Topic: Scared to roll on concrete

[Fly High]

well when i started doing parkour, i would only roll on grass, in a hoodie, now i will roll on grass with out a hoodie, and I roll on dirt. but im scared to roll on concrete, and most of my parkour is done on concrete (sort of all of it lol) so I ask, how do you practice rolls on concrete....


Thanks
Marshall

[Muhammad]

Try what oldschool breakdancers used to do, throw down with some cardboard, boyeeeeee.

[Jon Hurst]

See if you can find some wood or tile flooring. I did my first roll in school where there's just that really low-pil carpet covering concrete. Still haven't rolled on concrete or asphalt though. 

[buysplendidpie]

My first try was with a hoodie, then winter came and everything got so cold so what wasnt ice was like concrete anyways, if you can try and find a really thin carpet (or cardboard, I like that idea better now) and put it down like in your driveway or garage and just do it like everytime you walk by it that way your rolls will slowly become perfect but you arent going to bruise your back on your first tries then once you feel really good about rolling on the the thin carpet (cardboard) just get rid of it.

[buysplendidpie]

For some reason I cant edit my post but I just came across this thread http://www.americanparkour.com/smf/index.php?topic=4743.0 which i think would be a good read for you.

[BobT]

On grass I'm comfortable running and diving into a roll, but not on concrete - yet.  It is good however to roll on hard surfaces from time to time - just go slow. Start by dropping into a roll from a standing position - kneel a little if it makes you more comfortable.

The reason you need to do this is to fine tune your roll.  The first time I tried a slow roll on concrete I quickly found out all the places that weren't tucked tight enough (my head comes to mind).  I got a little knock, but since I was going slow I didn't really hurt anything.

Tuck the head (repeat 100 times)... 

[BOREAS]

yea, it's always good to start slow. I learned to roll on cement first by learning on grass. I could good at doing it in the grass and took baby steps from there so I didn't get to confident with myself.  A technique I used to help me learn on cement was to go find some stairs and start on stair one. Jump off of it and roll. Repeat that until you're doing it perfectly and work up from there. 

[Jordan "Sirlig" Nelson]

Yeah I attempted my first concrete roll two days ago..... Not pretty.  I definitely wasn't tucking my head or my shoulder enough, and was still rolling to straight down the back.

It hurt.

But I've gone back to practicing on the grass, working on the things I learned from that roll on concrete and I think I'm getting better.  Maybe soon I'll be doing them well enough to attempt again.

But even though that one roll hurt a bit, I learned a lot from it (namely, what I was doing wrong with my rolls in general).

So in my opinion, my advice would be to, even though it can be intimidating, roll on concrete once.  Just do it.  But do it carefully, and nice and easy, not from any kind of height.

As long as you do it nice and easy, what you may learn from this roll will probably far outweight any sort of minor scratch or bruise you might receive, assuming you start slowly and just do a nice and easy roll from ground level.

[milffhater]

Many people say start slow, I disagree. Find something pretty high, be comfortable with it though, maybe 6-8 feet. I wouldn't hesitate to jump that on grass but on concrete yeah. In the words of nike just do it. At that height you'll have to roll. That's what I'm going to do right now. I'll tell you guys how it works.

[Skinny]

Many people say start slow, I disagree. Find something pretty high, be comfortable with it though, maybe 6-8 feet. I wouldn't hesitate to jump that on grass but on concrete yeah. In the words of nike just do it. At that height you'll have to roll. That's what I'm going to do right now. I'll tell you guys how it works.

Yeah, good luck with that...
DO start low. I think if there is an entire "generation" telling people to start their rolls low on the ground, and not jump stuff over your head for a while, that it is probably a good idea...But maybe that's just me.

Yesterday, I tried the cardboard hint Muhammad mentioned and it worked very well. It's hard enough where you can feel your mistakes for a bit, but they don't bruise or swell up. Also, I video taped my rolls and dissected them frame by frame to see what I was doing wrong. That helped out a lot. Hopefully I will be able to roll confidently in a month or 2 if I keep practicing!

[Matthew Menze]

I like going to a track and practicing on the vulcanized rubber...Not quite as bad as cement, but way worse than grass.

Plus it leaves black marks on your back, so you can see that the path of your roll is. (if you never were a shirt like I do...As my motto goes 'Whats a shirt?")

Matt

[Haack]

i second that, tracks are an excellent intermediate "hardness"

[jesterozzy]

For anyone who hasn't rolled on concrete yet, let me assure you, concrete hurts worse than grass, you will probably get quite a few bumps and bruises while you perfect rolling on differant terrain(gravel being pure murder) I got most of mine in while training in Akido, rolling is a major factor and you want to be sure you can do it at any moment.

It's really not that bad, if you can roll on grass from a fast run or from a medium landing without getting hurt, then just do the same thing on the concrete, it may hurt at first, but the pain makes you tough, and soon you wont even notice it. I am a skate board fool, I love manuals but I bail ALOT. Hell I kinda like the pain, it inspires you to do it right.

Just my thoughts. Don't EVER (I MEAN NEVER) hesitate or doubt your ability to do it, thats what keeps you from being fluid and relaxed.

[aggreenvln]

Just my thoughts. Don't EVER (I MEAN NEVER) hesitate or doubt your ability to do it, thats what keeps you from being fluid and relaxed.

^^ One of the truest statements I've read in a long time. Thanks for that .

[Jordan "Sirlig" Nelson]

Many people say start slow, I disagree. Find something pretty high, be comfortable with it though, maybe 6-8 feet. I wouldn't hesitate to jump that on grass but on concrete yeah. In the words of nike just do it. At that height you'll have to roll. That's what I'm going to do right now. I'll tell you guys how it works.

The reason people say to start low isn't because you can't jump/roll of a higher object, it is because of the physiological fact that your knees and other joints are not used to taking that kind of impact.

Sure, you can jump off something 8 feet the first day, no problem.  The problem comes LATER after you've done it many times and you realize you have knee problems because they have taken so many impacts from 8 feet, without ever building up to it by taking many impacts at lower heights.

There's a reason the Yamakasi don't even let students jump their first YEAR....they spend that time conditioning so that their joints are physically ready to do jumps for life...not just a few years before they don't work right anymore.

[fr33runner]

Many people say start slow, I disagree. Find something pretty high, be comfortable with it though, maybe 6-8 feet. I wouldn't hesitate to jump that on grass but on concrete yeah. In the words of nike just do it. At that height you'll have to roll. That's what I'm going to do right now. I'll tell you guys how it works.

Hmm...I would Love to see someone who has never rolled before try that!

[Muhammad]

He never did get back to us how that went. Hope he's OK. 

[fr33runner]

Try what oldschool breakdancers used to do, throw down with some cardboard, boyeeeeee.

Thats a great idea for a beginner to start on concrete. It will help you get the form down while still having the hardness of concrete. And if that is still too hard for some people, You can always add a layer of cardboard. I recommend trying this for anyone who is having trouble getting their rolls down.

[Muhammad]

That's how we used to do it back in the early 80's when we would be breakin at school on the playground. It's tried and true. Another great place to practice rolls is in your house, on carpet. Just move that coffee table and you're good to go. I can say from experience, that area rugs on hardwood floors work well.

[deltron3030]

all im going say is. if ur afraid of rolling on concrete.

you are a pussyy


no pain no gain. it hurts for lik 10 seconds max if u screw up now go try it