subject: Wide World of Acrobatics [print this page] Parkour is the art of efficiently moving from one place to another. By going faster or slower you can often change up the difficulty of a move. With spring floors the moves have a little 'spring' added to them. For many moves instead of getting a full run into it to generate speed, try doing it from a single step then standing. When people hear the word acrobat they make think of the high-flying acrobatics of the performers in Cirque du Soleil, but the truth is those are moves that a very small portion of even acrobats can do.
In fact, its hard to do anything in the circus without having some acrobatic ability.
In these moves you use your body arching, causing a spring action. There is a wide range of acrobatic available for many people to try.
But how to apply these all.
Added difficulty can be had by stringing multiple moves together. Check out the Parkour Tutorial DVD to learn more and see it in action. The cartwheel involves going from standing to a handstand position and back to standing quickly, while all facing the same direction. This involves forwards, backwards and sideways rolling. From these all you will move onto various handsprings. That covers some of the basic acrobatic moves. It's similar to Free Running which adds acrobatic flair to the moves. Once the cartwheel is easy you can speed it up, slow it down, or even do it on one hand.
This tuck rotates you around, to where you come back to standing. Back handsprings move you back. There is trampolining which involves doing these moves on a trampoline. Jump up and at the highest point you pull your legs in and over your head. That covers some of different acrobatic moves and different places you'll see them in.This involves leaping up walls, off buildings and much more. While many people think these skills are too elementary, they form the foundation for every skill later on. As you can get tons of height more advanced moves can easily be done.
Even more advanced moves begin to incorporate twists into these moves. Along with the basic rolls you can do cartwheels. Many arts incorporate different tools and equipment along with acrobatics. In the circus you have a wide variety of acrobatic actions. Front handsprings move you forwards. Many martial arts utilize some of the acrobatic moves in their training too. Then there are the flips. I don't recommend you start off trying it alone, but employ a trampoline and a spotter to get the motion down.
