There are few skills in parkour that are more difficult then jumping missions across rails. Most beginners find even simple skills like walking across rail to be challenging at first but patience and persistence will get you far when working on balance and rails. There are many different methods to prepare for rail walking/running but here are some of the best drills and exercises that have given me and my students the best results.
Getting comfortable on rails is the first step in mastering any skills in the area. Start off just standing on the rail with two feet while trying to hold a “half squat” position. A good challenge is to see how many squats you can do before stepping off the rail. Once you can consistently get a solid 3-5 squats in a row the next step is walking back and forth at a hight you are comfortable with. For most people this is going to be the ground as there is little risk of injury from falling. As you are walking try to be confident but not arrogant with your steps. There is no room for error when walking on such a narrow space so keep you concentration on getting your feet where you want them before moving on to take another step. Looking too far in the future can lead to missing whats going on in the present and if you fail in the present then there won’t always be a future.
To give yourself the best chance with sticking to rails we want to over prepare our muscle memory for balance while being in a low risk environment that we can train with. There are different ways to do this and not everyone will prefer the same way of learning heightened levels of balance. One of my most successful methods in teaching students involves no special equipment and can be done pretty much anywhere there is a smooth flat surface. Start by taking a 2-6 foot sturdy rail or pole that is at least 2 inches in diameter. I use metal bars so there is no way of breaking it, however if you don’t have a metal bar or just don’t want to mess up your floors you could use something like a pvc pipe or even a foam roller. Start working on squats and lunges, just as mentioned above, while trying to keep you balance on the moving pole beneath you. A good precaution to take, before attempting any skills on a moving rail, is to get comfortable squatting down to a roll without using your hands. When balancing on the moving pole it is guarantee that you will fall off at some point or another so be prepared. When it happens don’t freak out, just slowly squat and roll or sit down.
