The Wall hop is a very useful technique which sees frequent use in
Parkour and is best suited to traversing obstacles which are too tall to pass over using a conventional jump or vault. It is not a difficult
movement to learn in the first place but it takes practice to be able to take several steps and gain a lot of height. Shoes with good grip are particularly advantageous here although that said, good trainers are still no substitute for poor technique.
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| Click the photo (above) to download a video of this technique.
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Approach the wall from as far back as necessary leaving enough room for a good run up.
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As you reach the wall jump up and forwards. Remember that you are trying to run vertically up the wall, not kick off it.
Therefore it is important to angle your feet correctly so that your first kick off the wall
propels you upward. If you are having problems it can help to mentally
visualise the wall as a 180 degree surface and pretend it is no different to the ground you take off from. This will tend to stop you jumping too early or late. |
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This is quite a low wall so I only needed to take one step to reach the top. On higher walls you would take as many steps as necessary to reach the top (2-5 is most common) remembering each time to focus on getting height from each step rather than kicking backwards. As you reach the top of the wall, throw your arms up and reach for the edge. |
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Support the weight of your body with your arms, then use your strongest leg to kick off the wall and then use your arms to guide you over the top. This should be done in one swift movement (also known as a pop vault).
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As you clear the top of the wall, land on one foot and keep running, or for larger drops, land on two feet and roll. |
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Variations
A basic wall hop shares many similarities with a pop vault, only with more steps up the wall. It is possible to do a '360 wall hop', where by you complete a 360 degree rotation whilst running up the wall before reaching the top.
The Wall hop is also a very useful link move. For example if you had a roof overhang which was too high to reach by conventional means but had a wall perpendicular to it, then it would be quite
feasible to wall hop up the wall, then kick off the wall, rotating 90 degrees before
cat leaping onto the over hanging roof. Another variation would be a wall hop to precision.
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