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While waiting at the airport I noticed a lot of people weighing their luggage before checking in to ensure that they didn’t go over the allocated 25kg.

So I though it was a good opportunity to try some bicep curls while we were waiting using the luggage measuring device. To actually use this device requires quite a bit of strength if you are nearing the allocated weight allowance.

Provided that you have the core strength to correctly brace to protect your lower back, these bicep curls can be a great way to utilise the time spent waiting in the queue.

Utilising the weighing device adds an additional dimension to the degree of difficulty as the handle from the device moves around like a seesaw which requires the use of your core muscles to stabilise, especially bracing with your transverse abdominus. By merely trying to suspend the suitcase off the ground, you can activate those core muscles.

At all times ensure you have the correct posture, ie a straight back, chest out and shoulders back. If you cannot sufficiently brace from below the belly button, you will transfer the load to lower back using the external lower back muscles such as the Erector Spinae and the internal lower back support muscles such as the multifidis.

You can either hold the suitcase or weighing device with a clenched fist with your fingers tips and palm facing the ceiling to perform a traditional bicep curl or by holding the handle or weighing device with the fingers tips and palm facing down, you can perform a reverse bicep curl.

The bicep curl predominately uses the large bicep muscle (bicep brachii) while the reverse bcep curl uses the bicep muscle (bicep brachii), Briachiradialis as well as the muscles just below your elbow (all the wrist flexing muscles – Extensor digitorum, Extensor carpi radialis brevis).

So this suitcase actually weighed 21.5kg so maybe start trying this with your cabin luggage first:))

While traveling in Asia I came across a group of people performing the ancient Chinese art of Qi Gong – designed to improve your health, longevity and vitality.

Originating 4000 – 5000 years ago, Qi Gong involves similar techniques to Tai Chi, which focuses on slow breathing and co-ordinated movements.

In Qi Gong, the main focus is on a breathing technique that helps stimulate the organs through improved oxygen flow, which in turn aids the kidneys, lungs, liver, spleen and the heart.

Benefits include better management of stress-related disorders, chronic fatigue, headaches, intestinal problems, chronic pain, high blood pressure and even the treatment of cancer.

By focusing on the body’s alignment and movements, it is claimed Qi Gong formed the basis of many martial arts techniques, although it has no self-defense element itself.

By improving the body’s self awareness and proprioception (the co-ordination of all 5 senses in concert), Qi Gong can also improve your balance.  This has ongoing benefits for the elderly who are often more prone to falls that lead to broken bones.

When incorporated into a healthy lifestyle – a balanced diet, regular exercise and a positive attitude – Qi Gong practitioners experience an overall improvement in their wellbeing.

It was a very funny sight this morning along Beach Road in Melbourne. Regular riding group – “The King’s Men” – decided to take on an unusual form of exercise by riding 20kg rental bikes from Melbourne’s Bike Share network.

Starting at MSAC (the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre) in Albert Park, it was a cruise (or rather a sustained effort) to get these steel monsters to Black Rock. The route along  popular Beach Ride and back to MSAC covered a respectable 40kms.

But if they’d made the ride just 2 days later they would have been battling for space among the sea of over 10,000 other cyclists who travel along Beach Road on any given Saturday or Sunday.

Among The King’s Men are many riders who compete at the amateur racing level. They can ride anywhere from 500 to 600 km per week but today they met their match.

These blue bicycles are strategically designed to limit top-end speed. They’re more for short trips around major cities than covering longer distances. Even with a lot of horsepower behind them, they could only manage a top speed of 27 km/h – achieved while going flat out during one of many sprints (Mind you these are the same guys who can accelerate up to 65 – 70km/h during a regular racing sprint).

The ride coincides with the release of the 2011 National Cycling Participation Survey, which revealed that 1.1 million people in Victoria ride their bikes every week. Even more amazing is that 40% of the population has ridden a bike in the past year.  That’s massively higher than expected. What we’re seeing is a cycling revolution.  And, in Victoria,  up to 20,000 more cyclists per week are taking to the streets compared to their New South Wales cousins.

The King’s Men rented bikes are part of the Melbourne bike share network that sprawls across the inner city and takes in many landmarks, including the Melbourne Arts Centre and the State Library of Victoria.

Unfortunately the bike scheme has come perilously close to extinction.

Why? The  requirement to wear helmets has caused a degree of complication not originally envisaged. While these schemes have been  successful in European cities like Amsterdam, Copenhagen or Paris where they have more relaxed helmet requirements, Australia’s compulsory helmet laws undermine the true spirit of the bike scheme. The essence of bike share  is about using other forms of transport for short or unplanned trips – precisely the kinds of occasions when one isn’t necessarily carrying a bicycle helmet.

It just goes to prove that, with plenty of energy and commitment, getting around Melbourne is quite easy on a bicycle regardless of whether it’s your own road racer or a bike rented by the hour.

Written by Andrew Talati

These antique weight loss machines that supposedly reduces stomach fat by attaching a belt vibrator machine has been relegated to the back of an antique shop. Definitely one form of unusual exercise from the past.

These days vibration training is used to do everything from improving muscle density, toning and weight loss. This form of fitness training has come of age with highly sophisticated vibration machines with different studies showing varying results as to how effective this form of training is. They use varying frequencies to generate g forces that create a greater neurological response to muscle engagement and recruitment.

While the origin of this technique harks back to the Russian space program when the effects of zero gravity and the deterioration of bone density density and muscle mass had to be counteracted, a whole new industry was born.

Unfortunately there isn’t any quick fix for removing any unwanted body fat around the stomach, you can’t pop a pill and hope that all the fat dissolves away or subject the fat to electrical currents such as Zap fat.
Similarly standing upright while having a belt shake the stomach about not only brings you discomfort but has no scientific grounding to reducing body fat.

There is only one thing that reduces body fat, apart from sucking it out with lypo suction and that is hard work. The body doesn’t discriminate where it deposits fat and the most common areas for storing excess energy are either on the thighs, butt, tummy and arms.
It’s a simple equation, high energy expenditure over energy intake that involves moderating the food consumption and aiming for 30 minutes of intensive exercise 3 to 5 times per week.

Fast forward 50 years and we may see the current crop of Abdominal Exercise machines such as the Ab Master and all the various other contraptions that purport to isolate the abdominal muscles and give you an instant six pack sitting in the antique shop as well.

After reorganising the office, we were left with one big IKEA cabinet that needed to be moved to our storage facility. Given it was about half a kilometer away we could either perilously attach it to the car roof racks which would lead to the total disintegration of the cabinet or walk it over by foot.

So the quickest and safest option was to make the trip by foot which became challenging after 200m. It gives a great all over body workout as you are needing to brace from the core to ensure stability while engaging your links shoulders and arms to provide the movement.

Always remember when you are carrying any loads to be careful to maintain neutral posture, i.e. keeping your hips underneath your shoulders and not leaning forwards as this will place stress on your lower back. This follows on from the same principle of lifting the cabinet from the ground, being careful to bend at the knees and not to allow a rounded back as this again will place stress on your lumbar spine and cause lower back pain. Similarly remember to keep the chest out and your shoulders back as placing a load while having rounded shoulders can place stress on the rotator cuff muscles.

When you look at any furniture removal lists, they always carry in the optimum position to maintain a correct level of posture otherwise as you can imagine within a short period of time and will have low back problems.