i understand doing squats to condition the legs against the pressures of gravity, but can you advise a certain type of leg position? i had this dilemma last night and ended up with the conclusion that i can push myself forward from any jump under 5 feet or so. however, i'm not sure if i should roll at such a low height. i don't need to take the pressure off of my knees, but it's the only way i can think of keeping my forward momentum, unlike bending my knees, where my only option is to try to spring myself upward, land, then resume running. solution, please?
To preserve momentum without doing a roll, I just use a cat landing-like technique. Basically landing like normal, but move forward a little and stabilize with your hands, then push youself forwards with your legs as you take your hands off the ground. It's simple, easy to master, and I swear it has saved my life once or twice. I usually only roll on grass or packed rubber and if I have too much forward momentum to land in a cat style landing.
so is doing squats the only way to improve leg muscle? cause my legs arnt very strong (im a girl)
A girl who does parkour, some might find that kinda hot. Just sayin'. Anyways, you can do squats to build leg strength, you can run until your legs give-out (like I do), or you can practice balancing on rails and walking along them for a suspended period of time (also something I do near daily).
And now a reply to this thread itself; I bend my knees past 90 degrees if I feel it is necessary. Usually, I just bend my knees until I feel the schock of the landing has been absorbed, then I continue with my parkour path. Just to save time and to avoid hitting the ground with my back-yard or hitting my chin on my knee (both hurt very much. Believe me. =/). If I feel I have to bend my knees past about 50-45 degrees, I just land like a cat and absorb shock with my arms too, but it's usually not necessary. For me, anyways. Your style may be different from mine. =)
