How to Land a Jump in Parkour

Parkour as an extreme sport has exploded in popularity in recent years and been widely publicized through debuts in film and on television. If you're interested in starting parkour, the very first skill you need to learn is how to land, since you can't practice leaving the ground unless you've already thought of what will happen when you land.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Practice a stationary landing first, known as a drop landing, in which you land a jump and stop your motion. Because you can practice a drop landing from no height by just jumping up in the air from a stand, it's the safest landing to learn.
2. Jump up in the air about 6 inches to learn the drop landing. As your feet return to the ground, land on your toes and roll back onto the heel, bending your knees to allow your legs to absorb the shock of the landing.
3. Keep your feet straight and your ankles in line with your knees as you land. This landing can cause you to turn an ankle or injure your knee if your body is not aligned.
4. Bend your knees until you reach a squatting position and slap the ground with flat palms and bent elbows to stop your motion. While this may not seem like a crucial element of the landing, slapping the ground contributes a tremendous amount to stopping your momentum.
5. Practice the jump from increasing heights until you're comfortable using the drop landing to land a higher jump, and then practice using the jump landing to stop forward motion as well. Remember not to lock any of your joints.

Tips & Warnings

• If your forward motion in parkour is too great to stop the momentum using a drop landing, learn how to roll out of a landing using a forward roll. Follow the same technique as a drop landing, but instead of slapping the ground, use your hands to touch off and guide your motion forward, tuck your head into your chest and curl one shoulder in for you to roll over.
• Parkour is a potentially dangerous sport and should be learned gradually to make sure that you do not injure yourself. Practice landing indoors or in a safe environment before attempting to practice parkour around hard, sharp and otherwise potentially dangerous surfaces.