World Cup Workout

If you’ve been watching the world cup, you’re probably aware of Ronaldo, the Portuguese superstar with the incredible six-pack. So what do you need to do to get a six-pack like Ronaldo’s? Our world cup workout shows you what you need to do to slim down and get your abs looking more like a washboard than a beer barrel.

Of course, someone like Ronaldo has a lot of advantages – he is a full time professional athlete who can spend hours a day working out. In addition, he will have access to a team of dieticians and even chefs who can ensure that he eats the right things. But does that mean you can’t have a great looking body if you have a full time job working in an office or spend hours each day sitting at the wheel of a car? No. It simply means you have to be smart.

The first step is your workouts. When it comes to effectiveness, there are workouts and there are workouts – what we mean is that not all workouts are created equal, and if you want great results, you’re going to have to do the right type of workouts.

So what type of workouts do you need to get a great six-pack? The key is the effect your workouts have on your metabolism, and that comes down to intensity. So if your idea of a workout is ten minutes dawdling on the treadmill, a few sets of bench press and then a long sauna, it’s time to crank it up.

The good news is, our world cup workout won’t take up a lot of time – you’ll work hard, but you’ll be done in less than an hour. That’s because the most effective type of exercise for fat burning and muscle building is high intensity weight training.

High intensity weight training involves working hard and fast and taking minimal rest periods. You should focus on exercises that use lots of muscles at once – good exercises to do include:

• Deadlifts
• Barbell squats
• Lunges
• Dumbbell step-ups
• Dips
• Pull-ups
• Renegade rows (with dumbbells or kettlebells)
• Dumbbell rows
• One arm snatches
• Two-arm kettlebell swings

As you might notice, most of these exercises involve body weight, dumbbells, or kettlebells – and not a machine to be seen. These are the most effective ways to workout, and have the added advantage that you can do most of them at home with a minimum of equipment.

The second part of getting a great six-pack is diet. Quite simply, you have to strip down to reveal your abs. You need to eat wholesome, natural, unprocessed foods, and stay away from junk foods and other sugary foods, including alcohol – it’s packed with calories.

If you work hard and eat right you might not get Ronaldo’s six pack, but you’ll certainly look and feel better.

Running Shoes Takeaway The Pain

The thought of putting on our running shoes, getting outside and exercising sound less and less appealing as the cold nights draw in. The wintery weather makes  it easy to just stay in and curl up on the sofa, but getting into bad habits now is the worse thing you can do. By starting regular exercise now you can avoid the mad rush to lose weight before next summer.

We’ve all heard of runner’s high, haven’t we? That magical feeling when endorphins (your body’s natural painkillers) are coursing through your veins and you feel on top of the world. But if your running shoes are not up to scratch, that runner’s high could quickly turn into a painful low. With any sport, it’s vital you kit yourself out with the right running shoes to avoid injury and boost performance at the same time. Here’s why ...

No two pairs of feet are the same and we all have different running styles. For example, people with a flatter foot are likely to overpronate while others run more on their toes and might underpronate. If all this talk of pronating is gobbledygook to you, the chances are you are in need of some expert advice!

Enter sportsshoes.com. For over 25 years these leading UK experts have been selling sports shoes and sharing their expert advice with their customers. By analysing different factors such as the width of your foot, your weight, the surface you typically train on and the biomechanics of your running (the pronating bit!) they can advise you on which running shoe is right for you. A lot more goes into finding the right sports shoe than you think!

A great place to start is sportsshoes.com, where you can not only find advice on choosing the right running shoe, but also a wealth of informative articles on football boots, tennis shoes and any other sports related footwear. Did you know for example that the way you lace your sports shoes can have a massive impact on performance? Or that permanently leaving the laces of your football boots done up will decrease heel support over time?

Alternatively, you can pick up the phone for a chat with an expert or visit their store in Bradford, home to a technical running and fitness centre. The store features free Asics Dartfish running gait analysis, which will analyse your natural running style in super slow motion. Football fans can have a go on the boot testing net which features a speed gun as well.

So is all this ‘loving your feet’ going to cost you an arm and a leg? Not at sportsshoes.com, whose price beat promise and regular online sale mean you can get top notch brands like Nike, Adidas, Asics and Saucony at the cheapest, discount prices.

So whether you buy online, over the phone or in store, make sure you get the right advice before you buy any of the many indoor and outdoor shoes on offer. Once you’re kitted out with the right sports shoes, you’re ready for your runner’s high! (Or any other sports-related rush for that matter).

Bill O'Brien: Is the man crazy?

Can you think of a more secure job in this economy than being the man that calls the plays for Tom Brady? Of course not! So when you hear the man that has this job is leaving it, you must be thinking that he somehow found greener pastures. As far as the NFL goes, the only jobs that might fit that description would be calling the plays for Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees, but even that is debatable. So upon hearing that Patriots offensive coordinator, Bill O'Brien was leaving his "cush" job to go be the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions, I was left scratching my head, wondering.............WHY?

I can't think of a bigger punishment than going to be the Penn State head coach right now, for obvious reasons. The first being, it's never easy to follow a legend. If you play the word association game and say "Penn State", the first thing someone will think of is Joepa. Joepa was and in many ways still is Penn State. There will be many fans that never accept O'Brien for the simple fact he isn't Joepa, no matter how successful he might be there, people will say "Joepa would have done it better."

The second reason, maybe being the even more obvious, Penn State is a disaster right now. Penn State was rocked to its core when the reports came out about their former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky and the criminal acts he was committing against underage youth. It led to the firing of their legendary head coach and many others. People blaming and pointing fingers at everyone else, and no one accepting responsibility. 

So why would a man want to take on this responsibility? Why would he want to leave the Patriots? Did he really not like Brady?(remember their little scuffle December 11th during the Redskins game) Does he just like challenges?

I would like the answers to all of this questions, as I know most of the sports world would as well, but this is what I do take from the situation: O'Brien sees an opportunity. To take on a responsibility like the Penn State job right now, takes a man that is a visionary. You have to be able to look into the future, have a plan and realize it's going to take time to develop the good you can envision amidst all the apparent darkness. O'Brien sees something. What it is, I'm not sure, but he sees an opportunity to bring back hope to Penn State, something that university desperately needs right now.

I admire men like O'Brien who are willing to take a chance to try to fulfill the vision that they see. Reality is that the odds are against O'Brien. He is going to have a tough time recruiting and getting the boosters behind him. People are distraught, angry, felt betrayed and don't think O'Brien is the man to lead them back to the promise land. Several former Nittany Lion legends have openly expressed their disapproval on the O'Brien hire, including Todd Blackledge, who said:

"I understand Bill O’Brien probably understands football very well. But I think understanding Penn State and what Penn State is all about and what Penn State needs to go forward from here is equally important as what he knows about football so that leaves me with a little bit of a question mark. I’ve never met him, I don’t know anything about him, I don’t know about his personality. I certainly hope it’s a good decision but I have questions at this point.”

Many fans echo this. Several fans have said on national television that they expect Penn State to be in "dumps" under O'Brien. So to sum it up: O'Brien is leaving job security, entering a landmine that will be under extreme scrutiny for years, has little to no support of fellow colleagues and fans and will be trying to convince parents to let their sons come play at a school where one of the biggest sexual scandals in sports history occurred. What about that doesn't inspire you to pull for Bill O'Brien?

Once in a Lifetime Opportunity: Michael Tompkins

Almost every young boy that plays little league baseball dreams at some point of playing in the major leagues. The vast majority of us realize at around 13 or 14 that isn't going to happen and then the dream for many becomes coaching, even if it's just little league, let alone at a major level. Well, that dream was just answered for Michael Tompkins, and a lot sooner than he could have ever imagined. Tompkins was a standout high school player who went on to play junior college ball, before finishing up his last two years at Centenary in Louisiana. While at Centenary he played under head coach, Ed McCann who later went on to become the head coach at Alabama A&M. Once Tompkins graduated in 2010, McCann offered him a top assistant job (one of the youngest in the country) and Tompkins jumped at the opportunity to be a 23 year old assistant coach. He thought it was a great position to be in for the next 7 years or so to get some experience for maybe getting a head coaching job of his own one day. Well.......that 7 years just turned into 1.

On January 5th, McCann announced he was stepping down for health reasons and was turning the team over to the 24 year old Tompkins, making him the youngest current head coach in college baseball. Tompkins couldn't believe it.

"It was a shock," Tompkins said. "It went from me helping out and suggesting to running it. But it helped a lot being here already. It helped me get my feet wet. I ran the offense last year from third base. I made all the calls in that regard.

"The only thing I didn't do was the pitching and game-day management. But I think from just watching and sitting there with Coach McCann, and I have been under some really good coaches in high school and junior college and have been able to learn from some of the best. That's been a big part of making me feel comfortable in the role that I'm in now. I expected this to eventually happen, but no way was I thinking it would happen at 24."

Talk about unbelievable. A young man who was just in college himself a year and a half ago is now a D1 college baseball head coach. He will be coaching against some men that are older than his grandfather. In fact, he will be coaching against some men that have been coaching longer than Tompkins has been alive, but Tompkins isn't intimidated, he welcomes the challenge and his players are behind him.

"We all think this is a good thing," said Walt Ashwander, junior second baseman. "He's not too far removed from playing himself. He knows the game. He's a player's coach.

Being a huge college baseball fan, I look forward to following Tompkins's success this year. More than likely we won't see his Alabama A&M team finishing up their season in Omaha at the College World Series, but considering the young man probably has another good 40 to 50 years of coaching ahead of him, it's probably fair to predict that he will one day be coaching at a school that's playing in Omaha competing for a national championship.

It's All About The U

You may have clicked on this link hoping you were about to watch a clip of Miami Hurricanes highlights with Uncle Luke’s rap song “The U” blasting......not so much. “The U” I want to talk about has no ties to Nevin Shapiro (thank goodness). It has no palm trees or beaches, in fact it’s miles away from any large bodies of water. This U, is located in the rural Midwestern part of the United States (yes people live there), in a town known as: Ulysses, Kansas. Until moving to Ulysses, KS in 1999, the semester before I entered high school I hadn’t ever heard of it either, so don’t feel bad, but once you experience Ulysses, it’s impossible to forget.

Like most small towns, Ulysses has an immense amount of pride for its high school sports. In a way, the Ulysses high school shapes the image and community you will find in Ulysses, Kansas. For example, east of Ulysses you will find a giant orange cement "U" as you pull into town. Last spring, that U was painted pink by owners of the land on which the U sits(I don't know all the details as to why, but that's besides the point). You would have thought the town had been invaded by aliens, and I wasn't even there to experience the uproar firsthand. Countless facebook posts, letters to the Editor of the Newspaper, and Town meetings were held to discuss this painted U. The town was turned upside down. Why? Honestly, what does it matter, it's just cement, right?

Wrong! While Ulysses's identity is much more than just some orange cement U, that U represents more than the simple mind can imagine. It represents a town that had several thousands of it's only 6,000 population drive almost 5 hours to support their beloved Tigers in the football state championship in 2006. It represents a town that packs into a gym every Friday night in the winter, no matter what kind of record the basketball team has to cheer on their boys and girls. It represents memories, heartaches, lessons learned, friendships, but most importantly it represents a home, a community that people are proud of. It represents, that it really is, "All about the U."

Limits were Made to be Broken

As a child, I had several of the famous "No Fear" t-shirts. My favorite was probably the one that said "Limits were made to be Broken." Being only 9 years old when I got it, I loved the fact that around the words on the t-shirt was the image of glass being shattered. I didn't completely understand the quote, but for a 9 year old, the idea of breaking things was a dream come true.

Many of us dream of breaking barriers that have been set before us. Whether they are barriers set at work, school, in sports or wherever, the idea of breaking them is something we strive for. They are something that drive us, motivate us, and give us something to live up to.

Throughout my years of being a sports fan (my entire 27 years on this year), I have had the opportunity to see several sports records broken. I can still remember putting off my 7th grade math homework to watch Mark McGwire break Roger Maris's home run record. Then a few years later watching Barry Bonds break McGwire's record. Over the last few years we have seen several other sports records shattered by the likes of Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Drew Brees and several others.

And tonight we witnessed another "limit" broken as Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions, broke Jerry Rice's record of most receiving yards in a season, a record that had stood since 1995. While it might not seem like that big of deal, records are a part of what keep the game interesting. The record came on a night when the Lions actually lost just adding to what has been a dismal season for them, but people still watched (like my dad and myself), to be able to say they saw the record broken.

Sports can teach us and inspire us in ways we maybe never thought about. Chances are you aren't getting up early tomorrow morning to start training to break Calvin's receiving record, but maybe you can use his accomplishment as encouragement to break a limit that currently stands in your way.

What it takes to achieve your goals: Aaron Craft

We have just entered into a new year. With a new year comes new possibilities and new goals. More than likely, most of you have already made some New Year’s resolutions. Popular New Year’s resolutions usually include getting rid of a habit or changing a behavior. This might be trying to lose 20 pounds, giving up soda pop, quitting smoking, trying to exercise more and so on. But reaching some goals might include more than just giving up things that aren’t good for us, they might even require giving up things we really love.

Majority of you know the name, Aaron Craft. Craft is the point guard for the Ohio State Buckeyes college basketball team. In high school he was a very talented football and basketball player at Liberty Benton High School in Ohio. In fact, he started as a freshman as the QB on the Varsity football team & the point guard on the Varsity basketball team. During his first 3 years of high school he acquired several state awards and led both his basketball and football team to the state championship. The summer before his senior year, he committed to Ohio State to play basketball & made the tough decision to not play football his last year so he could focus on basketball. Many questioned why a 3 year starting quarterback who was one of the best in the state would give up his last year. Craft gave the following answer: “Ohio State has put their trust in me and are taking a chance on me. I have a strong desire to improve future and become the best point guard I can, I owe that to myself and to Ohio State. This requires sacrifices, dedication, effort, determination and yes, even some heartbreak, but to reach my ultimate goals this is something I have decided I have to do.” (I might add to, that Craft was the valedictorian of his senior class.)

Craft made a tough decision as a teenager, a decision that I think we can learn a lot from. Think about some of your goals you would like to achieve. Maybe you would like to become a better parent, a better employee, a better student, more reliable. To do this going to require time, effort, energy, dedication and sacrifices. It might mean helping your child with a school project when you would rather be out watching a sporting event with your buddies. Watching the sporting event isn’t a bad thing (trust me I love watching any type of sport I can) but sometimes the sacrifice is necessary to reach the goal that we have. I have learned that a lot over the last 2 and a half years being in law school. The biggest step towards reaching your goals is managing your time.

So as you look at your list of New Year’s resolutions, I encourage you to take them a step farther. Ask yourself, “what is it going to take to reach these goals?”, “What am I going to have to sacrifice to give my best effort to make my dream a reality?” Any goal you set for yourself is obtainable, but it will require action. It might even mean giving up something that you are considered to be the best in the state at, but is necessary to improve your future and make the best you that you can be.