Push Mob: May 2010

Monday, May 31, 2010

World Cup: Top 10 Players to Watch

By now, I’m sure you're all aware that the long-awaited FIFA World Cup gets underway in less than two weeks. The stadiums are built, the new ball has been released by Adidas (naturally, the players can’t stand it) and football fanfare is sweeping the globe.

Media outlets worldwide are clamouring for a piece of the action, but Vanity Fair’s insubstantial cover story reeks of opportunism, providing a superficial glance at soccer’s hottest stars. (I’m thinking Annie Leibovitz just wanted dudes with hot bods to take their pants off.) Too bad many of the players pictured will miss the tournament, a gaffe that’s got to have Conde Nast cursing their uber-long lead time. Score one for the bloggers and familiarize yourself with these soon-to-be-household names.

1. Lionel Messi, Argentina, attacking midfielder: Rightfully billed as the best player in the world, Messi’s form is peaking at the right time. The diminutive winger will be spurred on by his egomaniac manager,Diego Maradona, who’s never had a problem with cheating to win.

2. Kaka, Brazil, midfielder: The centerpiece of the Real Madrid attack has always seemed to lack killer instinct, and he will face mountainous pressure from the impatient Brazilian faithful, who haven’t celebrated a World Cup triumph in (shock!) eight whole years.

3. Didier Drogba, Ivory Coast, striker: How badly does Chelsea’s fearsome scorer want to win the World Cup on African soil? Ivory Coast’s MVP has postponed a hernia operation until after the tournament, proving that Drogba won’t be acting when he’s rolling around the field in agony.

4. Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal, midfielder: The villainous Ronaldo has practically done it all at the age of 25: won the Champions League with Manchester United, been named FIFA World Player of the Year, and reportedly slept with Paris Hilton. But he’s never gotten the job done for his country. Two pressing questions remain: is this Portugal’s year? Will Paris be there to celebrate?

5. Wayne Rooney, England, striker: Here’s hoping Manchester United’s bulldog talisman will do his best to refrain from exiting South Africa the way he left Germany in 2006: stomping upon the opposition’s genitals in frustration.

6. Gianluigi Buffon, Italy, goalkeeper: The man who carried a low-scoring Azzurri side to the title in Germany will have to be even better if Italy plan to win it again. Their core players are all four years older and slightly over the hill, but Buffon’s magical display in 2006 proved that he’s more than up to the challenge.

7. Jozy Altidore, USA, striker: American soccer bosses are desperate for a breakout star to emerge at the World Cup, and no doubt they’re swooning over Altidore. He’s a marketer’s dream: just 20 years old, with an inspirational story, and a bit of seasoning in the English Premier League. Oh, and like all young North American sports stars, he’s addicted to Twitter. If all goes according to plan, Altidore will return to America a hero. Now if only the MLS could get him back in the fold…

8. Xavi Hernandez, Spain, midfielder: The Spaniards breezed stylishly through Euro 2008 and are the trendy pick to come out on top again in South Africa. But with so many of his teammates battling stubborn injuries, Xavi must be the playmaking engine that drives the Spanish offensive.

9. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Germany, midfielder: This guy doesn’t just have the best name at the World Cup, he’s got a girlfriend who posed in body paint for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. He’s also got big shoes to fill, stepping in to replace German captain Michael Ballack, who will miss the tournament due to injury.

10. Samuel Eto’o, Cameroon, striker: Eto’o is the best kind of goal-poaching striker, and he will be a joy to watch, provided he plays, that is. Some nasty comments from a former Cameroon great have prompted Eto’o to suggest he might walk out on his team. I think he’s bluffing. Look for Eto’o to lead the charge when Cameroon get their tournament underway.

[via Rob Duffy]

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Top 5 Healthiest Beers

1. MGD 64
64 calories
2 g carbohydrates
2.8% alcohol
It’s right on the bottle: Only 64 calories. And it claims the number one spot over Beck’s Premier Light because it’s a little lower in alcohol content. And that’s the politically correct choice, right?
2. Beck's Premier Light
64 calories
4 g carbohydrates
3.8% alcohol
Even though it’s one of the lowest calorie beers on the market, it has nearly as much alcohol as its competitors. So don’t forget that. Here’s why: University of Washington scientists found that even just one or two alcoholic drinks can make you more likely to hone in on just on thing, which can impair your driving. For example, you may be so focused on going the correct speed, that you’re more prone to miss bounding deer or braking cars.
3. Michelob Ultra
95 calories
3 g carbohydrates
4.2% alcohol
Michelob was one of the first to market a “low-carb” beer. But here’s a secret: Almost all the low-calorie brews are relatively close in carb count. (Sam Adams Light and Yuengling Lager Light are the notable exceptions.) Just look at the label. Which is exactly what you should be doing for anything you eat and drink.
4. Amstel Light
95 calories
6 g carbohydrates
3.5% alcohol
No frills here. Just a good beer that won’t fill you out.
5. Miller Lite
96 calories
3 g carbohydrates
4.2% alcohol
Every bar has Miller Lite on tap for a reason. When in doubt, here's your order.

Friday, May 21, 2010

World Cup Nike Commercial: Write the Future

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Oakley Arctic Challenge

Cinematography: Per Sveinung Larsen and Matt Pain
Edit and Graphics: Matt Pain

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Keys to Great Cardio, MMA Style

The term cardio doesn’t include just one aspect of fitness, like the name implies, and if you don’t understand how cardio is developed, you’ll never be in great shape.

Luckily, I’m going to tell you what you need to do.

So here’s how developing your cardio is more than just running, or intervals, or 5 minute circuits, or CrossFit:

Now let me tell you that these things are in no particular order, because the order in which it’s best to develop these aspects is different for each individual.

The first key is general strength.

If you’re weak, then you’ll be working closer to 100% of max strength than a guy who is strong. You can only last a short period of time working at 100% max strength (like 20 seconds) so then you’ll gas out quickly.

If you don’t quite get it, let’s make it even easier to understand.
Let’s say you can Bench press 100 lbs for 1 rep (you monster, you).
If a guy is laying on top of you, and you need to bench press him off (because your technique sucks) , and he weighs 170 lbs, you’re using 100% of your strength to try to do this.
You’ll be able to push with all your force ONCE, then every attempt after, your level of force will go down, until your energy supply runs out and you can no longer lift your arms, unless you rest them.
Now let’s say you can Bench press 250 lbs for 1 rep and the same guy is on top of you.
Now, his bodyweight of 170 lbs is about 70% of your bench, meaning that you’ll be able to bench him up and down for at least 15 reps before starting to lose strength and tire out.
Make sense now? Good.

Now let’s say you’re strong, but you’ve never trained or don’t know how to train your cardiovascular system.

What do muscles need to recover after they’ve been spent?

You guessed it.... OXYGEN.

The second key is to get blood to the muscles. This is where your cardiovascular system comes in.

Your heart has to be fit enough to pump blood quickly to the muscles that need it.

To develop your heart to do this you need to increase the amount of blood it pumps with each beat in 2 ways: increasing the volume of blood the heart can hold and increasing the % of blood the heart pumps out with each beat (heart strength).

Dreaded traditional steady-state cardio training improves the volume of blood, while strength training and hard interval training improves the strength of the heart.

The third key in the process is that your muscles need to be efficient at extracting the oxygen from the blood and getting rid of the waste products developed from contracting.

This is where specific local muscular endurance training comes into play, where the muscles are forced to recover faster through progressively longer sets and shorter rest periods.

The fourth key is that your lungs need to be able to efficiently take oxygen from the air and they have to be trained well enough to avoid fatiguing.

This is a relatively new concept but there is some good research that shows that specific respiratory muscle training can improve endurance. I just make sure to incorporate different lengths of hard intervals to get the lungs working at high levels.

So now you understand that cardio requires general muscular strength, and it also requires a 3-pronged attack to make sure you’ve got all your bases covered from a cardiovascular point of view.

Make sure you’re not leaving yourself exposed by neglecting any of these important aspects of your physical fitness, and you’ll be sure to keep going if the fight goes the distance.

[via Eric Wong MMA]

Keep It Simple, Push-Up Variations

The Classic

Good for: General upper-body conditioning

Balance your weight on your toes and palms, with your hands a comfortable distance apart, probably just beyond shoulder-width. Your body should form a straight line from your ankles to your head. Squeeze your glutes and brace your abdominals, and keep them that way for the duration of the exercise. Slowly lower yourself to the floor, pause, and push yourself back up. Repeat a few hundred times.

Variations: Three-point pushup (place one foot on top of the other to make the exercise a little more challenging); decline pushup (set your feet on a bench or chair to strengthen your shoulders); and triceps pushup (place your hands close together, directly under your shoulders, and keep your elbows tucked close to your sides as you lower your body—an adjustment that shifts the work from your chest to your arms).

Rotational Pushup

Good for: Athletic performance in sports involving torso rotation, such as tennis, hockey, and baseball

Assume the classic pushup position, but as you come up, rotate your body so your right arm lifts up and extends overhead. Your arms and torso should form a T. Return to the starting position, lower yourself, then push up and rotate till your left hand points toward the ceiling.

Variations: One-dumbbell (grip a dumbbell in one hand, rotate to the dumbbell side for half your repetitions, then switch the dumbbell to the other hand); two-dumbbell (grip dumbbells in both hands, and alternate sides when you come up).

Plank

Good for: Posture; midsection endurance and stability

Lie facedown, rest your weight on your forearms and toes, tuck your hips, and hold your body in a straight line from ankles to shoulders for 5 seconds. Do a total of 10 5-second holds.

Variations: When 5-second holds are easy, progress to longer holds, until you can stay in the position for 30 seconds. Next, try a regular push up position with your hips tucked. When you can hold that for 30 seconds, try it on your knuckles.

Barbell Pushup

Good for: Stability of midsection, shoulder; grip strength

Get into the classic pushup position with your hands on a barbell (the kind that can roll away if you don't keep it steady). Knock out the pushups, but not yourself—keep in mind that one slip can send you crashing teeth-first into the floor.

Walking Pushup

Good for: Abdominal development; shoulder stability

Set up in the classic pushup position on a smooth floor, and place your feet on a towel. Walk with your hands across the room, turn, and walk back. Keep your back flat throughout the movement.

Plyometric Pushup

Good for: Developing upper-body power

Set up in the classic position on a well-padded carpet or exercise mat. Push up hard enough for your hands to come off the floor and catch some air. When you hit the floor, go immediately into the next repetition, pushing up again as hard as you can and catching more air.

Suspended Pushup
Good for: Upper-body strength and stability

Wrap a pair of straps (or chains) around a chinup bar or the crossbar of a power rack. At the bottom, the straps should be about 12 inches off the floor. Attach gymnastics-type rings (or a straight bar) to the ends of the straps. Grab the rings and do pushups, being careful to protect your lower back by keeping your core and glutes tight—as you should when you do any variation of the pushup.

[via MH]

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Working Overtime Increases Heart Risk

People who regularly put in overtime and work 10 or 11-hour days increase their heart disease risk by nearly two-thirds, research suggests.

The findings come from a study of 6,000 British civil servants, published online in the European Heart Journal.

After accounting for known heart risk factors such as smoking, doctors found those who worked three to four hours of overtime a day ran a 60% higher risk.

Experts said the findings highlighted the importance of work-life balance.

Overall, there were 369 cases where people suffered heart disease that caused death, had a heart attack or developed angina.

And the number of hours spent working overtime appeared to be strongly linked in many cases.

The researchers said there could be a number of explanations for this.

People who spend more time at work have less time to exercise, relax and unwind.

Work/life balance plays a vital role in well-being

Dr John Challenor, from the Society of Occupational Medicine

They may also be more stressed, anxious, or have depression.

A career-minded person will also tend to be a "Type A" personality who is highly driven, aggressive or irritable, they say.

"Employees who work overtime may also be likely to work while ill - that is, be reluctant to be absent from work despite illness," they add.

Lead researcher Mianna Virtanen, an epidemiologist at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki and University College London, said: "More research is needed before we can be confident that overtime work would cause coronary heart disease."

Cathy Ross, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the research, said: "This study raises further questions about how our working lives can influence our risk of heart disease.

"Although the researchers showed a link between working more than three hours overtime every day and heart problems, the reasons for the increased risk weren't clear.

"Until researchers understand how our working lives can affect the risk to our heart health, there are simple ways to look after your heart health at work, like taking a brisk walk at lunch, taking the stairs instead of the lift, or by swapping that biscuit for a piece of fruit."

Dr John Challenor, from the Society of Occupational Medicine, said: "In many ways it confirms what we as occupational health doctors already know - that work/life balance plays a vital role in well-being.

"Employers and patients need to be aware of all of the risk factors for coronary heart disease and should consider overtime as one factor that may lead to a number of medical conditions."

[via BBC]

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

In Season: Ontario Asparagus

It’s May, and all those veggie-loving foodies out there know what that means: Ontario asparagus is here. The plant stalk, which has a six-week growing season from late April to mid June, has been popping up at farmer’s markets and on grocery store shelves with fervour lately.

Once widely maligned by children and dads everywhere for its mushy, stringy quality and uncanny ability to not only make your pee smell, but turn it green as well, that’s changed now that most people understand you don’t have to cook the living tar out of it. Steamed or grilled properly, asparagus has a nice, crisp, clean taste that fills your tummy with a deep-down refreshing feeling.

And it also happens to be ridiculously good for you: asparagus is loaded with vitamins C, K and A, as well as containing high amounts of B vitamin folate and the supposed cancer-fighting anti-oxidant agent glutathione. Asparagus from Peru and Mexico, of course, is available pretty much year round, but nothing is better (in flavour or for the environment) than our own, fresh-from-the-farm, locally grown buds. Here are four simple things you can do to ensure that you get the most out of Ontario’s asparagus bounty this season.

1. You’ve got to steam it! Rinse you asparagus thoroughly to remove any dirt or other contaminates (like others shoppers' fingersprints) and place in a pot on the stove. (Tip: keep the elastic band on to help the whole thing hold together — but keep the elastic out of the water.) Add a cup of water, bring to a boil and let cook until the stalks turn a deep, vibrant green and are slightly tender to the touch (about 3 to five minutes_. Remove from heat and immediately run under cold water to stop the cooking process. Trim off the woody ends (which will also probably be a bit mushy) by cutting a half inch off the bottom of each stalk. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Gently heat in a pan on the stove or in the oven to serve hot, or plonk it on the table at room temperature as a nice crudité. (Or save it in the fridge for another day — cooked asparagus be kept for two to three days refrigerated.)

2. Toss a couple stalks on the Barbie. Steamed is great, but with barbecue season in the offing, you should know that grilling asparagus imparts the veggie with a nice smokiness, and an ephemeral crunchiness from grill marks. Take your asparagus and snap off the woody ends. (To do this, hold the stalk lightly at both ends and exert gentle pressure. The asparagus will bow, and then break. Keep the top half for eating, and toss the bottoms in a bag for making stock some other time. Note: if you have nice thin asparagus, skip this step.) Toss with some crushed garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper and grill over medium heat until tender. Alternatively, you can also wrap the asparagus in tin foil with some butter, garlic, salt and pepper and place the sealed packet on the warming rack on your barbecue. This will gently cook it while you get the steaks and such ready to eat.

3. Wrap it in bacon. Everything tastes better with bacon, but asparagus especially so. (If you have thick stalks, it would be advisable to follow the steaming directions first, and then proceed with these next steps.) Toss asparagus with some salt, pepper and olive oil. Take three or four stalks, and wrap with a slice of prosciutto. Place on barbecue and grill, or toss under the broiler on medium-high heat, and cook until bacon is crisp. Serve hot with a wedge of lemon.

4. Make it stinky…with gorgonzola. This can be done a number of ways. Take your steamed asparagus and toss it in a bowl with some lemon juice, cherry tomatoes and crumbled blue cheese for a nice salad. Or pop a bit into your bacon bundles from suggestion number 3 above to really make a decadent springtime treat. My favourite is to take a cup of 35 per cent cream and reduce it on the stove with a clove of garlic. Once the cream is all nice and hot and reduced by 20 per cent or so, add a bunch of gorgonzola and whisk until a nice, rich sauce is formed. Toss some fresh herbs into it and pour over your asparagus for a delicious experience.