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The workout locations range from Frisco to Fort Worth to DeSoto.

They start with a phone call. Dez Bryant, wide receiver looking for NFL work, calls David Robinson, wide receiver trainer to the stars.

If you dont believe in Robinsons work and influence, check out the 20 players he trained for the upcoming NFL draft. Hes been working with wide receivers since 2005 and runs the DRob Always Open Wide Receiver Academy.

If you need to work on your game, you call Robinson.

Bryant is no different. He wants to work out. He will hail former Cowboys teammates Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott. Sometimes Super Bowl-winning QB Patrick Mahomes. Ex-Cowboys receiver Lance Lenior shows up, too.

It looked like a class reunion, Robinson said of the recent workouts with Bryant and Prescott. It looked like they missed each other. You could definitely tell that they were quoting some of the plays, routes, when they played together. Dak was spitting verbiage, and Dez was remembering it. They were having flashbacks on certain routes they were working on. It was great.

For Bryant this is part of the comeback tour. Its a tour thats been scrutinized for the videos Bryant has posted on Twitter and Instagram. Its a tour criticized for a lack of social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic.

The videos show Bryant running routes, catching a Prescott pass on a back-shoulder fade, running a slant, sometimes catching a pass falling down. With each video come the social media film critics.

Shoot, 80% of those people never played receiver, never played football, Robinson said. So I dont really get caught up in the responses because none of those people that are responding have never scored 73 touchdowns in their career. None of them have. So a lot of them dont know the art or have an understanding of how to run a route.

Robinson is Bryants confidant and trainer. He doesnt seek the publicity, but when asked, Robinson tells you Bryant, who didnt respond to a message seeking comment for this story, is ready to play in the NFL.

Hes been away for two years. Bryant had a chance to return to the NFL after the Cowboys released him in 2017. Baltimore offered him a contract that he turned down. There was a visit to the Cleveland Browns facility where Bryant showed up in a sleeveless T-shirt and his agent was in a power suit. It was a mess from the beginning.

In 2018, New Orleans signed Bryant to a one-year contract, and he showed up overweight. He tore his Achilles tendon in one of the first practices, ending a dream scenario where he would catch passes from Drew Brees and giving him a legit chance of a deep playoff run.

So Bryant just waited to heal. He called Robinson and told him he was ready. The early videos posted on Twitter showed Bryant looking heavy and slow.

As for the people that say hes not fast, Dez has never been fast, Robinson said. He came out of college running 4.6, 4.5, so hell tell you that thats not his game.

This is the process when you start a comeback tour. Bryant needed to lose weight, and one of the ways to do it is by working out. For Bryant, this occurred in public. He was showing the world his warts, and Robinson was there to help.

Ive been working Dez for a year and a half now. Hes looking night and day from when we first started, Robinson said. He dropped a lot of weight. Hes a lot lighter on his feet, hes a lot more efficient in and out of his cuts, and his confidence is on another level right now.

The workouts with Prescott and Elliott had some fans clamoring for a reunion. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said at the NFL scouting combine that hes not dismissing the possibility. Robinson said up to four teams are interested in Bryant.

Hes back to his old self, Robinson said. When he had that Achilles, coming off it, hes never been a real fast guy, but he was running with a limp. So we thought he would have to hang it up. [He] got discouraged, but he just keep doing his rehab and therapy on his Achilles, and we just kept working on his routes, his change of direction drills, and hes looking real good now. I think hes about 80-90% where he needs to be.

Robinson believes Bryant will find a home in the NFL. It will be interesting to see where Bryant ends up, if anywhere, considering how deep this upcoming draft class is at his position.

Meanwhile, the workout tour continues.

It might happen in Frisco today. Maybe at the field next to Bryants house. Possibly in University Park.

You can call any judge or police officer to complain about the small groups of people working out. Bryants workout tour will continue, with or without a cellphone recording it, because thats how its going to be.

Find more Cowboys stories from The Dallas Morning News here.

Read more here:
Is ex-Cowboy Dez Bryant ready to make his NFL comeback? The trainer of star wide receivers thinks so - The Dallas Morning News

While you are staying indoors during the lockdown, you can start chalking out a practical plan for losing weight. While you follow thesehome exercises for weight loss, remember to opt for a healthy diet as well:

Push-ups are undoubtedly one of the most popular forms of home exercises that can help you strengthen your core and upper body muscles. It can help you lose weight as well, provided you do push-ups along with other home exercises meant for weight loss - push-ups alone cannot help you shed the extra kilos. Push-ups can improve your metabolic rate, which in turn can make you lose weight. If you have just started doing push-ups, dont overdo them. Be gentle on your body and remember you have to do them right. So, keep these points in mind while doing push-ups at home:

Tip: After you get comfortable with doing push-ups at home, increase the number gradually.

Yes, of course,squatscan be part of yourhome exercises meant for weight loss. Although they are leg exercises, squats can make fats burn faster aroundglutes and thighs. As a rule, squatsaim for your hamstrings and quads, and they can fantastically tone your glutes too in the process. So, how do you do basic squats? Stand with your feetshoulder-width apart. Stretch your hands in front of you - they should be on your eye level. Keep your spine, arms and head straight and lower yourself - go as low as possible. Remember, your thighs should be parallel to the floor, and your knees should bend at a 90-degree angle, without extending over your toes. Come back up to the original position. Initially, stick to two sets of 10 reps each.

Tip: You can hold dumbbells or a kettlebell in both hands while doing squats at home.

Although lunges are meant fortoning your lower body, they can make youlose weightbyboosting your metabolic rate. So, make lunges a part of yourhome exercises intended for weight loss. Stand straight with your hands on your waist. Now move one leg forward and lower your hips until both your knees are bent at a 90-degree angle. They should not extend beyond your ankle, and the knee of the back leg should not touch the floor. To avoid straining the knees, put your weight on your heels while returning to the original position. Repeat with the other leg. Initially, stick to two sets of 10 reps each.

Tip: To lose weight effectively, do other exercises along with lunges.

Among other yoga basics, Kapalabhatican make youlose weight. But first, you need to know how Kapalabhati can fight a condition calledMetabolic Syndrome(MS). To put it simply, MS is a medical term that describes a cocktail of conditions such as obesity, diabetes andhigh blood pressure. MS can expose you to a higher risk of coronary heart diseases, among other things. A 2016 study, carried in the International Journal of Yoga (IJOY), says, Kapalabhati is considered as a form ofabdominal-respiratory-autonomicexercise which stimulates the respiratory, abdominal and gastrointestinal receptors. Since Kapalabhati induces a positive influence on the centres within the skull, the vital areas of the brainstem, cortex, their efferent pathways, and effector organs may also get stimulated.

As a result, the synchronous discharge from the autonomic nervous system, pineal gland, and hypothalamus that regulate the endocrine andmetabolic processesincreases, which, in turn, accelerates fat metabolism. This eventually increases basal metabolic rate, reduces fat deposition, and ultimately ends up inweight reduction. In other words, by improving metabolic rate, Kapalabhati can lead to weight loss.

So, how do you do Kapalabhati as part ofhome exercises for weight loss?

There areonline tutorialsgalore on how to do Kapalabhati. But it will undoubtedly be better if you learn it from a yoga guru - a one-on-one tutorial can be more productive, according to experts. But, overall, there are some necessary steps to follow, to enjoy the benefits of Kapalabhati.

First of all, practise Kapalabhati yoga on anempty stomach. Sit in a meditative pose - you can choose Vajrasanaor padmasana. Keep your palms on your folded knees, don't clutch them - keep them open, facing the ceiling. Keep your spine straight. Inhale and then breathe out, while pulling your stomach in.

Be relaxed while you breathe in and breathe out. Repeat this 20 times, which generally account for one set of Kapalabhati breathing exercises. Initially, you can do a couple of sets of Kapalabhati.

Tip: Practise Kapalabhati yoga on anempty stomach.

If you are not too fond of gymming, you can consider opting for specific yogaasanasthat can help you fight obesity. Of course, you need to consult a proper yoga trainer first. Here are some poses that can come in handy while you battle the bulge:

Paschimottanasana: Sit on your yoga mat, with your spine erect and legs stretched out in front of you. Keep your palms on the mat. Inhale and raise your arms as high as possible. Breathe out and bend forward; keep your spine straight. Try to touch your toes by bringing your arms down. Ideally, your forehead should touch your thighs.Breathe slowly. Stay in this pose for as long as you can.

Vajrasana: Kneel on the floor or your yoga mat; keep your feet together. Place your hands on your knees, palms down. Fix your gaze on a still point ahead of you. This will help you to focus. Concentrate on your breathing. Remain in this position for as long as you can.

The above can easily be part ofyour home exercises for weight loss.

Tip: Consult a yoga expert who can assess your individual fitness needs and prescribe asanas accordingly.

Experts say that pilates can help you reduce yourcortisol levelsand that in turn can facilitateweight loss. It is said that chronic stress and high cortisol levels can exceedingly whet your appetite, leading to weight gain.

SaysNamrata Purohit, one of Indias best know pilates instructors, Before taking up pilates, the basic thumb rule is to understand what kind of pilates you are signing up for; equipment-based or mat. Both will teach you how to use the power in your body and help in building up strength in your bodys core. Mat based pilates consists of bodyweight exercises which are performed low on the ground which are easy on the joints, making them suitable or anyone of any age and health profile. On the other hand, equipment-based pilates such as reformer exercises is performed on a contraption using springs, gears, straps and ropes.

Needless to say, while at home, practisemat-based pilates. Go for these easy home exercises:

Pilates curl: Lie on your back on the mat. The knees should be bent, and the feet flat on the floor put your arms at the sides. Breathe out, curl the chin to the chest and lift your shoulders from the mat. Hold for a second and then slowly lower your back. Be gentle.

The hundred: Lie on your back and bring the knees towards the chest. Lift your head, neck and shoulders and stretch your arms on the sides. The palms should face the floor. Stretch your legs forward with your heels together. Pump your arms up and down while breathing in and out.

Tip: Pilates can help you destress during these tough times.

Yoga Nidra: People feel that they are relaxing when they sink into an easy chair with a cup of tea or coffee, a drink or a newspaper. But this is a mere sensory diversion. Twentieth-century research into sleep has proven that even entering into this relaxation mode can rarely banish stress. Yoga Nidra is a systematic method of inducing complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation. During this yoga practice, one appears to be asleep, but the mind is active at a deeper level of awareness.

Bihar School of Yoga's Pawanmuktasana 1 series: Yoga experts say that pawanmuktasana series is one of the most important clusters of yoga practices that can have a very profound effect on the human body. Regular practice of pawanmuktasana series can bring about physical and mental relaxation.

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Simple And Effective Home Exercises For Weight Loss - Femina

I started on the Keto diet and lost 27 kg in 3 months!!

Keto or the ketogenic diet have been touted as a detox, or a reset button for the body and as a quick fix means of weight loss in as little as 21 days. You can lose weight by replacing the bodys typical go-to energy source carbs with fats. That means if you are on keto, you can start gorging on fatty foods like pork belly, bacon, cheese, eggs and lots of eggs!

If that sounds too good to be true, thats because, well, it just might be. By depleting the body of carbohydrates, which are its primary source of energy, you can force the body into a fat burning mode, thereby maximizing weight loss. That means you body starts to become like a fat burning furnace!

When you consume foods that contain carbohydrates, the body converts those carbohydrates into glucose, or blood sugar, which it then uses for energy. Unused glucose will be turned to stored fat for fuel which is the common underlying reason why (sedentary) people start to develop belly fat, obesity and diabetes.

Many celebrities have sworn by keto and its hardly surprising considering their amazing body transformation. Basketball superstar LeBron James followed for 67 days in 2014 to stellar results, namely a seriously ripped midsection and, you know, his third NBA Championship ring.

So question is how do you start on keto and maintain this diet succesfully?

The keto diet is an eating plan that consists of a very low-carb, high-fat diet, i.e. 80 percent fat, 15 percent protein and little to no carbohydrates. Staples of the keto diet are fish, meat, eggs, dairy, oils, and green vegetables. Pasta, rice and other grains, potatoes, and fruits are strictly prohibited.

When the body cant draw energy from carbohydrates either because theyve been cut out of the diet or because a person hasnt eaten for a long time it looks for other forms of energy. The keto diet deliberately places the body in a state of ketosis, where fat is released from cells and turned into ketones, the bodys plan B for energy production. Hence over time, you will start burning off stored fat very fast.

Ketosis is a normal physiological process. Theres nothing dangerous about it. Its just that this particular eating style is keeping your body in that state all the time a fat burning state.

In real terms, low carb means anything between 30 and 50 grams of carbs a day. So you can binge freely on meat, poultry, and seafood, especially fatty fish like salmon and sardines. Eggs, cheese, butter, cream, and other full-fat dairy are also permitted on keto.

What cant I eat?

Bread, pasta, grains, and starches. Sugar in any form. Beans and legumes. Starchy vegetables like corn, carrots, and peas. Potatoes and other root vegetables. Processed foods in general. Alcohol. And most fruits.

Whats the takeaway?

If your goal is to lose weight, youve done your research on what and how much to eat or are working with a nutritionist, AND youre able to stick to the diet, youll probably lose the weight.

For more information, visit me on Instagram at @thefatty__

About Shannon Quek: Singapores number 1 Keto Influencer (Instagram: @thefatty__) who lost 27kg in 3 months on Keto diet.

Shannon spent most of his life overweight. He was obese as a child, and before starting on a Keto diet, Shannon weighed in at 95 kgs. Through pure grit and determination, Shannon has achieved an incredible weight loss from 95 kgs to 68 kgs in just 3 months with Keto and regular exercise.

Shannon is also a double PhD holder in Marketing and Organisational Leadership, and has coached and given lectures and trainings in schools and corporations alike.

See the original post here:
What Is the Keto Diet and How Does It Work? - Elemental

When it comes to the2019 Nebraska recruiting class about to fully enter the fray, the biggest boys are carrying the biggest hopes among many fans.

In our poll for the Husker defensive player who you thought would make the biggest jump the top vote-getter was Ty Robinson.

On the offensive side of the ball? Bryce Benhart was the pick among those in the '19 class who fans expect to make the most significantclimb next season.

The O-lineman Benhart received 45.2 percent of the vote. Quarterback Luke McCaffrey was next in line with 16 percent, followed by running Rahmir Johnson (13.3), wide receiver/tight endChris Hickman (10.6), O-lineman Ethan Piper (4.3), wide receiver Demariyon Houston (3.7), running back Ronald Thompkins (3.2), wide receiver Jamie Nance (2.7), with O-linemen Jimmy Fritzscheand Brant Banks (0.5) each receiving a couple votes. (Wan'Dale Robinson wasn't included in this vote since he's already fully on the radar screen to NU fans).

The 6-foot-9, 300-plus-pound Benhart spoke last fall about how he was learning a lot on the move in his first year about what it takes to play at this level. The hope is the payment now comes in his second year.

"I'd say probably after that first practice it was like, 'Yeah, it's real football here, it's no joke, it's going, and you're going everywhere,'" Benhart said then. "Going from Minnesota high school football, people are faster and I'm not the biggest one out there. Maybe the tallest, but not the strongest. There's faster guys, there's bigger D-linemen. There's guys like Darrion Daniels. Those guys are just ginormous. In high school, I never saw a guy that big before blocking him."

But one of the advantages Benhart has had is he's no longer having to lose weight for wrestling after a football season. How big can big get? That's a sidebar in itself when it comes to Benhart.

"I've been told upwards of 320 to the 340 range," hesaid last fall of his possible playing weight in college. "Just all depends what I can move at and play at. I've never been this big. The biggest I've been is 310 so far. Yeah, it's scary but exciting."

Benhart also gave an ideain that conversation with media last September about the challenges facing a young linemen, even if you're highly regarded out of high schoolwith an enviable frame.

"I would say for a while, and it still is a struggle, because I'm still working on getting down the footwork and how to do it off ofwhat the other guy does," Benhart said.

But Husker offensive line coach Greg Austin said in March he could see some of the growth his redshirt freshmen had when the team got out there for the first couple practices before football was put on pause. "Those guys knew their angles. They knew generally speaking where their landmarks were. They saw the signals and things like that," Austin said.

And when it comes to the guy at the top of this poll?

"The things that I see: the weight gain, you can see the body change, the feel with the offense, making the calls, certain things like that, give me a lot of encouragement as I move forward with him."

Originally posted here:
The final tally: Which '19 offensive recruit makes biggest jump? - 247Sports

Tahlia Hope aboard Zed Em (Image: Racing Photos)

The coronavirus has not come along at a good time for anyone, but the timing is particularly bad for those who have recently battled a severe illness.

Apprentice jockey Tahlia Hope most certainly fits into that category.

Only last Saturday she returned to the saddle at Werribee - where she celebrated victory aboard champion fencer Zed Em - after 10 months on the sidelines following a bout of viral meningitis.

The 21-year-old had recovered from the viral meningitis before COVID-19 really hit but said it has not escaped the attention of her doctors.

"It definitely crossed their minds," Hope said. "I've still got a very low immune system, so they've just upped my medication for that.

"I have to go to the doctor's every week for a check-up anyway, and we did discuss it, but I'm a lot healthier now."

That is in contrast to mid-winter last year, when viral meningitis flattened her.

Hope felt unwell the day after riding a double - for which she said she 'wasted pretty hard' - at Morphettville on Saturday, July 6, developed a headache two days later and then endured constant vomiting on the Tuesday night before the headaches became unbearable on the following Wednesday.

"Everything is just a blur after that," she said.

After being rushed to hospital, Hope was placed in ICU, which included being unconscious for four days, before the road to recovery began.

It was at least three months before she started to feel better and not until a few months after that that she contemplated a return to riding.

But her body had other ideas.

"I didn't really think I was going to come back, more so because I'd been through so much and it really scared the family," she said.

"I was in ICU and that was a really hard time and then I put on a fair bit weight.

"But then I started riding trackwork and thought 'I really want to come back', but I just couldn't lose the weight no matter what."

A change in routine while working for Patrick Payne, to whom she is apprenticed and was working for, proved the impetus for shedding the excess kilos.

"I started travelling a bit with Paddy's horses, I went to the Gold Coast, went to Tasmania and then to Adelaide and all of a sudden the weight dropped off," Hope said.

"I think once I stopped stressing the weight started coming off."

Hope progressed quickly from there to the point that she was able to return to the races on Saturday, where she teamed with Zed Em for a memorable win in a 2000-metre Benchmark 58.

The gelding's deeds over jumps are well known, having won the past two editions of the Great Eastern Steeplechase and last year's Grand Annual, but he hadn't won on the flat since victory in New Zealand in February 2016.

"I wasn't really expecting it," she said. "Obviously he's a great jumper and the race wasn't that strong, but I still thought he would have needed more ground.

"Anyway, it was an amazing result and a massive relief."

WATCH: Hope's win aboard Zed Em

After just four additional rides, two at Echuca on Sunday and two at Ballarat the following day, Hope will make what even she concedes is a surprising return to the metropolitan stage.

She rides debut Terang maiden winner Little Mermaid ($20 with BetEasy) in Race 4, resuming steeplechaser Slowpoke Rodriguez ($71) in Race 7 and Big Hammer ($26), who is first-up at 2100m in the final event on the eight-race card.

"I wasn't really expecting it, but obviously Patrick thinks I'm ready and they are quite suitable horses," Hope said.

"I think Little Mermaid will really appreciate having just 55 kilos and I don't mind her. She's a nice filly.

"Big Hammer, with the two kilos off his back and at that distance I think he can go close and Slowpoke will be hitting the line late. I'm just excited to be riding him."

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Comeback win fast tracks Hope's city return - Racing.com

click to enlarge

Ali Blackwood Illustration

Growing up, Luke Parker played sports. To be clear, not so much actual live sweat-and-sneaker sports though he did occasionally shoot hoops in the backyard. We're talking about video game sports. Nintendo Ice Hockey and Nintendo Little League Baseball: Championship Series.

"I'm sort of an indoor kid," Parker says. "I'm more of a band, and music and theater type of guy."

Sure, he knows that exercising is important, but it's not like he particularly enjoyed it.

"I was never a regular exercise person," Parker says. "I never feel like I can get the catharsis out of it that I think a lot of people do. The 'Yeah, I feel really good now that I've exercised [feeling].'"

And so Parker, like most every 26-year-old, is faced with a daily dilemma: Does he exercise, which is difficult? Or does he play video games?

But today, Parker chooses C all of the above, all at the same time.

He already has his Nintendo Switch turned on in the living room of his small Spokane apartment. He just has to strap one of his Switch controllers onto his leg, and stick the other in a big circular peripheral called the "Ring-Con."

Initially, Ring Fit Adventure looks like a generic knock-off of a game like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Your character runs around a brightly colored world, battling fantasy monsters. But here's the difference: The only way Parker can make his character run in the game is to run in real life. He runs in place in his apartment, and the motion sensors in the Switch controller on his leg detect the running motion, and his character runs too his hair lighting up to show just how much on fire his exercising is.

When he wants to shoot fireballs all he has to do is to squeeze the Ring-Con, a hybrid video game controller and resistance-training device. And when he faces off against the boss Dragaux, a dragon with the physique and style of a steroid pumping gym rat, Parker selects a move, and then twists his body back and forth and voila, a ghostly manifestation of a glowing six-pack abbed torso pops up to slap Dragaux, gradually whittling down the monster's health bar.

"It does give you a pretty good workout," Parker says. "I knew that having it around would encourage me to be more active."

By now, video games have mastered the art of behavioral psychology, the secret of getting you to play longer, play more and have more fun by doing it. And so, in our sedentary screen-addicted nation, game and app developers have been asking: What if we put a little bit of exercise in our video games, and a little bit of video game in our exercise?

Nintendo

Exercise at home - and have fun doing it - with Nintendo Switchs Ring Fit Aventure.

Work Hard, Play Hard

Exercise video games didn't start with Ring Fit Adventure, of course. In 2008, Wii Fit allowed players to use a balance board controller to exercise on the Wii console. Millennials will remember the days of Dance Dance Revolution, where introverted middle and high schoolers flocked to arcades and worked up a sweat, players' feets scurrying to keep up with a stream of musical prompts.

The "exergame" traditions go back even further, says Ben Sawyer, a consultant to exercise-based video game and app developers, who spent around a decade immersed in this topic with the Games for Health Project.

In 1984, Atari even nearly released a game system called the "Puffer," that allowed you to play as a character on an exercise bike but was thwarted by the video game crash. As educational games like Reader Rabbit and SimCity showed that games could be used to teach people as well as entertain them, Sawyer says, researchers started to experiment with using games as therapy measuring how they could impact, not just a person's brain, but their galvanic skin response and other biomarkers. Games could treat things like ADHD or fear of spiders, researchers realized, and maybe encourage us to work out more.

"If you heard tomorrow that a pharma company was making an investment in a game company, I think 20 years ago people would say, 'What are you talking about?'" Sawyer says. But today, he says, that makes a logical kind of sense.

As some exercise games became mainstream hits, Sawyer says, researchers found that the games didn't just get kids exercising in video games it whetted their appetites for more traditional forms of fitness.

"The kids that got hooked on playing Dance Dance Revolution for gym class, they were starting to participate in other forms of exercising," Sawyer says. "They were riding their bikes more."

Not only that, but he says that researchers learned that games could push people further and have them work harder.

"When we put people into an exercise game, for the most part, we know they'll exercise longer," Sawyer says. "We ask them, 'How much did they exert themselves,' and they go, 'Seven.''' Well, actually it was a nine."

But for now, Sawyer says, video games still have too many barriers standing between exercise and play: If you want to play Ring Fit Adventure, you have to not only put on your workout clothes but also strap on the controller onto your leg and sometimes wait for your Switch to update.

And just as you get bored of a game or just like you find that you've abandoned your New Year's resolution exercise routine by mid-March it's easy to abandon even a fun exercise game after a while.

"It's a month later, and the Wii Fit board is sitting under the couch," Sawyer says.

Already, some reviewers of Ring Fit Adventure have found that, after a few weeks, the game no longer had enough allure to keep them doing crunches and jogging in place.

"I'd not reckoned with how a gaming adventure driven by exercise would be prone to the accidental abandonment that can befall any workout routine," writes Stephen Totilo, a gaming critic at Kotaku.

The Gamification of Everything

Spokane resident Mark Meredith already knows how to exercise. He's in the Naval reserves. He's a mailman, so his job consists of walking 11 miles a day. But losing weight was a little trickier.

While stationed with the Navy in Bahrain, he says, he'd ballooned up on a bit too much Persian Gulf fast food. At his heaviest, he was at 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds. But today, he says, he's at 185. He recently uploaded a before/after picture to social media to a chorus of compliments.

"On Facebook everybody was like, you look amazing. What are you doing for your skin-care routine?" Meredith says. "It's just weight loss. I feel a lot better."

The secret, it turned out, was an app on his phone called Lose It!

"It tells you how many calories you can have per day," Meredith says. "When you exercise, you can punch in what your exercise had been."

At its core, it was little more than calorie tracking and recording what he ate, a basic premise of dieting.

It wasn't really a video game. But it just added just enough video game-style elements, like badges and progress bars, to apply some simple motivational hacks to his brain and get him to stick with it. Perhaps most powerfully, Meredith says, it tracks your "streaks" rewarding you each time you log into the app in a row. At his best, Meredith managed to get his streak up to 200 days.

"It's that addictive element you get when you're playing a game," he says. Your natural loss aversion means you don't want to lose your streak, so you keep playing.

Lose It! is not a game. But it is gamification.

"Gamification" dresses up our more difficult arduous tasks in life in flashy accessories of video games community leaderboards, badges, achievements, points and levels and grafts them onto other tasks.

"Gaming's dark secret," writes former gaming critic Kieron Gillen about traditional games, is that "sometimes watching a bunch of numbers get bigger is enough."

The same motivational power that convinced adult professionals to set their alarms to wake up in the middle of the night to harvest blueberries in the FarmVille Facebook game, could be used for tougher tasks, like exercise, dieting or learning a new language.

"Games are very, very good at showing your progress," says Gabe Zichermann, chair of the Gamification Summit. "You're always aware of your score, what level you're on."

Back in 2011, Zichermann was predicting in the Globe and Mail how that concept could be harnessed to keep people going to the gym regularly: The rewarding results of exercise and dieting can take weeks, or even months to show up. Instead, apps can dole out rewards, even tiny symbolic ones, more often for things like consistent gym attendance. In a way, it's no different than a second-grade teacher awarding stickers to kids for good behavior.

In games, the human desire to complete sets can make people try to find every feather in Assassin's Creed or to catch 'em all in Pokmon, but Zichermann says the same instinct is at work driving people to take enough steps every day to complete the activity rings on their Apple Watch.

"The core neurobiological evolutionary part of the human condition has nothing to do with the ring," Zichermann says. "It has to do with once you've decided that set was worth completing, you have the powerful drive to want to complete that set."

The Next Level

Sawyer says we're only at the start of what games can accomplish for exercise and health.

"Ultimately, over time, what you'll see is more and more of the melding of video games and exercising," Sawyer says.

Sawyer imagines a world where you walk into your house, start doing jumping jacks at a whim, and "immediately the screen in front of you says, "I'm guessing you want to play So-and-So Fit Adventure."

You'd step on the treadmill at the gym and be asked if you want to watch CNN or play a game. Or, you'd be on a run and your Apple Air Pods would offer an audio adventure game you could play while you ran.

"There's a dragon behind you! Run a little faster!" Sawyer says. "Now you have a sword."

In theory, the more we can chip away at the barrier between what's healthy and what's fun, the more we can turn our bad habits into good ones. And if not? At least we've had some fun and worked up some sweat by doing it.

danielw@inlander.com

See the article here:
Can harnessing the psychological power of video games make you healthier? - Pacific Northwest Inlander

Use this period in quarantine to teach kids how to cook simple dishes with less fat and sugar, says French chef Cyril Lignac. (Rawpixel pic)

PARIS: Covid-19 has shaken the world like nothing else. But beyond the terrible toll of death, economic devastation and fear, the virus is likely to leave another lasting mark.

It is going to make everyone fatter.

I dont know if we are going to come out of this experience stronger, but we will have gotten fatter, warned nutritionist Beatrice de Reynal, who said that was only one thing to do eat less.

It is going to happen to us all, even if we try to exercise, said the similarly fatalistic Julian Mercier, a French sports, health and cooking coach.

With more than a quarter of humanity shut up at home or under lockdown, and with many worried they will get the virus next, the temptation to comfort eat is hard to resist.

I am the first to turn to chocolate rather than to an apple, Mercier admitted. And that is what risks being our undoing.

The arithmetic of the situation is hard to argue with.

By doing little or none of the physical activity people normally do, an adult is likely to burn off up to 400 fewer calories a day, said dietician Jennifer Aubert.

Which is why you have to reduce your portions and move as much as you can as long as it is not to the fridge and back.

Other experts point to people who have panic-bought a cupboard full of fresh food, finding themselves duty-bound to eat their way through it.

Slipping into over-eating

Being alone and coping with the stress of the situation, as well as worries about whether they will have a job to go back to, can tip people into over-eating, the British Nutrition Foundation warned.

With concerns about the availability of food, eating well and staying healthy alongside all the other stresses of the coronavirus outbreak is a challenge, it admitted.

Food can be a comfort and its easy to overeat when spending so much time at home, especially if you like to cook in order to pass the time.

But it is advising people to embrace the lockdown to learn to put together healthy meals which can be a source of enjoyment and help your well-being.

Canned or frozen ingredients can be just as nutritious as fresh, it added.

Not everyone cooks, however, as Pascale Hebel, of the French CREDOC research institute said, and some may not have the wherewithal to cook.

Which can lead to a heavy reliance on fatty and salty ready-meals and tinned food.

Others warned against using food as a way of soothing children forbidden from going outside to play with their friends.

To avoid problems it is easy to make spaghetti bolognese that everyone likes rather than to fight to make them eat spinach, Mercier said. But that would be a mistake.

Experts were unanimous that cooking for yourself and structuring your day with regular meals and physical activity, were vital if we are to come out of this in decent shape.

Stay calm and cook

It can even be possible to lose weight, said Aubert, because we actually have more time to do sport at home.

And with hashtags like #homemadefood proliferating on social media as users show off dishes and compare recipes, it could also be the chance to teach a whole new generation how to cook.

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver certainly thinks so and has been doing his bit with a nightly show based on store cupboard and freezer faves called Keep Cooking And Carry On.

It includes dishes fast but healthy such as Cornershop Curry and Quick green pasta.

I understand that it is easy to fall into watching the television, or lying around reading and snacking. I am the first to do it, his French opposite Cyril Lignac told AFP.

But this period is a great chance to teach children and teenagers how to cook simple dishes. And when I am at home I tend to cook with less fat and sugar.

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Written by Nihal Koshie | New Delhi | Updated: April 4, 2020 9:10:03 am When in the peak period of their training cycles, marathon runners typically clock 180 to 200 kilometres a week (File Photo)

From running 180 to 200 kilometres a week to near zilch. A set of athletes has literally been stopped in their tracks by lockdowns imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic. A full marathon covers almost 42.2 kilometres and for those putting their bodies on the line, standing still is not an option.

Marathoners workouts comprise developing endurance, hill training, tempo running every single session planned to begin four to five months before a race. But marathons around the world have been cancelled. For an athlete whose weekly schedule involves clocking kilometres at a stretch for five days a week, not being allowed outdoors can result in the wheels falling off faster than for most others.

Paris, Tokyo, Vienna, Rotterdam, Manchester, Barcelona, Boston and London are cities that have postponed marathons, shredding carefully-chalked-out training plans.

Eliud Kipchoge, often called the greatest marathon runner, shared his training-from-home diary with the BBC recently. He talks about the loneliness of not being able to run with his team because of social distancing. This is now the third day since we broke up from the camp due to coronavirus. Its really hard to train because I value teamwork. Its mutual interest because it helps me so much, Kipchoge says.

The Kenyan was training to run the London Marathon but is now confined to his home. He is based in Eldoret since his training camp at Kaptagat was shut because of the pandemic giving him the option of running solo. Kipchoge is one of the luckier ones.

Indias marathon runners, confined to their rooms at training centres or at home, are learning to innovate. Sudha Singh, a qualifier for last years World Championships, says she looks at the running track longingly from her hostel room window at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala during the ongoing lockdown.

The track is so close yet so far, she says. You feel like going out and running but of course I am being responsible and following all precautions, Sudha says.

Improvisation has kept her restlessness in check. She uses the staircase inside the hostel building to run up and down as a form of cardio exercise. Only when nobody is around do I use the steps. One needs to at least do some basic exercises. In my room, I do basic strength training using an exercise band, she says.

A marathoner has multiple issues to worry about as cutting down on mileage can have repercussions the endurance level begins to dip and weight gain is a concern. I have lost 30 per cent of my endurance in 10 days, Nitendra Singh Rawat says from Baijnath, a village located in the Garur Valley of Uttarakhand.

READ | What Kenyas Eliud Kipchoge has achieved Not an official record, but a triumph of human endurance

Rawat, a 2016 South Asian Games gold medallist, goes for short runs in this picturesque locale but he too needs to be careful. I do a quick run into the jungle where there is a path. There is nobody in these parts so there is no fear of being infected by coronavirus but there are wild animals. Running is so important and if one is not able to, it gets really tough and depressing. I understand the important of the lockdown, Rawat adds.

The experienced marathoner worries about putting on weight because he is not burning enough calories. High-carb drinks and water keep a marathoner going during training days and Rawat says when one stops running suddenly, there can be a build-up of fat.

I have put on over two kilograms. I am cutting down on my calorie intake, especially carbohydrates. I have just one scoop of rice instead of two, one roti and sabzi. At the moment, I cant follow the specialised diet which I would have if I was training properly. I dont lose weight as fast as I put on so it is a challenge. My muscles are losing strength, Rawat says.

The current predicament the town of Baijnath faces in terms of supplies balances it out. I am forced to cut down because the truck that delivers essentials to this area comes from 140 kilometres away. So we have to stock up and go easy, Rawat adds.

The 33-year-old knows the road ahead will be tough for endurance athletes with uncertainty over the duration of the lockdown, not just in India but in marathon venues around the world. Everything has gone for a toss. Mentally also, it is very difficult because the training schedule is disrupted. And how do you plan training because you dont know when the next marathon will be held, Rawat says.

National long-distance coach Surinder Singh gives pep talks to trainees over the phone to keep their spirits high. He is also monitoring their diet. For long-distance runners being in a room and not able to run makes a huge difference. They can burn off half a kilo increase in weight fast once they return to full training. If its more than that, it will take longer. I am trying to ensure that their diet is reduced. Say from 5000 calories a day to 3000 calories a day, Surinder says.

The advantage of being an elite athlete, according to Surinder, is that they can regain endurance levels faster than others.

Thonakal Gopi, a former Asian marathon title-holder, is at the Sports Authority of Indias centre at Kangeri, Bangalore. He isnt too stressed about this off period because he is recovering from a niggle in his knee. This is like a recovery period for me. So in a way, I have not lost much in terms of training because of the lockdown as I was not 100 per cent fit yet. But I should be fine in a few days, Gopi says.

If he was in his peak training schedule, he would have done at least 180 to 190 kilometres a week. Gopi is lucky because he does not put on weight. I am not somebody who eats a lot so it is easy for me to control my diet. My weight has more or less been constant over the years. We dont have access to the gymnasium. Everyone is training individually in their rooms. When we train for the marathons we do so in groups, but we dont know when that would be possible, Gopi says.

Around the world, the uncertainty over events makes planning tougher for athletes. Hugh Jones, a winner of the London, Stockholm and Oslo marathons in the 1980s, and a race director at events around the world, is sensitive to their predicament.

For most elite athletes, denied any possibility of competing for the next few months, the objective should be to set training at a lower level which does no more than maintain a good level of aerobic fitness. When races start to be staged again not just planned and scheduled then there will be an intervening time in which runners must bring their training to a peak, Jones said in an email.

At the moment, races are being postponed from scheduled May dates but, as the virus continues to spread, it is likely that June, July and August dates will also be postponed or cancelled. No one can tell for sure when the race programme will resume so athletes are faced with targets that move in an unpredictable way.

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For marathoners who run 200 kilometres a week, lockdown has brought them to a dead stop - The Indian Express

Here, advice-givers can help. When people come to us for advice, we can resist the urge to give them a single recommendation. People rarely need to hear our conclusion. They benefit from hearing our thought process and our perspective on the relevant criteria for making the choice. The most useful advice doesnt specify what to do; it helps people see blind spots in their thinking and clarify their priorities.

Now, when students come to office hours, I start by asking them what they want. Are they looking for me to validate a decision theyve already made, challenge their assumptions or help them think through the considerations? Then, if I share a lesson from my own experience, I make sure to qualify that it may or may not apply to them. Heres how I landed on my career. Which aspects of my approach make sense for you, and which ones dont?

At some point, you have probably noticed that youre wiser when giving advice to others than you are in making decisions for yourself. Youre not alone. In psychology, its called Solomons paradox, and it often happens because we have more distance from other peoples problems than our own.

When making our own career choices, we tend to zoom in on all the ways that the options differ. Ive seen students make Excel spreadsheets comparing jobs on 23 dimensions, which is an easy way to get stuck in the weeds. When were giving advice to others, were more likely to zoom out to see the big picture. Instead of trying to weigh all the factors, we base our recommendations on the two or three most important factors.

The lesson here is that one of the most effective ways to get better advice is to give it. Sure enough, psychologists find that our reasoning becomes wiser when we think about our own problems from a third-person perspective.

I very often have to remind myself to take my own advice, Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild and a professional advice-giver, told me on WorkLife. I know what the right thing to do is. I dont always do it.

Advising others doesnt just help us make better decisions it also leaves us more motivated to follow through. In one experiment, when high school students were randomly assigned to give advice to younger students on how to stay motivated in school, their own report card grades improved.

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We Get, and Give, Lots of Bad Advice. Heres How to Stop. - The New York Times

Over the years, there have been plenty of fad diets that pop up and youll hear from a friend or two that you have to try it. Sure, some diets work for some people, but theres a lot more that goes into losing weight than just eating a particular type of food or slashing your food intake in general. Many people struggle with this and theres no shame in that. There are even more people who dont want to give up the foods they love altogether. With Noom, they arent here to tell you youre never allowed to eat your favorite sweets. They are focused on the bigger picture.

Noom is a program created for long-term results by teaching you better eating habits and changing your behaviors, not to tell you you cant have a piece of cake. Ive been using Noom for seven weeks now and have really been impressed by the experience. From the get-go, the process is very simple as you answer some initial questions about your eating habits, physical abilities, gender, and age. You even get to choose between a slow and fast dieting plan, in case you want to shed some weight quickly for a special occasion. You get to pick how long you want your plan to be and what you want your ultimate goals to be, whether you want to get fit or lose weight.

The day-to-day is very positive and reinforcing, as they use food science and psychology to better map out a weight loss plan for you. Nooms eating program is focused on caloric density, which boils down to which foods have higher nutrients to fill you up. The plan is broken down into three categories: green, yellow, or red foods. Green foods have the most nutrients and the least amount of calories to fill you up (like vegetables, fruits, whole grains), while yellow has more calories and fewer nutrients (like lean meats, legumes, and low-fat dairy). Red is the highest calorie foods with lower nutrients. The first thing that surprised me was foods that I didnt expect to be red were red, like cereal, but it makes sense because they arent overly filling.

Something that Ive found myself really doing more of is paying attention to serving size. I know thats a basic part of any weight loss plan, but its never something I did a lot of. Measuring out cups and tablespoons of ingredients helped me keep an eye on my caloric intake. Noom has you weigh yourself every morning and there are some wild swings day to day when it comes to weight, something I also never realized. Any time you eat anything, youre supposed to track it, which can feel like a chore, but it does help with mapping out your days eating. If you have some spare calories, you know you can fit dessert in later.

Each day has about 10 minutes or so of reading that helps explain healthy habits and how to change your overall behavior when it comes to eating. It comes in a checklist fashion, so once youve finished one, it moves you onto the next topic. But you can always revisit and even bookmark your favorite lessons. There are plenty of quizzes throughout the week as well, to make sure that youre doing the reading. While that may sound like homework, they are all informative and useful in your daily life.

There is support available to you throughout your time using Noom, as you are assigned a Goal Specialist right away who can talk through how the program is working for you. Your Goal Specialist will check in with you and answer questions you may have about the program, as well as continue to work with you through your plan. One thing that should be noted is that Goal Specialist arent really available to you 24/7, only during business hours, and they arent always the quickest at getting back to you. But after a few weeks of the program, you are placed into a support group with other Noom users and you can share whats been working for you and where you are struggling. There is a Group Coach who oversees the discussions and begins them each day. It can be a great place to see how other people are using the program and picking up helpful tips and tricks. Its there for positive reinforcement.

I found that tracking your food can be easy as well as difficult at times. You can scan the barcode of your food for it to come up in the food tracker but there have been numerous occasions where Ive scanned a barcode and Noom didnt have the food in their library. You can add the food to help Noom, but if you eat that food more than once in a few days, youll have to add it multiple times. But any recognized foods that you type in or scan will show up if its a green, yellow, or red food. Youll also be able to log your food in different measurements like tablespoons, cups, or ounces, or even handfuls for things like nuts or popcorn. If you are getting food from a restaurant, Noom does a good job of just having a general estimate of how much something like chicken marsala would register on the tracker, rather than breaking down each ingredient. You can also create custom dishes and save them, if they are going to be something you eat frequently, like a smoothie.

As the program progresses, Noom will also start offering exercises and activities you can do to help you stay fit. You can choose what kind of workout you want (cardio, weight training, etc.) and Noom will cater your workouts to your preference. Every day your steps will be tracked, made easier if you have the Noom app for your smartphone, as it will follow your literal footsteps. Being given different exercises is a nice perk, as many people dont want to have to pay for both a gym membership and a dieting program. Noom is offering a 14-day trial, which you can cancel at any time. If you want to keep using it after that, it is $59 a month or there are auto-recurring payments that you can opt-in for like an annual fee of $199.

While using Noom, Ive lost 17 pounds and am on my way to getting to my goals. Ive found that it has been helpful for me, especially when it comes to planning out my calories each day. It will not work for everyone, especially those who dont want to commit to keeping track of every meal of their life. But Ive seen improvements through my overall health and over 50 million users have as well. If youre looking for a new way to look at weight loss, Noom can be that fresh respective.

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