Jumping stilts, bounce stilts or spring stilts are special stilts that allow the user to run, jump and perform various acrobatics. Spring stilts using fiberglass leaf springs were patented in the United States in 2004 under the trademark "PowerSkip", marketed for recreational and extreme sports use. [1] Spring stilts are often mostly made of aluminium. Using these stilts is also called "bocking" or "powerbocking", a corrupted version of the name of the stilts' inventor, Alexander Böck.
The act of "bocking" or "powerbocking" includes jumping, running, and performing acrobatics with elastic-like spring-loaded stilts. [2] They can be used to jump great distances and allow the user to bounce over people and cars and to perform backflips. [3] For some, it is an extreme sport; for others, it is a form of exercise, artistic expression and a form of entertainment.
The stilts are often referred to generically as bocks or powerbocks; as power stilts, jumping stilts, bounce stilts or spring stilts; or by their brand name.
Each boot consists of a foot-plate with snowboard type locking straps, rubber foot pad which is also commonly called a hoof, and a fibreglass leaf spring. Using only their weight, and few movements, the user is generally able to jump 3–5 ft (1–1.5 metres) off the ground and run up to 20 mph (32 km/h). They also give the ability to take up to 9-foot (2.7 metres) strides.
Jumping stilts were used in the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing.[ citation needed ]
They were originally patented by Alexander Böck, from Germany (European Patent EP 1 196 220 B1 on 2 July 2003, US Patent No. 6,719,671 B1 on 13 April 2004, both with a priority date of 20 July 1999), as "Powerskip". Many people also use common brand names to refer to them generically. [4] Common brand names are 7 League Boots, Air-Trekkers, Powerizers, Pro-Jump, and Powerskips. [5]
On 4 December 2010 Samuel Koch was heavily injured during the show Wetten, dass..? during a stunt where he attempted to jump over multiple moving cars in succession. He failed to clear one of the moving vehicles and was left tetraplegic after suffering severe injuries to his neck and spine.
Two competitions exist in France: the Nancy Power Days (since 2009) in Nancy [6] and the Riser Winter Cup (since 2015) in Lille.[ citation needed ]
Though similar in appearance, jumping stilts are not to be confused with the use of prosthetic devices such as those used by paralympic runners Oscar Pistorius or Jonnie Peacock.
Moon shoes and PyonPyon jumpers [7] are earlier attempts at jumping shoes using a different technique. Some are still popular today. There is a Swiss product "Kangoo Jumps", with cantilever springs under the shoes, which is promoted more for fitness than large leaps. [8] Rocket boots were designed in the 1970s for the Russian Army, and use combustion pistons rather than springs for a similar effect.
Similar devices appear in the Portal video game series, allowing the protagonist, Chell, to survive falls from great height unharmed. Though, they do not affect her ability to walk or jump.
An English folklore figure spring-heeled Jack has been conjectured by some investigators to have been a prankster using spring-loaded leaping aids as early as 1837.
Spring stilts using steel coil springs, an antecedent of the pogo stick, were attempted in the 19th century. [9] [10]
BASE jumping is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute to descend safely to the ground. "BASE" is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antennas, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs). Participants exit from a fixed object such as a cliff, and after an optional freefall delay, deploy a parachute to slow their descent and land. A popular form of BASE jumping is wingsuit BASE jumping.
The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat for landing. Since ancient times, competitors have introduced increasingly effective techniques to arrive at the current form, and the current universally preferred method is the Fosbury Flop, in which athletes run towards the bar and leap head first with their back to the bar.
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a group are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". This event has a history in the ancient Olympic Games and has been a modern Olympic event for men since the first Olympics in 1896 and for women since 1948.
Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows are limited exclusively to jumpers. Sometimes jumper classes are offered in conjunction with other English-style events. Sometimes, show jumping is but one division of a very large, all-breed competition that includes a very wide variety of disciplines. Jumping classes may be governed by various national horse show sanctioning organizations, such as the United States Equestrian Federation or the British Showjumping Association. International competitions are governed by the rules of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports.
Jumping or leaping is a form of locomotion or movement in which an organism or non-living mechanical system propels itself through the air along a ballistic trajectory. Jumping can be distinguished from running, galloping and other gaits where the entire body is temporarily airborne, by the relatively long duration of the aerial phase and high angle of initial launch.
A pogo stick is a vehicle for jumping off the ground in a standing position—through the aid of a spring, or new high performance technologies—often used as a toy, exercise equipment or extreme sports instrument. It led to an extreme sport named extreme pogo or "Xpogo".
A skipping rope or jump rope is a tool used in the sport of skipping/jump rope where one or more participants jump over a rope swung so that it passes under their feet and over their heads. There are multiple subsets of skipping/jump rope, including single freestyle, single speed, pairs, three-person speed, and three-person freestyle.
Bocking or Böcking may refer to:
A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame often using many coiled springs. People bounce on trampolines for recreational and competitive purposes.
Stilts are poles, posts or pillars that allow a person or structure to stand at a height above the ground.
Plyometrics, also known as jump training or plyos, are exercises in which muscles exert maximum force in short intervals of time, with the goal of increasing power (speed-strength). This training focuses on learning to move from a muscle extension to a contraction in a rapid or "explosive" manner, such as in specialized repeated jumping. Plyometrics are primarily used by athletes, especially martial artists, sprinters and high jumpers, to improve performance, and are used in the fitness field to a much lesser degree.
Basketball moves are generally individual actions used by players in basketball to pass by defenders to gain access to the basket or to get a clean pass to a teammate to score.
Bill Booth is an American engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur in the skydiving equipment manufacturing industry. His invention of the 3-ring release safety device has enhanced skydiving safety. He founded the companies United Parachute Technologies and Complete Parachute Solutions, which had 150 employees as of 2015.
A skipping rhyme, is a rhyme chanted by children while skipping. Such rhymes have been recorded in all cultures where skipping is played. Examples of English-language rhymes have been found going back to at least the 17th century. Like most folklore, skipping rhymes tend to be found in many different variations. The article includes those chants used by English-speaking children.
A vertical jump or vertical leap is the act of jumping upwards into the air. It can be an exercise for building both endurance and strength, and is also a standard test for measuring athletic performance. It may also be referred to as a Sargent jump, named for Dudley Allen Sargent.
Ivan Sergeyevich Ukhov is a Russian high jumper. He won a gold medal at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships and is a two-time European Indoor champion. He was also the silver medallist at the 2010 European Athletics Championships and the winner of the high jump at the inaugural 2010 IAAF Diamond League. In the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he won the gold medal, but it was later stripped for a doping violation.
Acro dance is a style of dance that combines classical dance technique with precision acrobatic elements. It is defined by its athletic character, its unique choreography, which blends dance and acrobatics, and its use of acrobatics in a dance context. It is a popular dance style in amateur competitive dance as well as in professional dance theater and in contemporary circus productions such as those by Cirque du Soleil. This is in contrast to acrobatic, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, which are sports that employ dance elements in a gymnastics context under the auspices of a governing gymnastics organization and subject to a Code of Points. Acro dance is known by various other names including acrobatic dance and gymnastic dance, though it is most commonly referred to simply as acro by dancers and dance professionals.
Rebound exercise is a type of elastically leveraged low-impact exercise usually performed on a device known as a rebounder—sometimes called a "mini-trampoline" or "fitness trampoline"—which is directly descended from regular sports or athletic trampolines.
Joseph Darby was a renowned jumper from the Black Country village of Netherton, in Dudley, Worcestershire. He specialised in spring jumping often using weights in his hands to help propel him. After taking part in competitive jumping at venues in the Midlands and North of England in the 1880s, he went on to perform at theatres in London and Paris and crossed the Atlantic to exhibit in North America. He entertained crowds by performing trick jumps and earned money in wagers with competitors. Highlights in his career included defeating the American World Champion spring-jumper in 1887 and appearing before the future King Edward VII in Covent Garden, London. After finishing his jumping career, he became a publican in his hometown.
it appears that Kangoo Jumps provide an effective means of aerobic training and a reduced risk of injury when compared with conventional running shoes
