Balance

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Hey guys,


I hope everyone is happy and healthy. 


Still having technical difficulties with regards to producing videos. The live action ones I put out from my cellphone lack the quality I want. The odyssey continues.


As for the picture. That is my pintail skateboard/balance trainer. Part of my healing has brought me back to activities I used to enjoy, i.e. bicycling and skateboarding. Also working the skateboard has been a good low intensity treatment and strengthening exercise for my injury.


Pintail skateboards are in the category of longboard/cruiser. The  bushings are soft to accommodate for carving/slalom movement and inertia generation. These soft bushings make for a tippy skateboard, perfect for balancing exercise.


I practiced pushing, transitioning, and balancing on both sides/regular and fakie. I was practicing on the padded dojo floor which lessened the rolling factor by a lot. So I also forced the wheels to turn to work lateral movement. I felt my muscles from my lower core to my toes, and everywhere in between.


I then followed up that conditioning with cardio in the form of capoeira shadow boxing. Capoeira is a style of martial art from Brazil that uses the legs primarily and is practiced in the form of a dance. This martial art comes out of the South American slave culture. The slaves’ hands were bound, accounting for the primary dependence upon the legs. Plus they were always under the watch of slave masters, therefore they needed to conceal their practice with something innocuous, dancing. Today it makes for a great lower body centric martial art.


Be well,


Sensei Mike 


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