Topic: Move of the Day - Monkey Vaults

[The Fallen]

Ive decided for every day im going to explain a movement that makes up parkour. Mainly because i have time in algebra class to goof off and explain stuff to help people!

Ok so todays move is.....Monkey vaults!


1) The monkey vault is a fairley simple move and one of the most efficient parkour movements. Start with a low rail or wall something around your waist or upper leg high. Also try it on grass if needed to help soften the fall if you do indeed need to.

2) start with a soft jog ive found that the faster you run the more momentum you get the faster and farther you go over the object your vaulting. So even though going fast at first my seem a bit scary try and go with a jog then work up to a full run.

3) ok now for the movements involved in the monkey vault. What you want to do is when you reach the rail or wall or whatever object you may be vaulting, do a little hopstep! This will help place your feet together and also a good build up for the movement over it.

4) Place your hands on the object a fair amount apart from each other so you have room to bring your legs through. Make sure you have a tight grip and a sturdy object when practicing this vault.

5) JUMP! and try your best to bring your knees to your chest. Try and point your toes up also so theyres less chance of catching them on the object your vaulting.

6) once you have no trouble clearing the object you want to learn how to properly exit the monkey vault. When yourr knees are to your chest and your perpendicular with the object you want to push off with your hands so you have more force to clear the object your vaulting.

Thats it! its as easy as 1..2..3..4..5..6........umm yeah lol. Its one of the basic movements of parkour but not to be overlooked by anyone including david belle himself. It is always good to practice the basics before you go on to advanced movements.

Also when monkey vaulting from a height you want to def push off more with your hands so you are absolutely sure you clear the object!

So thats the move of the day and from The Fallen DONT FALL!!!

[Invisiblex]

hmm good idea Fallen
sometimes i have trouble with monkeys, but when i get them its awesome
and just to add something if its ok
if your doing a monkey into a drop you want to ge speed not only to clear the object but its also an easier landing if your going forward instead of straight to the ground

[gmpianoman]

im sure this will last about a month at most.....But i understand...math is friggin boring. BORING

These forums are so cool

[twitchkidd]

There are many ways to do monkeys and kongs. I still have trouble making my one foot take off monkeys and kongs clean, then you have your good old two foot haruuump, then there are split foot take offs which, despite pistolwhip's valient efforts I still don't understand in the slightest, and then there are Jesse's crazy almost kong but speed things, and differences between getting over an obstacle and kong/monkey prescisioning, then there are ground kongs, and then there are monkeys from right next to the rail, then there are monkeyish things out of straightarm cat position ... you get the idea. The technique is dauntingly complex at higher levels and very versitile.

[Matthew Lee Willis]

have fun after a month...when you start running out of moves.  I would suggest after explaining all the moves...you should create a Huge Tutorial on it and email it.  hehe.

[Skipper]

a Titoural.... sounds dirty!

[Rafe]

Monkey vaults are also known as Saut Du Chat.

[Altimot]

Monkey vaults are also known as Saut Du Chat.

Saut du chat??? is that like monkey in french or something???

oh and good monkey lessen their fallen.
i think monkeys are only hard because of fear of doing it wrong and end up kissing the ground, y'know?

[Invisiblex]

it actually means something like
jump of the cat   in french
when you think about it, it makes more sense than 'monkey vault'

[twitchkidd]

not really. it's a vault, which is more than a leap, and at the apex you resemble a monkey. i know how cats leap, i have two, and that's not it.

[Rafe]

Yeah it means jump of the cat, not because it resembles a cats leap but the way a cat runs. Witch its back legs passing between its front legs during the stride. I am curious if it is an old gymnastics term in france. In american gymnastics we call Saut Du Chats.. squat vaults.

[Flippusmn]

For some reason I've always been good at monkey's. I can do then onto or over things higher than my head and I'm 6 foot tall. What about you guys?

[hardcoretraceur]

id also like to note, that my cat has done a cat leap to get ontop of a fence that was a little far from my garage roof, so that doesnt have to be called by french arm jump.

[Bachelarius]

How can one little statement stirr up so much controversy... a saut de chat is just a pair of jumps, so it's a 'leap', and it is similar to the way a cat moves... They must have seen a cat do one and thought "aha!" and named it after that incident. that or it's an old old name, I am not sure of it's origin. But whatever it's pretty simple... and 'arm jump' makes a bit more sense than cat leap imo... so why the confusion?

[Skipper]

the confusion comes from many of us not actually speaking french. and i would not at all call this conversation contraversial, i dont see anyone getting mad or offended, just a friendly discussion between people who dont know french.

[Flippusmn]

I'm very confused by that and don't speak a lick of french. I'm lost. 

Edit: Oh from the other topic I presume. BTW we are not in France and thats why we have this website, so why is this happening?

[Bachelarius]

Sorry if it offends you, that's definitely not the intention. In fact there are two reason why I use the french terms, and have used them for a while now

Firstly, it's my homage to the birthplace of parkour. If I use the french terms it reminds me of the roots, which in turn remind me personally (this is one of those memory trigger thing, quite specific to me) of all the original none phisical ideals behind parkour, like always helping people, never using parkour for immoral acts etc.

Secondly, as it was already said, the meanings are a lot broader, as they do not promote the idea of 'tricks'. In parkour there is no such thing as a trick. It does not need to be broken down into anything less than a run, however newcomers often find that idea pretty tough to get quickly. So there are some base techniques to ease them into it, as well as give people inspiration for more efficient means to traverse an obstacle, that they may not have thought of. I am very glad M2 is working on the dictionairy of meanings, as it will help clear quite a bit up for people who do not understand them due to the language barrier.

Oh there's one more reason, the french terms to me make more sense and the english terms, to me, sound f#cking dumb lol. I mean Kash vault, Kong, Lazy... I've even heard people make stuff up and call it a gorilla vault and a 'bat grab' haha.

[Asa]

Anyway, petty arguing aside here's some stuff I wrote a while ago:

Kong Troubleshooting 1.2

I composed this guide in response to the many requests for help with kongs. It is by no means perfect so if during the course of your reading you notice an error or exclusion, please say something and I will change it.

Okay, lets get down to buisness.

1) I'm scared of clipping my feet / My legs won't fit between my arms

This is by far the problem that plagues traceurs the most, so don't worry, you're not alone. The mistakes you are making is keeping your butt too low, not tucking your legs tight enough and/or not pushing hard enough.

A common illusion people have about kongs is that you are simply supposed to jump through your arms. NO! Your arms are jumping just as much as your legs are. Once you jump and place your hands on the ledge be prepared to push. As your knees come to your your chest, push up and forward with your wrists and arms.

If pushing harder isn't working, have your friend watch you attempt a kong (somewhere safe such as your couch) and tell you  where your butt is. Chances are that he/she will tell you they are at your elbow level. This is wrong. If you want to get any distance or clearance on your kong you should have your rear at or above your head before you push off. LEAN FORWARD.

If you're getting your push down and your butt in the air (like you just don't care) but aren't clearing your obstacle, then you need to tuck your legs nice and tight. As you're traveling over the obstacle, bring your knees up to your chest hard (for heavyset people, this may be difficult. The solution is to work harder on the push and keeping your butt high).

2) I'm not getting enough distance from my kong

For someone that can already kong, this problem should be simple to remedy. There are two ways to increase your kong; the first is jumping farther from the obstacle and the second is pushing harder with your arms.

Find an obstacle to kong. Lay down a marker (unobtrusively) two feet in front of the obstacle. Place a second marker two feet behind the obstacle. Run up and take off at the first marker and kong the obstacle, push with all of your strength. Coming off of the obstace your arms should be extended straight back with your palms up. You will have cleared the second marker if you did this right. Repeat this at least five times today. Tomorrow, move both of the markers 3 more inches away from the obstacle so you are konging about 4.5 feet. Practice at least 5 times. Continue this regiment increasing 3 inches on each side every day until you feel comfortable with your distance.

3) I'm too scared to kong.

There are several ways to deal with your fear. The best way is probably just sucking it up and committing, but until you make that decision, you can prepare with these strategies:

 a) MONKEY PLANT: one tip to help with the fear is to do a monkey plant on the obstacle you are konging. Once your body gets used to the feeling of diving into something, instead of planting your feet; lean forward with your rump in the air. Land safely on the ground and you've got a kong vault!

 b) STAIR KONGS: find a stairset of about 4 to 5 stairs, and practice konging up the stairs from the bottom. This will help your body develop what is called "muscle memory". This means that the combination of dive, plant, tuck and butt-up will all combine until it is second nature. Also, If you clip your feet, there's no drop on the other side to injure yourself on.

 c) KONG YO' COUCH: The sofa, God's gift to traceurs. Learn to use it to it's full potential. Practice konging from your floor, planting on the arm and landing (bailing?) on the cushions. This gets rid of your face-planting fears and really helps you learn to get your head down and your butt up.

Focus and Commit!

Thanks to these contributors:

M2rock, bjmann490, pistolwhip, Ahk Horus

[coastal96]

Nice write-up Asa . . . I didn't know about the butt in the air dealie.

[Flippusmn]

Sorry if it offends you, that's definitely not the intention. In fact there are two reason why I use the french terms, and have used them for a while now

Firstly, it's my homage to the birthplace of parkour. If I use the french terms it reminds me of the roots, which in turn remind me personally (this is one of those memory trigger thing, quite specific to me) of all the original none physical ideals behind parkour, like always helping people, never using parkour for immoral acts etc.

Secondly, as it was already said, the meanings are a lot broader, as they do not promote the idea of 'tricks'. In parkour there is no such thing as a trick. It does not need to be broken down into anything less than a run, however newcomers often find that idea pretty tough to get quickly. So there are some base techniques to ease them into it, as well as give people inspiration for more efficient means to traverse an obstacle, that they may not have thought of. I am very glad M2 is working on the dictionairy of meanings, as it will help clear quite a bit up for people who do not understand them due to the language barrier.

Oh there's one more reason, the french terms to me make more sense and the English terms, to me, sound f#cking dumb lol. I mean Kash vault, Kong, Lazy... I've even heard people make stuff up and call it a gorilla vault and a 'bat grab' haha.

Understanding, but to me it's like changing the name of the rollercoasters at Geauga lake, you don't even really pay attention to the modification because you've said the other names so many times it sticks in your head, and it's been two years since they changed those names, I go there two to three times a week and still don't know what the new names are. lol, same concept.

BTW nice one Pistolwhip. It's weird though that I have never really been afraid to Kong unless it's breaking a new boundary or if there is a danger lurking.