core strength

All the physical activity I've done up to this point has, surprisingly, never had me work on my core strength. At least not to this extent. Now that I'm seeing some results from core strengthening I'm discovering a whole new dimension to movement. I think it is our core that allows us to shift out central point of balance. Free-runners and gymnasts use the core, in concert with the rest of their body, to orient themselves favourably in space.
Most movement requires a solid point of contact to control our orientation and directions. In running our feet push us off the ground and move us forwards. Same with a jump. The physics is basic, we are used to having a stable point of propulsion, movement is the result of force exerted on a greater (more stable) mass. Most common movement requires a stable point. There are, however, irregular circumstances. On a parallel bar, or in free-fall, our usual methods of propulsion are largely unavailable. With no stable point we have to use our bodies to to orient ourselves by generating internal inertia. I believe the core is the source of this inertia. Probably a taken-for-granted fact for people training longer than I, but this is a interesting (and fun) resent discovery for me.

Oh, and jogging is coming along ok. Still need to build more endurance.

Frustrating month falling behind me with injuries (the knee), personal life (leaving of a good mate, birthday) and distractions (comic conventions and work) keeping me from keeping up active training and research. I can feel the backslide as my endurance atrophies.

However, the knee is recovering nicely, and starting from now I'm back into my old schedule. Work and life weren't really the issue this past month. I find that training is a good break for work. However the knee was not something I could ignore. Curious injury, some days it was crippling, others it was practically 100%. There's little to no pain now, and I'm hoping that I can keep the problem away by following some good advice and knowing my limits a bit better.

Currently doing book-research for an MTV article. Working on PKpanels (http://parkour.au.com/) and tutorials (sporadically) and hanging out with the usual APA crew.

Knee Injury

Lots of little bits of pain have turned serious on me. A few days ago my knee reacted pretty badly to a set of precision jumps. Though my knee has been acting up, this time the pain was intense. Since then, random movements and tweaks are painful. Going to the doctor... hoping that I can keep up training.