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How to perform parkour vaults without hurting your hands?

im having a little trouble with vaults, im performing them fine, but im hurting my palms while doing them, i dont know if im slamming down to hard or what...i was hoping to maybe get some tips on technique to prevent this.

Public Comments

1. this really depends on what vaults you're doing. if it is a kong vault, i would suspect that you are smacking your hand too hard. if it is the kong vault, you should, instead of slamming you hands to get height to pass over, dive and then place your hands and push off and up. if its the side vault, i would guess you're putting too much weight onto your hands. if so, you should be letting your momentum get you over and use your hand to straighten yourself out. i cant imagine you hurting your hands on a lazy. if it's a dash, it's probably the same as the side vault and you should be letting your hands guide you over like the kong. if it's a different vault, email me and i'll see what i can do.
2. I don't think that catering an answer based on what specific vaults are hurting you would best solve the problem that a) your palms could be hurting on all or most vaults b) on any vault where your palms are hurting, it's most likely due to the same thing. I'm assuming that your palms hurting isn't that there are scratches or anything, but more of a bruising pain. It does seem then that you are putting to much strain on your palms when they are first making contact with whatever you are vaulting over, BUT there are two main reasons why this could occur, and some tertiary things too. a) The first is from your question itself: you could in fact be "slamming" down your hand onto a wall, perhaps trying to use it to boost yourself for more height or distance by slamming against the wall/rail etc. b) The second pertains to when you are putting your hand down. It is possible that putting down your hand too late would put more strain on your hand. There are three parts to any jump: the liftoff when you are heading up, the landing where you are heading down, and the part right in the middle where you are at your maximum height. If your hand isn't touching the wall until you've started to come down, or at least halfway through your natural jump, you are putting much more weight on it than it is supposed to handle. Even in a kong or a double kong vault, when you are pushing off with your hands, your hands are there to help further the distance that you made when jumping; you are not starting a whole new 'jump' with your hands - that would be way too much strain on them and your wrists. SUGGESTIONS: Both a and b can be solved with one slight adjustment to your technique: try putting your hands down earlier whenever possible. As soon as your hands can touch a wall or rail, they should be there to help facilitate your movement. In terms of a, this means you'll be able to push with your arms to help with your height or distance rather than "slamming". It will also give you more control over your vaults. In terms of b, this corrects the problem of your bodyweight putting more pressure than needed on your palms, and can help you boost yourself earlier on. Your hands are, in most vaults, a source for directional control and an aid for your body's upward or forward momentum. Of course you don't want them hurting. So try my advice at least, and try to plant your hands earlier - this is highly likely to solve your problem (though it will take awhile to change your style to accommodate). If you want, you can wrap your hands a little bit with tape to help at first with removing shock (but don't become reliant on it). All the best luck in your training. If you need more help, you can email me at parkourhelper@live.com.
3. I think you should specify what kind of pain you're saying... It could be just because you're slapping your palms on the surface, which would cause a burning sensation, or some bruising sensation with the heel of your hand. In this case, the solution would be to watch your technique so that it's more like you place your palms (that's kind of how it's supposed to go) rather than throwing them down. If you can't slow down to that point, then you're not quite yet ready for a movement of that scale. It could be because your hands have yet to toughen up, which would mean lots of scraping, or feeling the vault object with a bony part of your hand. This isn't really much of a problem. Persist and they will get better, although keep in mind that you're not supposed to really grip a rail too hard when vaulting it, only when necessary. That's about all I can think of. Take it slow, train safe, listen to what your body tells you above all else, and I hope you make good progress.