Topic: Drops

[Adam "Echo" C]

What is the farthest drop that a pro traceur can make without hurting his joints? What is the average height that one should drop from?

[Jake Vigil]

0 feet, 0 inches.

Parkour is not about drops. They aren't necessary for anything. Train other things, save your knees. Learn how to land and roll at ground level, then perhaps from a few feet up. But no jumping off roofs if you dont have to. A lot of people wont let new guys take ANY drops their first year.

[Muse_of_Fire]

The amount of "drop" any traceur can take without injury, regardless of whether they are a "pro" or not, depends 100% on skill and conditioning.

David Belle can take ridiculous drops.


David Belle has been training for nearly two decades.


As Jake mentioned, parkour is not about drops. If you train landings and rolls at or near ground level for many, many years, it will help you survive a huge drop if you need to take one in an emergency. But unless you are a professional stuntman or find yourself hanging out on dangerous roofs often, it shouldn't be necessary really ever in your life.

[Adam "Echo" C]

Well I probably should have mentioned that I already am aware of the dangers of drops. I'm not going to start jumping off of buildings and stuff, I'm not stupid. I've heard plenty of rants about drops and their effects on your joints. I've seen traceurs take high drops, but I want to know how high is too high, because parkour involves at least a little bit of dropping. Why else would they expand so much on landing and rolling?

[TR]

but I want to know how high is too high

Depends on the individual, but I'm sure the body is capable of some pretty insane heights, given proper training backing it.

[Adam "Echo" C]

Like your sig TaylorR89. I'm against commercialization too.

[MoguesFR379]

People take drops differently, As said David Belle could drop a rediculas drop that would easily hurt me or most average people, I can drop off quite high objects (Walls, Small roofs) and not be hurt by it, Usally i like to roll on most surface's after a drop, Just work on your landing technique and wear shoes with good strong heals, Then you should be able to drop off pretty high objects.

Michael.

[Adam "Echo" C]

like ten feet or higher?

[Dan Frank]

If you're not well-conditioned and have good technique, drops can be very temperamental. You could take a 10 foot drop once and not feel a bit of pain, then do the same drop again and sprain an ankle or mess up a knee. Something similar's happened to me, although the drop wasn't a drop for a drop's sake, and it was only about 8 feet worth because I was sitting down when I dropped (Note, I don't usually do that anymore, I now turn around and get in a saut de bras position then drop. That way it's like 2 feet). I'd done it maybe 4 times in a row without a hitch, but on the 5th, I rolled funny and hurt my knee and my chest.

[Bao]

I'm a protraceur and I can drop twenty feet. /s

In all seriousness, why does it matter how high you can drop or whether or not the "average" traceur can do it? It serves no purpose if it affects your health negatively. Well-conditioned or not, drops aren't something one should practice on a normal basis (This can be argued).

[hardcoretraceur]

I don't think David Belle or anyone else should be taking two story drops.

[PKAB]

Why?? David belle can but why? Drops are in the necessity of the moment not something you drill. Drops are only out of last resort. Also I dont find large drops a very good point of prestige. Dont do drops! ... Or is it.... Nah.

[Adam "Echo" C]

If you're not well-conditioned and have good technique, drops can be very temperamental. You could take a 10 foot drop once and not feel a bit of pain, then do the same drop again and sprain an ankle or mess up a knee. Something similar's happened to me, although the drop wasn't a drop for a drop's sake, and it was only about 8 feet worth because I was sitting down when I dropped (Note, I don't usually do that anymore, I now turn around and get in a saut de bras position then drop. That way it's like 2 feet). I'd done it maybe 4 times in a row without a hitch, but on the 5th, I rolled funny and hurt my knee and my chest.

Saut de bras? Makes a lot of sense. Is there a certain technique to transitioning over to that?

And people, don't worry about me doing stupid stuff, it's not prestigious to me. Thanks for the concern though. 

[Camosnail Isaac]

a guy once jumped out of an airplane and his shoot didn't open..... AND HE LIVED! lol I doubt you will ever beat that. hmmmmmmmmm must have landed in a passing pillow truck lol 

[max eisenberg]

im starting to think all of this negativity about drops thing could be right but also wrong.

seeing as drops are in fact our last response to a situation, shouldnt we grow strong enough to train them at varying heights?

just because we condition our body doesnt mean we can judge the drop the right way, knowing when to fire your muscles is just as important as being able to fire them.

david belle can judge a drop amazingly, yes i know he has been training for close to two decades but, he still has that skill. if we never practice that skill i have a hard time thinking we are just going to automatically develop it.

my thoughts, grow strong enough to take the drops and practice at varying heights, just to get a feel for them. not like you drill vaults, just every once in a blue moon so your body knows when to react.

just a thought, i dont like drops either but, just a thought.

[Camosnail Isaac]

im starting to think all of this negativity about drops thing could be right but also wrong.

seeing as drops are in fact our last response to a situation, shouldnt we grow strong enough to train them at varying heights?

just because we condition our body doesnt mean we can judge the drop the right way, knowing when to fire your muscles is just as important as being able to fire them.

david belle can judge a drop amazingly, yes i know he has been training for close to two decades but, he still has that skill. if we never practice that skill i have a hard time thinking we are just going to automatically develop it.

my thoughts, grow strong enough to take the drops and practice at varying heights, just to get a feel for them. not like you drill vaults, just every once in a blue moon so your body knows when to react.

just a thought, i dont like drops either but, just a thought.

I agree that drops should be practiced, especially if your reason for doing parkour is to be prepared for any situation. BUT... If you can't drill the drop every day without getting hurt then it's too high. The "once in a blue moon" theory is no good. If you want to be able to do the bigger ones every time then you have to drill the smaller ones and slowly work your way up.

[max eisenberg]

im starting to think all of this negativity about drops thing could be right but also wrong.

seeing as drops are in fact our last response to a situation, shouldnt we grow strong enough to train them at varying heights?

just because we condition our body doesnt mean we can judge the drop the right way, knowing when to fire your muscles is just as important as being able to fire them.

david belle can judge a drop amazingly, yes i know he has been training for close to two decades but, he still has that skill. if we never practice that skill i have a hard time thinking we are just going to automatically develop it.

my thoughts, grow strong enough to take the drops and practice at varying heights, just to get a feel for them. not like you drill vaults, just every once in a blue moon so your body knows when to react.

just a thought, i dont like drops either but, just a thought.

I agree that drops should be practiced, especially if your reason for doing parkour is to be prepared for any situation. BUT... If you can't drill the drop every day without getting hurt then it's too high. The "once in a blue moon" theory is no good. If you want to be able to do the bigger ones every time then you have to drill the smaller ones and slowly work your way up.

well see, even a drop of 5 feet puts TREMENDOUS stress on your body. you cant just 'work your way up'. it doesnt work like that, its not like vaulting something higher and higher until you can vault something your own height, every drop you take little or big, hurts your body.

no matter how conditioned you are, drops hurt you. every once in a while its a good idea to take a small or a big ish drop just to know the difference and get a feel for the ground flying at you.

too much and you will have adverse effects, thats why i said every once in a blue moon.

[Dan Frank]

Eisenberg is exactly right. If you want to be able to do a 10+ foot drop safely, then you need to practice similar drops. Period. The only way you can do this without destroying yourself is by doing it on something as soft as possible and by doing it only sporadically. There is no way to truly be "safe" from a drop, of almost ANY height, and there is no way to "work up to it" that would prevent a drop from damaging your body.

In fact, if you "work up to it," all the while thinking that you're not taking any damage from the drops, you're doing a LOT of harm. Sporadic very high drops will not destroy you like repeated low-medium or mid-high drops will.

[Adam "Echo" C]

This is really good advice. I don't ever plan on having to jump off of 10+ foot obstacles, without at least falling to a saut de bras beforehand. I'll condition myself with smaller drops so that my body can get used to the stress of larger drops, but even then, I'll take you guys' word for it and avoid high jumps. 

[TR]

every drop you take little or big, hurts your body.

wrong.

there is no way to "work up to it" that would prevent a drop from damaging your body.

Are you talking in terms of technique or strength?

You can "work up" to a drop in a sense by conditioning... a lot. But that's still only a piece of the puzzle.