Monday, May 01, 2006

People who live with passion part 1(something for the ladies) - MJewels

I admire people who live with purpose. Those who are not afriaid to do what they are interested in even of its not the "common" route to take in life!

One of my freinds is a pretty cool young lady. She is an accountant by trade (yes! way to go along the common path... BORING...!) But thats just to finance her real interest... Hand made jewelry (see I even used a girly color, pink!!). I helped her take some of the photos of her jewels for publicity(pictures below). While jewels are certainly not my thing, are extremely girly and exite me not at all, I am VERY supportive and proud to be involved with projects like this. I love to see people live passionately. Its not very meaningful to go though life doing stuff "just because others do it".

1. Get born
2. Primary school
3. Secondary School
4. whatever kind of "higher" education
5. Work
6. Get married
7. Have kids
8. Die

Can you see how thast pretty sad?

She stays up late at night like a over worked pessant woman from the 1700s crafting the masterpieces! But the jewelry comes out royalty standard. She's HAPPY to do it! I mean really really HAPPY! and hey... its paying off. From sales of 0.00 pieces per month, shes now got a pretty decent website and some real life shops selling the stuff! You can see the current selection here. Be quick to buy if you like it because each piece is special and individual and its 1 of a kind. I wish her all the best in her adventure of small business. Tiffany and Company better watch out!

Recovery week

No not THAT kind of recovery!

No training updates for a while because for the past week I was having a "recovery" week. No heavy weights, no explosive movements. I take one of these breaks every 4-6 weeks depending on how "worn-out" I feel physically. It gives the nervous system time to revover and it allows the minor aches and pains to go away as well:) If any athletes out there are noticing the signs of overtraining maybe a "recovery week" is in order!

Some signs of overtraining (these are just the ones noticable by laymen. There are physicological, and biochecmical signs as well which need blood tests to determine so those are not listed)
1. Insomnia (yes... strange that too much training will result in inablity to sleep)
2. Feeling lethargic and unmotivated
3. No progress (or even decrease in perfromance)in traning
4. Getting sick more easily
5. Soreness in joints and muscles that doesnt go away as quickly as it should

What to do during a recovery week? So...I have some of those signs...HOW NOW?
1. Take contrast showers (1 min warm, 1 min cold... repeat 4-5 times) - gets the blood flowing
2. Sleep! - admittedly I did not do this too well during the recovery week...:(
3. Eat properly (don't go all supersize Me during this week! You will be training less so you would get tubby if you get slack on eating well)
4. Light activity (e.g. swim, brisk walks,
5. Light weight training in the high rep range (12-20 reps) not to failure
6. Self massage or other therapy methods (wonderful!)

What did I do during this week?
I trained 2 times in the gym, I swam for 20 mins 3 times, I played basketball 1 time. All very "gentle" compared to a normal week. I feel refreshed!. This week its back to the hard stuff! Pics below:)

Power Snatches (Lift weight from floor to overhead in 1 movement)

Front squats 143kg at 80kg bodyweight
DOWN
AND UP!