_Blading Wellness Part 2: Rob G

This is the second part of a series we’re doing to promote blading wellness, and encourage rollerbladers to take care of their bodies. After the first interview with Murda at the Montreal Classic, Corey Grantham convinced Robert Guerrero to sit down with us and share his insights on blading wellness. Rob was a very talkative interviewee, and had a lot of personal experiences to talk about. He strongly believes in stretching and eating well, so we had lots to talk about right off the bat.

One topic that Rob continued to visit was taking care of your joints. He didn’t mention this in his interview, but I thought I would mention the use of glucosamine. I have recently started taking it on a regular basis, to see if it has any effect on the wellness of my joints. The idea here is that if you take a supplement to improve lubrication in your joints, that it will have a positive effect on your body, and therefore improve your skating. But does it work? Thats hard to say. Some people say it does, and some avoid it. It’s hard to measure this sort of thing. One thing you can ask yourself is can you afford to pay about 40 bucks a month to take a pill that might help your body feel better? Is it worth it? Thats up to you.

Rob talks about a number of different things you can do to keep your body in shape – from martial arts training, to eating well, and balancing your mind with your body. But enough out of me, watch the interview and I’m sure you’ll come to your own conclusions.

- Dave

Blading Wellness Part 2: Rob G Interview from RollToronto.ca on Vimeo.

_TNS @ the new Ashbridges Bay Skatepark

TNS @ Ashbridges Bay from RollToronto.ca on Vimeo.

_Blading Wellness Part One : Mike ‘Murda’ Johnson

In the past year or so, blading wellness has been getting more and more attention. It may be due to the fact that I’m more personally aware of it (being in my mid 20’s) or maybe it’s because a lot of older bladers are in the limelight these days. Whatever the case, it is important to take care of your body.

As rollerbladers, we put a lot of stress on our joints, muscles, and our overall physical well being. Most of us start blading at a young age and don’t think about stretching, or eating well, or even taking care of injuries. The fact of the matter is, you don’t really notice your injuries that much when you’re young. You can recover faster, and you are more interested in learning the newest grind, or lacing the big handrail in a session, than preparing your body for the torment you put it through.

This Blading Wellness series is dedicated to bringing awareness to taking care of your body. We were lucky enough to have Corey Grantham take the initiative, and seek out some pro’s at the Montreal Classic this year. First up is Mike ‘Murda’ Johnson and his take on blading wellness. Corey and I got to sit down and have a chat with him, and see what an experienced pro has to say. Watch the video, and form your own conclusions. This will be a 5 part series; we also have perspectives from Rob G, Brandon Smith, Erik Bailey, and Jon Julio. Be sure to check back for more interviews.

- Dave

Blading Wellness Part One: Mike ‘Murda’ Johnson Interview from RollToronto.ca on Vimeo.

_MTL Classic Picture Post

Photography is still something of an elemental artform to me at the moment. I get brief flashes of accidental luck while dancing on the border of mediocrity.

Rob G is awesome and kept suggesting shots for me all evening, entertaining the crowd with grinds where he stares people out from start to finish and generally rolling around as if he were the happiest man alive. There has to be something to the fruit and yoga strategy, then!

I don’t exactly know when I became such a perfectionist, but I find that I have absolutely no time for things that I’m not already good at. People quote the ’10,000 hours practise to be truely great at anything’ statistic, but the reality is that those of us who are used to putting on skates and being able to control exactly where our bodies are going find it frustrating to be completely out of control in a new activity.

Dave busting out a perfect stale 360.

I’m feeling that way about taking photos. I suck at shooting photos indoors! Shortly after the pro prelims I had to put my camera away, as the sheer volume of wasted shots-that-could-have-been-amazing made me feel a little bit sick in my stomach. I felt guilty for wasting shots that should have been captured for posterity! Rest assured, I’ll practise over the winter and come back better for next year. Here are my favourite shots that I actually managed to salvage, the rest you can find as always on our flickr.

Taylor Vertical Stall to 450 out!

Dan fishbrain stall on the high bank.

Stephane Lui Kang corkscrew 540 over the amazing jumpbox.

Alex B was dropping this time after time, I have absolutely no idea how it works.

Welcome back, Hans!

With everything he was throwing on this box, the best I could get was a soul. Chris Haffey, 270 back torque to soul.

Many, many thanks to Dany Thibodeau for giving us a place to sleep and more importantly for calling his son Mavrik! Such an awesome kid : )

The rest of the photos are here.

Tomorrow we start our series of pro guides to smarter skating… first up is Mike ‘Murda’ Johnson!