Showing posts with label fitness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fitness. Show all posts

21.1.08

Land (cont'd)

How to build a house on a slope? Shall we hide it in the trees or put it on top of the cliff? How strong are the winds here? Is it possible to remove a tall pine tree from one place to another?

These and many other questions we were pondering on for weeks and last Saturday we went to the land with our friend who has a house in mountains. He gave us a lot of ideas and useful hints.

I think the first couple of months we'll be going there every weekend with different people and just collect ideas and suggestions how to make our new place beautiful and comfortable to live on.

I figured out one obvious benefit yet - fitness! Climbing up is gonna be our main exercise for now :)

23.4.07

Весна, крестьянин торжествуя... (продолжение)




Кто же не любит смотреть на красивые цветы? А особенно если они выращены лично тобою...
Вот. А где "любишь", там, как правило, следует что-то про "саночки возить".
Этим я и занималась в очередную субботу.
Хоть сад-огород у нас небольшой, все равно требует постоянного ухода. И если в прошлом месяце меня занимали сорняки, то теперь подошло время обновить почву. Солнце, ветер, жара и ...коты самортизировали донельзя наш бедный садик. И вот я оказалась лицом к лицу с кучей red soil (якобы самая лучшая на Кипре "красная почва"), которую водитель грузовика остроумно насыпал за оградой нашего двора.

В моем распоряжении имелись все те же лопата и тяпка, ведерко, грабли, две руки-две ноги и горячее желание поскорее покончить с этим делом.

В результате за 4 часа я перелопатила (буквально) 2 тонны (прописью: две ТОННЫ) "краснозема" из-за забора в сад, предварительно выкопав и выкинув также через забор примерно столько же старой земли, камней и строительного мусора. Итого - тонна в час. Работенка, скажу я вам, не для слабых... Вот где пригодилась power yoga! Иначе от спины и рук ничего бы не осталось.

Кто-то может робко поинтересоваться: а что же остальные обитатели Kurbatsky Estate? Во-первых, народ это все больше интеллектуальный и страшно занятой. Во-вторых (и это главное!) им бесконечно в лом возиться в огороде. Изначально вообще было предложение забетонировать весь двор и по углам расставить кадки с пальмами. Но моя (как оказалось) крестьянская душа воспротивилась, и теперь я обеспечена активным времяпровождением на ближайшие и отдаленные выходные :)

Зато и все бенефиты от такой деятельности - мне:

- удовольствие от созерцания ухоженного сада (на следующей неделе насажу новых кустов-деревьев, тогда и фотки выложу);
- равномерный загар;
- и, конечно, фитнесс! (кто скажет, что у меня некрасивые руки-ноги-спина и далее со всеми остановками, в того я первая брошу камень (за забором их теперь много валяется :) )

5.2.07

Skiing




Last weekend I've tried skiing first time in my life. That was so o o o o exciting - even more than driving all the way up to the mountains on the icy slippery road (I liked it very much anyway).
The picture shows my type of the slope for the time being. But for a tough and fit girl it won't take long to show off in full capacity :)

P.S.(It's unfair that Cyprus winter is so short).

2.2.07

Cyprus Starlight Challenge: Marathon 31.03.07

I'm keen to join this event and already started getting prepped.
Not being able to make the full marathon, of course, I'm going to challenge myself and make a half-distance.
The organisers hope that this will become an annual event and provide participants a regular challenge, fun, fitness and a sense of well being while helping others. Sounds good!

29.1.07

Happy diet!

Only in USA 45 million people diet every year , spending billions of dollars for weight-loss programs. Obviously, with no much success.
The number of publications on dieting in the UK grows each year by hundreds and thousands. And, again, the number of obese people is still huge (actually, half of all adults in the UK are overweight and one in five are obese). So, million ways of losing weight can be found in book-stores and Internet . 90% of these methods (diets) are unrealistic and ineffective, another 9% are realistic but very complex and difficult in realisation, and only 1% seems to help.
I would like to contribute to the increase of that 1% to 1.1% by introducing my personal diet, which is:
- very simple to follow
- does not require any special effort
- does not restrict you from eating anything you like (that's the key point!)
- based on the combination of the control over your intake of calories, and various types of activities in which these calories are burnt at the time of the food intake or immediately afterwards (that's my revolution indeed).

Actually, all you need to know is:
- how many calories does your favorite food contain and
- what is the energy-consumption rate of your favorite physical activity.
The rest is up to you and your imagination.

Below are just a few samples to start with:

Sample 1. An average apple contains 80 Kcal that is equivalent to 15 min of moderate-pace walking (or 1 hour sitting on a sofa - but that's boring!). So, chew a fruit while walking along the beach (you will clean your teeth at the same time...)

Sample 2. An average pork-chop contains 500 Kcal which is equivalent of 40 min running down a slope. So, after delicious lunch with friends in, say, Psilo Dendro run back home to Limassol, and you remain full (of joy and energy, of course), fit and happy.

Sample 3 - for chocoholics (my favorite). Most dietologists are in a strong opposition to any form of pleasure (that's why they look so miserable!). My diet is a revolutionary new approach (as I've said before) and allows you to eat chocolate and sweets with no limits provided that you burn them properly .
Take a piece of a soft chocolate cake and spread evenly and slowly over a man's body. Then, engaging different groups of muscules, clean the surface thoroughly and - that's important! - at a low speed (thus increasing a tension of muscules). Don't leave an inch unattended - all calories eaten should be burnt!
This exercise is a breathtaking cocktail of effective body training and delicious treat and usually takes from 600 to 1000 Kcal (1 1/2 to 2 pieces of cake) per hour, depending on the size of the object and intensity of the work-out.

P.S. I'm thinking about writing a book myself, just don't have time right now. Also, I have to practice all possible techniques first to give a proper guidance to my readers...

5.1.07

Lanayoga

After more than one and a half year break, I've returned today to youga classes.
That was a challenge.

And that was so embarassing to find out (once again, like a few years ago) that I'm a fat clumsy penguin. No! Superfat and superclumsy.

Some things I've remembered, but the plasticity, flexion and extentions - everything was lost...
I hate myself and that's VERY GOOD!
The true warrior always meets his enemy face to face.

Never blame anybody except yourself for your weaknesses and sins - that's my life credo. And up till now it proved right.

I'm happy to challenge myself once again.