legs as possible. That doesn't mean you try to land on your back or anything, but you minimize the amount of force to a reasonable degree. You don't need to to be jumping off of anything high to cause damage either. Yes, landing from a 2 story building is bad, but what about repeated stiff landings from only 5-6 feet? Obviously the results will be different depending on how much leg strength you have, but the idea is still the same. I try to increase the surface area and decrease the impulse of the landing IN ADDITION to keeping the flow.

Of course this is all assuming that taking the impact as stated is bad for your knees, whether immediate (from very high up) or over time (from numerous low drops). So again, I think cushioning the impact is or should be the primary goal and a smooth transfer of motion is or should be a bonus.


On a different note, I think that if you could master this transition of lessening the impact, the height at which you could safely descend would go up a lot, not that I'm suggesting them, however. ;)

Yes, I don't think the idea of a roll is to cushion the impact, I think a roll is designed to redirect the impact, so you don't have to deal with it at all. Would I rather cushion a bullet, or redirect it? Hmmm. Would I rather cushion a punch, or redirect it. Better to cushion a car hitting me, or redirect it? What sounds better to you?

I agree, but you're missing the point anatomically. Resisting the impact is doing exactly what you're saying is good, taking the stress off the knees. By resisting you are using the power of your leg muscles to lessen the downward impact taken, and transfer it forward so you can continue your run. By "cushioning" the impact as you say, and bending your knees and legs as far as they go, you are putting the strain on the knees and ankles, and only beginning your roll after the strain has already occurred.

Nah, what I do is I come down with my weight forward so that I fall/collapse into a roll without needing to compress as much as possible.

It isn't healthy to not deal with your problems... lol jk. I get what you're saying.


Maybe I should just get a video of how I've been doing my rolls and have you look at it? Actions speak louder (and better) than words? ;D I also have the feeling that what I think I'm doing may be different from what someone else might see...

But in order for that to happen your legs have to hold an angle in order for your body to tilt forward so you can roll and not faceplant. If you did not use muscle tension to tilt forward over your shoulder you would fall on your face, literally, or, take far too much impact on your hands and shoulder. Post a video, please. Here's an example that isn't very good, but the point is made. See how my leg muscles resist, and then tilt forward to my momentum is redirected into a roll without my knees or ankles taking stress? That's about 9 feet onto concrete.

http://s3.photobucket.com/flash/player.swf?file=http://vid3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/SwitchBlade1572/Clip16.flv

Hey everyone, not sure if i'm hijacking the thread or not but i'm having some roll pain in my shoulder: (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v422/calixsurfer619/untitled-2.jpg)

the part in red is where it hurts.  My roll is smooth and most of the time correct(roll from shoulder to hip) but i guess i must be hitting my shoulder on the way into it. I can try to describe to you how i roll but i'm not very good and describing things but basically i get down into position put my left hand where its supposed to go then i push my self forward while my right arm doesnt even touch the ground instead it sort of goes to my left knee thus curling my up to a ball.

Anyone else experience this pain?

You need to use your hands more to absorb the impact that would otherwise (or in this case, is) being taken by the shoulder. The hands are used as a temporary axis of rotation so you can roll over far enough so that the first part of your shoulder that touches is the back, and that you are rolling along it (aka, you're not coming down on it).

ah yeah thats what i thought too, i guess i just need to roll more before my shoulder touches the ground. thanks alot

I had that same problem but its basically gona away. What i did was instead of landing with both palms on the ground i started not letting the hand of the sholder i was gona roll over it lets me rotate a little more and my rolls are more fluid and im not ramming my sholder as much. Im sorry im bad at explaining just basically try to rotate faster and get onto your back sooner

hmm, i think i might have fixed it actually. The way i do it is the scoop technique seen here: http://www.americanparkour.com/content/view/264/305/

On the third picture one will notice how his right arm is scooping under his chest toward the other leg.  I do that but see how his palm is up facing his chest?  Well, i didn't do it that way, my palm always faced the ground.  It may be my mind tricking me or what, but once i faced my palm up to my chest i haven't had any more problems (ive only done it twice however so we'll see)

I have a similar problem, but its not really pain, just discomfort from the compression. Im not sure if that is also bad or not.

Yeah, I'm hurting in the same spot. I have a feeling it involves the unusual pressure that is suddenly placed on a mostly-unused muscle group. With time, I'd venture a guess and say that the muscles in the shoulder will strengthen to a point of painless resistance.

rolls should not hurt if you are doing them right. I find it helpfull to roll on more of the side of your back like on your shoulder. That way you will not get hurt even if you mess up the landing.

Iv completely ditched the method of rolling from one shoulder to the opposite hip in favor of rolling more directly down your back, as shown on the tutorials page.

Does anyone have an idea of what I'm doing wrong if my right shoulder and middle of my back hurt when I roll (it's not discomfort, it's pain)
I roll right shoulder to left hip, and am pretty sure I'm rolling that diagonal path along my back, but no matter what those two spots always hurt.
My spine sticks out quite a bit more than it should so that might explain the mid-back pain, but I'm not sure why my shoulder always hurts, although I think it might be that it hurts more when I stand and roll instead of rolling from knees (as in Ozzi's tut)
Thanks for the help :)
-David

You are taking too much initial impact with your upper body, if your shoulder and back hurt, but not your hip. You need to use your arms more to take the force, so that by the time your shoulder touches, there's hardly any impact going on, just a transfer of momentum. Extending your legs and 'diving' forward a little, like in Levi's tutorial might also help you spread it more evenly outward.

Is it completely natural for your left hip and right shoulder to hurt slightly after doing a roll?
It's been happening for quite awhile, but other than that, the roll feels completely fine.

U WERE PROBABLY DOING A GYMNASTICS ROLL. I DO A MARTIAL ARTS ROLL WHICH IS ROLLING ON UR SHOULDER. TRY  LEARNING AN M.A. ROLL.

dude, where those capital letters warranted or anything? I certainly don't think so...

We all basically do martial arts roll, Monkey, but thanks.

Brandon, it's common, but not good, especially on cement. Keep on drilling them, work on making your body shape more round, and play around with the position of where your shoulder touches and hip pushes away. Over a couple of years I have tweaked my roll so that I can land 8 feet on cement and not feel a thing (most of the time, there's always that bad one every so often). Once you find a roll that feels the best, drill it over and over so it becomes muscle memory. But try your best to get rid of that discomfort. Over time it'll start to not be good.

I was actually about to post a question that I had about roll pain, that I assumed was because I am so skinny. 

When I do rolls (on grass), my form seems fine, but I keep hurting my shoulder right on top of the bumpy part of my scapula. 
(http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b269/hypergeek14/scapula.png (http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b269/hypergeek14/scapula.png))

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?  I wouldn't dare try rolling on concrete if grass scratches me up. 

ok im rolling pefectly straight, my form is fine, but i end up with a headache and dizziness after i practice rolling, and my head hurts (cuz i keep hitting it), im trying to tuck my head under my arm, but then it feels... awkward you might say...what should i do??

If you're hitting your head, your form is definitely not fine. Examine all the tutorials out there a little more, work on your technique so that you do not hit your head. If you get dizzy, then just do a roll, stand up, let your head straighten out, then only do another roll when you feel fine.

I recently got the roll down, tried it from height no problem, but then when i moved on to try it on concrete and im feeling pain in my shoulder. Is there a different way i should be approaching the roll on concrete?? ???

Depends. What type of pain are you feeling? Is it joint pain, or just the pain of scraping your shoulder against the concrete? If it's your shoulder against concrete, then I would do a few (Don't do too many and get hurt) more on concrete, trying some different techniques to see if anything works.

My roll problem: Wherever I roll it hurts, and it's a joint problem. I am NOT scraping anything anywhere. My shoulder doesn't hurt because of it hitting concrete (I'm doing it on carpet now), it's hurting because I think I'm just....I don't know.

When I go into my roll, the first thing to hit the ground (besides my hands obviously) is the top-front of my shoulder. And it HURTS now. Again, it doesn't hurt a scrape pain, and the skin isn't tender, I can just feel the JOINT pain. And I have no joint problems, and I'm only 15.

What part of your shoulder should hit the ground? Could somebody please post a picture showing what part of their shoulder hits the ground first? Cause mine hurts. A lot.


Also, I know, don't do rolls for a while.

I actually had a problem with shoulder joint pain just a little bit ago, and I don't know if my problem is the same as yours, but I found out that I was catching too much of my weight with my arms, because I'd gotten so paranoid of slamming into my shoulder. What helped me was practicing "sweeping" my hurt arm under me rather then putting it palm down. It forced me to lighten the load on it, so after a while I could go back to what I was doing with my new habits.
Hope that helps, or is even relevant. :)

i've only just started learning parkour but i was taught how to properly roll in bootcamp. at the most, you should only feel slight discomfort from a roll. unless you are rolling straight along the spine. the roll should be distributed across the back and shoulders.

Try the part by your shoulder. Out from your head. Watch videos of tracuers rolling.

u should feel no discomfort ever. period. if it is not comfortable then your not doing it right.  And u should never roll straight along the spine.

I think I have a problem related to this. When I jump off something, even if it's a small jump, the roll usually feels fine, but when I start from stationary position, it feels like I'm smashing my shoulder against the floor. Why's that? What can I do to make the motion smoother and not smash into the floor?
Thanks. :)

i tripped on a 9 footish drop and tryed to roll now ive got pulled tendons in my shoulder lol

Maybe it's because you have more forward momentum when you jump. The momentum helps with practice quite a bit. But be careful, don't go past what you can handle.

I've got myself a problem on cement.

Whenever I roll (from a crouched position) my back is perfectly fine and so is everything else, except that the left side of my knee hurts from hitting it on the cement at the end of the roll. When I push with my legs to get back into a standing position what part of my legs should I be using?

I've just started practicing my rolls for a couple days and my form obviously needs work and I know that rolls should never hurt, but since I've been doing them wrong my shoulder has started to kill, some times i can roll perfect and it feels fine, other times i just slam my shoulder and now its all bashed up. Should I take a break and let my shoulder return to full capacity before trying to practice my rolls again?

yea let it heal

I think what he is trying to say is there should never be bruises or long term injuries/pain after rolling, there will always be light pain from rocks or sticks etc...
I think what he is trying to say is there should never be bruises or long term pain but there will always be pain from rocks sticks etc...

I have that problem. But I know im doing it right but the pains in my right shoulder and around my left hip. I have a small paintball vest and I put it on when I know im gonna be rolling on asfualt or concrete.

I'm having a strange issue with my rolls.  When I first started doing my rolls, there was little to no pain and I went through the motions fairly smoothly.  But lately, I've been practicing on grass and I've been coming down on weird areas of my back. 

I'm left-handed, so I mainly lead off of my left side, and I've been trying to narrow the issue down as the area of pain seems to be mainly in my lower left back.  I think I might not be tucking in tight enough, or my rolling style isn't quite right for my body type, but I think I'm overshooting my shoulder entirely, because I keep feeling the impact on my lower back, almost like I landed from a fall straight on my ass and missed the soft part. 

I usually push off with my back leg to simulate momentum and throw myself into the roll, but I'm pretty sure I'm not angling my body enough because all the impact seems to going into my left side, either on the shoulder or the lower back.  What's weird is that everytime I try to change the angle of the roll to a more diagonal slant, I still end up hitting my left side.  Any tips on cleaning this up?

My rolls feel GREEEEAAAAAAAAATTTTT...when I do them in the sand, haha :) On concrete I just land on my feet and then keep running. I need to work on those :/ I found a great video online with David rolling but I can't find it any more. Any ideas?

Alright, first post.  ;D Just recently started Parkour (literally like 4 days ago), and after watching Ozzi's tutorial I feel my rolls are a lot smoother. One thing, though. Since I've started practicing them, my glutius medius muscles (the ones above your butt where your body starts to curve to your sides) have gotten pretty sore.
I've had a sore lower the past week or so, even before I was practicing, and was wondering if that could be having some weird effect on the rest of my roll. Should I wait till the soreness is gone before I practice any more?

Hello everyone! I've just recently started Parkour as well, always been interested in it and decided that rolls would be a good place to start. I've looked up some info on them from different sites, and saw a few tutorials - Ozzi's definitely takes the cake though, haha. I've been practicing them on carpet every night for 30 minutes, 15 for each shoulder. Hammering out my form and doing rolls over and over and over has given me quite a few bruises on my back - is this a good way to train? Should I take a break for a few days to let my sores die down? There's no major pain or anything, just light bruises, and my muscles are usually a little sore. Thanks in advance for any help!

Practice rolling just to the right or left of your spine staying on muscle rather than bone. Only practice a few rolls a day, then move onto something else, if it is painful or "sore" in your lowerback, definately work on something else. Practicing pain is not useful.

It's not really my lower back, just my shoulders and hips from times when I rolled wrong.  :P

Also, should I be training on only one shoulder? I figured it'd be best to be good with both, to be more flexible.

I think it was my sore lower back being referred to, to clear up confusion. Thanks for confirmation, though. I definitely felt like I shouldn't be practicing with it hurting, but I wanted to practice anyway  ::) I guess I'll just do conditioning and stuff until it feels better.