Tic tac in parkour: change direction or height with one push from a wall. With wall-contact criteria, a staged progression, common errors and safety.
In the tic tac you push off a wall with one foot while running to change direction or height and overcome an obstacle. You take off from the leg farther from the wall, place the near leg on the wall between hip and shoulder height and actively turn head and body toward the landing target [1].
The honest answer: the tic tac is a basic technique, not a show move. In a tested course with 20 young men it was one of the scored items next to vaults, roll, precision jump and landing. Beginners got 27 to 33 out of 45 points, advanced traceurs 41 to 44 [1]. The scoring criteria included pushing off with the leg farther from the wall, foot contact between hip and shoulder, and actively turning head and body toward the landing line [1].
The tic tac is also researched as a training form. In a study of 14 highly trained youth basketball players it was compared with the drop jump in jump training. After eight weeks with two sessions a week there were no statistically established differences between the two groups; the response differed greatly from person to person [2]. In other words: the tic tac could be used as a training form, but in this small study it brought no measurable advantage over the drop jump – and how someone responds depends on the person.
It is described there like this: after the run-up you leap diagonally at a wall board, push off with one leg, redirect the movement and aim to land as far from the board as possible [2].
How often does something happen? In a survey of 161 traceurs (207 reported injuries) the tic tac was involved in only 1.0 % of injuries (two cases), the precision jump in 18.8 % [3]. These are recalled answers, but they suggest: the wall contact is rarely the problem, the landing after it often is.
How long until your first clean tic tac? In practice often a few weeks with two sessions a week. Practical experience, not a study figure.
The prerequisites are checkable:
Stand beside a wall, bring one leg to the wall and press lightly against it with the ball of the foot. You feel the contact, but you do not slam.
Milestone: ten contacts per side without losing balance.
Walk diagonally to the wall, place the foot against it in one step and push off lightly. The contact is at knee height.
Milestone: eight out of ten contacts clean, foot flat.
Three steps of run-up at about 45° to the wall, wall contact at hip height, landing on both feet. The landing follows the precision landing.
Milestone: five passes with a soft landing.
Actively turn head and body toward the landing marker as you push [1]. If the head stays at the wall, you land untargeted and tip to the wrong side.
Milestone: seven out of ten landings on the target marker.
Push off and jump as far from the wall as possible, as described in the study [2]. Raise the contact from hip height toward shoulder height [1], but only once stage 4 is solid.
Milestone: five landings on a target marker you set beforehand.
In the tic tac the wall is your partner and the landing the risk point. The ankle is the most commonly injured single region in parkour (28.5 % in a Spanish survey) [3], and most injuries arise from landing or striking objects [4].
Make the wall your speed dial. The more distance you have after the contact, the longer the path to the landing. So practise the flight path first, not the hardness of the push. This is practical experience without a study figure – but a soft contact at the right height gives more direction than a hard kick.
The tic tac is a push off a wall with one foot to change direction or height while running. You take off from the leg farther from the wall, place the near leg on the wall between hip and shoulder and turn head and body toward the target [1].
In stages: wall contact standing, walking, in an easy run, then with head and body rotation and finally with distance. Begin at knee height and raise the contact height. Practise the landing like the precision landing. Two sessions a week are realistic.
In a survey of 161 traceurs it was involved in only 1.0 % of reported injuries [3]. These are recalled answers, not measurements. The risk lies mainly in slipping feet and the landing. Choose a dry, solid wall and soft ground.
It has been researched as a training form: in 14 youth basketball players an eight-week tic tac programme was feasible but brought no statistically established differences compared with the drop jump, with strong individual variation [2]. It is an option, not a miracle.
Running Precision: The Precision Jump From a Run-up