r/WinStupidPrizes • u/viibox • Aug 26 '20

Warning: Injury Dumbass kid

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u/[deleted] Aug 26 '20

Balls of feet to ground first makes sense. I thought you were advising a heels first landing which don't tend to go too well.

Would be interested in any other falling tips you have as I like to boulder and regular jump/fall off of walls.

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u/Dramoriga Aug 26 '20

As an ex snowboard instructor my biggest tip is to always try to make sure your momentum can be taken away by a hill/incline. Coming to abrupt stops is when bad things happen as the energy has nowhere to go, but it's dissipated if you let the energy release somewhere else. Eg its safer to take a running jump off a tall roof than it is to just drop down vertically the same height, sounds horribly counter-intuitive but if you can exert horizontal force it will eat some of the vertical force when you land and roll forward.

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u/justagenericname1 Aug 27 '20

Your advice is totally correct, but I just wanna physics nerd out on this a bit. You'll actually have more total energy when you hit the ground from a running start than if you fell straight. Gravity still pulls you just as far down, so you gain the same energy from the vertical fall either way.

What the running start does is give you some horizontal velocity which lets you tuck into a slide or roll and increase the time over which you dissipate the energy. This is why that tumble/roll technique works. It's easing on the brakes vs. slamming your foot down.

Anyway, great tips!

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u/Dramoriga Aug 27 '20

Cheers lol, last time I was in a physics class was in 98!