eli5: How do parkourists not break their ankles?

Question

I just saw a video of some guys jumping off extremely tall buildings onto concrete, no rolling afterwards. How do their ankles not just snap?

In: 30

Answer 1

Practice. The guys you have seen who are doing this, have probably been doing it for 10+ years. Like a martial arts master who can punch through bricks, repeated mild trauma to body parts can strengthen them in the long run. There’s a lot of technique to it too.

I believe this is compounded by the fact that many parkour runners start when they’re pre-teens so their body literally grows with the repeated mild trauma. (I am not sure about this science though, if you have anything other than your own opinion here, please correct me)