Parkour may be fun and cool to look at but it is considered one of the most dangerous extreme sports. The risks involved in doing these stunts are very high.
This is why professional and highly trained parkour athletes should only be the ones to perform such daredevil acts. Here are some of the most dangerous parkour jumps that everyone should see.
Backflip
Probably one of the most basic parkour stunts but is still highly dangerous if done by an untrained athlete or a newbie.
The basic move involves the usual backflipping stunt but can be progressed into the wall flip: a one-step off a wall and into a backflip.
Arabian
The Arabian is a combination of two basic parkour jumps: the front flip and the backflip. This jump is a mix of both stunts that starts with the backflip and ends with a front flip.
It might sound a bit difficult but mastering the backflip first would help in making the stunt less dangerous.
Side Flip
The side flip is a common parkour stunt that has some challenges when executing, but is one of the easiest stunts to do.
Start with a ground roll to experience how a side flip feels and easily transition into a side flip once you have mastered it.
Cartwheel
One of the most basic parkour jumps, the cartwheel is a base jump that transitions into another jump. Though simple to do, supervision in a controlled environment is highly recommended.
The cartwheel is commonly transitioned into other jumps such as a side flip.
Webster Flip
The Webster Flip is another parkour stunt that is one of the easiest to execute. Start with a front roll and transition into a standing front roll then use your foot to swing your entire body.
The Webster Flip is common in action or martial arts movies as it is one of the fancier parkour jumps to perform.
360 Dive Roll
360 Dive Roll is a complex dive roll that will teach you body control. It is much like a dive roll but you roll around as you lunge forward.
Make sure to learn the dive roll first and practice inside the gym where it is much safer.
Cheat Gainer
Cheat Gainer is a safe and stylish jump and learning cheat gainer is a progressive lesson in itself. You will need to start with an off-axis rotation until you begin to increase your height.
While it is a much safer stunt than many others on this list, you will still need to do a lot of practice.
Standing Precision Jump
Standing Precision Jump is a jump that enables you to land in narrow areas such as rails and other small platforms. The jump requires a lot of concentration and balance so constant practice is needed.
With your feet on the edge jump, bend your legs, and swing your arms back to fully propel yourself. Land on the balls of your feet.
Running Precision Jump
Running Precision Jump is mostly the same as the Standing Precision Jump but the key difference here is you take off using only one leg after you run towards the edge.
By running to the edge of the platform and jumping off on one leg, you make use of the other leg to propel you further into mid-air.
Wall Run
Wall Run is a parkour stunt that focuses on approach and momentum while running up a wall.
Your approach is key to timing your momentum and you will need a lot of practice by running slowly towards a wall and being able to estimate when and where you can jump.
Italian Job
Also known as a Lazy Vault Spin, the Italian Job is commonly used to traverse obstacles that are normally around the height of your waist.
You will need to practice with a handrail first to avoid untoward incidents. Choose a stronger side of your body so you can carry the weight over the rail.
The Twisting Spinning Corkscrew
The cork is one of the most popular parkour moves that is commonly used in many action flicks. Those who can pull it off would seem like they are floating on air.
It’s a never-ending stunt with flips and twists and is mesmerizing to watch.
Cat Leap
Cat Leap, also known as the arm jump, is one of the basic parkour moves that you can learn.
As the name goes, you will be jumping from a platform and landing on the wall with your hands gripping on the edge of the wall.
Safety Roll
The Safety Roll is one of the most commonly used moves in parkour, acting as an instinctive move to protect yourself from injuries on impacts.
Another reason to master the safety role is to create a flow where you can transition from one movement to another without too much complexity.
Safety Landing
Safety Landing is another basic move in parkour that every beginner should know.
Much like the safety roll, the safety landing functions as a way to protect your body from injuries by limiting the impact on your knees.
Tic Tac
Tic Tac, also known as a horizontal wall run, is a simple parkour stunt that has less risk for injury as long as you do not roll your ankles. Like the wall run but instead of running up the wall, you run across the wall.
Once you run across the wall, you will need to push using your feet to change direction. Tic Tac is usually used to transition to another movement.
Climb Up
Climb Up uses your feet to kick your lower body up so it can reach the edge of the wall that you are holding.
This makes it easier for you to pull your body on top of the platform and with proper distribution of your weight from your arms to your legs.
Stride
A Stride or Bounding is similar to Precision Jump but instead of using both feet to jump and land onto a platform, you will use one foot for each platform.
As always, momentum is key to knowing when and how you jump.
Dyno
Dyno is a parkour move that allows you to climb up a wall faster using mostly your upper body but with the help of the lower body. While hanging from the edge of a platform, you will be using your lower body to kickstart your momentum so you have the force to ascend.
Time your execution perfectly so you can reach the next platform. Some extend their arms upwards while others swing their arms to create more trajectory.
This parkour move is commonly used to scale walls fast and is one of the basic moves that you can learn easily.
Height Drop
Height Drop is landing safely using the balls of your feet with support from your calf muscles and the rest of your lower body. Much like safety landing, height drop is a move that will help you land from a height effectively.
You may also use your upper body to absorb some of the pressure from the drop as opposed to putting everything on your lower body.
This technique is more about finding ways to lower the distance between the drop.
Kip Up
Kip Up is a technique to help you back up on your feet in case you fall.
Used primarily in martial arts, Kip Up is incorporated in parkour as a safety method to reduce injuries and transition to another movement even after a mistake.
This parkour technique should be one of the basic parkour jumps that you learn when you want to be a good parkour athlete.
Lache
Lache is a parkour move where you swing from one bar to another using your upper body strength. The technique is done by swinging in full force and let the momentum carry your entire body upward.
Once in the air, use your chest to even push your body and reach for the adjacent bar.
This parkour move involves a lot of forward-thrusting and perfect momentum to reach your next grab.
Devil Drop
The Devil Drop is probably one of the coolest parkour jumps that you can do however, it also takes a lot of guts and should only be done by professionals or those who have spent a lot of time to perfect the stunt.
Ideally, you hang from a ledge and use your legs to push away farther, and flip mid-air until you land on the balls of your feet.
When doing this stunt, you should be careful about the distance of your head from the ledge to avoid any serious injuries.
Ginger Flip
A Ginger Flip is a form of backflip where you jump and flip from an obstacle while your hand is leaned against the wall. Learning the palm flip is a prerequisite to this technique to prevent any untoward injuries.
Palm flips are much like the wall flip but instead of using your feet, you use your palm to push yourself from the wall to flip.
Since this jump is highly advanced for beginners to try, learning this technique should be done in a safe environment and supervised by a professional.
Lunar Eclipse
The Lunar Eclipse is a pro parkour move that uses the normal Stride technique and incorporates the use of a 360 rotation over a certain platform and the same technique on another platform but only using one leg.
As one of the more complex parkour jumps, the Lunar Eclipse uses a plethora of different techniques including spinning and ghost walking.
Underbar
Underbar is another parkour stunt that involves precision and proper technique. In this stunt, you will need to go through either rails or other obstacles.
This means you need to properly gauge the size of your body as well as the size of the obstacle that you can pass through to avoid injury.
All you need to do is to go through the obstacle by jumping in with your feet first and let the rest of your body follow with the help of your upper body.
Shin Slide
Shin Slide is an advanced parkour technique where you use your shin to slide through a bar or on a surface. You will need to protect yourself and it may be painful to do at times.
The method involving Shin Slide is to avoid as much impact onto your shin as possible by controlling your weight and letting yourself slide through the surface.
Conclusion
Parkour takes a lot of practice and determination.
These dangerous parkour stunts will need to be supervised by a professional or should only be taught in a safe environment.