Ingredients:
2 tsp’s each ground coriander, cumin and garam masala
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
150g onion, rough dice
150g carrot, rough chop 3 cm wide
150g celery, rough chop 3 cm wide
150g fennel, rough chop 3 cm wide
250g cooked brown lentils
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
6 cloves garlic
4 cm piece of ginger, finely grated
4 small green chilies, seeds removed, thin slice
8 fresh curry leaves
3 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp sugar
Method:
Combine cumin, coriander, garam masala, turmeric,
cayenne pepper and paprika in a bowl.
Heat oil in large pot and saute onions until translucent. Add other vegetables (not
lentils) and saute for 1 minute. Add cinnamon quill, mustard and fenugreek seeds and
as soon as they start to pop add garlic, ginger, chillies and curry leaves. Saute for 2
minutes. Add combined spices and 3 Tablespoons of water stirring continuously for 1
minute. Add tomato and cook stirring occasionally until soft (3-5 minutes). Add sugar
and lentils and 100 ml of water. Season to taste with sea salt, stir and bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Enjoy!
Make it happen.
Viva members share their success!!
Here is an article I received from nutritionist Matt O’neill on why you need to focus on the quality/ intensity of exercise and not the volume. I could have wrote this myself but why re-invent the wheel? This is so simple, yet so effective, so get reading and then get cracking!
It’s time to rethink or refresh how you approach exercise effort.
With more research showing we need to walk for around an hour a day to prevent weight gain, there is now a case for putting more effort into your workouts.
It’s time to get more results for the same time investment and feel good about putting in a little extra effort.
Here’s how it works, using the Effort Gauge shown in the image.
Start with Level 1 Activity > Health Movement
2-3 on Your Effort Gauge (above) = Very light > Light
Reduce sitting time and sedentary behaviour by doing more light activity like comfortable walking. This will enhance your cardiovascular health and boost your wellbeing. Get up from your computer now and write the word ‘ZOOM’ with your backside. That’s Level 1 and we all need to move more in our day. The key here is avoiding being sedentary.
Add Level 2 Activity > Calorie Exercise
4-5 on Your Effort Gauge = Moderate > Comfortably Challenging
Put in a little more effort at a Moderate to Comfortably Challenging level (for example, a brisk walk or jog that you can feel, but that you can keep doing for up to an hour or more at the same pace) and you start burning calories at a rate that will help you get into shape. But if this is the most effort you put in, you may be missing out on the automatic metabolic bonuses that result from boosting your effort a little more. If you are sedentary, have a sedentary job or have been sedentary for some time, you will need to schedule Metabolic Workouts.
Level 3 > Metabolic Fitness
6-8 on Your Effort Gauge = Somewhat hard, Hard > Very Hard
OK, so it may feel Hard and you may not be able to keep up the pace for long, but spending just a few minutes exercising at this higher effort level pays off. Personal Trainers are great to help you here as they can push you, knowing the amazing benefits.
With metabolic fitness workouts not only do you burn energy at a faster rate, you also trigger a range of metabolic benefits not available at lower Effort Scores.
Bonus 1 = Increased fitness so you will find it easier to exercise at any intensity. This means you can burn more calories for the same 20 minute workout when you are pressed for time.
Bonus 2 = Muscle growth and toning in response to increased stimulation of working muscles. Each kilogram of muscle you keep on your body burns 10 calories automatically every day. Just 3kg of muscle makes a 1.5kg body fat difference in a year.
Bonus 3 = Elevated mitochondrial activity in your cells. Mitochondria are the microscopic metabolic furnaces that to keep burning energy, even after you’ve stopped moving. Sedentary life causes mitochondrial decay – metabolic fitness workouts are the antidote for this
So, the next time you exercise consider putting in a little more effort. The results are worth it and may be what is needed to trigger results or break through a plateau.
We all need more metabolic fitness workouts. When’s your next one? Surprise yourself at what you can do
Make it happen…
If I was to ask you, “how would you rate your efforts out of ten, towards your current fitness goal”, what would you say?
The last thing you want is to go backwards over winter isn’t it? So ask yourself this question now.
Now ask yourself “what is the number you are going to achieve this week and how?” i.e I was 7 and this week and i aim for 8 by having a productive boxing camp with our‘Warrior Team’. (known as the knockout program)
We have 4 guys competing in September and October and I personally am taking these guys down to our getaway on the Yorke peninsula for a weekend of fun filled ‘pain’ to get the body and mind ready for their event. It’s a huge effort to go to this level and compete in a ‘mma’ event or a ‘masters boxing tournament’, so getting your head right for the program is an absolute must. Not only will we train in fitness, skills and strength (using a parquor style program through my personal obstacle course i have set up which asks you t utilise movements like our ancestors and behave like an animal) but we also will perform some mindset exercises to find out what prevents us from moving forward and crushing the barriers we put around us and further success. Are you aware that you have such fears and until you face up to them (like Christian Bale did in Batman, where he faced up to the darkness of his past in the chinese temple) you too could be simply settling for less in fitness and in life? So i ask you one very deep and meaningful question. Some of you will not answer, some of you will laugh and some of you aren’t even reading this. But those who do… Those who seriously stop and think about this and become aware of past mistakes and take ownership and learn from them, I promise you, that you will start to move forward towards another behaviour and will open up a new world of possibilities. The question is are you humble enough to answer this honestly…..
Why are you where you are in life? What has stopped you from further successes?
We do an extended exercise on this and let me tell you it touches you to the core so please answer truthfully.
“In order to get what we have never had, we must do what we have never done!”
Join me next week at Viva for more on the world of positive psychology, success and fitness.
Make ‘life’ happen
Dion
Member Appreciation Day July 20th It’s on again at Viva this month!
9am – Learn How to Run Program
Get ready for the city to bay and join the team in day one of the training program! Starting at 9am you will learn;
Pre-requisites are for injury free running
Effective warm ups
Running stride technique
A program to suit you from beginner to advanced based on meeting the criteria
How having a goal such as this is a great motivator and ‘summer body preparation technique’
Dion Mychalyn is not only Viva Fitness partner and Head Trainer but is also the PUSH_ Training System Founder and the trainer of trainers! Join him for an hour and a half of knowledge in running FREE!
9am – Group Fitness: ‘Bring a Friend FREE’
Group Fitness 6 in 1 Mega Classes starts at 8.05 am RPM 9BP, BS,BA ,BC, BB
1045am – Fun with Food Seminar
Come and grab some cheap eats! Plus… How can you get the results to show and enjoy meal times?
12pm- Strength Training Workshop: ‘The Ultimate Butt Shaping Exercises’
Join us in the gym to learn why the glutes are so important to train correctly for more than just aesthetics but performance and running!
8-12 – Kids Club
Gecko kids classes at from 9-30 to 11-30, face painting all day and sausage sizzle for the kids.
9-1 – Local Business Stalls – Supplements – Massage Trials
Look out for our ‘one day only supplement sale and massage sale for those tired muscles and cramps’ and try some on the day!
The day is specifically for you our members and everyone who brings a mate down on the day gets two entries into the $100 Myers referral draw!
Watch Video
How often do you think about performing a task and then put if off for the moment?
Do you then find your mind back at that task soon after? An example would be when you are at your desk and you are hungry. You think I will get something to eat in a minute and go back to work, only to find yourself thinking about food shortly after. Perhaps you were on email and as soon as you finish that email you are back to thinking about lunch. This procrastination causes your focus to shift and that can be counter productive to the outcome you desire. Such a simple example can also be related to exercise. Have you ever said to yourself, “i will see how I feel later”, for exercise? You then find yourself checking in at certain times throughout the day and asking yourself ‘ am i ready’? Again this is hard work and can leave you feeling tired and unproductive. My advice is to plan your day and stick to it and below are a list of points that may help kick this habit by simply becoming aware.
Tracking your tortuous moves allows you to evaluate and change the actions. Start a journal of your procrastination habits or dictate them into a tape recorder. Replay the tape later, when you are out of the moment of discomfort.
Choose one or two examples of procrastination each day.
Describe the activity you put off.
Monitor your emotions to identify and record what you were feeling when you first acted to delay. (Was the activity unpleasant, confusing, uncomfortable, threatening?)
Record what you were thinking when you first began to delay. (Peter K. excused himself from his therapy assignment by telling himself “very busy day in office today. Too many things to do.”)
Record what you told yourself to keep procrastinating.
What was the outcome?
Then ask yourself: What is the discomfort that is so difficult to bear? That key question helps procrastinators see that the discomforts they are dodging—uncertainty, fear of performing badly—are, “mental fabrications, pure fictions.”
I hope this helps and have found this exercise very beneficial in my own trials!
Watch Video
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon canola or olive oil
1 onion, large, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
500 g blade bone or oyster blade steak, trimmed and cut into cubes
2 teaspoons garam masala
3 fresh coriander roots, scraped and chopped
1 small red chilli, seeds removed and chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 medium eggplant, trimmed and cut into cubes
2 cups beef stock
3 tablespoons reduced fat yoghurt
2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves
Method:
1. Heat oil in a saucepan and cook the onion and garlic over a
medium heat until soft but not brown.
2. Add the meat and brown on all sides, then add the garam masala,
coriander roots, chilli, tomato paste, eggplant and beef stock.
3. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until meat is tender. (Remember to use a low heat to
prevent the meat from becoming tough.)
4. Stir in the yoghurt and coriander and serve.
Notes: This dish is best eaten the day after it is made. Serve with rice and chapattis or roti (available
from larger supermarkets and Indian grocery stores) and for a special fruity touch, accompany with fresh
or canned lychees.
Make it happen.
Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup macaroni
2 carrots, chopped
300 g pumpkin, peeled and chopped
1 large zucchini, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
1 400g can chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 X 300g can butter beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Method:
1. Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onion over medium
heat for 3 minutes or until soft.
2. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
3. Add the carrot, celery, pumpkin and zucchini and stir into the onion mixture.
4. Add the stock, tomatoes and oregano, and bring to the boil.
5. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 10 minutes.
6. Add the pasta and cook a further 10 minutes or until the
pasta and vegetables are tender.
7. Stir in the butter beans and heat through.
Just before serving, stir in the parsley.
Notes: This recipe can be adapted with 200g trim lamb fillets (cut into thin strips and quickly stir-fried over medium-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes) added to the soup
at the end of cooking. Delicious with damper or crusty rolls.
Nutritional Analysis per serve:
energy 639kj (153cals), protein 9.4g, carbohydrate 16.8g, fibre 5.2g, fat 4.0g
cholesterol 1.7mg, sodium 981mg
Rather than reinventing the wheel I was reading a short and succinct article about boxing by a well known sports scientist David Joyce who is highly regarded for his work in international Rugby and with Olympians.
Joycey Says “One of the key things with boxing training is to ensure that the ‘core’ is strong and stable. The reason we need this is not so much to avoid back pain (although this is clearly a critical consideration), but more to transfer the force between the limbs quickly, efficiently and without leaking energy.
You see, a punch begins at the ground. The boxers who are able to deliver a knock-out punch do so by planting very firmly through their feet, driving hard into the ring. In turn, the ring pushes back up, allowing for an explosion of force back up the legs, across the low back and pelvis and then, finally through the shoulders and into the fist.
If you’re not sure if this makes sense or not, conduct a little experiment. See if you can punch harder when seated and legs dangling, or standing. This is much the same as in throwing or serving in tennis. This is why it makes perfect sense to look at the entire kinetic chain when training athletes or rehabilitating injuries.
Another key thing to consider is the development of the energy system needed to support the mechanical demands of the sport. A strong aerobic engine is necessary to be able to support the very high metabolic demands of the sport. On top of this, a well-developed anaerobic system is crucial to be able to fuel the rapid increases in tempo that we see during a flurry of fists.
To add to all these demands, top boxers need agility, precision, technique and technical awareness, mental resilience, incredible self-belief and a jaw made of cement. When we break down the demands of the sport in this way, you can see that it makes perfect sense for it to become a very useful adjunct in contact sports such as rugby.
Some may disagree on the grounds that it is not specific to their sport but this argument is flawed because the only thing that is specific to the sport…is the sport. Instead, we need to think of the concept of ‘sport relevancy’. When we do this, we look for the similarities between activities, as opposed to the differences.
If we do this, we will be able to see just how relevant boxing is to many other sports.”
And you know what I definitely agree!
To train your core look at exercises that save your spine by avoiding flexion and extension. I.e The Plank with a reach, Commando’s, Push up reaches are all great exercises but the meccha of all anti- extensions exercises is that old thing known as the ‘ab wheel’. Progress from performing roll-outs on the swiss ball and gradually get lower and lower by reducing the size of the ball as well as then using a barbell before your hit the ab wheel. BUT use with precaution as you will be extremely sore in the abs if you go hard to soon!
