Sport & Fitness Issue 17 Shaun White

H O W T O C O M B AT D I A B E T E S T H R O U G H E X E R C I S E

Sport &Fitness Issue 17

Official magazine of

training tips Yoga – full stretch introducing XFIT JASON STATHAM WORKOUT

SHaun WHITE The world’s most famous snowboarder talks fame fortune and half pipes

Dubai Marathon Preview have you got the legs for it?

N 0 . 1 H ea lt h , S p o r t & L i f e st y l e M ag az i n e i n t h e r e g i o n

WELCOME

NEW YEAR, NEW YOU THE New Year often brings with it a renewed sense of optimism and drive regarding goal-setting – particularly when it comes to our health and fitness targets. Prompted by the surge of guilt that inevitably follows the over-indulgence of the festive period, we hit the gym with a new sense of purpose.

But more often than not, by the end of January, what started as a flood of enthusiasm has dried to a mere trickle. We bite off more than we can chew, expect instant results, and retreat at the first sign of trouble. It’s a common problem and we’ve all been there so Fitness First’s Corporate Wellness Manager Hisem Hagras has addressed the issue in this edition with his guide to making sure you stick to your New Year’s resolutions, while nutritional expert Nikos Jakubiak gives some advice on making good food choices that will serve you well all year round.

It’s never too late to start on the road to a fitter, healthier lifestyle and the sporting world is full of inspirational figures who can provide us with a bit of extra motivation. Just look at racing driver Dean Stoneman who we interviewed for this issue.

At 20 years old he had the world at his feet, having just won the Formula 2 championship, but he was left devastated by the news that he had developed advanced testicular cancer and only had a 40% chance of survival. His excellent physical condition helped him withstand huge amounts of grueling chemotherapy and his determination not to give up carried him through. He’s now back on his feet and battling hard to get his sporting dreams back on track.

Then there’s Paralympian Sarah Storey. She was born without a functioning left hand but she’s never let that stop her doing anything and has won an astounding 11 Paralympic gold medals – first in swimming and then in cycling! She also regularly competes for Team GB in able-bodied cycling events and wins. Sarah actually grew up just a few miles away from me in the UK and we attended the same college at the same time so this was one interview I was really looking forward to. She’s a lovely, down-to-earth girl and extremely driven – one of those people that you just know would make a success of whatever vocation they chose in life. It’s all about taking the first step, having a go, then working hard and sticking at it – challenging yourself to be the best you can be.

Our cover star for this issue knows a thing or two about pushing boundaries. Shaun White has almost single-handedly turned snowboarding into a mainstream sport and is now a household name up there with the likes of Lionel Messi, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer. But they all had to start somewhere so lock up the Christmas puddings and here’s hoping 2013 is a successful year for all of us.

We hope you have as much fun reading the magazine as we’ve had creating it.

Richard Bevan Editor

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CONTENTS Or log onto www.facebook.com/ fitnessfirstme

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Features P23-27 KEEP ON RUNNING

EXCITEMENT IS BUILDING AHEAD OF

THE 2013 DUBAI MARATHON

P29-33 WINNING THE RACE OF HIS LIFE

THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF RACING DRIVER DEAN STONEMAN WHO IN THE SPACE OF TWO MONTHS

WENT FROM WINNING THE FORMULA 2

CHAMPIONSHIP TO BEING TOLD HE HAD ONLY A

WEEK TO LIVE

REgulars P6-11 SCENE

P13-19 FITNESS FIRST NEWS

P51-64 HEALTH AND FITNESS

HOW EXERCISE CAN HELP DIABETES; STICKING TO YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS;

XFIT; YOGA AND HEALTHY EATING

P71

P72

POWERHOUSE

GETTING TO KNOW AMERICAN OLYMPIC SWIMMER ALLISON SCHMITT

CELEBRITY WORKOUTS JASON STATHAM

P35-39 COVER STORY: LIVING THE DREAM

SHAUN WHITE TALKS ABOUT HIS SENSATIONAL

JOURNEY FROM THE STREETS OF SAN DIEGO TO THE TOP OF THE SNOWBOARDING WORLD

P41-45 THE SPEED QUEEN

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ONE OF THE

GREATEST PARALYMPIANs OF ALL TIME. SARAH STOREY HAS WON AN ASTONISHING 11 GOLD

MEDALS ACROSS TWO DIFFERENT SPORTS

P47-49 BEHIND THE STARS

LEADING SPORTS NUTRITIONIST NICOS JAKUBIAK

TALKS ABOUT HIS LIFE HELPING SOME OF THE

WORLD’S TOP ATHLETES PERFORM TO THEIR POTENTIAL AND HOW EATING SMART CAN HELP THE REST OF US DO THE SAME

P67-69 ISLAND HOPPING IN THE SEYCHELLES

THE SF TEAM HEAD TO THE GARDEN OF EDEN TO DISCOVER SOME TRUE ISLAND DELIGHTS

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earth Competitors enjoy themselves during the Red Bull Tuk Tuk Rally in Dambulla, Sri Lanka.

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air Ryan Doyle gets a new perspective on the local architecture in Santorini, Greece.

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water Wakeboarder Dorien Llewellyn rides the waves in Upper Australia.

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Full turnout for Fitness First Yogathon

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OGA is currently taking Dubai by storm and over 400 people participated in Fitness First’s ‘Yogathon’ to raise money for the Dubai Autism Center.

The annual challenge, which was led by Fitness First’s Yoga Manager Pewee Sanchez, saw participants perform 108 sun salutations (surya namaskar) in three hours and over AED 11,350 was raised for the Center.

Sanchez hosted the Yogathon to help

highlight the importance of healthy living and the spiritual, physical and psychological benefits that come with regular sessions of Yoga.

Mark Botha, Group Operations and Marketing Director, Fitness First Middle East, said: “The Yogathon was another example of how the community is embracing health and wellness and are eager to participate in fitness activities.

“It was outstanding to see all these people practising yoga together under the stunning

backdrop of one of the most iconic buildings in the world, The Burj Khalifa.” In addition to extending the ancient form of wellness to the wider community, the event has raised funds and awareness for autism in Dubai.

DAC is a non-profit organisation that caters to children with autism, a condition that affects a child’s speech and social interaction skills.

To accommodate the increasing number of children diagnosed with autism, the centre is in the process of building a well-equipped facility.

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fitness first member SWIMS around THE WORLD Kate Willoughby raises funds and awareness for a rare genetic illness with a swim around ‘The World’ off the coast of Dubai.

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BRITISH woman living in Dubai took the biggest plunge of her life by becoming the first person to swim around The World, Nakheel’s manmade development of 300 islands off Dubai’s coast – in order to help fund research into a genetic, fatal illness that affects millions of children globally.

Fitness First member Kate Willoughby, 32, completed the grueling challenge to raise awareness of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic, incurable illness with a 100 per cent fatality rate. Kate’s nephew, six year old Harrison Smith, who lives in Surrey, England, was diagnosed with the condition in January 2011 and is unlikely to live beyond his late teens or early twenties. The illness affects one in every 3,500 male live births globally; one per cent of sufferers are female.

“When I learnt about Harrison’s Duchenne diagnosis I was determined to do something to bring the disease into the spotlight and raise some funds towards finding a cure,” said Kate, who swam the 33km route in just under 11 hours. “It was an absolute team effort and I could not have done it without an amazing support team of Brendan, Trudy, Neil, Sue, Shani, Francis, Morgan, Martin and Karem who were with me every second of the way.

“I had some major chin wobbles and desperate cries of ‘get me home’ to the support crew at about 22km and get me home they

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“When I learnt about Harrison’s Duchenne diagnosis I was determined to do something to bring the disease into the spotlight and raise some funds towards finding a cure. It was great to be able to use a landmark that everybody has heard of to raise money for an illness that few people know anything about.” – Kate Willoughby did – to the most amazing of welcomes. I had been dreaming of a hug all day from my nephews, Harrison and William, and was delighted to get one.

“It was great to be able to use a landmark that everybody has heard of to raise money for an illness that few people know anything about.”

Kate, also from Surrey, swam The World on November 21st, a date specifically selected as the tide changes are expected to be at their minimum. Under open water swimming rules she could not touch a boat or another person during the swim, but a support boat, provided

by Nakheel, and kayakers were on hand to provide water and food.

Having done no substantial swimming for 14 years, Kate enlisted Jay Benner, coach of the UAE national swimming team, to help her prepare for the swim. In the months leading to the swim, her regime saw her take

to the water at least five times a week, making full use of her Platinum Membership at Fitness First and often completing 5km swims straight after a day in the office.

“I was swimming so many lengths every day I tried to mix up where I trained for a change of scenery,” says Kate. “That’s the great thing about the Platinum Membership – being able to use different Fitness Firsts.

My favourites were the pool at the Media City club and the rooftop one at the Burjuman Centre.

“Besides the pool I treated myself to some down time in the steam and sauna rooms and when I had the energy to cross train I’d use the gym and machines once a week to build my aerobic capacity and core strength.

The fantastic facilities at Fitness First were crucial in allowing me to get in the right shape to complete such a gruelling challenge.”

Kate set her sights on swimming around ‘The World’

and when she found out no one had attempted the swim, her hunger to be the first grew.

The initial thumbs up was given in November 2011, but with open water challenges notoriously unpredictable, planning a safe swim meant unraveling mother nature’s many layers. Brendan Jack, Head of Sustainability and Environment at Nakheel, helped compile the route.

“Without Brendan, none of this would have been possible,” said Kate after completing the challenge just before sundown. “He was vital during the planning stages and he was the one that picked the day, November 21, because of the tides and currents.

“Nakheel have been absolutely instrumental in this whole thing. They have been amazing and I want to say thanks so much to my kayakers, not just for today but every weekend they have given up for training.”n

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XFIT STUDIO OPEN FOR BUSINESS

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ITNESS First Middle East has opened the doors to XFit, the largest high-intensity training studio in the UAE, at its club based in Dubai Knowledge Village.

Fitness First’s initiative to introduce XFit reflects its focus on innovation. The style of training is similar to the circuit conducted during the highly successful Dubai Fitness Competition which took place over the summer. Aimed at improving overall fitness, the intense strength and conditioning programme incorporates varied functional movements including rope climbing, sprinting, gymnastics, rowing, skipping and weight lifting.

Inspired by the ‘crossfit’ style of training which is currently taking the world by storm, the effectiveness of XFit lies in its variation as the body never gets used to the workout and is therefore constantly challenged, leading to much greater gains.

At the new XFit studio, core exercises include Olympic lifting, barbell exercises, traditional gymnastic movements and body weight exercises to get individuals to achieve their maximum potential of fitness and endurance within the minimum time frame.

It is open for both Fitness First members and nonmembers.

The new Xfit studio is kitted out with ‘Rogue’ equipment which is specially designed for these types of exercises.

George Flooks, Chief Operating Officer, Fitness First Middle East, said: “We are proud to establish our new XFit studio in the UAE, reiterating our commitment to continuously innovate our fitness solutions for our members and the community. The move reflects our keenness to closely monitor the market and identify emerging demands to pro-actively cater to customers who trust us with their fitness goals. We are confident that XFit will help push our members’ fitness levels to a new high.”

Outlining the benefits of XFit

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By Nikesh Naik

Contrary to popular belief, XFit can be applied to everyone and anyone.

From young teenagers looking to take their performance to the next level to the senior citizen looking to improve their health and wellness, these programmes suit everyone.

Short and Effective Workouts If you are one of those people who have no time to stare at the wall, an XFit Workout is what you need. Some XFit Workouts last a few minutes, with great benefits. Another benefit of this is knowing your workout before you hit the gym so you can time-manage the rest of your day.

are ready for any physical situation and able to dominate! Be it weight lifting, gymnastics, sprinting, jumping, climbing, carrying and so much more.

But what does this mean? This means that your body never hits a plateau, you will keep getting results because you are training your body in so many different ways.

Qualified coaches Fitness First’s XFit coaches are trained by one central governed body with the correct techniques.

Let’s hear it for the ladies Strong is the new skinny! If you thought that XFit is for men, think again. It’s not uncommon to find some boxes that have more females than males. Science is discovering how weight training for women benefits them far more than the usual group class or treadmill session.

Be part of the community At an XFit studio everyone is your friend. After time, these people become your family, they are ones who get you to train when the days are long and they are the ones that push you! Everyone has the same goal, to get in the best shape possible.

Because of this, everyone is part of a team!

XFit is functional and multidimensional XFit is not about bulking up and looking like a swimwear model. XFit’s purpose is so that at any moment you

Join the XFit community. For daily workouts, motivational tips and the latest news follow us at:

www.facebook.com/xfitfitnessfirst

Turn your weaknesses into strength The beauty of XFit is that you cannot hide your weaknesses; they are there for everyone to see. It’s up to you to work on them and improve them.

It’s human nature to shy away from weakness, however X-Fit teaches you how to deal with them and strengthen your mentality, ultimately its effect is that you become very positive both physically and mentally.

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SportZone opens its doors as a world class indoor sporting arena

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ITNESS First Middle East has once again highlighted its commitment to offering the greatest possible number of avenues towards a healthier, fitter lifestyle with the opening of SportZone.

The world-class sporting venue located at Fitness First Meadows in Dubai offers a huge range of indoor sports and activities Fitness First members, non-members, adults and juniors.

The mammoth facility houses three futsal courts, three five a-side football pitches, two basketball courts, two volleyball courts, indoor cricket pitches and six badminton courts.

George Flooks, Chief Operating Officer, Fitness First Middle East, said: “Fitness First is excited to open up the SportZone, which is a new concept for Fitness First.

“In addition to recognising that fitness goes beyond the gym, we are aware that group sports can be a motivator for many individuals in addition to their regular gym activities.

“We were, therefore, keen to offer our members and the community an opportunity to stay fit and enjoy the experience of group sports with a top of the range sports venue. We are confident that the facility will redefine the indoor recreational landscape in the UAE.”

SportZone is equipped with the latest indoor sports hall technology which includes new ‘sport court’ flooring, an LED lighting system and automatic drop down basketball system and zone dividers.

A host of programmes are on offer to aid development in a range of sports including Soccer Kids – Junior Football Coaching, Advantage Tennis Academy – Junior Tennis Coaching, Jawann Oldham Developmental Basketball Academy and Junior Multi Sport Camps during Christmas, Easter and Summer.

There are also leagues for futsal, basketball, volleyball and indoor cricket. n

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Samoa upset New Zealand in Dubai Sevens final

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AMOA defeated the mighty All Blacks of New Zealand 26-15 in an exhilarating end to the 2012 Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens.

Having twice lost the final before in 2009 and 2010, Samoa made it third time lucky in the Sevens Stadium.

Paul Perez made two early tries to give Samoa a quick 12-0 advantage with Patrick Faapale completing one of the two conversions. New Zealand fought back with tries from Ben Lam and DJ Forbes but a try from Lio Lolo and another conversion from Faapale saw Samoa take a 19-10 half-time lead.

Kurt Baker cut the deficit to four shortly after the break but Tulolo Tulolo put Samoa back in control before Faapale gave them an unassailable 11-point lead.

Samoa captain, Afa Aiono, said: “It was a great win for the boys. We have a young squad, but they believed they could do the job.

“They played really well and this is our first win in Dubai. We have been looking forward to winning here and I am really proud of them. They played really well.”

Unlike their male counterparts, the

New Zealand ladies won the women’s final against South Africa as the first leg of the inaugural IRB Women’s World Series ended in a 41-0 thrashing of the Springboks.

It followed a mixed start to their campaign, where they beat China 31-0 in their opening pool match before drawing 12-12 against both Russia and last year’s Dubai event winners Canada.

A 31-0 quarter-final hammering of England set them back on their way, before a 28-14 semi-final triumph over rivals Australia booked their place in the final.

New Zealand winning captain,

Huriana Manuel, said: “It was our last game and we wanted to empty the tank and leave no what-ifs and maybes. We attacked and attacked and it was a great score for us.

“We knew Dubai was going to be massive. To come to Dubai and experience this amazing stadium is fantastic. We love it here. I have been fortunate enough to come here a couple of times and the crowd and atmosphere are just awesome.”

In the men’s plate final, Wales emerged victorious over Canada 21-14 while Argentina won the bowl final against South Africa 14-10.

England, the Dubai champions for

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Team Training at Fitness First

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eam training is group training with 4-6 members which takes place on the gym floor and the GX Studios in Fitness First clubs and offers a goal-orientated training approach with the support and encouragement of highly qualified Personal Trainers and other members.

The sessions provide added focus to the training from the highest level of qualified trainers. Exercise programmes can be personally tailored to suit the individual which can help boost motivation and encouragement. As part of a team performance progress can be measured against others which can also be a boost to moral.

the past two years, beat Spain 26-5 to win the shield, but it was little consolation for the pre-tournament favourites. Descending from bowl territory after their loss to Argentina, the Red Roses salvaged some pride against Australia 40-12 in the semi-final, before avenging their Gold Coast bowl final defeat to the Spaniards. n

Common gym mistakes that can lead to injuries

by Deirdre Keulemans, BPhsT Physiotherapy, Orthosports Medical Centre Not warmiNg up properly A proper warm-up will increase your heart rate, circulation, range of motion, and neural drive to the working muscles. The result will be an increase in the weight and/or reps that you’re able to lift and a decrease in injury risk, meaning faster continuous progress. Do something to gently increase the temperature of your muscles - walk a few minutes very easy on the treadmill or do /a set of reps on the machines at a very low weight.

Not stretchiNg When you’re finished, make sure to stretch out each major muscle. Holding the stretch (Static Stretching), and not bouncing while stretching (ballistic stretching), for a period of time will create more flexibility, loosen muscles and tight tendons, and reduce muscle tension. Post workout stretching is an important part of preparing your muscle for your next workout. It also minimizes post exercise muscle soreness by increasing blood flow to the worked areas, which speeds up the healing process

Not haviNg the correct techNique Poor technique and posture can not only slow your results, but can result in muscle strains, tendon injuries and joint problems. Always try to have a neutral spine, shoulders retracted and your wrists aligned with your forearms. Keep your back straight when bench pressing or dead lifting and your knees behind your toes when squatting. A movement shouldn’t be performed to fast, and you need to work in your full range of motion.

pushiNg through paiN Anyone who exercises has felt a burn, twinge, stitch or ache. The key is to learn

how to measure pain, to know whether you could continue with the workout or stop the exercise that causes the pain.

When you’re in pain, you end up relying on the wrong muscles to do a move, altering your biomechanics. Consider when the pain started, the grade and persistence of the pain and whether it comes with other symptoms such as swelling or bruising.

overtraiNiNg Overtraining occurs when a person experiences stress and physical trauma from exercise faster than their body can repair the damage. When you rest is when you grow, and people don’t realize how long they have to rest. Listen to your body and if a muscle is aching don’t work it until it stops.

You can prevent overtraining by making small and gradual increases to your exercise program over a period of time.

usiNg too heavy of a weight An appropriate weight is one that can be properly controlled at the correct speed for the correct number of reps, without breaking form. Lifting weights that are too heavy can result in injury to your muscles, connective tissue and joints. When you are performing repetitions too fast, you are using momentum to lift the weight providing for less muscle fibre to be worked, thus creating less muscle growth.

The slower the movement, the more controlled it is and the less likely you›ll get hurt from it.

For more information please visit

www.orthosp.com

KEEP ON RUNNING!

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2013 DUBAI MARATHON

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HE 2012 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon will be remembered as not only the best in the event’s relatively short history but also as one of the most extraordinary single races in the annals of distance running.

While marathon newcomer Ayele Abshero blazed his way to a magnificent win in the men’s event and the top three finishers in the women’s race – headed by defending champion Mergia Aselefech – carved their own slice of marathon history, the rest of the field had race historians frantically rewriting the record books.

It was undoubtedly the greatest single day of distance running seen for many a year and hopes are high that the biggest mass participation event in the region can kick on with even greater stats when the emirate hosts the 2013 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon on January 25.

Twelve months ago, the running world was rocked by the figures and times that came rolling out of Dubai as runner after runner produced personal bests.

From Montreal to Melbourne, Alaska to Auckland, journalists hardly had time to draw breath as record after record tumbled prompting respected industry journal Athletics Weekly to describe the 2012 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon as “…arguably the greatest marathon ever in terms of depth.”

Youngest to break 2:05 Former world junior cross-country champion Abshero won in 2:04:23 to set a host of records – a new course record for Dubai, the fastest marathon debut; the fastest time ever set by a 21-year-old; and the youngest man ever to break 2:05.

He was followed some 27 seconds later by Dino Sefir, who smashed his personal best by almost six minutes (2:04:50), while former world youth champion Markos Geneti lopped almost two minutes off his lifetime best with 2:04:54 in third. Making it a red-letter day for the event, Jonathan Maiyo, the only Kenyan in the top 10, took an eight-minute chunk off his PB to finish fourth in 2:04:56.

Prior to the start in Dubai, never before had more than three men broken 2:05 on a legal course.

Best times-for-place were set for positions from fourth through to 17th with all 17 men breaking the 2:10 mark for the first time ever in marathon history. Such was the quality of the

competition, the 2011 winning time of David Barmasai (2:07:18) would only have been good enough to earn 11th place in 2012!

In the men’s competition, the latest results mean Dubai now has the fourth fastest course record time in marathon history behind Boston, Berlin and Frankfurt.

And while the stunning performances in 2012 gives Dubai top spot in the top 10 average times in any one year in marathon history with 2:05:54, the city now ranks third for its top 10 average times (2:05:10) behind Berlin and Rotterdam.

“Since 2008, our average race time for men has improved by 3m:45s – far better than any other marathon,” says Event Director Peter Connerton. “Last year we also had three women break 2h:20m, which is the first time that has

ever happened in the same race.”

Indeed the women didn’t let the men have it all their own way on the record breaking front.

Mergia Aselefech continued her domination of the event by making it two in a row and destroyed her own personal best by more than three minutes winning in 2:19:31.

The experienced Ethiopian was chased home

by Kenyan debutant Lucy Kabuu – whose time of 2:19:34 was the second fastest marathon debut in history behind the legendary Paula Radcliffe – while Mare Dibaba was third home in 2:19:52.

It was the first time in marathon history that three runners have run under the 2:20 barrier in the same race, reflecting the outstanding results achieved by the male runners. In addition, positions three to nine inclusive were

25 “Since 2008, our average race time for men has improved by 3m:45s – far better than any other marathon.

Last year we also had three women break 2h:20m, which is the first time that has ever happened in the same race.”

Event Director Peter Connerton

all the fastest times ever for those placings in the history of the sport.

In women’s competition, Dubai is now placed fourth in the world behind London, Chicago and Berlin in terms of course record time, while in the top 10 average times in the history of competitive marathons (2:21:16) also places Dubai fourth in the league table behind London, Chicago and Berlin respectively.

With such stunning statistics across the board it’s clear that the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon is now a permanent fixture on the calendars of the major players in the sport.

It’s a fact not lost on the sport’s governing body and in 2012 the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon – the world’s richest long distance running event – was awarded Gold Label status from the International Association of Athletics

Federations (IAAF) for the second consecutive year.

It is the first time any athletics event in the Middle East has won back-to back IAAF Gold Labels and is in recognition of the hugely successful 2012 race as well as the ongoing high standards set by the organisers in association with the Government of Dubai departments who come together to help present the city in full marathon mode.

As online entries continue to flood in for the 2013 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, which will get underway from Emaar Boulevard in Downtown Dubai, Connerton says he is proud that the event continues to cement its place among the world’s premier road races.

“When the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon was first recognised by the IAAF in

Ayele Abshero is congratulated by the crowd after his stunning victory at the 2012 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon.

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2013 DUBAI MARATHON

Anti-clockwise from top: Mergia Aselefech makes it two in a row at the 2012 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon while Ayele Abshero has a winning debut to remember and Richie the Rhino plays up for the camera.

2011, it was the first time a Middle East running event of any kind had gained IAAF Road Race Gold Label status so to do it for a second straight year is a tribute to everyone involved in making it such a success,” he says.

To qualify for IAAF Gold Label status, an event has to satisfy a number of criteria including global media and TV coverage, the variety of international competitors and the quality of their previous race times.

Speaking on behalf of the title sponsor, CEO Standard Chartered Bank UAE Jonathan Morris says: “Since 2005, we have seen the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon grow year on year and we are proud that for the second year in a row the race has achieved Gold Label status.

We are all looking forward to another highly successful race on the streets of Dubai in January 2013.”

Held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai and under the aegis of the Dubai Sports Council, the Standard Chartered Dubai

Runners who would like to take part in the 2013 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon or the associated 10km and 3km events should register online only at

Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Marathon is expected to see a Dubai Sports Council; and HE Matar Al record 20,000 runners competing Tayer, Deputy Chairman of the Dubai over the three events on January Sports Council for their outstanding 25, 2013. support of the Dubai Marathon,” he Among the big guns targeting says. victory will be Kenyan Moses “It is because of their Cheruiyet Mosop who, along with fellow Kenyan Geoffrey www.dubaimarathon.org unwavering commitment that we are able to attract such Mutai, ran the fastest times a strong field of elite athletes ever recorded for a marathon – whose times in 2012 were simply 2:03:06 and 2:03:02 – respectively in incredible. We look forward to seeing many of Boston last year. them again in January 2013 when we hope to Ahmed Al Kamali, a member of the IAAF have the biggest field of entries ever seen in Council and recently re-elected for another Dubai.” four years as President of the UAE Athletic Runners who would like to take part in the Federation, believes credit is more than due 2013 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon or to the Government of Dubai for its ongoing the associated 10km and 3km events should backing of an event that brings together elite register online only at www.dubaimarathon.org. athletes as well as the rank and file of weekend “Dubai has a marathon that has caught the runners. imagination of the athletics world and we “I’d like to thank HH Sheikh Mohammed bin are already talking to managers and agents Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime regarding the athletes we’d like to see back here Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai; HH Sheikh in 2013,” says Connerton. n Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown

29 DEAN STONEMAN

WINS RACE OF HIS LIFE

Richard Bevan talks exclusively to inspirational racing driver dean stoneman who was forced to swap racing for world titles for fighting for his life after learning that he had advanced cancer and was just seven days from dying in early 2011.

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WO years ago Dean Stoneman was all set to follow in the footsteps of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton as the next British star of F1 racing. A child prodigy, the Englishman had excelled at every level of motorsport and his record as he rose through the ranks surpassed that of Hamilton – now one of the highest-paid and best-known drivers in the world.

After storming to the 2010 Formula 2 Championship, having won six races to beat his nearest rival by 42 points, Stoneman received a test drive with Williams F1 following the Abu Dhabi GP where he was quicker than Nico Hulkenberg and Rubens Barichello. He was on the verge of joining the sport’s top tier when he received news that would be devastating for anyone, let alone a 20-year-old young man with the brightest of futures ahead of him – he was suffering from highly advanced testicular cancer which had spread through his body.

Given only a slim chance of survival, Stoneman’s peak physical condition, combined with a racer’s determination to keep fighting through the most gruelling treatment imaginable, saw him beat the odds to win the race of his life and he’s now in Qatar undertaking an important role for Williams Advanced Engineering as attempts to get his F1 dream back on track.

SEVEN DAYS FROM DYING “My dream was to go into F1 and I was on the verge of achieving that,” says Stoneman.

“Ever since I was a kid when my Dad asked me what I wanted to do when I was older I always said, I wanted to drive an F1 car – I had done that and was aiming to take the next step. To be diagnosed with testicular cancer in early 2011 and told that I was almost untreatable and seven days from dying was quite heart breaking.”

Even more difficult to deal with for Dean and his family was the fact that he had visited his local GP on numerous occasions suffering from various symptoms related to the illness but had been turned away each time.

“I went to the doctors seven times for seven different things and every time they said there was nothing wrong with me,” he says. “I had tingling on the left hand side of my face and pins and needles down my arm. I couldn’t speak, I knew what I wanted to say but couldn’t speak. I had a tumour on the left hand side of my brain the size of a 10p piece. And they said, ‘it’s a migraine, take paracetamol.’ Three days in a row that happened. They said, ‘Take paracetamol it’s nothing to worry about.”

If he hadn’t been admitted to hospital when

31 “

“They said:‘You’re going in now for chemotherapy and from then on I was doing 14 hours a day for the first cycle which was six weeks and then when I found out that that hadn’t worked it was 18 hours a day for 12 weeks. I was in the hospital six days on and then two weeks off each

“

time. Then I had four operations and basically it’s been a long recovery up to now.”

DEAN STONEMAN he was, it would have been too late, as Dean explains: “I sat there and said, ‘Can you cure me?’

They said, ‘If we don’t cure you today we’ve got no chance at all.’ I was two hours from losing my legs and kidney. Everything happened so quickly and I just said, ‘Do what you’ve got to do.’ I went straight into hospital there and then at 9 o’clock in the morning and I didn’t get a chance to go home.

“They said, ‘You’re going in now for chemotherapy and from then on I was doing 14 hours a day for the first cycle which was six weeks and then when I found out that that hadn’t worked it was 18 hours a day for 12 weeks.

I was in the hospital six days on and then two weeks off each time. Then I had four operations and basically it’s been a long recovery up to now.”

At his lowest ebb, Dean reveals that he was given some much needed words of inspiration by one of the hospital’s veteran nurses.

“She turned around and said to me, ‘Never give up.’ That was her attitude. She said when the young kids who get diagnosed give up, that’s it. I’m the sort of person who will never give up until my body gives up but I can remember that day very clearly.”

CHEMO BATTLE Dean’s competitive spirit meant that he was never going to lie down and accept defeat at the hands of the deadly disease easily but it was his excellent physical fitness which helped him more than anything as it allowed his body to cope with the arduous treatment. Racing drivers need to be in peak physical condition to withstand the huge amounts of G-force created by the speed of the cars and it takes a huge amount of stamina to stay sharp and focussed throughout a race. Dean believes this was crucial to his recovery.

“The determination of wanting to get through it and through to the other side – I probably got that from racing,” he says. “But a lot of it was fitness. Because my fitness was so high, where I finished my chemo is where the average person starts in terms of what it took out of me. The average person gets knocked a lot lower than where I finished. That’s what they told me. All I was interested in was getting as much chemo as possible as quickly as possible so I could get out of hospital as quickly as possible. That’s all I was interested in. I was getting them to pump the chemo in twice as fast – they said, ‘It doesn’t harm you if we pump it in twice as fast so if you can take it go for it.”

But despite his positive attitude and resilient body there still came a point at when he wondered how much longer he could go on.

“It just got the stage where I was feeling so bad towards the end of the chemo that it didn’t

really fuss me what happened,” he says. “I felt so bad for about five or six days after each chemo session.”

Dean’s remarkable recovery is also testament to the incredible advancements in cancer treatment over the past decade, with new drugs being trialled all of the time, many of which are proving very effective.

“I had the best specialist in the world – and he said to me, ‘Ten years ago, there was only four different drugs and now these days there’s 64’,” said Dean. “He said, ‘Ten years ago you would have had a 0% survival chance.’‘I had a 40% survival chance when I went in.’

“I tried lots of different chemo ‘recipes’ so now if anyone else is going through what I went through and they ask me what I can recommend I can tell them what worked for me. I was one of the only people on this trial drug and I would be willing to help anyone that goes through it. It’s not nice for anyone to go through what I went through.”

Despite being given the all-clear, Dean will be continually monitored for the rest of his life due to the risk of the disease returning and he’s on a continually changing cocktail of medication to cope with the side effects from his treatment.

“This is why I’m struggling with racing at the moment because I’ve got serious nerve damage,” he says. “I’ve got cold feet all the time, pins and needles, I’ve got a bit of memory loss.

I get confused a lot of the time. The pedals are a problem when driving a race car as I can’t feel them properly. The coordination from my head to my toes seems to struggling a bit too – especially with my running and my fitness.

Frustrated “I’m on testosterone injections and creams – obviously I’ve had my right testicle taken out – so I’m up and down all the time emotionally. I was diagnosed on Jan 20th 2011 and it’s only really in the last four months that I’ve started training again. It knocked me back so much. Even now I’m still struggling with side effects of the drugs.

“I get frustrated really easily – there’s just so many different side effects from one drug to the next. It’s just trying to find a happy medium in the middle of all the drugs where I can keep it steady.

It’s lifelong now, I’ve got to do it the rest of my life now so I’m just trying to find the ones that work best for me in the long term.”

33 Dean won the 2010 F2 World Championship in blistering fashion with six race victories and 13 podiums before being diagnosed with cancer shortly afterwards. During his recovery he took part in the 2012 UK Powerboat Championship and was crowned champion after winning nine out of 10 races.

While struggling to reach the level he was previously at in motor racing Dean decided to aid his recovery by having a go at powerboating earlier this year. He’d never raced boats before but he grew up around them on England’s south coast and his father was a former powerboat champion so he tried his hand in the UK Powerboat Superstock Championships and won the series in blistering fashion.

“I won nine races out of 10 and came second in the other he said,” he says. “There are certain similarities between driving a car and boat but lots of differences too. It’s about being smooth because the water’s changing every lap. There are different ways of driving a boat to a car – there’s more to do in a boat. You’ve got a trim etc – whereas in a car you’ve just got two paddles and a break. But you’ve got manage your tyres and stuff like that. I went into the P1 powerboat championship just to keep active. It’s not hard to race a powerboat. The physical side is nowhere near as hard as in a car with the G-Force etc. But I’ve been brought up around boats and I do enjoy going out on the water so I thought I’d take that up as a challenge this year.”

His success at the sport has opened up another

potential avenue for Dean’s racing career to follow and with the sport booming here in the Middle East the region could offer up some exciting opportunities.

NATURAL RACER “I’d love to go into Class 1 Powerboating,” he says. “I know Steve Curtis who races in a Class 1 Powerboat with one of the Sheikhs in the Middle East. The boat is based about five miles from my house. I’d love to do something like that. It’s the fourth most dangerous sport in the world but at the end of the day anything you do – get in a car, helicopter or plane – it’s all dangerous. You can’t sit there and say, ‘That’s dangerous I’m not going to do it.’ If you enjoy what you do, that’s what you’ve got to do.

“We’re looking at every avenue at the moment.

If someone offered me something in Dubai, Qatar, or somewhere I’d be happy to look at those regions and look at the different things I could do.”

There’s little doubt that Dean is a natural when it comes to racing. Originally from the London borough of Croydon, his family moved to

Southampton when he was 8 years old. It wasn’t long before he caught the motorsport bug but it was an agricultural crisis which actually got him involved in the four wheeled variety.

“In 99 we started doing motocross,” he says.

“And that’s where I started in motorsport. Then in 2000/2001 there was a foot and mouth disease outbreak and they stopped all the motocross for a whole year. So we thought, ‘What shall we do?’ So we went down to a go-kart track called Black Bush in Camberley. My dad bought me my first go-kart and on the first day they said I had a natural talent because I was going fast. From that day onwards it’s been expensive but it’s been good. I won every championship I could at every stage.

“My record was as good as Lewis Hamilton’s and better up until I got diagnosed with cancer.”

Dean began racing in the Formula Renault 2 championship in 2008 and won three races, finishing fourth in the standings before finishing in fourth again the following year and in 2010, his first year in Formula 2, he secured a total of 13 podiums, with six wins, to blow his championship rivals away. Little wonder then that he was being compared to current British racing greats like Button and Hamilton and Dean is hoping the work he’s doing with Williams Advanced Engineering will help him as he fights to get his F1 dream back on track.

“The aim is still to get back to where I was and try to get into F1 but as I said I’m really struggling at the moment with fitness and feeling and stuff,” he says. “I’m just trying to do everything I can to get back to where I was. The stuff I’m doing with Williams Advanced Engineering is trying to help me get back a bit of feeling. These days you can set an F1 car up on a simulator so I can do a lot of work on one to get back to where I was.

“Williams Advanced Engineering is run alongside Williams F1. I’m setting up the simulators and a programme for young aspiring drivers to go over there and have a week working on their driving and fitness etc.”

Whether he makes it to the top level in racing or not, Dean’s incredible journey over the past two years has changed his perspective on life and in beating the odds to recover from his terrible illness he’s already won the toughest race of his life.

“At the end of the day, your life is more important than your career,” he says. n

35

Shaun White

LIVING THE DREAM Words by: todd staszko

AT the age of six a starry-eyed Shaun White picked up snowboarding and skateboarding and immediately wanted to beat the older kids, win everything there is to win and become the best in the world at both.

Twenty years later he’s pretty much done everything he set out to do. He’s won two Winter Olympic gold medals, multiple golds in both the Winter X Games and regular X Games and in a marketing sense he is for snowboarding what Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are for football. Every now and again, after rubbing shoulders with the stars, he has to pinch himself to check it’s all really happening.

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“ When I grew up there was a kid at the skate park called

“

Steve who was about 18 and I just had to beat him because he was friends with skate legend Tony Hawk,”

“

Y

ou get sucked into things like, ‘oh I’m going to this movie premiere and these award ceremonies’ but it really hit home when I was at the Men in Black 3 premiere and Will Smith said ‘hi’ to me, and my friend was like ‘dude, Will Smith just said hi to you!’ and that’s when you realise that it’s an amazing place to be,” says the outgoing 26-year-old from San Diego.

White’s black-run journey to mega-stardom began at the tender age of six when, supported by his parents, he was taken to mountains and skate parks to indulge in his new favourite hobbies.

“When I grew up there was a kid at the skate park called Steve who was about 18 and I just had to beat him because he was friends with skate legend Tony Hawk,” beams White. “I’ve always been a competitive person but put me in that scenario and I had that goal!

I was driven! At that point I wanted to be where I am now. I had my dreams, I pictured where I wanted to be and I just ran toward them.

It’s really worked out. I had great parents taking me to the mountain and the skate park.”

His skateboarding and snowboarding careers took off from a young age. When he was nine he found himself being mentored by Hawk at the skate park and at the age of 15 he geared himself up to qualify for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

“My hunger for snowboarding reached its peak in 2002 when I tried to go to the Olympics. Don’t get me wrong I’m still as hungry, but back then I missed out by three tenths of a point. I was just 15 4

39

Shaun White

and I was devastated. I was in first place and then the last rider beat me to qualify. I thought I was gonna go to the Olympics and then it was taken away from me. But that made me come back stronger. This was the Olympics, it puts you on this whole other level. It’s the pinnacle.”

Knowing he had to wait four years for another shot at Olympic glory, White dug deep and gradually became the best and most recognisable snowboarder in the world.

With his instantly recognisable deep red locks poking out from under his helmet and flicking past his shoulders, he won two silver medals at the 2002 Winter X Games and has gone on to dominate the event since, winning at least one gold every year since apart from 2007 when he took a silver and bronze. He was completely undefeated in 2006 when he realised his dreams of becoming an Olympian and then took home the gold in the half-pipe in Torino.

“Everything changed after my first gold in Italy in 2006,” he says. “People stopped me in the street, cabbies shouted at me, people applauded me through the airport, it was crazy. I landed in New York and that same night I was shot the front cover of Rolling Stone. It was amazing.

I didn’t realise that there are people that wait for you outside your hotel so that you can sign something so that they can sell it on eBay!” Pay dirt With his career on a clear upward trajectory he hit pay dirt again in 2010 with another snowboarding Olympic gold in Vancouver but he’s coy on his future within the sport, planning to take it one step at a time.

“I do live in the moment,” he admits, “but there are goals that I have my eye on and if I don’t focus on them then my career doesn’t make sense. I’m already training for the next Winter Olympics in Russia in 2014, and each step and each day I progress towards that is a step in the right direction.

“For me, I’m 26 now, I’ll be 27 at the next Olympics and then 31 at the next one if I’m still having fun and having a good time. And that’s what’s exciting is that I don’t really see a cap on this. Our sport is different in that you have to be inspired to be the best. It doesn’t matter how hard I hit the gym, you have to be creative and come up with a new move to win these competitions, so it’s an exciting place to be.

“It’s also quite a strange scenario to be in at this point because our sport is still quite new. I’ve been able to grow within the sport but also the sport is still growing. At the next Winter Olympics there’s going to be another snowboarding event – there’s half pipe, which I’ve done the past two

Olympics, and now there’s slope style which is jumps and rails and different obstacles, on one long run. So now I have a chance to win two medals. It’s one of those things where I thought, ‘yeah, I’ll do the same thing again and go to the Olympics’ and now it’s changed, it’s all new.

The goals and the opportunities keep changing because the sport keeps changing.”

Having experienced the unique buzz of competing for his country in two Winter Olympics White had the privilege attending the Summer Games in London this year as a spectator.

Olympian “London was amazing because it was the first time I’d been to an Olympic games as a non-competitor,” he says. “I hung out and it was awesome to be there and see someone else stressed out and I could just relax. It was great to be there as a non-competitor. When you compete, you show up at the Olympics, and you’re no longer you; you’re an American Olympian. You’re part of this greater whole, and the individual doesn’t matter. There’s really nothing that can compare to stripping away your identity and competing as an American. You basically show up and leave all your baggage at the door.”

White is now hugely in demand from big money sponsors around the world and his stock has risen so much that he even made his Hollywood debut as himself alongside Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis in the romantic comedy Friends with Benefits in 2011.

“That was really cool, but bizarre too,” he says.

“I was there picking fights with Justin Timberlake, and Woody Harrelson is there trying to break it up, it was wild. I must say that I play a version of myself – I’m not really like that. I wanted to be really angry, even though I’m fairly mellow in real life. It would have been lame in the film if I was a nice guy.”

White is firmly in the limelight and he’s not set to go away any time soon. When he’s not beating everyone on snow he’s busy winning skate events in his ‘spare time’. He’s even got his own video game series. Yet despite all the distractions that come with super-stardom he maintains a level of dominance in competition that is a credit to his dedication to himself and the sport. n If you fancy becoming the next Shaun White, Dubai has its very own indoor ski centre, Ski Dubai, featuring five different runs covering 22,500 square metres of real snow! www.skidxb.com

41 SARAH STOREY

QUEEN OF SPEED Words by: Richard Bevan

SARAH Storey is one of the greatest Paralympians of all time, and certainly the most versatile. The down-to-earth 35-year-old from the Peak District in Northern England began life as a swimmer and became, at the tender age of 14, Britain’s youngest ever gold medalist at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics, where she won two golds, three silvers and a bronze. She went on to add another thee golds, a silver and a bronze in Atlanta in 96, two silvers at Sydney in 2000 and two silvers and a bronze in Athens in 2004 before an ear infection forced her out of the pool for several months in early 2005.

SARAH’s ‘STOREY” Sarah took up cycling in a bid to keep fit during her recuperation and found that she was rather good at it – coming within two seconds of the 3000m World Record after being offered a trial by British Cycling. Unable to compete in both sports at the top level she made the decision to switch to cycling and surprised even herself by winning two golds – in the Time Trial and the Individual Pursuit – at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008. A hat full of European and World titles followed including two World Cups and three National titles riding for Team GB in able-bodied cycling. She competed for England in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and could have made Team GB’s time trial quartet for the ablebodied Olympics in London. But the decision was made for her to concentrate her efforts on the Paralympics where, after putting Britain’s first gold on the board, breaking the World Record in the process in the Individual Pursuit, she went on to top her country’s medal table with four golds from four events.

Born without a functioning left hand, Sarah, who recently confirmed she’s pregnant with her first child, has never let her so called ‘disability’ get in the way of anything she’s done and she’s a shining example to anybody of what you can achieve with hard work and dedication. Her astonishing record across swimming and cycling includes 22 Paralympic medals (11 gold, eight silver, thee bronze), 20 World Championship titles, and 72 World Records.

4

43 You are never too old and there are always adaptations that can be made to sporting activities to take into account someone’s impairment. There is no such excuse as too old, too fat or too disabled in my book - we should all be encouraged to better ourselves and our health.

SF: You’re Britain’s greatest female Paralympian – do you sometimes pinch yourself at what you’ve achieved and did you ever expect when you started out that you’d be sat here today with such a phenomenal medal haul and list of achievements?

SS: I pinch myself all the time because I always dreamed of being an athlete for a long time but I didn’t think a career of this length was possible. I was always into multiple sports and loved having a go at everything so it doesn’t surprise me that I have amassed results in such a wide range of events, but I do feel fortunate to have had and taken so many great opportunities to get me to this point. I have always had amazing support from my family and with their support everything has happened over the last 21 years.

SF: You topped the medal table for Britain in London this summer – talk about what that meant, to do that on home soil in such a special Games – will that ever be topped in your career?

SS: I think we all recognise that no other event will ever match London 2012 and as such it will never be the same so it’s important to recognise how different it will be in

Rio. Every Games is great for different reasons but a Home Games will always stand out because of the sheer numbers of home supporters in the stands. It was a very special time to have so much home support and I don’t think you would want that to be topped, because being able to win at home is the biggest privilege that so few athletes get the opportunity to do.

SF: You won Britain’s first gold in the Individual Pursuit final – how much of a relief was it to get the first one under the belt and did that set you up for the rest of your Games?

SS: There was a certain amount of relief but in London mainly excitement that I had been able to start so well and as such that gave me a good platform on which to build for the rest of the Games. My competitors knew I was there in great shape and so to have the psychological advantage is always a bonus. As an athlete you have no control of the order of events so it was entirely luck that I was able to win the first gold for the whole team, but I was so proud to have been able to do that and completely surprised to see my face on the front of the newspapers the following day!

SARAH’s ‘STOREY” SF: Obviously being a Home Games you expected it to be a special atmosphere but did you ever expect it to be as big as it was? What was it like competing in such a huge event and how much did the crowd help the British athletes achieve what they did?

SS: I didn’t have any expectations for the Games, only for my own performance. As I said before the Games, the champions would win in an empty room and whilst there was no chance of the stands being empty in London, it was important to prepare and focus on the things that really mattered. The bonus of having a huge supportive crowd was brilliant, but the benefit of doing so many Games is that you learn not to expect or imagine anything other than your own performances. The crowds made the event more memorable than in previous Games and we all felt incredibly honoured that so many people had decided to come and support us.

Personally the crowd was a plus, but there were athletes who choked under the pressure of such big crowds.

SF: You were one of the faces of the Games – how does it feel to have been part of the biggest Paralympics ever – to have played such a key role in changing peoples’ perceptions about Paralympic sport and to do so much to raise its profile?

SS: London was my sixth Games and I have been working on building the profile of the Games throughout the last 20 years. It was fantastic to be able to introduce a wider audience to the Paralympic Games and see how much they enjoyed sports that have always been so competitive and exciting. The change of perception was also well overdue and I don’t think we will see the impact of that perception for a couple of years yet. If the Parasports receive the same recognition for World Championships and other events then we will know that we have made a lasting difference, but it is too early to say whether that change has happened yet.

SF: From here on in the Paralympics will always be a huge event with the standard getting more competitive all the time and the likes of (archer) Danielle Brown, (sprinter) Oscar Pistorious and yourself competing against able bodied athletes as well. How important is it to you to keep raising the bar and challenging the boundaries of what you can achieve in sport?

SS: Parasport athletes have always competed in able-bodied sport, so in that sense it is not new at all, it is just that people have only been aware of this happening quite recently. I would say over 50% of the competitors at the Paralympics used able-bodied sporting events to prepare

Sarah and husband Barney pose with their 2012 Paralympic medals and Royal Mail stamp art next to the post box painted gold in their honour in Sarah’s home town of Poynton, England.

for the Paralympics. Within sport the two sides of the sport are far more joined up than people realise and it isn’t just 2012 that has seen a rise in standards, Parasport has been getting more and more competitive every year.

SF: How great is your desire to keep the momentum going after the Games – to continue to raise the profile for your sport in regular non-Olympic events to keep the nation’s interest, which will help with funding, sponsorship etc and ultimately fuel its growth?

SS: Again, within Parasport this is not a new concept. We have always been working to raise the profile, it’s out of our control whether or not the press choose to cover the world championships or other events. We are already well funded within sport and higher profile doesn’t mean that sponsorship and funding will fall into people’s laps. Within sport we have to focus on doing our job and making sure there is something to report on, the fact the press haven’t always chosen to cover that success is nothing to do with us, because we have always performed and won medals.

SF: During childhood did your disability ever get in the way of what you wanted to do – were you always determined that it wouldn’t?

SS: I was brought up by my family to have a go at everything and only having one hand was never made into a big deal or issue. There has always been a way round the things that I have perhaps struggled to do in a more conventional way. This approach continued through school and I never grew up worrying about whether or not I could do something. As a result everyone just accepted me the way that I am, I have never

been bullied because of having one hand and never been prevented from doing anything that I wanted to do. It was only at Uni that I met a swimming coach in the local town club who refused to coach me because I was not on the Olympic team, but ultimately that was his loss and I just got on with it anyway. I think ultimately having one hand is quite insignificant and it certainly hasn’t changed or shaped my personality, I would have been sporty anyway.

SF: You won two Golds in swimming in Barcelona when you were just 14, to become Britain’s youngest individual gold medallist at that time, how did that feel?

SS: Well it wasn’t for a long time after that I realised I was the youngest ever (until Ellie Simmonds won as a 13-year-old in Beijing in 2008) so it didn’t feel weird in that sense, especially as the team was a very young team and our relay squad had three teenagers in it. Winning on my international debut was everything I had dreamed about. I took almost four seconds off the 100m backstroke World Record and became the first female swimmer to dip under 2 minutes and 40 seconds for the 200m Individual Medley. That sort of time people just do in training these days, but in 1992 it was a big step forward for the sport. I look back and it gives me shivers to think I had achieved my first dreams at such a young age but at the time I was just taking it in my stride, answering the media questions with honesty and making sure I was training hard to get the next job done on my list.

SF: After the golds in 1992 and 1996 you won silvers in the pool in Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004) was that a disappointment?

Sarah and swimmer Ellie Simmonds meet Queen Elizabeth II during a reception for Team GB following the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

SS: On reflection I am quite philosophical about not winning gold as I had been through a lot prior to the Sydney Games suffering with chronic fatigue syndrome that nearly ended my career. In both Sydney and Athens I did personal best times to win the silvers, but just happened to get beaten by someone better on the day.

At the time it was very frustrating as I was defending three titles in Sydney and in Athens I went in as a three times World Champion from the 2002 Championships. Ultimately as an athlete you have to accept you are not going to win all the time.

If you are producing your own personal best but still get beaten you have done everything you could and there is nothing else you can do until the next time. I feel proud to have been able to say I was swimming personal best times right up to the end of my swimming career and even at my retirement swim meet in November 2005 I almost broke the World Record over 100m freestyle, despite spending much of that year out of the water with ear infections!

Losing races also teaches you more than winning, so whilst it isn’t great at a major event to miss out, even the best athletes have to lose sometime and the important part is to learn and move on.

SF: Was it the ear infections that made you decide to switch to cycling or was it always your plan to do so?

SS: No it wasn’t the intention to swap, it was something of an accident! After the Games in Athens I did a bit of cross training to stay fit and part of that involved going to the Manchester Velodrome to learn how to ride on the track, as anyone can do. Then in the early part of 2005, having spent a month in Australia doing some swim training, I came home to find I had picked up an ear infection while I was out there. The normal practice for ear infections, which happen from time to time as a swimmer, is to have a week out and then all is well again.

Unfortunately for me the infection returned in the other ear about two weeks after the first one cleared up. At first everyone thought it was bad luck but then after another week out of the water, the first ear got infected again less than two weeks after getting back to normal training. By the time I got to July 2005, I’d had six ear infections and each one had taken longer and longer to clear up. The specialists were quite bemused as to why the infections were so stubborn and in the middle of July told me they were keeping me out of the water until they were convinced my ears had functioned normally for six weeks. I’d been using a bike to help me stay fit whilst I couldn’t put my head in the water and during that time had completed

my safety accreditation at the Velodrome in Manchester. I had also borrowed a road bike from British Cycling to help keep me out of the gym and had gradually been building up my confidence on two wheels, even doing a couple of small races to help satisfy my love of racing.

When I discovered I was banned from the water for up to three months, I was gutted, but then British Cycling offered to trial me over 3000m to see whether I could meet the selection criteria for the 2005 European Championships, due to be held in the middle of August. I turned up for the trial and rode double track discs for the first time to record a time of 4 minutes and 3 seconds, which turned out to be just 2 seconds outside the current World Record!

Everyone, including me, was quite shocked, but I had booked my ticket to the European Championships! Whilst out there in Holland I was entered into all the events possible and came home with a silver in the 500m, a gold and new World Record in the 3000m, a bronze in the Road Time Trial and for good measure on the final day I won the sprint finish to take the gold in the Road Race too!

SF: You met your husband Barney, who’s also a cyclist, at training camp prior to the Paralympics in Athens in 2004. Did he help get you into cycling?

SS: His support in helping me switch sports was certainly invaluable but I started cycling before we got together. Although we met in April 2004, we didn’t get together for almost a year, by which time I had already learnt to ride the track.

When I decided to give cycling a go, I couldn’t have asked for a better person to support me through that transition.

45 SF: With both of you being top level cyclists is it hard to switch off? I have a mental image of the dinner table conversation being dominated by talk of how to shave an extra second off your times?

SS: Neither of us see cycling as a job and equally neither of us are so self obsessed that we would talk about such finite details over dinner! We love what we do and talk about what we need to. I always find it strange that people think it must be hard to switch off, when you are doing something you love why would you need to switch off?

SF: I guess the principles of hard work, training, diet etc were already ingrained into you as swimmer which must have helped when you switched to cycling?

SS: Definitely -– any endurance based sport requires a similar work ethic and then the tweaks need making in order to make the training, diet and work ethic work for that particular sport.

SF: What were your feelings about coming so close but missing out on making the team for the Olympics?

SS: It wasn’t an emotional decision so there was nothing to feel. I wasn’t selected because I would have been spread too thinly with four events to focus on in the Paralympics too. There were four girls left in the squad after I left that were purely focused on team pursuit, so it made sense to take me out of the squad. The GB team are funded and supported to win as many gold medals as possible and so we have to use the personnel available to us in the most efficient way. That is what the team chose to do and so that is what happened. When you are training for four events there is no time to feel anything you get on with your job.

SF: What message would you give to people who perhaps have a disability or they think they’re too out of shape or old etc to start getting active or perhaps have a so called ‘disability’ that they see as an obstacle?

SS: You are never too old and there are always adaptations that can be made to sporting activities to take into account someone’s impairment. There is no such excuse as too old, too fat or too disabled in my book – we should all be encouraged to better ourselves and our health.

SF: What are your future plans – is Rio on your radar?

SS: Definitely, I am back in training now and working towards the intermediate goals of the World Championships that will hopefully lead to me being selected for the Games in Rio. n

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Behind the stars In the latest instalment of our ‘Behind the Stars’ series, looking at the crucial people who support the world’s top stars on their road to success, we talk to leading performance nutritionist Nikos Jakubiak, the man in charge of the diets and wellbeing of Scotland’s top athletes.

To be the best you’ve got to eat the best NIKOS Jakubiak’s role as performance nutritionist at SportScotland’s Institute of Sport sees him interact with the country’s finest weight lifters, boxers, judoka, taekwondo fighters and swimmers as he helps them maintain their physical condition for gruelling training and high-class competition.

Originally from Greece, Nikos talks us through his journey to Scotland, his opinion on the difference between Olympic standard athletes and the rest and why ‘detox diets’ are not the best way to get back on track after an over-indulgent Christmas.

Left: British Olympian Sarah Clark in action at the London 2012 games (far left) and on her way to winning the 2009 GB World Cup. Nikos is the man who makes sure she is in top shape at such prestigious events.

M

Y story in nutritional science goes back to the early 1990s when I was completing my diploma in Taekwondo coaching. At the time one of my lecturers was a sports nutritionist and it was the first time I’d come across the science behind sport and how people choose what foods they eat. I was fascinated by that and I thought ‘this is what I want to do, to get a better understanding of this’. Back then there wasn’t a course like that at Greek universities so I had to move abroad and all of a sudden I found myself in Scotland.

I arrived in Scotland to complete a degree in Nutrition and Dietetics at the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen and I began my role as Performance Nutritionist for the SportScotland Institute in 2009. At the institute I work with athletes who compete in judo, boxing, swimming, wrestling, weight lifting etc. My role is to make sure that they have the right physique for their sport and to help them make the right food choices in order to be able to stay healthy and strong and be able to recover quickly so they can go back and hammer more sessions!

I have worked with Sarah Clark, who made her third outing for TeamGB at the Olympic games in London as part of the Judo team, and also James Millar and rising star Kimberley Renicks.

Olympic standard The difference between the very top Olympic standard athletes and the rest is that they are ready to go after a tough session, either two days later or sometimes the next day.

Whereas others of a lesser physical ability might be able to pull off a tough session but it might be a few days before they’re recovered enough and ready to go again. And that is the key difference. The fact that these Olympic standard athletes can cope with such a heavy and intense regime sets them apart. But it comes through years of training, years of good nutrition and other factors around their lifestyle. Nutrition is the key thing because if people have the motivation and work ethic then the right nutrition allows the body to respond favourably to training.

It’s all about good choices. The regular gym goer can learn just as much as an elite athlete. Think about taking 100 calories from a glass of fizzy juice – all you’ll get is the sugar.

Alternatively, you can take in 100 calories from a glass of milk and for the same calories you’ll be benefitting from a bit of phosphate, calcium, protein and some carbs that will keep you running far longer.

Above: Scotland’s James Millar is a judo winner all over the world including the Belgium Open and the Georgia World Cup and he is a multiple British Champion.

Above: Nikos is still a qualified Taekwondo coach and here he is giving some last minute tips to his wife Lesley, who is both a coach and a competitor.

Behind the stars

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Demystifying the Detox Diet fad With Christmas on the horizon it is likely that some, or indeed all of us will indulge in some foods and drinks that under normal circumstances we wouldn’t.

First of all we have to demystify this notion of a ‘detox diet’ that will help your body recover after a period of heavy indulgence. There is no such thing! All you need to be able to deal with the various toxins in your body is a healthy liver and a healthy blood circulation. Good food choices and an active lifestyle can help keep both the liver and the circulation in top shape.

A common mistake many people make is to follow very bland and restricted diets to compensate for overindulging during the Christmas period. First of all, remember that prevention is better than cure.

You should feel comfortable with their food choices but you still need to keep in mind that the volume and choice of foods you consume impacts on health and performance.

Healthy people who are overindulging on a rare occasion on foods and snacks that are part of the festivities and not necessarily the healthiest of choices can cope fine enough. However persistent overindulging over a week or two can be problematic and this is why most people who fall in the latter group resort to extreme strategies – like a ‘detox diet’ in order to get their bodies back to their pre-Christmas season state.

Christmas season food culture includes choices that are very calorific and low in nutrients (vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, antioxidants). For example, sugary snacks, cream, puddings and fizzy drinks are all dense in calories but very low in useful nutrients.

During the festivities people should have the snacks and foods they want in moderation without forgetting to also have plenty of foods which are important for their health. Lots of nicely cooked root vegetables and cruciferous vegetables (eg: brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy) should be on your plate with

Offset a bit of this...

each main meal as these will add some of the missing nutrients. Likewise, having a salad on the side based on green leafy vegetables (e.g. spinach, kale, watercress, lettuce) tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and herbs fortifies the meal further without pushing the calorie count too high.

After Christmas most people will want to compensate for the excesses during the festivities. Heading towards drastic measures such as severe calorie restriction or very limited choice of food is not the best approach.

Our bodies need a supply of lots of different nutrients on a daily basis so instead of following some bizarre ‘detox’ fad just follow a sensible approach.

This can be achieved by simply cutting out all the calorie-dense and nutrientpoor foods and consuming nutrient rich foods (vegetables, fruits, oily fish – salmon, mackerel, sardines, trout, fresh tuna – and other sea food, lean red meat, poultry, whole grain cereals) in reasonable portion sizes.

This is a simple approach to help restore the right balance of nutrient and calories.

It is also important to note that most cooking methods can be used apart from frying. Following a regular meal pattern is important as well; have breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Finally, let’s not forget to have fun with our food; experiment with new recipes, different textures, use a wide variety of vegetables and fruits and cooking ingredients.

Crucially, take time to enjoy our meals; eating is a very important process for our bodies which occupies considerable time in our lives, let’s make sure it is always an experience we enjoy.

A great advantage of the approach described above is that it is sustainable and allows us to be productive and in a good mood whilst recovering and returning back to normal.

...with plenty of these

What and when to eat: Here is a simple schedule of what you should look to eat on a normal working day which includes some exercise after work.

Breakfast: Bowl of wholegrain cereal with milk or porridge.

Morning snack: A small pot of natural yoghurt and a piece of fruit.

Lunch: Bowl of soup, chicken breast, two slices of granary bread and a green salad with olive oil dressing. Make sure the soup is packed full of vegetables. The protein in the chicken will stop hunger in the afternoon and the bread is a good source of Vitamin D for healthy bones and teeth. The salad makes up one of your 5-a-day and the olive oil is good for your heart.

Afternoon snack: Another piece of fruit (another of your 5-a-day).

Pre-exercise: Cereal bar. This is a small dose of carbs that will give you more energy to sustain your activity.

Post-exercise: Fruit smoothie (fresh fruit blended with juices, milk or yoghurt). Your metabolism will be higher for a while after exercise so you’ll burn off the extra carbs in this drink.

Evening meal: A piece of fish with a small baked potato and cooked vegetables. Don’t have too much carbohydrate in your final meal of the day. It is important to know that a baked potato has fewer carbs than pasta or rice.

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53

Exercising Diabetes – what can be done to help?

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a condition that affects millions of people across the globe. It occurs when the amount of glucose in your blood is too high because the body can not use it properly due to the pancreas not producing any (or not enough) insulin to help the glucose enter the body’s cells.

There are two types of diabetes. Type 1 occurs when the body is unable to produce insulin to help the glucose into the body. In Type 2 diabetes there is not enough insulin produced or the insulin that is made doesn’t work properly. This tends to affect people as they get older but is occurring more and more in younger people who are overweight.

Diabetes that isn’t controlled can cause serious long-term problems. Excess glucose in the blood can damage the blood vessels, contributing to heart disease, strokes, kidney disease, impotence and nerve damage.

How can exercise help cut the risk of diabetes?

- High intensity workouts rather than slogging it out in the gym A recent study by James Timmons, professor of exercise biology at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, revealed that short bursts of intense exercise could cut the risk of Type 2 diabetes.

He says that rather than slaving away for hours in the gym, people should focus their workouts on quick sprints, with each session lasting only a few minutes.

“If you go for a jog or a run you oxidise glycogen but you are not depleting the glycogen in your muscles. The only way to get to this glycogen is through very intense contractions of the muscles,” says Timmons.

“If we can get people in their 20s, 30s and 40s doing these exercises twice a week then it could have a very dramatic effect on the future prevalence of diabetes.”

Can exercise help sufferers of diabetes?

Dr. Timothy S. Church, director of preventive medicine research at the Pennington Biomedical Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, believes that a combination of resistance training and aerobic training is fundamental for Type 2 sufferers to cut their high blood-sugar levels.

A study of 262 Type 2 sufferers underwent a nine-month trial to monitor their levels of HbA1C (a component of hemoglobin which binds to glucose and builds up when blood sugar stays elevated) while doing various exercises. They were split into groups of regular aerobics, resistance training, a combination of the two and no exercise at

Can exercise help Type 1 diabetes?

Because exercise uses glucose for movement, it is an excellent way to maintain stable levels of glucose. Exercise cannot normalize glucose levels, but it can effectively counteract elevated levels that occur after eating. For type I diabetics, exercise does not regulate glucose to normal levels. However, exercise acts very much like insulin on skeletal muscle cells, so the amount of insulin injected for controlling glucose can be lowered in type I diabetics who exercise.

all. HbA1C level indicates how well blood sugar has been controlled over an eight to 12 week period. HbA1C level is expressed as a percentage and at the start of the study participants averaged 7.7%. Levels under 6% are considered normal.

At the end of the nine-month trial, the combination group had lowered their HbA1C levels by 0.34% compared to the group doing no exercise. The aerobics group and the resistance group also went down, by 0.24% and 0.16% respectively. Only the change in the combination group was considered statistically significant.

The combination group also saw a lowering in the amount of diabetes medication needed on average and they were the only group to lose both fat and weight.

“From the health perspective, the combination exercise programme really outshined the others,” Church confirmed.

“For individuals with diabetes, the optimal programme involves aerobic and resistance training. The biggest consumer of blood sugar is skeletal muscle, and anything you do to improve the health of your muscles will help control your use of blood sugar.”

Which workouts are best?

With the onset of Type 2 diabetes affecting people as their get older the idea of doing lung-busting sprints isn’t all that appealing (or practical in some cases) so anything remotely active will do in its stead. Be it dancing, walking or a bit of housework (more on that later), at least 30 minutes of exercise each day is what you should be aiming for, according to George Griffing, MD, professor of endocrinology at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

“We need people with diabetes up and

55

moving,” says Griffing. “If you can do your exercise in one 30 minute stretch, fine. But if not, break it up into increments you can manage that add up to at least 30 minutes each day.”

In order to achieve this try and set specific goals that are attainable on a week-by-week basis. Even the goals to get you started are small, like a 20 minute walk every other day, you will feel better for having met this goal.

Increasing general activities, such as climbing staircases instead of taking the elevator, is also a good way to get your body moving and your blood pumping. However, it’s still a good idea to add some more traditional exercise. Doing bits around the house like mopping and hoovering does burn calories, but not as much as you might think.

Writing down your exercise achievements on a calendar or diary is a good idea so you can monitor your progress and start to increase your workload when you’re comfortable.

Starting steady is important and maintaining a consistent manageable exercise schedule is equally important. Getting to where you want to be eventually, in a way that you are able to maintain, is ideal as it is long-term behavioural change that has the positive health consequences.

Get a pedometer

Stanford University researchers conducted a review of 26 studies looking at the use of pedometers as motivation for physical activity.

The review found that people who used a pedometer increased their activity by 27%.

Having a goal of 10,000 steps a day (about five miles) was important, even if it wasn’t reached every day. Pedometer users lost more weight, had a greater drop in blood pressure, and walked about 2,500 steps more per day than those who didn’t use a one.

Can proper exercise prevent the onset of Type 2 diabetes?

Unfortunately, some people will develop Type 2 diabetes even while staying in great shape, exercising and following a healthy diet. On the flipside, a large portion of people who develop diabetes could have avoided it with regular exercise and a smart diet. Here are key points to follow:

l Include some High Intensity Interval

Training in your routine. l

l

l l

If you just perform resistance training, add in some cardio.

If you just perform cardio, add in resistance training.

Avoid becoming obese or overweight.

If you’re overweight, lose that excess weight ASAP.

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New Year’s Day is everybody’s birthday!

The New Year is upon us. If last year held the promise of a new intention (or an old one revisited), how did it go? Did your intention become action today?

Why is it that our resolutions more often than not fail?

There are a number of things that have to happen to ensure success in a New Year’s resolution. I’ll focus on three main ideas here: 1. Emotions and unrealistic thoughts How you feel and how you act make all the difference. The big issue is that of self-regulation – you need to manage your emotional state and many of your unrealistic thoughts to make it a success. n Emotions Thinking of the New Year and your resolution for change feels good. Optimistically, we look forward to the New Year and a new start. The thing is, we have to accept that it won’t feel good once we move from intention to action.

Denying ourselves a second serving as we begin our new approach to eating and weight loss, or slipping out the door for an early morning run as we begin our new fitness program simply won’t feel good. But don’t give in.

If you can move past this initial discomfort and get started, your attitude will follow your behavior. n Unrealistic thoughts What we do know from a variety of research is that once we make progress on a goal (even a little), we feel better and more motivated. When setting out on a new goal it can be difficult

to find the motivation (“I’ll feel more like it tomorrow” – ring any bells?) but don’t wait until you feel like it, just do it. Quell your negativity.

2. Meaningful and Manageable Successful projects need to be personally meaningful to motivate us to proceed, yet they also need to be manageable enough to know that we can actual achieve what we set out to do. Both the meaning and manageability aspects of our projects can lead to problems with our New Year’s resolutions. n Meaningful Although we might expect that a New Year’s resolution is very meaningful to us (that’s why we make them, right?), not all are. Our whimsical goals to “get fit this year” or “lose 40 pounds” may well be falsely imagined goals based on what we think others expect of us. To the extent that we don’t really ‘own’ the goal as it’s unlikely we’ll actually do anything about it. n Manageable Let’s say your fitness or weight-loss goal is personally meaningful. You are motivated for

change. Success then depends on how you manage this project. Can you identify the specific schedule-able act that is required? Can you move from a meaningful goal intention to action? If you’re not moving from the broad goal intention of the New Year’s resolution to a more specific implementation intention, you’re not as likely to be successful. The more specific the goal is, the more likely you will achieve it. Instead of “I want to lose weight” try “I want to lose ‘X’ in two weeks.”

3. Setbacks and a commitment to start again Expect setbacks. In fact, expect to feel like a failure at times. Change is not easy, and New Year’s resolutions seem to be some of the most difficult goals in our lives. Be kind with yourself but also be relentlessly mindful, firmly bringing your attention back to your goal and your focus to the act at hand.

“Just get started” isn’t a one-time effort. You may “just get started” a dozen times a day. Keep at it and you’ll soon find that a habit develops, a new way of living takes shape and your New Year’s resolution becomes a reality. n

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MEET THE FITNESS FIRST TEAM

Or log onto www.fitnessfirstme.com

Yoga teacher

SUNDARA BEAM RAO KASINATH SF: How long have you been practicing and teaching yoga?

SBRK: I finished my graduation in Ayurvedic Medicine in 2002. Ayurveda and yoga are considered to be the twin sisters of the great Indian knowledge systems. Immediately after my graduation I joined a leading Ayurveda hospital in Southern India where I learnt therapeutic yoga and clinical research methodologies.

I was fortunate to have good teachers who taught me to apply science in order to add value to the practice. I started my career with applying therapeutic yoga with my complementary and alternative medical practice. After I came to Dubai it was my yoga guru Pillar ‘Peewee’ Sanchez who shaped me into becoming a fully-fledged yoga teacher.

SF: How did you get into yoga?

SBRK: It began during my childhood in India. I remember when I was growing I saw my father, who was also a yoga practitioner, teaching yoga to his clients saying: “Practice yoga for good health and peace of mind”. His words were deeply fixed in my mind. As I moved to my degree in Ayurvedic medicine, yoga

was one of the subjects. I took my allied subject as therapeutic yoga. After my graduation I got inspiration by my friend Ranjan who pulled me into preventive Yoga.

SF: How would you best describe your style of yoga classes?

SBRK: I teach lot of power yoga and I do this to prove to skeptics that yoga classes can be intense enough to burn sufficient calories for weight loss.

I teach better ways of breathing, balancing, stretching and try to focus more on enjoying the journey of yoga rather than focusing on reaching a goal.

SF: How can yoga improve a person’s health?

SBRK: The effect of yoga on the body and mind cannot be described with words. One has to experience it to understand it. Members who I teach often tell me that they feel like their bodies and mind have been re-booted at the end of class.

SF: What has been your experience of

treating various health issues with yoga therapy?

SBRK: As a person who is interested in therapeutic yoga I have found encouraging results in yoga treating diabetes, obesity, hormonal problems and postural misalignment like Scoliosis. Also, specifically in the fitness environment, some members I teach have proved that the practice of yoga helps them to reduce their body weight.

SF: If a member has never tried yoga before or is inflexible, can they still take part in a yoga class?

SBRK: We all were born flexible enough to practice yoga, it’s only our lifestyle which can lead us to feel inflexible.

Yoga is about discovering the flexibility within you. One has to understand that everybody is different and it takes a while to understand the poses and to get into the perfect pose. Keep your mind clear and start with a confident attitude and your instructor will help you every step of the way. Beginners should use yoga props like a strap, block or a simple towel to help progress. The key is to remain patient and remember that practice makes perfect. n

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FITNESS FIRST SUCCESS STORIES

How yoga has changed my life

By: Inna S. Devani

I

t was July 25th, 2010 when I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I was shocked and scared and naturally my first thought was ‘how long do I have to live?’

I was very fortunate to have got the right treatment at the right time – I took control over my life and decided against taking chemotherapy and instead did it the herbal way as I was against taking medication.

I felt confident and energised but most of all I had a will to live for my husband and children and I said to myself, I will fight. I am alive and well today due to my family’s support and my friends in Dubai.

In my days of recovery I wanted to do something which would help me heal and get my strength back and concluded that yoga classes would be the way forward. I became a member at Fitness First as there were plenty of additional activities to partake in along with the yoga. I started practicing yoga because I wanted to look good and feel good.

Meditation Yoga brought into my life not just all of the things I initially believed I wanted, but much more. It made me more flexible in body and it also pointed out other areas of life in which I could bend or stretch more. It didn’t happen overnight, it took a few months and a lot of trust, but it happened. These days the daily practice of yoga and meditation is ingrained in my daily activities.

I started practicing a set yoga routine in the morning, five times a week. In the beginning the practice was short as I concentrated on learning the poses in sequence. I practiced half at the yoga studio in various Fitness First Clubs and half at home and within six months I started to notice new muscles in my body, a boost in energy levels, better posture and I noticed I’d lost weight.

Not all styles of yoga are as intense as the one I practice, but most classes these days include a comprehensive workout for the whole body – a term called power yoga. Power yoga includes backbends, which help with spine

flexibility; twists, which help with toxic release and weight loss; inversions, which help us see things differently; and standing poses that build stamina.

Throughout the daily practice of yoga poses my body has learned new and challenging poses. Practicing yoga poses every day is perhaps one of the most efficient mirrors we can put in front of ourselves.

Resistance As we begin to learn it every single cell in the body seems to scream ‘no’ in resistance and it doesn’t take very long to realise that the yoga poses are just the tip of the iceberg.

Becoming increasingly aware of my breathing

was the doorway into efficiency within my own body and meditation is the branch of yoga that has brought the most amount of miracles in my life, perhaps the biggest one being that I now live and do work I genuinely love.

When we step onto the yoga path we say goodbye to our old preconceptions and begin to give ourselves the opportunity to look at everything that happens in a new way. We start thinking with new types of images, we dream new possibilities, we become kinder, we notice things and we see things.

The yoga path is a rewarding way of living, a grounded way to connect with spirituality and a doorway into the magic that lives within us. n

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XFit studio innovation

X-citing times for Fitness First I

’M really excited to have been asked to be Head Coach at the new XFit Studio. It’s a really great facility and a wonderful innovation for Fitness First. If you’re looking for something to get you excited about keeping fit then this is it.

XFit is based around functional training – so whereas when you go to the gym usually you go straight on to the bench press machine, or the pec machine – all very machine based – with XFit you could be doing ‘Wall Ball’; holding a 20lb ball, squatting then, exploding up and throwing the ball against a wall to a certain point – maybe 10ft up – then catching it again.

That would be one rep and you have to concentrate quite hard throughout to hit the target and catch the ball so you end up working your body without being so aware of it as when you use the

Jo Jo Aragon, Head Coach at the new XFit Studio at the Knowledge Village gym in Dubai talks about the latest innovation to hit Fitness First.

machines. We also use free weights, kettle balls, rings, battling ropes, climbing ropes, paralattes, rowers, sleds, GHD (glute ham developer) and all these different pieces of equipment to create challenging and constantly changing workouts.

Objective When you come to our gym you have to think, you don’t just let the machine guide you through everything. If you were on a running machine you might think, ‘I’m going to set this to 10km and once it beeps I’m going to get off.’

But in our XFit gym we give you an objective, and how you achieve that objective in the fastest and most efficient way is down to you.

You’re trying to achieve a physical goal with each rep rather than just going through the motions. It’s a really engaging way to exercise and very addictive. When most

people go to a gym they already know the workout they’re going to do but when people come to the XFit Studio a Crossfit Certified instructor like me will tell them on the day what they’re going to be doing. That keeps it very fresh and interesting every day. Anything that is unknown is exciting so there’s always a new challenge and that keeps people wanting to keep

coming back because they never get bored.

The various different forms of training possible in XFit also means that your body is continually being challenged – your workouts change every day and that means that your body, like your mind, needs to stay engaged at all times.

Physical therapy My background is in physical therapy and I was very interested in finding out what the causes were for people getting injured and to try and work on preventative forms of exercise. I wanted to try to help people get stronger so that they wouldn’t suffer so many injuries. So when XFit came in to Fitness First I was really keen to get involved as it’s perfect for preventative physical development.

But it’s also very stimulating – by the time you’re finished an XFit workout, you’re not only competing against yourself you’re competing against the other people at the Studio, in a friendly way. Everybody encourages and helps each other too – it’s a real community. As I said, I’m incredibly excited to be involved with XFit and I think our members are going to love it. n

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A little yoga beats a lot of workplace stress

D

eadlines, bottom lines, budget cuts and creative ruts. Stress in the workplace is a modern-day inevitability familiar to us all. Our office life is faster, longer, harder and more demanding than ever before and the brunt is usually borne by our health, wellbeing and peace of mind.

Signs of chronic stress can be physical (fatigue, headaches, perspiration, insomnia, frequent illness), psychosocial (irritability, mood swings, apathy, depression, slowed thinking or racing thoughts), and behavioral (impatience, quickness to argue, increased use of alcohol/ drugs, poor job performance), all of which can lead to more serious problems.

An effective method of reducing stress, decreasing anxiety and improving physical health, yoga also helps improve concentration, allows us to cope better with the demands of our daily lives and gives us better perspective on personal and professional issues.

A regular yoga practice boosts immunity and energy levels and cuts back our need for sick leave, making us calmer, healthier, more positive and productive people.

Sounds fantastic, right? But putting theory into practice is usually the tricky bit, so here are some practical tips on how to incorporate yoga into real life.

4 Even 60 minutes a week is enough

4 Take yoga ‘micro-breaks’ at work

4 Get your family involved

You don’t have to change your entire life around to get healthy – even one hour of yoga a week has been shown to be effective in managing stress, fatigue and chronic illness. It’s OK to start small, but start.

Ask your instructor for simple yoga exercises you can do on your own, and take mini-breaks from your computer or in between meetings to do them.

If your days off are reserved for time with your family, why not sign up for a yoga class together?

Look for child-friendly yoga classes if you have kids – it’s a productive way to spend time together and encourage preventive-health habits in your child.

4 Get a yoga buddy

4 Create a space

Sign up for a class with a friend or colleague from work – it’s more fun to do it together, and you’re less likely to skip class.

Set aside a space dedicated to your yoga practice.

Make sure it is free from furniture that could create a hazard to you as you do various yoga asana.

Your yoga space should be clean and serene.

4 Find a class close to work or home

4 ‘Trade up’ activities

That way, traffic, travel time and inconvenience are less viable excuses not to go to class.

Don’t think of yoga as ‘yet another activity’ to add to your already-packed schedule. Substitute part of an existing activity you can do less of (e.g. watching TV, poking friends on Facebook) with something you’d like more of (e.g. yoga).

4

Meditate The original purpose of yoga was to support meditation. Take time out after your yoga practice to mediate and relax the mind while you are relaxing the body.

Whichever way you do it, make a little yoga a regular part of your week. You’ll soon be on your way to a lot less stress – both in the office and outside it. Ask in your local Fitness First for details of yoga classes available.

62 FITNESS FIRST SUCCESS STORIES

JACKIE OLIE Age: 48 Occupation: housewife Member since: March 2012

W

hen I joined Fitness First earlier this year I had two main objectives – to lose weight and to get fitter.

The Dubai expat lifestyle had caught up with me and I knew it was time to do something about my weight. I started a healthy eating plan along with exercising five times a week, giving myself the weekends off to be with my family.

In my first month at Fitness First I tried various classes and settled into a routine with a mixture of weights and cardio. In that month I had a nett loss of 100g, although my muscle mass had increased by 600g. I knew I was on the right track, but I wanted more – I wanted to step up my exercise and my results. I had heard wonderful things about T.U.F.F. but I was really scared to take that step of actually doing a class.

The first time I saw a T.U.F.F. class I was in awe – I thought ‘WOW! That looks so hard!’. In my head I thought I was too old and not fit enough to manage a class like that. Each week I would turn up for the RPM cycling session and watch part of the T.U.F.F. class that preceded RPM.

Courage Finally I plucked up the courage to ask Group GX Manager Nathan Brown if he thought it was something I could manage. I was really conscious of the fact that I would be one of the ‘older’ women in the class and I didn’t want to make a fool of myself if I couldn’t keep up.

Nathan explained that T.U.F.F. was designed for everyone, no matter what their fitness level and that the only person you compete against is the one in the mirror. I decided I only had fat to lose, so … nothing ventured, nothing gained.

After I did my very first T.U.F.F. class I went home and collapsed on the sofa for the best part of the day. I can honestly say that it was the single most difficult exercise class I have ever done. But it was also the best class I had ever done. I was so proud of myself – I had done it!

I hadn’t been able to do the full class without stopping for a breather and I could only manage about eight burpees but considering I’d never

Before done a full burpee in my life I was mightily chuffed with my progress. Nathan was very encouraging and guided me and the other ‘newbies’ through the moves, giving us options and reminding us to keep within our own capabilities. I never once felt inadequate – only exhilarated. I couldn’t wait to get to the next class.

I slowly built up my fitness levels to the point where I now do three classes a week and I can do most of the moves correctly – although they do change all the time! I am up to 18 burpees in 45 seconds – I never thought I would see the day when I could achieve that.

Now After three months I had lost 6kg of fat and gained 1kg of lean muscle. My body shape had changed completely and I was addicted to T.U.F.F. For the first time in over 15 years I felt confident enough to wear a pair of shorts and a bikini on holiday. Along with the enormous sense of achievement that T.U.F.F has given me, it has changed my body shape, boosted my confidence and given me a wonderful sense of wellbeing. I never thought that approaching 50 would be the fittest years of my life.

T.U.F.F is genuinely life-changing. I cannot recommend it highly enough. n

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SPORT NUTRITION

SPORT REHAB

YOGA

FITNESS FOCUS

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T U F F T R A I N I N G AT F I T N E S S F I R S T

TUFF 4 is out now

You’ve heard about it, seen it and read about great success stories around the latest GX innovation TUFF. But what is TUFF and what are the benefits?

Benefits of TUFF: H Increase lean muscle tissue which decreases fat.

H Increase cardio- vascular system which gets you fitter.

H Three dimensional functioning training patterns for overall body movement and joint mobility.

H TUFF is a recognised brand where members now understand the concept of training vs exercise through interval max training.

H TUFF hires one of Dubai’s top DJs to provide music to drive the workout. This allows members to stay in the game of training and motivation.

H TUFF is a 70% choreographed and 30% freestyle class of 45 minutes. It has a set structure that is designed to work the entire body. Members know what they get when they come to a TUFF session.

H TUFF is for every size, shape and fitness level due to the vast options available. Every TUFF coach has the ability to teach and instruct on and off the stage. This allows the new members a sense of security and the TUFF coach to build instant rapport with the member. Instructors use the mirrors to encourage technique correction, and this creates friendly competition to gauge fitness and strength levels between one person to the other.

The work out:

Tuff is broken up into six stages. Each stage is designed for the purpose of moving the entire body in a three dimensional plane.

STAGE 1: 3D warm up Specifically designed to increase blood flow and joint mobility, this section has a special feature and has a compulsory move called the ‘crocodile crawls’.

STAGE 2: SPIKE This has blocks of 45 second cardio spurts. Four athletic exercises that range from sports specific, to plyometrics, to lateral movements. This section is predominately full of body weight exercise training.

STAGE 3: H.U.T.T (Harden up tablet test) One of the big hits of the workout, this combines a weighted

barbell along side a mixture of high cardio exercises.

STAGE 4: ULTIMATE Back to pure body weight exercises. This section is two minutes long and is broken into 30 sec intervals, short, explosive and off the chart.

STAGE 5: CORB (Core and combination of back exercises) Because TUFF is a functional training programme the core muscles are truly tested through out the entire 45 minute class. Simple but effective core exercises are used and enhanced by working the back muscles for balance and release activation.

STAGE 6: STRETCH / COOL DOWN Designed specifically to flush out the body and stretch the major muscle groups that have been worked. The entire section is designed to holding, breathing and meditation patterns.

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ASK HISEM

SPORT NUTRITION

SPORT REHAB

YOGA

FITNESS FOCUS

In order to feel at your best your body and mind needs fueling with the best possible food.

Here are two delicious recipes from Balance Cafe Dubai to help you eat healthily and feel great.

Stuffed Chicken Roulade served with Pepper Caponata Serves 2, Preparation 40mins

Chicken Roulade • 2 pcs lean chicken with skin off • 80gm of buffalo mozzarella cut into strips • 5 basil leaves • Salt and pepper • Plastic film • Steamer cooker • Meat pounder

Pepper Caponnata • 2 tspn olive oil • 75gm red pepper • 75gm green pepper • 75gm yellow pepper • 50gm green olives cut in half • 50gm black olive cut in half • 30gm chopped onion

• 20gm capers • 10gm mustard paste • 5ml red wine vinegar • 10gm chopped parley • 10gm chopped basil leave • 5gm dry oregano

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PROCEDURE: Heat a large, heavy pan over medium heat with olive oil and sauté the capsicum until little soft then add in, tomatoes, onion, garlic and oregano and cook until tender; approximately 10mins add in capers, mustard paste and vinegar. Check for seasoning sprinkle parley and basil leaf. Set aside.

1. Pound the chicken breast between plastic wrap with the flat side of a meat pounder to make them thin enough for rolling.

2. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. On a clean work surface lay the chicken cutlets flat, smooth side down, layer with buffalo mozzarella in the center and basil leaf. Then, starting with the narrowest end, roll up the chicken cutlets and the film into a tight roulade and seal it.

3. Steam the chicken parcels for around 20 minutes. Let it cool in the plastic wrap before unwrapping.

4. Arranged pepper caponata and top with sliced chicken rolled of 4cm thickness.

5. Served garnished with basil leaf.

Nutritional value: 585 Calorie, 18 gm fat, 33gm protein, 41 gm carbohydrate, 7gm fiber, 23 mg cholesterol and 295 mg sodium

Vegetable Gratin This vegetable gratin is flavourful and full of protein. Tofu has numerous natural benefits and has lower fat content than a traditional gratin.

Serves 2, Preparation 30mins

Nutritional value: 475 Calories; 11g Fat, 55g Protein; 30g Carbohydrate; 6g Dietary Fibre; 18mg Cholesterol and 554mg Sodium.

Ingredients: • 200gm penne pasta • 150gm mixed chopped capsicum • 100gm spinach • 200gm tofu shredded • 100gm shredded bufallo mozzarella cheese • 100gm Parmesan cheese grated • 1tbsp chopped garlic • 130gm chopped button mushroom • 3tbsp chopped basil leaf • 1tbsp dry oregano • 150ml skimmed milk – reduce with 1 tbsp of corn starch until milk starts turning into a thickened texture • 100ml canned chopped tomato

PROCEDURE: • Blanche the pasta and set aside.

• Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees.

• Sautee the spinach and set aside together with the garlic and seasoning.

• Take a baking dish and layer the tomato sauce, a layer of pasta followed by spinach, capsicum, mushroom, tofu, parmesan and mozzarella.

• Repeat these steps for a second layer and top with basil leafs and a sprinkle of oregano.

• Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes or until tomato sauce starts to bubble.

• Remove from oven and serve drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Island hopping in the Seychelles

BY RICHARD BEVAN

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ITUATED a mere 4.5 hour flight from the UAE, 932 miles off the east coast of Africa, is nature’s very own Garden of Eden, the Seychelles. Made up of an archipelago of some 115 islands housing just 85,000 inhabitants this tropical paradise is a beach lover’s dream but there’s plenty more to explore besides the stunning seclude white sands in this beautiful part of the world so the SF team set off to experience some true island delights.

Island hopping in the Seychelles

Air Seychelles Tel: +248 4 391 000 Web: www.airseychelles.com Email: webinfo@airseychelles.com

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aving touched down on the main island of Mahe (more about that later) our adventure began in earnest as we boarded the smallest plane known to man for the short 15-minute flight to our first destination – La Reserve, on the Seychelles’ second largest island, Praslin.

Air Seychelles run regular flights running between to two islands throughout the day and while you can go by boat, which takes around an hour, flying is definitely the way forward if you want a real exhilarating experience.

The noise from the engine and propellers reverberating around the tiny fuselage is immense and you can feel every vibration and bump as you take off and land. Describing a vista as being ‘like a postcard’ is an oft overused cliché but the view from the cabin gazing down on the crystal clear turquoise waters of

the Indian Ocean, framing the small islands of St Anne, Cerf Island Mamelle and North-andSouth Cousin during the journey really does take the breath away.

En-route to the hotel our ‘larger than life’ taxi driver gave us an impromptu tour of Praslin, stopping off at the beautiful Vallee De Mai National Park, home to the unique and highly valuable coco-de-mer ‘double coconut’ found only in the Seychelles, and a startling array of exotic wildlife.

With such lush and abundant greenery, beautiful beaches and a population of just 8,000 we decided to enquire where our driver goes on holiday when he already lives in paradise and were amused to hear his reply: “Wakefield” the industrial town in northern England (he has family there apparently)! The grass really is always greener…

La Reserve Tel: + 248 4298 000 Web: www.lareserve.sc Email: resa@lareserve.sc

La Reserve, Praslin

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ur first base on Praslin, La Reserve, is a charming four-star resort situated in an idyllic spot on the shores of the environmentally protected Curieuse Marine National Park. It started life 30 years ago as a private residence to which the owner added the ‘Jetty Restaurant’ before building some small bungalows along the shoreline.

The resort was decimated by the tsunami in 2004 – luckily nobody was hurt and the disaster provided an opportunity to re-build La Reserve into its current form. There are now eight blocks housing four ‘deluxe’ rooms each – all of them set just back from the beach offering unobstructed views of the bay – with a further eight ‘superior’ rooms in two colonial style buildings, one on the hillside and one on the beach.

There’s also a huge pool with a swim up bar and a well equipped gym while the resort is even home to its very own collection of giant tortoises. We were in a deluxe room featuring a huge bed, sitting area, satellite TV and large bathroom with two sinks and one of the biggest shower rooms we’d ever seen. Each room features a large balcony or terrace which was a great place to unwind and watch the sunset over the tranquil bay and the tree-covered

mountains that surround it. When night falls in the Seychelles everything goes quiet and this is accentuated even more in the island hideaway of La Reserve – you really could hear a pin drop as the sun disappeared into the sea. The staff at the resort did everything they could to make our stay an enjoyable one – they all had the permasmile that seems to adorn the faces of most Seychellois people, and if you lived there you’d know why they are so happy all the time.

The food served up at the Jetty Restaurant (which as the name would suggest is housed on jetty that juts out into the sea) was delicious and varied every evening – with Creole specialities such as octopus curry and delicious barbequed red snapper accompanied by amazing pumpkin and papaya salads one night followed by an Asian banquet the next.

As with 96% of the staff at the hotel, the chef is local, and this guy really knows his stuff, utilizing the resort’s own spice and vegetable garden to bring his dishes to life. La Reserve also has its own bakery which supplies the rest of the island with bread. With sumptuous breakfasts and a complimentary afternoon tea also on offer it would be easy to do nothing but sit gazing at the spectacular views and eating

67 all day but that would be a waste of this exotic tropical playground. It’s another cliché but sea in the Curieuse Marine National Park really is like a warm bath and shallow to about 100 metres out. The hotel offers free snorkeling equipment hire to all guests so we took full advantage and explored the multi-coloured underwater world featuring a myriad of different fish species and some beautiful reefs. There were also free canoes available so we worked off some of that food by exploring the local coast line.

During our stay at La Reserve we took a day trip to the neighbouring island of La Digue.

After another ‘must try’ experience on one of the local rickety buses, which charged just five rupees (approx 1.3 Dhs) to get to the jetty, and a 15-minute catamaran journey, we were there.

La Digue is like stepping back in time, there are hardly any cars on this laid-back island and the most common way to travel is by bicycle or ox cart!

We chose the former and headed for a beach renowned to be the most photographed in the world – Anse Source D’Argent. This spectacular palm-tree lined beach with its soft white sand, giant granite boulders and clear turquoise waters is accessed by paying a small entrance fee and walking through the L’Union Estate with its vanilla and coconut plantations as well as yet more giant tortoises! The snorkeling is great and while we didn’t see any of the turtles that are common in the area, the view of the shoreline, from the water, with the lush jungle in the background, is spectacular in the extreme.

While on La Digue we had a fabulous lunch of fresh-caught Captain fish at the wonderful Le Domaine L’Orangeraie Resort. The all-villa boutique resort has a real eco-luxury vibe to it and it’s a great spot to enjoy a meal on the island. We had a sneaky peak inside one of the villas which are set on the hillside in the jungle overlooking the ocean and would definitely recommend the resort to those who want luxury while still having that feeling of rustic escapism.

The most photographed beach in the world – Anse Source D’Argent, La Digue.

Island hopping in the Seychelles

Raffles, Praslin Tel: +248 429 6000 Web: www.raffles.com/praslin Email: praslin@raffles.com

Raffles, Praslin

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ur next stop was Praslin’s newest 5-star hotel, Raffles. Part of the famous group started in Singapore and birthplace of the ‘Singapore Sling’ cocktail, Raffles is situated on the other side of the Curieuse Marine National Park from La Reserve and the views of the bay and the protected Curieuse Island are just as stunning.

The resort has only been built just over 18 months and the place is immaculate. It’s an allvilla resort with stunning accommodations throughout, all set into the hillside with views across the bay. The lavishly appointed villas are the epitome of tranquil elegance, each featuring a private plunge pool and a huge outdoor pavilion which proved a wonderfully relaxing place to unwind after a hard day’s activity and adventure.

Raffles has an excellent health and fitness offering with a beautiful spa, a huge gym and various dedicated exercise areas as well as an expert on site personal trainer. We were treated to a sunrise yoga and pilates session on a raised decking overlooking the hotel’s pristine beach which was the perfect way to start the day and set us up nicely for the sumptuous breakfast on offer in the Losean Restaurant – one the two restaurants on site.

We also ate in the delightful Curieuse Seafood Restaurant under the light of the stars next to the spectactular pool area, overlooking the ocean, and for exceptional quality food in the most romantic of settings, it would be tough to top this place. Tables can also be specially set on the beach or in secluded cabanas around the resort for those who want something really special and out of the ordinary.

The resort again offers complimentary use of canoes and snorkeling gear so on our second day we headed out bright and early on our mission to paddle the breadth of the bay and

explore Curieuse Island. A mere 20 minutes later we reached our destination and indulged in a short snorkeling session where we spotted the famous humphead parrot fish that resides in the Curieuse’s shallow waters. The island, like the bay, is a conservation area and home to around 500 Aldabra Giant Tortoises – many of which roam freely in the wild and are happy to be hand fed and stroked by visitors.

We set off on a trek through the thick mangrove over a boardwalk to the other side of the island and were treated to some spectacular views from atop the bare granite hills that cover the island. We even passed the old Doctor’s House, a remnant of island’s past incarnation as a leper colony. Curieuse is wonderfully un-spoilt and it was easy to find a deserted stretch of beach where we felt like were in our own private paradise.

When we arrived back at Raffles I was invited

to try the hotel’s innovative eco-friendly golf ‘driving range, which involves specially made bio-degradable golf balls containing fish food, which guests can whack of a mat on the beach out into the ocean. The balls then dissolve releasing the food for the fishes – happy guests, happy fish. Genius.

After a well earned rest on the veranda at our villa with an ice cold drink brought to us by our own butler, who like all the staff couldn’t do enough to help us, we took advantage of the hotel’s complimentary bike hire and took a (short but very hilly and not for the feint-hearted) ride to another of the world’s most famous beaches – Anse Lazio.

We went at around 5.30pm when most of the sun worshippers had left for the day and sat on the velvety sand, listening to the gentle lapping of the tide as the sun set – the perfect way to end our stay on Praslin.

Maia Luxury Resort and Spa, Mahe

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Maia Luxury Resort and Spa Tel: +248 4 390 000 Web: www.maia.com.sc Email: reservations@southernsun.sc

A

fter another thrilling Air Seychelles flight back to the main island of Mahe we arrived at our final destination – the five-star Maia Luxury Resort and Spa. As with Raffles, we were transported to the resort in a lovely air conditioned 4 x 4 with cool towels and water to replenish us after our arduous 15 minute flight!

Entering Maia was like entering another world and we felt our relaxation levels increase a couple of notches immediately. A Zen-like atmosphere prevails throughout the resort with its exquisite straw-roofed villas carved into the hillside among 12 acres of lush forest and gardens.

There are over 300 different species of plants tended to by 18 full time gardeners and the wonderful smell of herbs, flowers and fruit hangs thick in the air making a stay at Maia a real assault on the senses. Our signature villa featured a really decent sized private infinity pool and outdoor bath with the most spectacular view of the picturesque bay below.

There was a main building with a huge bed, double-sink bathroom and indoor and outdoor showers along with a separate outbuilding linked by a walkway that housed the kitchen,

dining area and day bed. As with the rest of the resort, the villas are luxuriously appointed to the highest of standards and little touches like a wireless iPod streaming station, piping our favourite music throughout each room having been pre-programmed according to a questionnaire we filled in before arrival, made it all the more special.

Again, there’s a private butler service at Maia and the service is impeccable with the villa kept spotless and every need catered for. The philosophy at Maia is to give the guests what they want at their own pace without being too pushy. Needs are anticipated without you having to ask and the butlers are extremely intuitive.

This place is all about exclusive luxury. There’s no set breakfast time for instance – if you get up late and want to have breakfast at 1pm, you can. If you want to have your breakfast or any of your meals in your villa instead of at the restaurant, you can. The food is to die for and if you can’t find anything you want on the menu, the chef will prepare whatever you want providing they have the ingredients.

We were treated to a private yoga and meditation session amongst the tranquil setting

of the open air Maia Spa with the sound of birdsong and water falling over the granite rock formations before the expert therapists eased away our aches and pains with a Signature Massage. We then spent some time relaxing on the beautiful secluded Anse Louis beach reflecting on what had been an unforgettable visit to a truly mesmerizing part of the world.

Rejuvenation complete!

With so many different islands to explore we’d need much more time than the week we spent in the Seychelles to really get under its skin and we’ll definitely be back for more.

One thing’s for sure, no offence to the people of northern England, but we’d prefer it to Wakefield any day!

NAME: ALLISON SCHMITT SPORT: SWIMMING Getting to know: American swimmer Allison Schmitt who took home five medals at the London Olympics including three golds in the 200m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle and the 4x100m medley.

Q: Has what you achieved at the Olympics sunk in yet?

A: Not really! I’m still on Cloud 9. It definitely hasn’t sunk in yet.

Q: Describe your feelings about winning the first Olympic gold of your career in the 200m freestyle?

A: I can’t even put it into words I was so speechless.

After my first individual medal – the silver in the 400m freestyle – I was crying on the podium, and then it just got better from there – three golds after that. I can’t even put into words how much that meant to me and how exciting the experience was.

Q: Do you feel like a superstar now?

A: No. Someone came up to me recently and said, ‘Wow, I’ve never met anyone famous,’ and I was like, ‘Have you now? I don’t think you have yet!’ So I definitely don’t feel like one.

Q: You won a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Did you expect to do so well in London or did you surprise yourself?

A: I definitely surprised myself a little bit. You always go in wanting to win gold and you’re hoping to come back with at least one medal. But coming back with five, I was ecstatic.

Q: You had the honour of training with Michael Phelps. What did you pick up from him that may have helped you win so many medals?

A: So much. He means the world to me and these last five years I’ve been training with him he’s helped me out a lot. I see everything he does every day in practice, every day outside the pool and he’s an inspiration. He’s opened up so many doors for us who are still swimming and he’s definitely helped me with focusing, stroke technique and a lot more.

Q: Who was the coolest person you met at the Olympics?

A: Rupert Grint – AKA Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter movies – not an athlete but it was cool meeting him!

POWER HOUSE

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CELEBRITY WORKOUTS

English Actor Jason Statham’s movies include Transporter (1 and 2), Death Race and The Expendables (1 and 2). His most challenging body transformation was came with 2008’s Death Race where he played a prisoner and had to develop a lean, super-toned physique which required getting down to just six percent body fat.

Here’s how he did it...

Typical Workout: The exercises below were varied over a five-day period while he also did one day per week of trail running.

10 minute warm up – treadmill, bike or rowing machine.

1: Low rep (less than five) compound lift – deadlifts, squats or bench press.

2: Lightweight circuit involving dumbbell curls, hammer curls, tricep kickbacks, dumbbell press, dumbbell rows. 10 reps of each, 20 seconds rest in between each.

3: Farmers walks using heavy kettleballs, dumbbells or with sandbags carried on shoulders. 10 circuits of 10 metres.

4: Kettleball swings, snatches or presses.

3 sets of 15 reps.

5: Medicine ball throws. 3 sets of 10 throws.

Jason’s workout would be finished off with a grueling interval training circuit with six exercises and very little rest in between each. “This is the brutal final stage that blows every gasket,” said Statham. “You’re crying for air. It redlines the heart into oblivion.”

Jason Statham

Body weight squats for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds, pushups for 20 seconds, 10 seconds rest, jumping jacks for 20 seconds, 10 seconds rest, skipping rope for 20 seconds, 10 seconds rest, sit ups for 20 seconds, 20 seconds rest, squad thrusts 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds.

Diet: 2000 calories per day avoiding alcohol, fruit juices, starchy foods and sugary foods. Lots of lean proteins, vegetables, nuts, protein shakes and egg whites. Six small meals per day.