HAPPY International Women´s Day 2016

How to burn one snickers

You must run 3.66 km to burn off a snickers bar. Nice, but at what speed, what body weight and level off fitness? Burning one snickers for an 80 kg competitive athlete is completely different than for an overweight sedentary worker...

Athlete´s body consists mostly of muscle mass, which works and needs energy. Therefore his body burns more energy even when he is resting. Physics of Newton and thermodynamics: more work done - more energy burnt. Moreover, he probably trains every day and his body is in the state of calorie deficit - therefore the snickers burns like when you pour oil on a hot grill. Sugar from snickers is used by the body to refill the deficit in order to be prepared for the next workout, which is a biological mechanism of adaptation.

ATHLETE

John Cena upper body workout routine https://t.co/WpxWeDvR4R #fitfam #bodybuilding #gym pic.twitter.com/mjcoSgmSEZ

— Bodybuilding (@Bodybui08025144) January 18, 2016

                      VS 

SEDENTARY MAN

Homer Simpson will appear live on upcoming 'Simpsons' episode: https://t.co/hFfymZVyll pic.twitter.com/FYJtuIjYtq

— Mashable (@mashable) February 18, 2016

On the other hand, let’s assume that the sedentary worker is fat and does not carry much muscle mass that would need energy. He has enough fuel, even more than he needs. Moreover, his metabolism is slowed down by unstable eating patterns. Therefore the snickers just add to the excess of energy and he would really have to start moving to burn it.

I had friends, professional sportsmen, who were thin as a rake - endurance runners and cross-country skiers, who could eat anything and yet were constantly hungry.

Try this to find out how it feels to have the metabolism of an athlete...

In the morning on an empty stomach warm up and do some interval work, ex: run 6 x 400 m at almost full speed with 90 second rests or do 6 – 8 500 m sprints on a rowing machine. After that, you will realize how fast a snickers can be burnt. You won´t even realize that you ate it...but try to eat it after three course dinner...

They key to effective fat burning is the ability to get your body into a state similar to the athlete – increase muscle mass by regular exercise and create calorie deficit so that the body will burn faster. What I recommend is combination of strength training and conditioning, which means barbells and bootcamp style moves. Going heavy on the barbells increases active muscle mass and conditioning creates the calorie deficit. Keep in mind that the workout must be intensive and even painful in order to deliver results. 

People who already know the gym should try a set of 10 barbell squats followed by 25 burpess or box jumps. Take 1 minute rest and repeat 6 - 8 times. Beginners should learn the moves first, but doing 10 burpees and running up the stairs afterwards works well for everyone. Aim for 6 - 8 sets with one minute breaks. 

I made a graphics on how many burpees it requires to burn off certain foods. I took the average speed of doing burpees (15 per minute) of a person who weights approximately 80 kg. One snickers contains approximately the same amount of energy as Horalka, popular Slovak wafer. Nevertheless, the chart is just for orientation. If anyone does not know how to do a burpee, it is the first exercise in this challenge. 

ISTANBUL – ACTUALLY ASIA

Imagine a 90 minute journey from the airport to the city centre. No one knows the wherebouts of your stop and you are lucky if they speak your language. Minarets are sticking out from behind the business buildings and the man standing next to you looks like a terrorist form Al Jazeera news. It is best to read a book and hope that your friend will be waiting at the final stop.

This is also a face of Istanbul on my first time in Asia in the city of two continents where 15 million businessmen or street vendors with fake hoodies, kebab sellers, young people from abroad gathering life experience and many other people live their stories. Streets are surprisingly clean thanks to the work of the rubbish collectors who pull the rickshaws with rubbish. Fish market offers fresh see food and no one is offended if you stop by just to take a picture of a salmon for your blog. Drunk people are spotted rarely but from time to time there is a fight in the street or a protest gathering. You can dine for the same price as in Bratislava. I have a photo of a covered woman in front of Hard Rock Cafe, but overall there is less Islam rule than I expected.

What is Islam

Istanbul, or originally Constantinople, was part of the Roman and Byzantine Empire. Ottoman Turks captured the city in 1453 and changed Hagia Sophia orthodox church into a mosque. Now it is a museum, where you can see the interior: cats walking around as if they were the sacred animals, and mosaics that depict Christian saints. They are from the Byzantine era. Islam is reminiscent only by the inscriptions below the ceiling, as it is forbidden to depict the Prophet and other figures.

The city is big but you can walk around the main sight in a day. From Hagia Sophia we crossed the Sultanahmet Square and arrived to the Blue Mosque, Before entering, you have to put off your shoes in order not to profane the place. The same applies to the Suleyman mosque, named after Suleyman the Great, who expanded the Ottoman Empire to the present day Hungary. He is even mentioned in some folk stories from that period that we used to learn at school. In Turkey, he is a respected person, like Ataturk.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was actually a dictator who established democracy in the 1920’s, after the world war. He turned Turkey into a secular state and since that time men can have only one wife and the women do not have to walk the streets in full cover. Actually, people dress quite normally and mosques that are in central Europe considered typical for orient are almost lost in the modern architecture, even if they count about 1,400 in Istanbul. You can spot the minarets everywhere.

An Imam was giving a lecture in the Suleyman mosque. The woman who works there told me that he is talking about the limited power of the mankind. Using the example of Titanic, he told that we can never claim that something is unsinkable or eternal and the people listened to him as if he was Dicaprio.

Blue Mosque

I took an English translation of Quran, freely available in the Mosque. It is the 'Final culmination of and fulfilment of the same basic truths that the God revealed through all His prophets to every nation.' (Quran 3:84) I knew that all three religions have common basic foundations and the Quran was in content identical with the early verses of the Bible, including serpent and the sin. It is also written in a manner that enables various interpretations and you can pick a particular verse and ponder over it for hours. It tries to encourage people to disseminate and analyse deeply what they read, which, as a former teacher, I like. People often act in emotion and it results in no good. Recently some radicals tried to beat up some Chinese at the Sultanahmet Square but instead they beat up a Korean girl.

Armoured vehicle in the city centre

Recently, die Zeit wrote that the attack at the Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul merged the two faces of Turkey – that of tourism and terrorism - into one. Turkish people are in nature hospitable and friendly. It is not only my personal experience from Istanbul and international events but also the words of my cousin, who lives there for two years and when in London, I lived for about three months in a hostel owned by Turks. However, they do not give away their willingness, usually frowning, and this might be the clash with the European culture of good first impression.

Police blocking the protest gathering over the government of #Erdogan in #Istanbul, #Turkey Locals are used to it. pic.twitter.com/x1SgBXDh7q

— Erik Redli (@ErikRedli) February 20, 2016

We were passing the Taksimim Square on Saturday evening, when several armoured vehicles and police commando arrived. Later we could see them blocking the access to the nearby street, fending of the gathering that voiced their dissatisfaction with the government. People are used to such gatherings and do not mind walking into the middle of the crowd to withdraw money from ATM.

People in Turkey divide the terrorists into two main groups: Kurdish, who fight for freedom in the south of the country and do not hesitate to attack even mosques, and the ISIS affiliates who strictly abide the religion of Islam. Government is trying to suppress the efforts of the Kurds, resulting in the unrest in the south, which helps the other group.

Turkish drink tea from glass glasses and if you add milk, your give away that you are a tourist (as if you ordered a cappuccino in Italy in the afternoon). I hoped that the original Turkish tea will be really unique but when I saw advertisement of a tea brand known in central Europe, I lost all hopes and decided to buy my take-home-box according to the colour and state-of-art design.

Kebab tastes similarly than in Slovakia and the prices are approximately the same as here. You can get a good meal for 15 – 20 Turkish liras, which is up to 20 EUR. Tea costs about 3 – 4 liras. You can enjoy it in a terraced cafe under the Suleyman mosque and during lunch even listen to the prayer echoed from the minarets down there in the city.

After that you can enter some of the Bazaars – big markets, where you can get clothes, porcelain and food for cheap. Some of the Turish sweets are too sugary and stick to your teeth but I recommend chocolate, Simik – sesame bakery product –a and ayran, which is similar to Slovak diary drinks made by the shepherds.  

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In Florence you do not have to look for Renaissance – it is on every single corner.

Even after over 500 years were are still discovering things that originate in Florence: gelato ice cream or Florentine steak –T-bone steak typical for Florence, leather products – they are everywhere and art. Slovak version here.

Florence is the capital of Tuscany, region known for its wine, food and with influential role in Italian history, a place where Machiavelli wrote his timeless political ideas, Dante laid down the basics of the modern languages and the Italian Renaissance was born with the antic athlete David.

1, Guide to modern politics

Niccolo Machiavelli is called the father of modern political science. In his works, the most popular being The Prince, he addressed all the issues that were going on in the world during his times. He preferred decision based on intellect to emotions and fear to love. Actually, it is a survival guide followed by many rulers from the period of the rule of terror after the French Revolution, Napoleon, Nazi Germany and even modern dictators and some president can be found in his quotes. Just a few:

• It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
• Politics have no relation to morals.
• The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.
• It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.
• Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.
• A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.

2, Re-birth of European culture.

Many historians associate Florence with the re-birth of the European culture. Renaissance – Rinascimento literally means „reborn“ and refers to the revival of the ancient Greek and Roman art. Europe was waking up from the Dark Age, when all cultural conventions were dictated by the Catholic Church, including how artist should depict people. Saints had to be fully covered in clothes and the size of the figures was based on the importance: a king or bishop was always bigger than a peasant even if he was standing closer to the observer.

Giotto started to experiment with form and replaced the rigid faces of their saints by smile and emotion. Masaccio painted the Holy Trinity, which introduced the linear perspective that takes into consideration the spatial relations. The picture in the church Santa Maria Novella (picture) was so alive that people wanted to „step into“ and bumped their head. Painting and architecture paved the way to more relaxed culture, where people could afford to expose their bodies and enjoy art forms such as opera. Before, everything had to be church related or prescribed by the king.

3, The ideal of beauty defined

When you look at the statue of David by Michelangelo, you see an ideal that has not changed till now. Artists sought the ideal proportions, going back to the ancient Greek arts – statues of sportsmen and gods – and studied human anatomy. Michelangelo and Leonardo would go to city hospitals, cut up the death corpses and move their bones and muscles to see how they work. It helped them understood human anatomy. The Venus by Sandro Botticelli, or Primavera, are close to the ideal of female body, because no one likes anorectic models. He added more emotional expression to the rationality of his predecessors, who focused on the purpose. David had to be on his feet all day, taking care of his sheep, therefore he could not have big biceps and thighs like modern body-builders. It would cost him lot of energy. If you look at professional soldiers or sportsmen, most of them have bodies like him. Classical ideas are still influential and you can never make a mistake by going back to classics.

4, Stories that we copy

Dante is considered to be the father of modern Italian language, as he was the first one who started to write in the Tuscan dialect, not Latin. He was a political activist and soldier and this influenced his work, as well as the platonic love of Beatrice. Maybe he just started the whole series of cliché characters, but the truth is that many the action of many heroes is fueled by emotion, including Romeo, the Great Gatsby, Darth Vader and even Batman had his Rachel.
In The Divine Comedy, Dante finds himself in a dark forest in the middle of his life, with the right way lost. His search for the right direction had impact on Petrarch, Boccaccio and other writers that influenced even the modern novel. Dante used to read Vergil and later almost all writers were well read in Dante, Petrarch, Shakespeare (why Romeo and Juliet take place in Italy, as well as the Merchant of Venice) or Geoffrey Chaucer, who spent some time in Florence and got some ideas for his Canterbury Tales.

5, Money used for art and start-ups

In the early 15th century, Florence was controlled by the House of Medici. They started the first bank in Europe, lending money to foreign „investor“, as we would call them today. Many of them used the money to buy a ship, hire a crew and try to find commodities in the „new world“. Medici also introduced taxes and built up significant wealth and power. –Italian city states could exist independently of the. Medici used the money to build churches and palaces, which provided jobs for the architects, and also supported education. Many of the works by Michelangelo, Leonardo and others were funded by this family. They were a kind of start-up angel, who invests in art.

5 January 2016 - watch the borders

http://domov.sme.sk/c/20070092/ficovi-odporuje-aj-kalinak-viacere-ich-vyjadrenia-k-utecencom-nesuhlasili-s-realitou.html...
Posted by Erik209blog on Tuesday, 5 January 2016

2015 in Newspapers

Liquid Europe

Ryanairoffer

What to find in Key2Europe 2014 - 2015

Places 2014

How guys train and what the girls see....

How to do Burpee to Muscle Up

How girls should work out or why to train your butt

Sometimes girls ask me what kind of exercise they should do to achieve some transformation of their body, most often to slim down legs and shape the butt. However, it is hard to give particular advice if I do not know a lot about the particular person. Recently I put together a few tips that work when you follow certain rules. Here is the original Slovak version.

• There is not magic exercise that would fix a problematic body part. You have to train the body as a whole and the results will come.
• Ab exercises such a crunches strengthen the abdominal muscles but do not burn much fat because they work only 4 muscles. When running, you activate 300 muscles, when swimming - over 500. Which burns more energy?
• To look healthy does not mean look like a model on the magazine cover.
• Muscles are heavier than fat. Though, they have nicer shape and burn energy even if the person is at rest.
• The few hours in the gym is just part of how we spend the rest of the week. 

If you follow the workout routines of professional fitness competitors you know that they focus on gluteus muscles - the parts around the hips. Although the goal of an average house-wife who wants to get in shape are completely different, the means and the target groups are the same. Women in the gym should focus on these muscles, thighs and hips. It is where usually fat stores down - with men it is the belly area. It human genetics. But glutes have are much more important than good looks.

Glutealis muscles are a big muscle group that engages in all movements in the hip joint. These moves are present practically everywhere - in sports, daily life, in bed - some glute exercises can be found in Kamasutra book. Therefore good glute workout is the key to overall strength and fitness and also can decrease the discomfort of some health issues typical of women. Moreover, strength exercises trigger the release of hormones that will put your body into fat-burning mode even if you do not exercise and the circulation of hormones can also boost up self-confidence. Do not worry, you wont grow huge muscles because the human biology (and lower testosterone compared to men) will not allow that. Just pick up the barbell!

Strength training is also useful for girls even if their aim is slim figure, not huge muscles.

Look at the sports where the legs get lot of stress and exhaustion. All skiers have strong legs, I have seen a  video, where the alpine skier Lindsey Vonn squats around 200 kg.

Traditional squat works thighs (quadriceps) and the glutes. The thighs of cyclists are strong but slim, due to the excessive aerobic training. Therefore fitness models train their legs in an aerobic manner, as if developing endurance. They do sets of 30 and more rep and combine exercises into super sets. For example stiff legged deadlift followed by leg curls - to achieve smooth transition between glutes and hamstrings. It shapes them and slims down.

How should a girl train in the gym?
Taking into consideration the general requirements, it should consist of complex exercises for strength development combined with toning exercises for the problematic parts. They can be put into super sets in order to boos fat burning. For example, a set of deadlifts followed by glute-ham bridge or heavy squats followed by jump squats or lunges.

I, Pull ups on the bar or cable pull down to the chest. Here is a demonstration.  It works the back and also prepares the body for the rest of the workout.

3 sets of 12 - 15 reps, breaks up to 60 s

II, squat variation with weights
In this video, IFBB Figure professional competitor Erin Stern demonstrates 10 squat variations, starting  from the basic ones to the most complex ones. Her legs are slim and trimmed despite the fact that she lifts weights. 

4 sets of 8 - 12 reps, breaks 60 to 120 seconds 4 

III, Number 3 can be lunges. This girl  is using barbell but it is enough to grab dumbbells or for the beginning no additional weight at all. Erin in the video also does lunges as the exercise no. 4 (around 2:00 min).

4 sets of 20+ reps, breaks short - up to 60 s

IV, Number 4 is lying leg curl, which works the rear part of the thigh - the hamstrings and glutes.  
You can also do dumpbell deadliftsm they work the same muscles but the movement goes more through the hip. Do them alone or combine into super-sers with  fit ball roll. Do one set of curls deadlifts and immediately carry on with fit ball for as many reps as possible. Rest 90 seconds and repeat.

VI, This exercise combines glutes with the core muscles. In plank raise the extended leg until you feel tension in the glutes. Hold for a second and change legs. Repeat until you drop. Here is a demonstration. 

3 sets with max reps. breaks 60 s

VII, Core also includes abdominal muscles. They were active at the exercise no 6, so just finish them with three sets of any ab exercise - as many reps as possible. Or, try the following program. 

3 sets of max reps

If you have some energy left for cardio, I recommend intervals. For example on a bike - 1 minute at full speed, one minute slow down. 15 minutes in this manner are enough.

Here is the leg workout of Ashley Kaltwasser, three times winner of Bikini Olympia.  
the la 

Around 1:15 minutes she does step ups on a bench - great exercise for shaping the glutes and if you do it for a large number of reps, it builds endurance. 

Who does not have access to a gym has to use imagination. Most of the above exercises can be done at home, it is enough to use small weights. Here is one workout for beginners.  

So much for now. Remember, that exercise is only one part of the success. The most important thing is to have some rules and follow them. Whether we lose weight or change a particular body part can be dependent on many factors - food and additives in the food that interfere with proper working of digestion, hormones - mainly insulin that is responsible for fat storage (also), stress and general well being. Try to keep all these things in check and you can will definitely see some positive results.

30 is the new 20

For the generation of young Europeans, the age of 30 might be the same as 20 was for the older generations. Respectively, the advances in thinking and longer life expectancy allow them to start at 30 what they parents had to manage in their 20s.

Research proved that the Generation Y is less family oriented and instead cares more about the 'self'': to get education, to find a good job, to be famous and get recognition. On one hand, it is a walk out on traditional values but on the other hand, it is enabled by the period: open borders, opportunities to study and technology. Sometimes the people are forced into this by their environment - house prices, problems with returning to work after maternity leave, life expenses...therefore it is logical that you aim to take care of yourself before you take over responsibility over someone else. And naturally, you want to enjoy life if you have the opportunity.

I mean that if you lead balanced life that brings some meaningful progress, you do not have to feel sorry that you still feel & live young at the age of 30. Of course, there are plenty of people who waste their years on stupid things and wake up on their parents' coach with no job or even reason to wake up in their thirties. The difference is in experience and priorities - not age.

In the past, at least in my country, it was expected that by 20 the person obtained everything they needed for life: completed the education (only few people entered university), work (everyone had to work and usually kept the place for life), social experience (they lived within an isolated community and marriages were sometimes arranged). The life was straightforward - one place to live, local economy, one partner for life. The average life expectancy was shorter so that people had to hurry.

Nowadays, the world is different. Due to opening, people are more open to new experience and some discovered that this experience helps them to live better than just following the trends of their parents. Actually, coming out of our comfort zone moves us forward. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees. Some people thing that it is enough to have what they parents had - but it does not have to be enough for their children. Population is ageing and the gap between active workforce and pensioners is closing. Maybe the people think that they will still have enough time after 30...

We live longer so that we can afford to more time on education, travelling, relationships, work experience. The only condition is that it moves us forward: we are smarter, more experienced and more skilled than a year ago. We can settle down in thirties and still enjoy 35 productive years - thanks the pension reforms - with experience that will make it really productive and happy.

original article in Slovak

The Spiderman Syndrome

-  

 Remember the story of Spiderman: young journalist Peter was bitten by a contagious spider and his body reacted in an amazing way – he developed super skills. It was a set of skills that many people dream of. However, with great power comes also big responsibility. The skills could easily turn against Peter if he did not control them. He understood that they should not be abused and must be used wisely.

Now, how Spiderman relates to my story. During the years of hard training – no pain/no gain – and overcoming in almost all situations, I developed a degree of resilience and pain tolerance. That’s why boxers and fighters train abdoominals so heavily – the neural receptors get used to fatigue and pain and do not give in during the fight. Usually, I am able to train and work under conditions when most of the folks would call it a day and go home. It is a good skill that enables me to accomplish many things. I am the last man standing at a party, helping the others getting taxis. Next morning I am the first to wake up, alcohol is broken down with efficient metabolism,  and I even have energy to do a little bit of exercise and some work on my computer.

However, with a great skill also comes great responsibility.

Lying here in hospital in Šahy, my home town for 18 years and I can't do anything because I have a needle in my forearm in order to get strong antibiotics straight into my blood stream. I contracted some infection while travelling home from Sarajevo and Belgrade - maybe a blister got infected due to absence of hygiene.

I travelled from Zagreb to Sarajevo all night without shower. On Tuesday, it seemed just like a bigger blister - so I decided to live with it. On Wednesday, it was much worse, the blister was swollen and it had all 50 shades of purple. I should have sought help in Belgrade but I decided to wait one day till I get home. I went to the emergency ward around 20:30 and the doctor got mad. He was talking about lethal danger and infections from underdeveloped countries - he told me off like a small child. I deserved it but I also presented my rational arguments why I did not seek care earlier.

With you health, you should never hesitate to make a coward decision. Never. I take a lot of risk in my life and this was too much. An innocent blister might have developed into an infection. Who would have thought that, especially a person with such a strong pain threshold? Pain tolerance developed through training and overcoming yourself is a great thing - a skill that helps you survive. But with a great skill comes also a great responsibility - responsibility to recognize the symptoms of your body and listen to them. It is like Spiderman: the bite from a contagious spider gave him superpowers but he must use them wisely - not to harm other people or abuse them for their own profit.

 One thing to remember- it is good to have some pain threshold but at the same time it is even more important to be able to listen to your body and avoid situations, when the pain threshold is tested.

I am not addicted to Facebook...

...because I am rather addicted to social contact with the people there.

             

Guitar and garment of Jimi Hendrix.

       I turn on the computer on Thursday morning and instead of feeling pleased by the Google’s O shaped as a birthday cake I feel worried. Worried about what everything Google and Facebook know about us and we don’t even know. On Thursday, I reached the age when Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse left for the eternity. Today, our identities are eternal from the moment we put them on the social networks. Plato said 2,500 years ago that our world is just an imperfect reflection of abstract ideas. Today, we get back to that ideal world with each log-in. The more, the higher the chance that we completely lose contact with reality.

           Older generations put the young people immersed in their displays into the unwanted category of addicts and outcasts. Few years ago, they gazed the same ways at the rock musicians and no one was surprised if they had to leave this world at young age. Now, they are legends. Not everything that is good had an ideal start into the world and in order to work, it needs to fish out some mistakes.

           In 2004, I watched the opening match of EURO football championship between the home Portugal and Greece. A young Portuguese run onto the pitch in the second half and almost immediately caused a penalty and his team lost. Today, he is the best player of the world, Cristiano Ronaldo. The same year, Facebook was born. Initially, it did not convince me, either. However, coach Scolari gave Ronaldo second chance in the second match and gradually he replaced the legendary Luis Figo. Some say that Facebook also replaced what had been here before.

         

             Ronaldo maybe isn't the ideal example of a sportsman,  many would agree, but I have to pay respect to the fact that he is good in the business of football. Neither social networks might be the ideal environment, but it is possible to find ways how to use them at our advantage. Remember that the photos entrusted to the virtual space remain there till eternity; therefore be moderate with pictures and political commentaries. Also set time limits because there is a thin line between meaningful activity and addiction. There is a difference between responding to a friend's message and refreshing the screen every minute, expecting answer desperately, like Marc Zuckerberg in the end of The Social Network.

          Not all the time spent on social networks is addiction and it definitely does not have to be time waste. Computers and mobiles can do everything now; we can arrange the meeting point and time. It is more practical than running around the houses of my friends and getting players for a game of football. We wasted lot of time with that and it is one of the reasons we did not achieve the success of Ronaldo.

           In 99% of cases I prefer face2face contact. Even today I could use my time on the internet effectively. But instead, I go to the gym because they are live people. And later I go to Brno for a series of workshops and we arrange on the departure time on Facebook. 

Messner’s eight-thousanders – it isn’t only about sport

R. Messner, My Eight-thousanders. 1989. 

In 1970, Rheinold Messner climbed the summit of Nanga Parbat, one of the eight-thousanders in Himalayas. No his way back, however, he lost his brother to an avalanche and seven toes doe to frostbites. Imagine that you parents entrust your younger brother to you and you lose him. Losing seven fingers means that the stability of your gait suffers and you can say goodbye to climbing on the walls. It took Messner half a year to get over the trauma. An ordinary man would quit. But Messner came back and climbed the remaining 13 eight-thousanders! Some of them even twice; without oxygen mask and in alpine style. Amazing performance. But good condition is a matter of course. It isn’t only about sport.

For many of us, sport is an inherent part of life, for some it is the entire life. However, sport is primarily a key to life. It does not develop only physical fitness but also other psychical characteristics that are important for coping with different situations. Guys in London often mentioned in their CVs competitive rugby or football, which developed fair play, cooperation and also furthered their will. Once I saw a bunch of guys practicing rugby in Cambridge. Mid February, it required lot of will and toughness to play there in the cold and rain. Sport develops these traits. When you get out of the comfort and go running even it is snowing, the very moment you are a winner. And it is not only about sport.

Cambridge, Feb 2013. Rugby develops toughness and team play.

Next, sport develops persistence and discipline, mainly the endurance events. I have friends – triathletes and I admire how they spend long hours in the water or cycling. It is not only about enjoyment, you must have above the average level of patience and self-discipline. And it can be improved by sport. Friend leaves the party before midnight without having a single drink in order not to slack the training session the next morning. Try go without drinks next Friday night and also leave out the fast food. At the very moment you are the winner, even if it isn’t only about sport.

Third, sport improves the team spirit and fair play. As I already mentioned, the guys who had played team sports made better team members at work. Collective sports teach you that your performance affects also the other people. Red card in fifth minute leaves the rest of the team in trouble. Not to speak about the extreme sports, where teams face extreme situations. A mountain climber never walks out on his companion. Next time when you finish your work earlier, look around your colleagues and if someone is covered in work, give him a hand with the excel tables or at least bring him a coffee. You are a winner, but again it isn’t about sport.

Free hang is useful in mountain climbing.
London, Jan 2013.

I go for sport for long on in order to keep fit and healthy, and it taught me a lot. But only after reading Messner’s book have I realised that regardless of what you achieved, you can still push the limits. I wake up 15 minutes earlier to do a little exercise and practice my Spanish by reading newspapers. But there are people whose alarm rings one hour prior to mine and they prepare the breakfast and snack for their kids. And they are in better shape and with better Spanish than me.

Hardly ever will I beat Himalayas, it would require load of practice and moreover, my body is sensitive to cold. In winter months my joints and extremities turn violet, which does not add to my chances. Anyway, I still go running outside at Christmas and I exercise outdoors with hands frozen to the bars. But I go. I think that it pulls me closer to Messner, even if I still would not make it to the basic camp under an eight-thousander. I am trying to push my limits and change the discomfort for a challenge. It is the more difficult that instead of focusing on my performance I must also care about the other people. It isn’t only about sport.

How to train effectively in 20 minutes

How to train when we are short of time? Do not expect wonders from small investment although some progress can be made even during 20 minutes. And even a small step forward counts.

'As you sow so shall you reap' 

...also works in exercising. Let‘s take a personal trainer. Usually, he charges about 10 EUR per session. In ten hours he cashes in one hundred, which isn’t bad (here in Slovakia). But there is also an older trainer at the gym who is more experienced, he works with fitness models and has good results. He can afford to charge 15 EUR. For him it is enough to work 6.6 hours to earn the 100. And he can go on to chat up girls. His works carries more added value but it is also more demanding. He must adjust the rest of his time to do it well, it includes proper nutrition, relax and from time to time he must read a book or visit a workshop.

The more time I put in - the more profit I can expect. However, if I learn to do the thing more effectively, I can get the same result in shorter amount of time.

Now I try to apply it into training. There are folks who complain that they have only 20 minutes three times a week to exercise. It gives them one hour total time.  When I compare this hour to the rest of the week; I end up facing ration 1:168! Is one hour strong enough to affect the remaining 168? It can be if I improve the quality of the time spent in the gym - like the personal trainer who makes 100 in almost half the time.

Intensification methods are the key

During a 20-minute training, I must pile up the volume and intensity to the degree that it will make my body recovering from the load even during the time I am out of the gym. It can be achieved by intensification methods. Try cutting the breaks between exercises, combining the exercises into super-sets, even three-sets, include intervals of cardio – rope skipping or burpees – in between the sets and so on. Circuit training and CrossFit use similar principles, to perform a series of exercises/moves in limited amount of time.

Twenty minutes in such intensity is enough to force the organism to start making changes. In a way, one hour can affect the remaining 167 in the week. However, we must spend some time on preparation in order to make the gym hour count. It includes nutrition planning, relax, studying magazines...

Naturally, the above mentioned principles aren’t suitable for newbies in the gym. Young trainer who just finished his degree can’t walk into the gym and charge fortune for a session. This applies to all walks of life. But if I don’t see the desired results even after a few years, there is time to make a change.

The following routine can be the change...

Back conditioning workout

     

Pull ups on the bar improve the grip strength and work your back all the way down. Who wants to get the max effort, try this.

Set 3 minutes on the timer.
Start doing pull ups for maximum reps.
When you cannot do any more, immediately move to the rowing machine and row 250 metres as fast as possible.
Rest till the end of the 3 minute interval and repeat 6 to 8 times.
This gives you a great workout and you also work your aerobic capacity. Not to speak about the accumulated energy deficiency that helps you to burn some fat while doing other things. If you do cannot do pull-ups (learn pull-ups!) do pushups. If you do not have rowing machine, run or do burpees.

I follow similar pattern. When I am not preparing for some competition, I exercise only about 4 hours a week and I am stronger and in better form than at the college when I used to do sport for about 12 – 13 hours a week.

Why is creativity like a tank full of chocolate?

Information for target-oriented job usually lies in one place but information for a creative job lies all around. However; it isn’t easy to unearth it the as fracking destroys the resource and environment.  Moreover, abundance turns scarce resource into obsolete. If you find one interesting thing to write about – it is good and you can use all your creativity and knowledge to deplete it. On the way, you are aided with the discovery of further resources; just you do not approach them as such. But if you start digging in a book just in order to find information, you get into information overdose and destroy lot of useful information in the process.

Un migrante sirio intentó colarse en un camión con chocolate. Casi se ahoga. Su historia: http://t.co/7tPKm9uGqT pic.twitter.com/gESymBfgUz
— BBC Mundo (@bbcmundo) April 2, 2015

It’s like when you get one cup of chocolate, you enjoy it. But if you were given a full tank, you would choke on. Today, I came across an interesting story of a Syrian refugee who hid himself in a lorry full of chocolate in order to cross the border between France and England. He almost died in the tank full of melted chocolate. The same can happen to us when we take on more information than we can process.

When you get a piece of chocolate, you feel pleased; moreover quality chocolate improves mental functions. However, if you get a full lorry you tend to overeat and hate chocolate for the rest of the day.

Besides refugees, another global issue has been the oil reserves. Shale oil became a strategic asset during WWII when the US started to see it as a more secure source of oil. Drilling begun in the 60's, but it was the introduction of directional drilling that made it more cost effective. Now, many experts see shale oil as an alternative to the crude oil that is said to be limited for the next 20 – 30 years. Moreover, the largest deposits of shale oil are in the US and China and if used effectively, they could give them a geopolitical advantage over Russian and the Middle East.

Using your resource effectively also gives you an advantage over your competition. However, you must use it effectively, unearthing its potential in small bits. If you put too much effort in, you and your audience get lost in the overload of information. Moreover, there is only so much information you can process. Research in David Rock’s book Your Brain at Work tells that the more things we have on our mind, the more energy we lose. Similar like when you run too many programs on your computer at the same time.

Maybe in 20 – 30 years, people will be after the alternative to crude oil. However, if there is too much shale oil on the market, the demand will fall and the price will fall consequently – as we witness with the crude. It might happen that the yields won’t even cover the fracking costs and the countries will cannibalize on their own effort. Similar thing can happen to a writer who wants learn a lot about an issue instead of putting creativity into a single idea. Often, a person who does not know a thing about the issue proposes the most creative solution...

Was können wir vom dem Westdeutschland lernen.

Vor Zeit hatte ich eine Art Vorspannung an Großbritannien. Ich würde immer reden über meine Erfahrungen von London - wahre Geschichten - und es begann die Leute zu langweilen. Ich wurde Englischunterricht in der Schule und oft enthalten Geschichten aus dem Vereinigten Königreich. Es war aktuell, aber ich wollte die Person mit Erfahrungen aus vielen Ländern sein. Dies war vielleicht der Grund – oder war es der langer Winterurlaub – dass ich beschloss meinen Freund Angang Jauar in Brussel zu besuchen. . Und hier ist meine Geschichte von Westdeutschland gestartet. .

Ich nahm einen Bus aus Bratislava direkt nach Brüssel. Früh am Morgen, um 7 Uhr, haben wir an einer Tankstelle in Aachen, Westdeutschland angehalten.. Alle Zeitungem im Geschäft ziegten das Gesicht von Michael Schumacher. Die Deutschen sind stolz auf die Formel-1-Legende trotz seiner gescheiterten Comeback (Comebacks oft gescheitert) und wich seine schnelle Genesung. Ich habe ein paar Bilder von Aachen in den Katalogen der Nähe gesehen. Eine gotische Stadt mit mehr als 1.200-jährigen Geschichte. Ich muss eines Tages wiederkommen, von den Bildern, die ich mag die Stadt. Auch, entdeckte ich einen Teebecher mit dem Namen - Erik der workaholik. Ich sollte aufhören in jeder Postkarte nach Geschichten zu suchen.

Wenige Monate später war ich in Prag. Anders als die Slowakei, die mehr in Richtung des östlichen Europa ausgerichtet ist, in der Tschechischen Republik können Sie eher wie im Westen fühlen. Der Reiseleiter sagte uns, dass sogar die tschechische Küche wird von deutschen Küche. In Prag inspiriert, fühlen Sie sich mehr im Westen als in Bratislava, die beobachtbaren auf die Infrastruktur, Einrichtungen und Geist ist. Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Es könnte tot er, dass die meisten von Prag war unter Karl IV, römische König in Aachen gekrönt bauen bezogen werden. Einige Tage später sah ich eine offene Veranstaltung sucht junge Journalisten fort er Karlspreis-Verleihung in Aachen. Ich bewarb mich, denn es war eine Chance, wieder nach Aachen zu bekommen, sogar noch früher, als ich erwartete. Durch Zufall, wenige Tage später traf ich ein paar Jungs aus Aachen in Bratislava. Eigentlich organisierten sie die Veranstaltung in Aachen und sie waren großartig. Aachen ist eine Universitätsstadt, ist die technische RWHT Universität einer der besten in Europa.

Auch ist Aachen die Stadt Karls des Großen - Karl der Große. König der Franken und der Gründer der West Europanische Kultur. Es war hier schon lange vor der Entdeckung von Amerika - die Quelle der modernen, kommerziellen westlichen Kultur. Man konnte nicht viel von Coca Cola sehen in historischen Gassen Aachens. Nur Lebkuchen Geschäfte mit Karl dem Großen. Aachen war das Zentrum der europäischen Kultur, wenn Brüssel war in der Mitte des Nichts. Das berühmten Karlspreises zurück zum Deutschland der Nachkriegszeit datiert ist ein Zusammenhang zwischen dem heutigen Tag und dem Vermächtnis von Charles. Jedes Jahr seit den 50er Jahren, es ist mit einem Persönlichkeit, die zur Entwicklung von Europa beigetragen gegeben. 2014 Die Preisträger war Herman Van Rompuy, der Präsident des Europäischen Rates.

In der Ende Mai war ich schon unterwegs nach Aachen. Wir wurden an den deutschen Grenzen gehalten, weil eine Chinesische madchen hatte nicht Visum. Sie musste in der Tschechischen bleiben. Arme Mädchen. Die Deutschen sind für ihre fleißige Natur und Einhaltung der Regeln bekannt. Was könnte an anderer Stelle übersehen haben wurde durch die kompromisslose Kontrolle der Grenzbeamtenofficers erinnerte daran, dass der Gestapo erinnert. Aber Ich mag diese Haltung, wenn Sie einen Job zu tun - macht es richtig. Strenge Gesetze gelten auch für die Online-Probleme mit dem Urheberrecht. Ich konnte nicht spielen einige Youtube-Videos. Es war nicht wohl in diesem Moment, aber ich kann ihre Bedeutung für langfristige Ziele zu verstehen.

Kleine Schritte in Richtung langfristige Ziele als richtig erwiesen später, im Juni, während der Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft in Brasilien. Deutschen zeigten einfache, pragmatische Spiel, die sich auf das nächste Spiel und dies führte zu ihrem Sieg. Und dieser Ansatz kann in fast alles, was zu beachten. So beeindruckend die schnell wachsenden Volkswirtschaften der Südeuropa auch sein mag, am Ende sind sie immer von Deutschland gespeichert. Deutschen geschickt Fußball mit Wirtschaft, Fastfood in Form eines Fußballs angebotenen Sandwiches verbunden und ich fand das Maskottchen in Lidl.

In Aachen, traf ich die anderen Mitglieder der journalistischen Team sowie die Organisatoren. Kluge Leute. Wir hatten ein Mittagessen in einem türkischen Restaurant, in dem sie Pizza mit Kebab anstiften. Es war ein richtiges Restaurant mit vernünftigen Preisen, nicht ein kleiner Stall, wo Sie Ihre Kebab aus einer Papiertüte essen. Ich war in diesem Aachen für 2 Stunden und ich bereits beschlossen, dass ich mochte es. Wir haben an die Arbeit, weil am nächsten Tag mussten wir aus der Jugendkarlspreis 2014 Bericht zu erstatten, für die Projekte der Jugendlichen. Ich schrieb hier http://guests.blogactiv.eu/2014/07/18/danube-bridges-a-small-step-towards-tolerance-in-europe/ Europa ist nicht nur die Politiker. Die Hauptantriebskraft f ür Europe ist die Jugend. Auszeichnungen wie diese sollten eine Motivation zu ü mehr Aktivität. Mehr zu lesen hier.

Am nachste tag, Über 800 Ukrainer versammelt auf dem Hauptplatz in Aachen für die Rede von ihrem Premierminister Arsenij Jazenjuk. Allerdings wurden sie in zwei Blöcke geteilt durch Barrieren und patrouillierten durch die Polizei getrennt: auf der linken standen die Pro-EU-Aktivisten; auf der rechten Seite die immer heftiger pro-russischen Kämpfer. Wegen ihrer Surren konnten wir nicht einmal die Rede des Ministerpräsidenten zu hören. Sie kommen aus dem gleichen Land, sondern stehen auf entgegengesetzten Seiten der Barrikade, so die Worte über geteilte Loyalität beweisen. Ich nehme es als eine greifbare Beweise des Kalten Krieges, die leider wird wärmer und wärmer. Terroristen und Drohnen können überall und jederzeit zuschlagen und die Superhelden-Filme - wenn ein Familienessen wird durch den Krieg außerhalb sind Realität unterbrochen.

Westdeutschalnd ist mit den Erasmus-Studenten aus der ganzen Welt beliebt. Vielleicht aufgrund der Tatsache, dass sie die ganze Welt erinnert. Später besuchte ich Köln, eine andere Stadt in der Westdeutschland. Ich hatte schon viele Dinge erlebt dort vor, zum Beispiel die typische Colorite der Großstädte, Hauptstraße Geschäfte und billige chinesische Essen. Eigentlich erinnerte es mich an London. Natürlich gab es typisch deutsche Dinge wie Bratwürste (obwohl man sie in indischen Curry bekommen), 0,2 Liter Bier und kostenlose öffentliche Trinken. Und Lindt Schokolade wird hier vorgenommen. Aber insgesamt, so scheint es, dass trotz reden London, hatte ich über die westliche Kultur im Allgemeinen zu sprechen, auch ohne in die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Eigentlich habe ich ein T-Shirt mit Hard Rock Cafe Hamburg, ohne auch nur dort zu sein. Hamburger, die Verkörperung des amerikanischen Fast-Food, wurde in Hamburg erfunden. Selbst die Beatles begann in Hamburg. Im Oktober wurde ich dabei ein Bodybuilding-Wettkampf in Prag und der Gewinner war ein amerikanischer Bodybuilder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland geboren. September ich war in Krakow aber ich mage die deutsche name Krakau mehr. Wie wir sehen können, hat die ganze westliche Kultur gemeinsamen Wurzeln und die besonderen Unterschiede zwischen den Ländern sind schwer zu beobachten. Ich sollte Asien besuchen, um ganz andere kulturelle Erfahrung zu bekommen. P.S. Ich würde fast vergessen, über Nutella und Fruchtzwerge. P.S. II Genau beobachten Berliner Mauer fallen Feier, viele Menschen aus der ehemaligen Tschechoslowakei emigrierte in die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, die in der Nähe war.