Cooking tip for Beans

Beans were the Roman gladiator's main source of protein.  As for the Greeks, beans were considered as a symbol of democracy.  The benefits of beans in your diet are endless, yet in today's post we are going to talk about bean cooking.  As suggested from Hofmekler's book 'The warrior diet'' (an alternative diet methodology), to eliminate gas formation, bloating, and water retention the correct cooking bean regime is:

1. Triple rinsing

2.  Soak in water overnight

3.  Triple rinsing again, and at the end

4. Peel and remove the skin- all before cooking

Make sure you kill those healthy beans! I'm out.......

Power Balance Bands.....Does anyone out there wears them?

EFFECT OF THE POWER BALANCE

BAND ON STATIC

BALANCE, HAMSTRING FLEXIBILITY, AND ARM

STRENGTH IN ADULTS

PRINCESS J.R. VERDAN, THOMAS S. MARZILLI, GEANINA I. BARNA, ANNTIONETTE N. ROQUEMORE,

BRAD A. FENTER, BRITTANY BLUJUS, AND KEVIN P. GOSSELIN

Department of Health and Kinesiology, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, Texas

Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research

2012 National Strength and Conditioning Association

ABSTRACT:

Verdan, PJR, Marzilli, TS, Barna, GI, Roquemore, AN, Fenter, BA,

Blujus, B, and Gosselin, KP. Effect of the power balance

band on static balance, hamstring flexibility, and arm strength

in adults. J Strength Cond Res 26(8): 2113–2118, 2012—The

purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Power

Balance bands on strength, flexibility, and balance. Strength

and flexibility were measured using the MicroFit system.

Strength was measured via a bicep curl and flexibility via the

sit-and-reach method. Balance was measured by the BIODEX

System SD. There were 4 different conditions for the balance

test: eyes open on a firm surface (EOFS), eyes closed on a firm

surface (ECFS), eyes open on a foam surface (EOFoS), and

eyes closed on a foam surface (ECFoS). There were 24

subjects in the study (10 men and 14 women). A counterbalance,

double-blind, placebo, controlled within-subject design

was used. Each of the subjects participated in 3 treatment

sessions, consisting of Power Balance , placebo band, and no

band. An alpha level of p # 0.05 was set a priori. There were no

significant differences in strength, flexibility, or balance with

regard to the treatments used. There was a significant

difference between the conditions in the balance test (p =

0.000): EOFS (0.51), ECFS (0.68), EOFoS (0.99), and ECFoS

(2.18); however, these were independent of the treatment

conditions. The results indicate that the Power Balance bands

did not have an effect on strength, flexibility, or balance.

My opinion:

To be honest Power Balance Bands do not enhance performance.  Strength, flexibility, and balance are only gain through training and wrist bands will not do it for you. You need to put some effort if you want to increase your performance levels.  Do not relay on solutions that do not require you to move at all!  If people wear the power balance bands as a fashion trend only maybe I can understand why.  I'm out.......

Healthy Lifestyle Camp 2012!

Hey everyone,

Just came back a week ago from HLC camp in Agros at Rodon Hotel that included ages 10-15.  The experience was amazing.  All the kids were mostly new.  The theme of the camp was around nutrition and fitness/ sports.  Our team was fantastic and enthusiastic.  My part included fitness in the morning(speed and agility emphasis).  In addition, I was a helper of  Mr. Andreas Achniotis- brazilian jiu- jitsu instuctor in the afternoon.  Enjoy the photos....I'm out!

 

The 'A Team' with Mr. Andreas Hadjithomas

Core exercise demonstration

 

Perfect form of the core exercise shown above by Miro :)

 

Agility mirror drill

 

 Robin's Nest game

Rope pulling game

Loaded carry variation!

Early Sport Specialization for youngsters?

Late specialization: the key to success in centimeters, grams, or
seconds (cgs) sports

Scandinavian  Journal of  Medicine & Science in Sports

K. Moesch, A.-M. Elbe, M.-L. T. Hauge, J. M. Wikman

Abstract: A controversial question within elite sports is whether young
athletes need to specialize early, as suggested by Ericsson et
al., or if it is more beneficial to follow the path of early
diversification proposed by Coˆ te´ et al., which includes
sampling different sport experiences during childhood and
specializing later on during adolescence. Based on a Danish
sample of 148 elite and 95 near-elite athletes from cgs sports (power sports)
(sports measured in centimeters, grams, or seconds), the
present study investigates group differences concerning
accumulated practice hours during the early stages of the
career, involvement in other sports, career development, as
well as determining whether or not these variables predict
membership in the elite group. The results clearly reveal that
elite athletes specialized at a later age and trained less in
childhood. However, elite athletes were shown to intensify
their training regime during late adolescence more than their
near-elite peers. The involvement in other sports neither
differs between the groups nor predicts success. It can be
concluded that factors related to the organization of practice
during the mid-teens seem to be crucial for international
success within cgs sports. Future research should adopt a
longitudinal design with means of drawing causal inferences.

As you can comprehend from the study's abstract above, kids should not specialize in a sport early. Late specialization is more superior than early specialization. Children need to learn key training fundamentals first such as catching, throwing, skipping, running etc and then progress slowly slowly. In addition, other studies depict that learning key training fundamentals first surely can affect children activity levels later on in their lives.

I'm really furious when I hear that children ages between 6-12 are trained like normal adults.  Kids are different structurally and neurologically build so there is a quite a big difference in comparisons with adult training.  There is a great chance that early specialization kids will be superior at first in relation to kids that are not specialized early, but it should be noted that this phenomenon will not be true afterwards.  

The bottom line is that kids should not be specialized early.  Kids need to experience all the training fundamentals first and then specialized in a sport.  Let your kids try different things and sports.  Make sure you listen to your kid and do not push them and train them like adults.

Coach Prezas, 'Founder of Youth Movement Performance'

Pushing movement pattern with an isometric and power component

Youth Movement Performance Press Release (English and Greek Version)

Date: 30^th May 2012

New Youth Fitness Group “Youth Movement Performance’’ launches in Nicosia

A new youth fitness group has launched in Nicosia, the first of its kind to offer exercise training programs tailored specifically for kids.

Youth Movement Performance is the brainchild of Andreas Prezas a fitness expert, coach, and an athlete with more than 15 years of experience in the field of physical education, nutrition, strength and conditioning.  Youth Movement Performances hourly classes, offered up to three times a week, have been designed especially to meet the fitness needs and levels of children aged between 6 and 13 years and aim to encourage a greater level of physical activity amongst today’s children in Cyprus.

A recent study from the Institute of Child Health confirmed that obesity is on the rise in Cyprus and said that the island ranks second in Europe in terms of overweight children.

“We all know that food is a big part of our culture in Cyprus. However, the widespread availability of fast food, coupled with the sedentary lifestyles of our children who prefer to go online or play video games rather than play outside with friends is contributing to this alarming problem”, said Andreas Prezas, founder of Youth Movement Performance.

“Through our program we want to see young children get excited about exercise and physical activity and to help them understand how important this is to being healthy. Our classes will provide fun exercises in a group environment and will also encourage and develop greater social interaction skills amongst the students”, Andreas Prezas continued.

The Youth Movement Performance classes will take place at Oxygen Gym on Mondays 3:30-4:30 ages 6-9, 4:30-5:30 ages 10-13, Wednesday 4-5pm ages 6-9, 5-6pm ages 10-13, and Friday 3:30-4:30 ages 6-9, 4:30-5:30 ages 10-13.  For more information and bookings contact Mr. Andreas Prezas at 99372178.

INFORMATION CONTACT:

Andreas Prezas

Performance Coach

Phone: 99372178

Email: andreas.prezas@gmail.com

Ημερ. 30 Μαΐου 2012

Νέα Ομάδα Εκγύμνασης για Παιδιά

‘’Youth Movement Performance’’

                                                                

Μια νέα ομάδα εκγύμνασης για τα παιδιά, η πρώτη του είδους της, έχει ξεκινήσει στη Λευκωσία, προσφέροντας εκπαιδευτικά προγράμματα άσκησης ειδικά προσαρμοσμένα στις ανάγκες τους. Πρόκειται για το «Youth Movement Performance», το οποίο εμπνεύστηκε ο ειδικός γυμναστής, προπονητής και αθλητής Ανδρέας Πρέζας, με περισσότερα από 15 χρόνια εμπειρίας στον τομέα της φυσικής αγωγής, διατροφής και φυσικής κατάστασης.

Το «Youth Movement Performance» προσφέρει ωριαία μαθήματα, μέχρι και τρεις φορές την εβδομάδα, τα οποία έχουν σχεδιαστεί ειδικά για να καλύψουν τις ανάγκες και τα επίπεδα φυσικής κατάστασης των παιδιών ηλικίας μεταξύ 6 και 13 ετών και έχουν ως στόχο να ενθαρρύνουν ένα υψηλότερο επίπεδο φυσικής δραστηριότητας μεταξύ των παιδιών του σήμερα, στην Κύπρο.

Σύμφωνα με πρόσφατη μελέτη που διενήργησε το Ινστιτούτο Υγείας του Παιδιού, η παχυσαρκία βρίσκεται σε έξαρση στην Κύπρο, κατατάσσοντας το νησί μας στη δεύτερη θέση, στην Ευρώπη, από πλευράς υπέρβαρων παιδιών.

«Όλοι γνωρίζουμε ότι η διατροφή κατά την παιδική ηλικία είναι καθοριστική για τη διάπλαση και την ανάπτυξη του ανθρώπινου οργανισμού. Ωστόσο, η ευρεία διαθεσιμότητα του γρήγορου φαγητού, σε συνδυασμό με τον καθιστικό τρόπο ζωής των παιδιών μας, τα οποία προτιμούν να σερφάρουν στο διαδίκτυο ή να παίξουν βιντεοπαιχνίδια παρά να παίζουν έξω με τους φίλους τους, συμβάλλουν σε αυτό το ανησυχητικό πρόβλημα», δήλωσε ο Ανδρέας Πρέζας, ιδρυτής του «Youth Movement Performance».

«Μέσα από το πρόγραμμά μας θέλουμε να δούμε τα μικρά παιδιά να ενθουσιάζονται για την άσκηση και τη σωματική δραστηριότητα και να τα βοηθήσουμε να καταλάβουν πόσο σημαντικό είναι το να είσαι υγιής. Τα μαθήματα μας προσφέρουν διασκεδαστικές ασκήσεις σε ένα ομαδικό περιβάλλον ενώ παράλληλα ενθαρρύνουν και αναπτύσσουν καλύτερες κοινωνικές δεξιότητες αλληλεπίδρασης μεταξύ των μαθητών», συνέχισε ο Ανδρέας Πρέζας.

Τα μαθήματα του «Youth Movement Performance» πραγματοποιούνται στο γυμναστήριο Oxygen κάθε Δευτέρα στις 15:30-16:30 για τις ηλικίες 6-9 ετών και στις 16:30-17:30 για τις ηλικίες 10-13 ετών, τις Τετάρτες στις 16:00-17:00 για τις ηλικίες 6-9 ετών και στις 17:00-18:00 για τις ηλικίες 10-13 ετών, και τις Παρασκευές στις 15:30-16:30 για τις ηλικίες 6-9 ετών και 16:30-17:30 για τις ηλικίες 10-13 ετών. Για περισσότερες πληροφορίες και κρατήσεις επικοινωνήστε με τον κ. Ανδρέα Πρέζα στο 99372178.

ΠΛΗΡΟΦΟΡΙΕΣ ΕΠΙΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΑΣ:

Ανδρέας Πρέζας

Προπονητής

Τηλέφωνο:99372178

Ηλεκτρονικό ταχυδρομείο: andreas.prezas@gmail.com