Home

Crazy weather in Melbourne saw a massive storm over Victoria go to sunshine a few hours later then back to rain and hail all within eight hours.

Storm over Victoria at 3.00am

Well Melbourne is well and truly living up to its reputation for having four seasons in one day. At 3am in the morning an unusually large storm covered most of Victoria with squally winds gusting at over 50 knots and heavy rain. I usually sleep through anything but the ferocity and intensity of this one must have woken most of Melbourne.

Clar skies over Melbourne

But amazingly, within six hours we had the most beautiful blue skies, sunshine and absolutely no reminder of the treacherous weather that had passed over.

Hail and rain over Melbourne

Well the blue skies didn’t last long. Just as quickly as we had magnificent weather the dark clouds started rolling in and the wintery weather returned. At first the skies looked dark and ominous but not threatening, so Anthony from our office thought it was a good time to move his car to avoid being booked by parking inspectors. Within the 10 minutes it took to move the car the rain started and gradually deteriorated to hail as the temperature plummeted.

However on a positive note it gave Anthony the opportunity to get a quick 400 m sprint back to the office to avoid being soaked. Nothing like a quick work out to get you warm and minimise the drenching

And unusual support was taking place in the Chile streets, an urban downhill bike riding called the The Valparaiso Cerro Abajo held in Valparaiso.

It’s great to see the evolution of sports that make the most of their environment to add a new dimension of excitement. While most traditional downhill bike races take place on the side of mountains with a single track course weaving its way through the trees and other obstacles, this urban downhill race involved massive drops from one street level to another, descending steep staircases, avoiding random dogs and moving along at high speeds avoiding many obstacles of this urban landscape.

While one wouldn’t consider Chile to have a race attracting international attention, it shows you that anything is possible when you truly believe.

The video was filmed using a similar helmet mounted camera to what we use to fill but filming our red suits around Melbourne.
One of the most amusing parts of the video is when a representative from the UCI, which is the international cycling Federation was trying to explain to the Chilean writer about the perils of not wearing sufficient body armor to protect himself.

A very funny account of some movie exercise performed in “ the King speech” about the true story about King George VI (played by Colin Firth) speech impediment or stammer reach paralyzed any public speaking engagements.

After exhausting all possibilities with conventional speech therapist King George VI wife (played by Helena Bonham Carter) finds and unorthodox therapist called Bob [played by Lionel Logue (played by Geoffrey Rush ).

Strangely before the commencement of shooting the film, some actual historical documents from Bob were found giving actual insights into the practices used by Bob in achieving successful outcomes.

A big part of his treatment involves having a patient undergo physical exercise and some fairly strange activities as documented in the movie.

Such as a person sitting on the patient’s chest while the patient inhales and exhales.

The reason behind these is to improve the strength of the patient’s diaphragm which in turn helps with the exhaling through the throat and larynx.

While running our Boot camp session this morning, I came across this rare sighting, a unicyclist in the park.

Just out of the photo is is dog, a friendly Labrador which was very supportive of his owner on his unusual one wheeled bike:))

While riding a unicycle may be a lot of fun, it does require an amazing level of core strength to keep balanced and upright. I have tried a friends unicycle and manage to turn the peddles for long enough to travel 20 meters, hardly setting the world on fire.

The first step is to ensure you have good core strength otherwise you will be compensating with your lower back, a great way to get started is to use a Fit ball or Swiss Ball.

Once you are confident with your core strength you are ready to progress to the real thing.

The best way to learn is to have 2 friends on either side of you while you maintain perfect posture and stay relaxed, looking straight ahead, bracing from below the belly button while keeping your hips directly underneath your shoulders and your weight being placed on the saddle, not the peddles.

Start by trying half turns and once you feel confident, go for the gib complete revolution, eventually with a little practice, you will master the art of riding a unicycle and even venture out into a park near you.

This unusual exercise is ore bucket tipping while performing a lunge in a mine.
This photo was taken within the last 30 years and highlights the challenging work conditions experienced by miners, whether in 2010 or in the era of this photo.

The guys must have been extremely fit as this is back breaking work with each ore cart weighing a couple of tons. It’s great to see the miner performing this movement with a bent front knee and straight back.

Remember when performing any exercise or work related activity to use the correct exercise technique. When performing a lunge, make sure that you keep your hips underneath your shoulders and that your front knee doesn’t pass over your big toes.

As you raise your body from their lunge position, remember to place your weight through your heal.