Parkour Exercise – Monkey Vault

The monkey vault is one of the more demanding vaults. The hard part is trusting that your legs can be pulled in a straight line over the obstacle. The movement itself is less challenging.

Setup

For training, you need an obstacle at stomach height. There must be plenty of space behind it for the landing. A soft surface is best, because at first you easily lose your balance due to the high speed. Also use an obstacle with a surface at least one hand wide. As you become more confident, you can also do the movement on rails and over higher obstacles.

Execution of Monkey Vault
  • Start with a run-up at medium speed towards the obstacle. Take off with one leg, about one metre before the obstacle.
  • Place your hands in the middle of the obstacle. Then pull your body forward with your arms and bend your legs up under you.
  • Just before landing, spread your legs slightly so that one leg is in front of the other. This helps you keep your flow going.
  • If you want to land in precision, keep your legs bent and together. Do this until you approach the spot where you want to land.
Rehearsals

Start by squatting down. Stretch your hands forward, lean forward until you overbalance. Then remove the legs and pull the legs through the arms with the arms. It is important that you gain overbalance, as the weight will be on the arms for a split second.

Monkey Vault - Parkour with Team JIYO
The parkour exercise Monkey Vault - also called a 'Monkey' refers to the way the monkey moves. It is a technique where you use your arms a lot at the start, to gain momentum over an 'obstacle'.
Rehearsals (continued)

When you master this exercise and can pull your legs through so much that you land a bit ahead of your starting position, you can move on to the next level. Find a ledge with a long surface at hip height and do the same exercise, but instead land on the ledge with your legs. Start a small run, place your hands on the surface, explosively pull your legs up while pulling your arms forward, and land on the ledge with your legs together. When you can, you will find a ledge with approx. half a meter of surface and now try to reach forward with your legs so much that you can pull them all the way over the obstacle and land on the other side.

Problem statement
  • Be aware that you must pull your legs completely under you, so that your feet do not "get stuck" in the obstacle in question.
Variation options

Monkey-to-precision:

Performed by doing a monkey vault and then landing on balance on the other side of the obstacle.

See video about the Parkour exercise Lazy Vault below