Topic: Landing height.

[hardcoretraceur]

body awareness

jnc2y - the number of 3 feet drops that you'll be doing while training are far more numerous than the number of 3 feet drops some 12 year old does just messing around. big drops will hurt your body.

[Jamie Crosby]

oh i completely understand that, im not new to this by any means lol, im just saying that a 3 foot practice drop is a good place to learn your roll, but once you learn technique i think it is completely fine to step it up a little bit by using common sense.

[Jon Hurst]

body awareness

Yeah that. 

I'll have to try some 3ft. drops just to see how it goes.

[Dustin Evanetich]

just remember when learning the "splash" landing (the feet to hands no roll landing) that if you feel painfull shock in the balls of your feet, anlkes, hips, or the back you probably should have rolled instead. use your good judgement and dont push yourself too far or you'll be out of commission for a couple weeks.

[GreyGear]

I always used to jump off of my 6 foot shed in my back yard, but when I started parkour the amount of jumping was much more. Coupled with bad technique, by the second day my left knee had a damaged ligament.  Now I am sitting here trying to heal and stay off it.  I should have realized that the amount of jumps would make a large difference.  I agree with 3 feet because trying to get your technique correct at a larger height may make it too late. 

[max eisenberg]

momentum= roll.

ive witnessed david bell take a 15 foot drop with no roll numerous times, regardless of technique or strength it is a great example of how our body moves. we dont have an extra set of legs, like other 4 legged animals, so we dont have a way to spread out the impact... unless we roll along our back. again this is to MAINTAIN forward momentum. a roll is a versitile movement, incredibly useful for a bunch of situations. this however doesnt mean you should use it ALL the time.

personally rolling out of anything that i could have jumped over at a full sprint isnt worth it when im stepping off the object (if you jump off of it then id consider the roll). again it has more to do with momentum than height, you can do whatever you want, its completely up to you. im just saying the roll was designed for maintaining momentum, not really for creating it (not saying thats not a possibility).

 like anything in life you need to know how and when to use it.

[Fecteau]

When you roll, it's assumed you're jumping forward a good deal.  Otherwise, there isn't enough momentum to constitute a roll.  From any height, it's fine so long as you jump properly.  You seem to think we're talking about jumping straight down.  Why would you ever roll from a straight drop?

Actually although I agree with much of what you said previously, you can roll from a dead stop and/or a straight down drop. And it actually helps.

But what do I know, I've been teaching myself parkour the wrong way for the past year and a half...

[Andy Keller]

Actually although I agree with much of what you said previously, you can roll from a dead stop and/or a straight down drop. And it actually helps.

It does? How?

[wave28]

Actually although I agree with much of what you said previously, you can roll from a dead stop and/or a straight down drop. And it actually helps.

You could do this, however, it has no purpose once you are in a dead stop you have absorbed all momentum, so need to roll. The only way I see even remotely being useful would be if you are taking quite a drop and have at least a little bit of forward momentum, or if the landing area is sloped downwards.

[Fecteau]

You could do this, however, it has no purpose once you are in a dead stop you have absorbed all momentum, so need to roll. The only way I see even remotely being useful would be if you are taking quite a drop and have at least a little bit of forward momentum, or if the landing area is sloped downwards.

Forward momentup helps boatloads.

But the purpose of rolling, even at a dead stop, is to change that downwards force into forward momentum.

Example: I step off a 5 foot wall, with no forward momentum whatsoever, and I land with my upper body leaning forward. Should go straight down, right?

Nope.

My body is leaning forward, so when I land I push my feet forward whilst falling, and my upper body being already leaned forward suddenly doesn't go only down, but down and forward. Creating that small bit of forward momentum, allowing me to roll and cushon my fall even better, even if it's a three foot drop. That means, although less efficient, it still works. Okay?

[wave28]

i think you could achieve the same result by just putting your hands down and going deep into the landing. I guess if it feels better for you, then keep doing it, but it is also good to do otherwise as there might situations you won't be able to roll due to obstacles or other stuff, so it would be wise to get comfortable to absorb your landings fully without the need for rolling if there is no forward momentum.