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SPs Guide 2 Shaping Up For Summer
At the risk of sounding like a typical summer-slim-down rant that you’d find in a weekly women’s mag, we at SP really wanted to provide some insight into making the most of summer and the body you’ve been given. So here are our seven tips to becoming a sizzling summer sensation this season…
1) Do it for the love of it
If you can’t stand running or pumping iron at the gym, don’t do it. Find something you actually enjoy doing that A) will get you hooked and B) gets your heart rate cranking e.g. skateboarding, touch rugby, ultimate frisbee or mountain biking.
2) Dance! dance! dance!
One hour in the mosh pit at your average hardcore show is roughly equivalent to playing two games of rugby back-to-back. And the great thing about dancing is you can do it anywhere: your bedroom, school, and even church can become your newfound gym!
3) Learn your labels
A quick check of your food’s nutrition facts can hugely improve your diet. As a general rule make sure total fats are under 10g per 100 and sugars are under 15g.
4) Eat pies
The old petrol station golf-ball-of-fat-per-pack is now becoming a thing of the past. Lower fat options are readily available from many brands that take fat content to as low as 4% (that’s better than most breakfast cereals!)
5) Get fruity
As summer approaches, now is the perfect time to develop a soft spot for fruit. All manner of berries, apricots, nectarines and melons grow in the summer and make perfect alternatives to other more evil sweet things. Get cheap fruit at roadside stalls or even pick your own.
6) Creative summer romance
Your average relationship involves a massive over-supply of coffees, meals and movies. Use your initiative – and your cardiovascular – and try taking your date sea kayaking, tandem cycling or even hiking.
7) Have a break
Many bodybuilders have a strict diet all week, except for Saturdays, when they go crazy eating whatever they like. Although we wouldn’t recommend this extreme, leaving your desserts or other sweet treats to the weekend is a good way to cut back and reward yourself for
your weekday discipline.
Eating like an Olympic champion
Michael Phelps’ typical breakfast (from his autobiography, Beneath the Surface): “Start with three [white bread] sandwiches of fried eggs, cheese, lettuce, tomato, fried onions, and mayonnaise; add one omelette, a bowl of grits, and three slices of French toast with powdered sugar; then wash down with three chocolate chip pancakes.”
Usain Bolt after winning his second Olympic gold (and second world record): “You want the truth, right? Alright. I got up at 12, yah, 12. My masseuse brought me nuggets, of course. I’m serious, he brought me nuggets. I didn’t really want to go to the cafeteria so he brought me nuggets. And I came straight to the track, and my masseuse again brought me more nuggets. I just had two, though, because my coach was saying I shouldn’t eat so much nuggets before the race.”
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Thx good ideas!!
Posted at 11:26 am on December 19th, 2008.QUOTE: “Start with three [white bread] sandwiches of fried eggs, cheese, lettuce, tomato, fried onions, and mayonnaise; add one omelette, a bowl of grits, and three slices of French toast with powdered sugar; then wash down with three chocolate chip pancakes.”
um, i’ve only eaten that like, my whole life. i can’t believe that an olympic champion would eat so little? weird.
Posted at 7:44 pm on January 20th, 2009.