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Whenever a technique is lacking in speed or power, most athletes are quick to pick up on weaknesses lower or upper-body strength, as they begin to work pull-ups, push-ups, squats, etc. If you have a slow cat-leap top out, the first thing you think is lack of pull-power, so you start to do insane amounts of pull-ups, ignoring the fact that a top out is a full-body technique that relies on a stable core to transfer force from your torso outwards. When your vaults are lacking in either speed or distance, the first weakness people can usually spot is a lack of power from the initial leap, yet this might make surprisingly little difference in the overall power of these techniques. The initial momentum is purely reliant on the commitment of your approach, and then your ability to transfer this momentum effectively mid-vault takes precedence. In this way, your lower-body power might matter less than your overall core stability in the attempt to maximize the explosiveness of your vaults...
The best way to illustrate this is with a powerful monkey vault, where the goal is maximum speed and distance after the technique. Speed in this movement relies on your ability to generate power during the approach and then commit to applying this power to explode over the object. At the point where a committed dive brings me to the surface of the wall, I transfer the momentum from the sprint and leap into forward and momentum towards my landing area. This happens due to a tensing of core musculature into a position similar to the hollow position in gymnastics. From this point, the power and energy from my legs is most-effectively shifted into my upper body to propel me to the other side.   This activation of the abdominal, lower back and hip muscles is going to be a common occurrence in a variety of movements. The tuck that is essential to efficient jumping ability is facilitated by your ability to contract your lower abdominals and hip flexors to raise your knees with as little overall effort as possible. The top-out after a cat-leap and the catch on a lacher are merely functions of your ability to efficiently sustain overall power through a strong and stable core. Move from one technique to the other and you will see this common thread, namely the ability to use your core musculature to retain isometric stability having a direct correlation to the effectiveness of technique. Once this realization is made, the first question you should ask is whether or not this is your greatest overall weakness (which is most-often the case). If so, the next query should have something to do with how to fix it. If it’s not, then it should be along the lines of “well, I wonder how I can become more involved in extreme ironing…”  Skipper eschews extreme ironing in favor of some dynamic V-sit training... Once you single out a lack of core-stability (or realize that there’s no such thing as too much core strength) then it’s time to tackle the movements that will ensure a strong and stable platform for effectively transferring power throughout a wide range of movements. As we started with the monkey vault, I think it would be most-pertinent to start with the exercises that efficiently train this specific aspect of the core’s roll in movement. First on that list would be those exercises which force your core to stabilize your body while in a horizontal position. From the very basic strict-push-up, to the more-advanced Planche progressions, all of the following movements force your core musculature to hold a rigid body position along the horizontal plane against the force of gravity. 
Jim from Beastskills.com easily illustrates the ability to shun gravity in pursuit of athletic goals...now for the rest of us mere mortals...
This is similar to the demands placed on your core when you make impact in the midst of a vault, as the downward force of the impact will tend to make your lower-body want to drift downwards. If this happens, the initial power created by your jump is lost, and all of the speed and jumping power in the world will be a waste when you’re stuck on measly walls and railings because you can’t move up to larger obstacles. From least to most difficult, the following exercises will help immensely with this aspect of core strength: Push-Ups - Yes, it’s possible to cheat on these, letting your torso sag uselessly both on the upwards and downwards portion of the movement. This is why I always demand perfect form, which is with a perfectly rigid torso throughout the entire movement, with your chest, hips and shoulders reaching the ground at the same time. If you are unable to perform the desired rep-range with absolute perfect form, scale the movement by elevating your upper body on a chair, box, or other small object. Good form is more important than bragging rights if your goal is to improve overall fitness. The inclusion of this exercise highlights the point that strict form usually requires one to work past their obvious core-strength weaknesses. This is never a bad thing. Ab-wheel roll-outs- Remember those ab-wheels that were popular for about 15 minutes a few years ago? Any guess as to why they went away so quickly? They were extremely effective, which means that they were difficult, and nobody buys products from an infomercial to end up having to work HARDER than they were working on the couch when they called. The good thing about this is that you can get these for a couple of bucks now, and they are an excellent tool for building a bullet-proof core. Roll-outs, whether from your knees or, if you’re burly enough, from your feet are an excellent exercise to work this horizontal stability. If it gets too easy, you can always do the Ross Enamait movement with one arm, or with 80lb of weighted vest on. As for me, I’m still working on the standing roll-out…hella’ hard! (you can check out more great videos at www.rosstraining.com )
The Planche Progression- One of the most-popular positions practiced by traceurs the world-over. Why? Because it seems so unlikely! An amazing amount of core-strength is needed in concert with shoulder stability, and a super-hard work ethic. The problem I’ve always had with Coach Sommer’s progression is the fact that there is a HUGE amount of difference between a frog-stand and the basic ball or tuck Planche. One way to work this transition is with pseudo-planche push-ups and Planche walkouts (for lack of a better term) where you will start in straight-armed plank position, and walk forward until you have your arms in the angled Planche position. This works great with elevated feet. Whether you get a real Planche or not, the work required for the progression is well worth the time and effort. Now that we’ve covered the core-movements and positions that will positively affect vaulting ability, now it’s time to show a few more exercises and their direct benefit to Parkour training: The Front-Lever- This is the yin to the planche’s yang. A direct-balance with the push-influenced Planche, the front lever is slightly easier to achieve, though hardly less useful. The progression for the movement, as well as including the tuck, one-legged, and split levers, also involves some great movements with the inverted hang to slow-lower, and the ice-cream maker, where you swing in hollow position to hold a perfect lever for whatever amount of time possible at the top of your swing. Both of these are most-easily facilitated by the use of rings in your training. The most-obvious carry-over from this training is with the underbar and lacher, where the ability to stabilize your torso against the dynamic loading of your lower-body against gravity is very useful for effective completion of the movements.  Yeah...it's Jim again. It's Ok to feel grossly inadequate... L-Pull-Ups , Leg Lifts , L-Sits and Knees to Elbows - A whole load of low-ab pain and agony in one single list. Seriously, these exercises will challenge the aspect of core-strength that most athletes are lacking from their years of crunches. Once you “master” these movements, you will be well on the way to true core-strength. Some great benefits include the obvious carry-over to underbars once again, but the less-obvious benefit to muscle-up and cat-leap top-out ability. Yes, the ability to forcefully contract your core to elevate your lower-body is extremely important to these techniques. So there we go, five of the basic exercises that may be the tool you need to fix that last weakness in your game. This is in no way an exhaustive list, and there are multitudes of excellent resources to find out more. Check out the books available to www.rosstraining.com , as well as the discussions on www.crossfit.com for lots of great info. Needless to say, www.beastskills.com is a great site for info on all kinds of sick strength skills to impress your friends and co-workers!
When you’ve tried all of the more-obvious ways to improve your technique, keep this in mind, and remember that your core is the foundation on which all functional movement is built. With some hard work and consistent training, you can shore up the potential weaknesses in this area and create a base from which to increase all other athletic ability. |
