Train Like a Champion: 8 Fitness Tips From Rafael Nadal

For those of you who hide under a rock during Wimbledon, let me just clue you in: Rafael Nadal is a living legend. For most people, this World Number One Spaniard needs no introduction, influencing and inspiring millions of people with his passion for the game and, if nothing else, his physique. To be at the top of his game – which he is – Nadal has to pay close attention to his fitness and overall wellbeing. After all, tennis is a game that requires the perfect coordination of speed and agility to come out on top. Without these things, how on earth could top players endure lengthy and gruelling matches, put power behind those serves or recover when they’re sets behind? The question is, then, how does Nadal do it?

 

Not only is Nadal one of the “Big Four” of tennis (the others being Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and, of course, Andy Murray); Nadal is the number one player in the world so, clearly, he’s doing something right (If you’re interested, in the world rankings Djokovic is number two, Murray is number seven and Federer is number eight worldwide). The sheer brilliance of Nadal’s game has led wellness expert and writer Varun Swasthi to investigate the programme behind his performance, and, luckily, he’s sharing that knowledge with us. So, if you fancy yourself the next Wimbledon champion, here’s a comprehensive list of fitness tips from the master himself, so you can know all about his fitness regime, training tips and diet.

 

1. Endurance: According to Swasthi, ‘Nadal is very strong and has amazing endurance—the two very important factors that keep him in great shape and help him outwork his opponents.’

 

2. Agility: ‘Nadal believes in sprint training, as it keeps him on his toes all the time,’ Swasthi explains. ‘Since footwork and strokes are the two very important things to focus in a game, Rafa uses the running machine quite a lot for agility and to work out his leg muscles.’

 

3. Training: Swasthi details, ‘Nadal’s training regime consists of extensive strength training during the preseason and light work during regular season. His practice sessions make up for his workout in the gym. Hence he calls the clay courts his private gym. In the gym, Nadal uses a vibrating platform, which can contract muscles at least 30-50 times per second. The vibrating machine does wonders for muscle strength, blood circulation, flexibility and range of motion. It also reduces pain and helps you recover faster.’

 

4. Core: ‘Rafa believes in doing core work,’ Swasthi notes. ‘He does front bends at the waist, and then, engages in a variety of push-ups. Next he does a kind of pull-up, where he raises his body slightly and repeatedly for almost a minute.’

 

5. Resistance: Swasthi points out, ‘Nadal also uses the resistance band a lot, as these bands are more transportable than weights. They also allow for a better workout and a variable resistance. These resistance bands also work the shoulder and rotator cuff better than free weights. This is especially helpful for fixing your joints.’

 

6. Stretching: ‘Since recovery is very important in any game, Nadal stresses a lot on stretching,’ says Swasthi. ‘Rafa also focuses on getting the right amount of rest in order to not aggravate your injuries any further.’

 

7. Cardio: Swasthi outlines, ‘Nadal gets his share of cardio in water by doing exercises in a swimming pool. He swims, runs and jogs inside water that actually helps him increase his stamina.’

 

8. Indulgence: ‘Nadal confesses having a major sweet tooth and eating lots of chocolates,’ Swasthi comments. ‘But he burns all the calories by working out on and off the field.’

Categories: Fitness Programme, fitness tips, game, nadal, nbsp, number, Rafael Nadal, speed, swasthi

Five Sexy Games that Can Make Your Foreplay Fantastic

When you’ve been in a relationship for a while, foreplay plays less and less of a role in your sexual wellbeing. It’s easy to fall into a routine, but if you want to reignite your sex life with some fantastic foreplay, we’ve got a few games that can get things going again.

 

1. Time Bomb: For this game you’ll need a clock or an egg timer. Choose a time interval – say 10 or 20 minutes – and do not allow penetration to occur. Sexual health and wellness writer MarissaSpring explains, ‘Most busy couples have foreplay down to a science—and a bare minimum as well. “Time Bomb” refocuses you on the pre-game show, the part that used to be so much fun before you lived together. You’ll be surprised by how much slowing down changes things. You get really creative. You get really hot.’

 

2. Blind Man in the Buff: Blindfold your partner, lead him to the bed and then proceed to ravish him. His arousal can be your guide, but you call the shots. ‘Not being able to see during sex has two major effects,’ Spring notes. ‘It dramatically increases both sensitivity and psychological vulnerability. Either one is a powerful aphrodisiac. Together they can create a love explosion.’

 

3. The Prisoner: For this game, you’ll need four men’s neckties and a bed, preferably with bedposts. Spring details, ‘He ties your wrists and ankles to the bedposts and has his way with you. I have to admit, this is my favourite sex game—and I never even tried it until I was in my late 30s. I find it incredibly erotic to be completely powerless, to be the absolute centre of his attention and to have no responsibility for or power over what happens. I find it erotic just to think about. If you’ve never tried it, please do.’

 

4. Bad Girl: Spring instructs, ‘Tell your husband all the things you did wrong today. (You failed to take your coupons to the grocery store. You forgot the name of your new receptionist at work. You told your adolescent son to go to hell.) Then kneel on the bed. Your husband spanks you, using his hand or a hairbrush or a not-too-scary disciplinary accessory. Spanking feels good, actually. A smart smack on the butt creates a tingly, alert sensation that combines well with the other feelings of sex. This is another thing I tried quite late in life and have been surprised to find is fun. I like it even without any role-playing or confessions—really. The sensations are especially interesting if he combines them with playing with the various woman parts that will perforce be on display during your spanking. This is an excellent time to try inserting a vibrator.’

 

5. Beach Blanket Bingo: For this game, grab a big towel or blanket and a bottle of massage oil or cream. Spring outlines, ‘Spread your towel on the bed or carpet and grease each other up with massage oil—legs, torso, breasts, everywhere. Now roll around for awhile and see what happens. You will really be surprised at the difference a little lubricant makes in the feeling of skin on skin. Sure, it’s a little messy. But worth it. If you have a favorite secluded spot, this is fun to do outdoors, even on your own patio.’ She adds, ‘Don’t put mint or eucalyptus oil on sensitive genital areas. But if you have a non-irritating lubricant, greasing up the sexual equipment can be part of the fun. Oil-based lubricants, including massage oil, can degrade latex. So don’t play this game if you’re using condoms or a diaphragm.’

Categories: bondage, Foreplay, game, massage oil, nbsp, sex games, spring, time, time bomb

How To Build The Confidence Of Young Athletes

Professional athletes are, understandably, the best in the world at their chosen sport. But in order to reach that level of knowledge and expertise, they needed to practice from a young age. Ability and work ethic are two essential factors in success but there’s another factor that often gets overlooked, despite being such a crucial element of any success story – confidence. Without confidence, no amount of skill will get you to where you want to be. When you feel confident, you feel capable and able to play harder and better. But just as those athletes needed to improve their skills from a young age, they also needed to improve their confidence. This is something you can encourage in your children too, so that they can grow up to be experts in their field – and confident with it, too.

Don’t fear failure

Confidence is a simple battle between faith and fear, and a lack of confidence means you’re afraid to fail. But with failure comes wisdom – we all fail at some point or another, but with that we learn how to improve and get better. Even the very best athletes miss the vital shot or make mistakes on the track that cost them the race. But if you give up just because you’ve messed up one game, you could be missing out on succeeding at so many more. The only way to get better is to keep practicing, so you can’t give up just because of a few off days.

Focus on achieving your best

The goal is to win for every athlete stepping onto the court, track or field. But the desire to win can sometimes overshadow what the main goal should be – doing your best. It’s important to remember that you won’t win every game or achieve your personal best every time you perform, but that shouldn’t stop you giving it your all. Sometimes you will be beaten by someone who simply has a better skillset or who is simply better than you; maybe you just got unlucky that day. But instead of focusing on how many times you won or lost, focus more on giving it your all and doing your best every time. That way, you can take something positive from every game, regardless of the outcome.

Trust your teammates

You don’t need to be the sole carrier of your team; you need to have faith in them that they will do their best, just as you’ll do yours. Instead of focusing on how much you need to do to win the game, have confidence that you work so well as a team. It will help you to make each other better players, and will make it easier to have faith in yourself.

Start off easy

The easiest and most effective way to improve your confidence is to begin with something easy. If you know you can shoot every hoop when you’re just a few feet from the basket, do a few of these as a warm up. If will give your ego a boost to see yourself succeeding time after time, which will give you the confidence to take a few more risks and push yourself that little bit harder during the game. Even professional athletes do it – Tiger Woods begins every practice session by making 100 three-foot putts. You don’t need to put yourself in countless scenarios where you are challenged to the absolute max – that’s what competitions are for. When you’re practicing, it’s ok to start off by making things a little easier for yourself; then you can begin in a good frame of mind and build on your skills.

Categories: athletes, confidence, exercise, game, improve, professional athletes, skills, time, young age

How to Eat Wild Game Safely

When looking at the food landscape, it quickly becomes clear to people who want to eat organic that doing so can be a challenge, especially given how loose the definitions are when it comes to applying the organic label to a product. When it comes to meat, though, it doesn’t get more organic than wild game. While farmed game meat is also a healthy option, being lower in saturated fat and calories than meat from domestic animals, the presence of human input raises the question of antibiotics, growth hormones, and other contaminants that the FDA has been notoriously lax in policing.

 

How to procure wild game can be another question: the options range from the convenient but questionably provenance option of purchasing online to the time-consuming task of hunting and fishing for your own. In between these are the premium online meat providers (with premium prices), trusted butcher shops, and hunter connections who supply the (relative to farm-raised) minuscule supply of wild game meat on the market.

 

If you’re going to get meat from non-USDA inspected sources (and if it’s not processed on a commercial scale it probably isn’t) you need to either have a supplier you can trust or have a knowledge of what to look for. Of course, given the unknown steps that go between harvesting the animal and the dressed meat that winds up in your kitchen, there’s a lot you have to leave to trust even if you inspect the meat thoroughly when you get it. Given these considerations, the only real way to be sure you’re getting absolutely safe game is to harvest it yourself. If this isn’t possible, then use only meat from farmed game for rare/medium rare preparations.

 

The safest way to use wild game you haven’t harvested is to cook it thoroughly in low and slow preparations. Another approach is to make it into sausage. The sausage should not only be made with care to avoid introducing microbes into the mince, it should then be given a good hot smoking to make sure the internal temperature reaches safe levels. Canning, if done carefully, will also do, but improper processing can cause growth of the microbes that cause botulism. Jerky has also been known to cause problems when the smoking temperatures weren’t high enough to kill the bacteria.

 

If you have the time and the inclination, the best option is obviously to go out and harvest your own game. This of course assumes that you can efficiently take down your quarry, keep it cool, and dress it either in the field or in a convenient location. Below are some tips for making sure that your harvested meat is safe:

 

Make sure you know what human-affecting conditions there are in your quarry in the area you’re hunting in, and make sure you know how to identify them in the animal while it’s alive and in the carcass. Common sense dictates that a sick-looking animal probably won’t make for good eating.

Try not to get a gut shot. If you do, don’t gut the carcass when you butcher it since the spilled gut contents will ruin any meat it comes into contact with.

 

Wear gloves while dressing the carcass, and separate the innards from the rest ASAP.

 

Cool the meat quickly. It’s better to field dress on site and store in a cooler than drag a carcass any considerable distance on a hot day.

 

Use a separate knife or saw to remove the head. This is for deer and the like. You don’t want any neural matter contaminating the meat just in case the animal had any wasting disease.

 

Keep the meat clean. Cut away any hemorrhaged tissue, try to avoid bacterial contamination as much as possible, and wash the cuts thoroughly after butchering.

 

Lastly, when in doubt, throw it out. And if you wouldn’t eat it yourself, don’t feed it to your pets—remember that they can be affected just as much as, if not more than, you by certain parasites and infections.

 

Brandon Peters is an entrepreneur, writer, lover of the outdoors, and amateur cook. He enjoys the kind of eating experiments that you can live through.

Categories: animal, diet, farmed game, game, game meat, meat, nbsp, nutrition, wild, wild game