Basic excerise:Cartwheel

Cartwheels are one of the most basic and easiest parkour excerises you can try. The key physics behind cartwheels is the momentum placed into the motion. The kinetic energy output increases as you begin to advance to more difficult versions of the cartwheels. Your mainly letting the momentum do the motion for you with the and your placing all of the energy straight into the ground. Judging where you will land is not difficult at all since it just takes figuring out your height and how much you strech your legs out, which can change the timing you land to your target from your starting position. Cartwheels help in getting a good feel of how kinetic energy can be distributed through your body and how it can do all the work for you. All it takes is looking at the spot where you plan to plant your arms in and going into a swinging motion. Your mainly going into an oscillation motion for the cartwheel. Keep looking towards the ground and let the momentum carry your leading foot towards the ground. You should not feel any strain from the movement, which also tells you that it was done correctly. Practice the cartwheel daily to get a basic understand of how to use momentum as a leverage in climbing walls and flips. When you begin to get use use to the swing, circular motion trying using only one hand. When you get used to one handed cartwheels than you can try the advance version which is a no handed cartwheel or in parkour terms an Aerial. Aerials demand much more momentum and accelration since your are only using your legs to perform the oscillation motion. Do not try this unless you are supervised and practicing on grass or mats.

Cartwheel variations:

Basic:


Intermediate:



Advanced: