The Monkey Vault is a vault used in parkour which involves planting two hands side-by-side on an obstacle and bringing both legs in-between, shortly after pushing off with the hands. When the hands are placed on the object before the feet leave the ground, it is known as a monkey vault, however if the feet leave the ground before the hands reach the object, it is referred to as a kong vault.
The vault is designed to mimick the way a monkey walks, with their hands on the outside and then bringing their feet in-between their arms.
Guide[]
Prerequisite[]
It is advised to first learn the basic side vault before trying to learn the monkey vault to learn how to propel your body up and over an obstacle. Additionally, a fair amount of flexibility is required and beginners may struggle to bring their feet up high enough which can lead to clipping their feet.
Technique[]
- Run towards the obstacle
- Place hands down on the obstacle
- Push off the obstacle while jumping
- Bring legs into a tucked position to clear obstacle
- Use an appropriate landing
Usage[]
Tutorials[]
Parkour Variations[]
Monkey Up[]
- Main article: Monkey up
The Monkey Up is a standard monkey vault, but landing on top of the obstacle as opposed to vaulting over it.
Kong Vault[]
- Main article: Kong vault
The Kong Vault is an intermediate version of the monkey vault where the practitioner dives into a monkey vault. The difference is that with a monkey vault the hand touches the obstacle before the feet leave the ground, whereas with a kong the feet leave the ground before the hands touch the obstacle.
It is named as such because it is a larger monkey vault (i.e, King Kong).
Freerunning Variations[]
Monkey Gainer[]
- Main article: Monkey gainer
A monkey vault followed by directly going into a gainer.
Monkey Roll[]
- Main article: Monkey roll
A monkey vault directly into a roll with your feet touching the ground.
Monkey 360[]
- Main article: Monkey 360
A monkey vault followed by a 360 degree spin.