In our forum section, there is a thread focussed on parkour techniques where people get to ask questions and people in the community respond by passing on knowledge and experience they have picked up along the way. The following is one such question posted up by Vaultular, and it goes like this:
"
Hi Every one
This is my first post here, I've been trying to get the kong vault but while I'm on air, I can't get my legs between my hands, I bring them aside, any advise to correct the prob? |
"
In response to this I started writing up bits and pieces of things I remember doing when I first started practising parkour and improved on along the way.
It's by no means "The Definitive Guide to Vaults", but rather a starting point and one that may help those trying vaults for the first time.
"Placing your feet on the outside of where your hands are placed on the obstacle rather than in-between both hands is a very common problem with most people trying a vault for the first time. Although this is not “wrong” as technically you still are able to move over the obstacle, it would be considered as purely one of the first steps in achieving your goal of clearing the obstacle fluidly and efficiently.
History & Definitions
Just to clear things up here and make sure we are on the right track, seeing as you are using Monkeys and Kongs for the names.
Both are vaults where hands are placed onto an obstacle and legs pass through the centre of the arms over and onto the ground on the otherside of the object. The Fench word for this type of vault is "Saut de Chat" (Cat Jump/Pass), although in the early UK Parkour days there seemed to be the need for a distinction over the two movements as visually they looked slightly different and people had no names to refer to them other than just a “vault”.
The French word for any other general vault is "
Passement". These being speed vaults, thief (or lazy) vaults, etc
Vaults are generally used to clear over obstacles such as railings, low walls and tables in order to continue the momentum created by the run up on the approach to the obstacle.
Monkey Vault = Vaulting over an obstacle using both hands where both legs pass through the centre of the arms as hands push off the obstacle and feet land on the other side. Generally requires no, or medium pace, run up and used in smaller jumps.
(King) Kong Vault = Vaulting over an obstacle using both hands where both legs pass through the centre of the arms as hands push off the obstacle and feet land on the other side. Used to gain more clearance on landings and requires a medium to fast run up.
So what’s the technical difference?
With a Monkey, feet are still touching the ground when the hands hit the obstacle whereas with a Kong, feet have already left the ground before hands make contact with the obstacle.
I generally do not like to refer to names as it tends to limit the whole purpose of the movements and people become to focussed on the technicality rather than the reason behind why it’s needed. Instead, if I really need to even reference it by name at all, I tend to use the simple term: Vault.
Training & Exercise
To be able to get your feet between your arms when you vault over an obstacle will require dedication, practise and mental focus. There are a few techniques which might help and we can take a look at them in minute, but before that you need to be able to practise this in a safe environment and with someone who can help “spot” you should you clip your feet and fall forwards.
Also know that a basic amount of upper body strength is required although DO NOT LET THIS PUT YOU OFF, as you can counter this by using more power generated from the legs when kicking up off the ground.
Practise on a staged obstacle, and what I mean is one that you place in your way like a table, or if you cannot do this then use low concrete walls with enough surface to stand on. NEVER ATTEMPT THESE EXERCISES ON RAILINGS OR OTHER OBSTACLES WITH LIMITED LANDING SPACE ON TOP OF THEM FOR THE FIRST TIME, as this could be very dangerous should you happen to clip your feet due to improper technique. This training should be done somewhere with a soft landing like grass or mats, or preferably indoors in a gymnasium.
- Stand in front of an obstacle that is between about waist and chest high, but no higher than this otherwise you will struggle
- Place your hands shoulder width apart onto the obstacle
- Kick up off the ground so that your body weight is now on your hands and tuck your knees towards your chest
- Do not try jump over the obstacle yet. Just lifting yourself off the ground with your knees getting used to being placed between your arms.
- Repeat
Do this a number of times and make sure you are starting to feel comfortable. PS, DO NOT EXPECT IMMEDIATE RESULTS. This requires practise in order to train your body to get used to moving in this way.
As you start to progress and feel comfortable with just lifting yourself off the ground with your hands and tucking your knees into your chest, you can now start to move onto the next step of actually placing your feet onto the obstacle. This will start ensuring your mind that you will not clip your feet, and even if you do happen to do this in the beginning do not be disheartened as that is what practising is all about.
- Same as before, stand facing the obstacle with hands placed shoulder width apart onto the obstacle
- Kick up off the ground and immediately tuck your knees into your chest with your legs going in-between your arms
- This time place your feet in-between where your hands are placed onto the obstacle
- Now drop your feet back down to the ground so that you are back in the starting position with hands shoulder width apart
- Repeat
Once you start to do this comfortably, you should then move onto seeing how far forwards you can place your feet onto the obstacle. Because inevitably you would have only placed the front tip of your foot in the beginning as you were afraid of committing in case you fell.
Let this be a bit of competition with yourself and mark how far forward you can get your feet onto the obstacle while simply kicking off the ground and lifting yourself with arms shoulder width apart on the obstacle. Again, ensure that you are doing this with someone to spot you and prevent falling forward and hurting yourself.
You should now be feeling a lot more confident with placing your feet between your arms when vaulting and the next step is to actually go out there and do it.
For a brief description of some of the tips given here, make sure you check out the training section in PKVM4 – Team Traceur
Conclusion & Final Thoughts
As with any movement, there will be basic levels and phases that each person will go through in order to master it in the long run. These will differ from person to person and for some, skipping a few phases ahead will come naturally depending on their background training and natural abilities.
It’s not to say that someone who excels quicker is the “better person”, because they will have skipped some of the most rudimentary lessons taught in going through the fundamental motions of learning a new movement. The same can be said for someone who never moves beyond the first stages, as they are obviously not pushing themselves harder to learn new techniques and move onto the next level towards the ultimate goal of efficient and fluid movements.
Good luck with your training and let us know how it goes... :-)"
The day of the shoot arrived, and as always, us traceurs are always shot first, meaning that you're on set at 06:00. The great thing about this shoot, was that the director had a location in mind that was really great, and no other options needed exploring (thanks Peter). They knew exactly what they wanted, and what they wanted was what came to me naturally as I explored the location.
My shot was over in a matter of minutes, as we all knew what needed to be done, and the light they wanted for the shot was within a short time window. It was a really nice shoot, and everyone was really cool. Thanks a lot to Norman (George from all the Vodacom commercials, and our famous Castrol "ja boet" South African actor) for all the pics. I took it with his camera! His daughter was the only girl in the commercial, and we had a nice chat after my shot as I stuck around for a bit. My Parkour bit in the commercial is really really short though, so not much to look at from that point of view).
