2013-05-21T18:25:15-04:00 Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=rob-blakeman Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Rob Blakeman Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.3189826 2013-04-30T23:11:47-04:00 2013-05-04T13:56:26-04:00

Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/ Not a man to make the same mistake twice, when Marquez challenged Pacquiao for the fourth time at a similar weight at which he had fought Floyd he hit the Free-weights in the gym hard and the result was a tough and grizzled, granite-like physique and the extra power he had gained showed in his confident performance-he was probably at his best ever at the fourth Pacquiao fight-which for him is saying a lot. Back to Mayweather, we all should have no doubt that Floyd will only ever be beaten if and when his confidence brings him forwards with his defence down towards an injured foe that appears to be there for the taking as was the case with Manny and Marquez in their last fight. Marquez did his trademark left jab even as he was desperately hurt in the last seconds of the fight, then he dipped his body to the left side, a manoeuvre he usually follows with a left hook to the body-except this time he didn't throw the punch that he so often does from this crouched position but instead, with incredible instinctive reactions, seeing even with his head dipped, through his peripheral vision that Manny's head was in the ideal position he instead threw that peach of an overhand right-similar to the one that had put Manny down previously but from a lower position and worse still, for Manny, to an opponent with his guard down and moving forward fast, in for the kill of a seemingly vanquished foe. Caution was thrown to the wind and Manny, desperate to rid himself of this thorn in his side once and for all in a truly emphatic victory come unstuck against a fighter that he should have known would never give up trying to win despite being hurt and more importantly would be as dangerous as a wounded lion until his last breath. Marquez has many times snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against world class opponents and can never be underestimated. In any case, the universal tumblers of fate and timing all clicked together for a split second and the fight was unlocked for Marquez as he finally figured out the beating of Pacquiao and Manny moved forward onto the biggest punch he had taken in his life. These guys could fight again a dozen times and we would possibly never see the same outcome again. It only takes a second of carelessness to lose at this elite level by knockout and these top guys don't get careless very often.
During his spectacular career Floyd Mayweather has been caught with some huge punches in fights like that with DeMarcus Corley through to Shane Mosley to name just two but his chin is solid and he rarely makes the same mistake twice. He has never been caught flush while moving forward simply because he is just too skilled and has the best reactions in the sport. This was shown in the way he handled First-class-World-class counter puncher Marquez with breathtaking ease in their fight in 2009 and so the only question that arises in regard to his next fight on May 4th is how long will the referee let Floyd beat up on poor old Robert Guerrero? Robert is a strong and durable fighter typical of a Mexican but he brings nothing to the ring in the skills department that Floyd hasn't seen before and possibly even less in the ways of footwork than Floyd is used to dealing with-Guerrero's only chance is over confidence on Floyd's part, allowing himself to fall asleep, and thus bringing him forward to walk onto a big punch and the chances of that happening are somewhere between slim and none. We should all just face it; no one has the skills to truly whip Mayweather, he can only beat himself through carelessness of the kind seen in Manny's last fight. Marquez is such an exceptional professional in that he was able to keep his composure during extreme pressure and pain and to still have the ability to unleash a perfect punch from the very edge of defeat. When Marquez fought Mayweather he blew it by not being in his best possible shape. He needed to consult the weight training experts and nutritionists to stand any chance against Floyd and maybe even then the outcome would have probably been the same-we may never know. In any case, Marquez was then acknowledged as the pound for pound number-two fighter in the world-and Mayweather beat him comparatively easily by a wide point's decision margin. Marquez took this in his stride and instead of becoming a journeyman 'opponent' as many thought he would he bounced back at 39 years old, stepped up and shook up the World by knocking out the seemingly invulnerable Manny Pacquiao. Marquez is a very rare fighter and Floyd is unlikely to run into his calibre again and even if he should, he is far less likely to make the error Pacquiao did.
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Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/
Malnutrition and vitamin defficiency is very common as the body can absorb less food than it was designed to and one can only imagine the effects of this on a still growing child. Last week a hospital in the Middle East confirmed that it too had begun regularly conducting bariatric surgery on obese kids as young as 11 years old, despite claims by other medics that the procedure is not suitable for under-18s.

Bariatric surgery (weight-loss surgery) includes a variety of procedures performed on people who are obese. Weight loss is achieved by reducing the size of the stomach with a gastric band or through removal of a portion of the stomach (sleeve gastrectomy or biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch) or by resecting and re-routing the small intestines to a small stomach pouch (gastric bypass surgery).

Early in February it was reported in the UAE that desperate mums and dads are turning to specialist surgeons to help their overweight offspring, even with costs running at $10,000 US. Many parents said they felt pressured into it by the children!

One cosmetic surgery clinic is said to have operated on about 20 obese children this year already, and claims adolescent bariatric surgery is now "very well established" across the globe. One surgeon said "Bariatric surgery can be the only hope for morbidly obese teenagers who will eventually end up with severe disability otherwise. Bariatric surgeons all over the world, including us in the UAE, are performing bariatric surgery on patients under the age of 18 according to international protocols and guidelines - and the outcomes of the operations are literally phenomenal."

He said that "more than 90 per cent" of obesity surgery cases at his hospital were middle east nationals. He added that there is even a hospital in Saudi Arabia - another nation with huge obesity problems - that will operate on grossly overweight children under the age of 10.
But only if they have "metabolic disorders that make them really obese". There are about seven bariatric surgery facilities in the middle east "a handful" of which will perform the procedure on patients under the age of 18.

Should kids as young as 11 be allowed or even encouraged to go under the knife? Is there an easier solution? Could it be that more and more young people are just lacking in stimulation to be more active and eat healthily and so hiding their unfulfilled lives (adults too!) by excess snacking or grazing. Do they comfort eat because the world is turning into a theme park of itself, what is an authentic experience nowadays? Where can one go these days to enjoy a genuine experience? How many families regularly go to the beach together to run and play anymore? Any form of exercise can be a real challenge for kids who aren't used to it just as it is for an adult if you haven't done any in a long time but when results like feeling and looking better start to come you will learn to love it. After a short time, you will find that you have far better, happier and more productive days when you exercise than when you don't. Trips to the beach help family bonding too.

The whole of our culture, the whole of our lives in fact appear to be being taken over more and more by 'simulated' experiences on so many levels, a filtered down and dissipated version of the particular experience so that our lives are becoming theme parks of lives rather than actual lives. Each of these experiences is usually wrapped up in some kind of huge company marketing strategy promoting some other product or service that we will feel pressured to purchase in case we're missing out or just not keeping up with the neighbours.

This concept is particularly successful with children of course, who don't have the critical faculties to truly make decisions made on solid facts but on a kind of teenage angst of being 'left out' if they don't pursue the next gadget, game, novelty or what not. They can't separate easily the culturally valuable stuff from the contrived packaging with hidden and usually dubious agendas behind the products. The instant gratification society that so many young people appear to live in and which we have allowed big corporations to create needs to change or horror stories like obesity surgery on children will just continue to escalate. Children need to be stimulated and challenged as well as educated in order to be happy just like adults.

The poet Anne Bradstreet wrote; "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome".

She's talking about hard work for reward or gifts given only when one is old enough to appreciate them. I've given up counting how many children I have seen less than 8 years old with their own mobile phones, walking through Malls, texting away as they browse for Grand Theft Auto Platinum Edition or whatever. Fast texting, fast gaming and fast food go hand in hand. Most Kids also it appears know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. With more fast food outlets opening every day things are unlikely to change.

In the final analysis though, how can any child truly emasculate a responsible parent into buying them surgery? Its one thing for a child lacking in discipline or appreciation to demand of anxious-to-please parents for a brand new pair of Nike trainers now, or the latest mobile phone now but just stop for a second, Mom, I want to be slimmer through surgery now? Doctor please?!

More articles like this one are available in the free magazine link below.

http://www.robblakeman.com/A1Shape&StyleMagazine_SPRING_ISSUE_2013.pdf]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2644317 2013-02-10T06:40:41-05:00 2013-04-12T05:12:01-04:00

Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/
Yes, the sworn enemy of dieters has another drawback possibly more irreparable than cavities and one that is more irreversible than a couple of stones of unwanted fat. New research published in The Journal of the American College of Nutrition has shown that it can also cause skin to prematurely age. This is caused by sugar attaching itself to proteins in the body causing them to become brittle. Skin is made from structural proteins such as elastin and collagen fibres. Protein keeps these supple so the implications for ageing are obvious. In a nutshell, sugar hastens the degradation of elastin and collagen, both key skin proteins. In other words, it actively ages you.
The way this happens is when you have too much sugar in the body it produces a waste product called advanced glycosylation end products-AGE for short, rather ironically. Increased levels of this molecule cause the fibres in the skin to stiffen and lose elasticity. Imagine that your collagen is your skin's mattress and the elastin fibers are the coils holding it together. The sugar attacks these fibers, making them less elastic and more brittle so they break. The result is that your once-youthful skin starts to sag and look old. If you have normal, healthy collagen and elastin, your skin will snap back to its original position after you smile. But if your collagen and elastin has been made brittle by this process called glycation, skin becomes prone to breaking, it can't snap back the way it once did. That's when fine lines and wrinkles appear - and they don't go away.

Your digestive system and your skin are inextricably linked and carbohydrates are essential for healthy digestion, but stick to the unrefined wholemeal variety. Refined white carbohydrates are turned to sugar by the body so it has the same effect on your skin as processed sugar. Wholemeal carbohydrates are more slowly digested so help to keep your blood sugar level for a slow release of energy and less cravings for sugar. The other reason to reduce sugar-induced ageing is to avoid diabetes. The body's ability to produce insulin is compromised by frequent consumption of processed carbohydrates and sugars. This can lead to diabetes. Diabetes is defined as a disease that speeds up the ageing process, because it oxidises body cells and causes complications like cardiovascular disease, which is associated with old age. It's not just the sugar we eat, but the way we eat it that harms our skin. Cooking and caramelising our food at the high temperatures that occur during barbecuing or cooking on a griddle is a real no-no. Cooking food that's made up of sugar, protein and/or fat to a high heat creates the AGE bad by-products. Conventional wisdom used to hold that when you ate something containing AGEs, they would simply pass through the digestive tract. But that turned out to be wishful thinking. The cake baking in the oven may have a gorgeous golden crust, but inside each delicious crumb is a time bomb of ageing in the form of AGEs. The bottom line is that a diet high in sugar, especially foods with the sugar-protein-heat combination, can cause premature ageing, or worse.

The good news is that it's within your power simply reducing your sugar intake, to turn back the clock by ten years and improve the texture, tone and radiance of your skin. Firstly, you can begin regularly consuming antioxidants such as green tea, blueberries and red cherries which help to neutralise AGEs. The main step however is to stop adding sugar to any drinks and cut down to a minimum sugary product.

Without sugar in the diet skin will very quickly look younger. I have witnessed many remarkable changes in many of my clients' skins when they eliminated simple sugars from their diets. Not only did they lose weight but sometimes in as little as ten days they saw an increased glow, radiance and elasticity in their skin and face. And within a year, their body had changed completely as well-believe me, it's cheaper than a face-lift - with much longer lasting results!

More articles like this one are available in the free magazine link below.


http://www.robblakeman.com/A1Shape&StyleMagazine_SPRING_ISSUE_2013.pdf]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2530958 2013-01-23T00:53:20-05:00 2013-03-24T05:12:02-04:00

Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/
I would put playground equipment near or even inside all the fast food restaurants so that children would want to go there often to eat and play. I would encourage companies to put addictive chemicals in the foods to make them harder to resist. In due course, I would hope to have hundreds of addictive additives for food companies to choose from. Then comes my advertising.

If I had political power, I would make it so that companies making fast food, packaged foods and soda companies would have the best advertising spots on prime time television and sponsorship on all the top radio stations. I would hire advertising executives to come up with catchy slogans and ideas to keep these foods in the forefront of people's minds.

The most important part of my advertising would be that I would market specifically to children. Children's minds are very impressionable and this would allow me to gain lifetime customers because the children's minds would be made up about their favourite products before they became adults that could think intelligently and use their critical faculties to decide about the reality of what was being advertised. I would put chocolate and other junk food next to almost every cashier or counter in shops. I would put it right next to where people walk in and out of any store. To encourage higher caloric consumption, I would offer larger sizes for a tiny difference in price. For example I would allow someone to get a much larger meal for less than one additional pound or just a few extra pence. I would then train all the employees to ask customers if they would like to get the larger meal. Another trick I would employ is that I would make the meal larger in only the sugary drinks, the french fries, and other low cost high calorie foods. In this way, people will get a disproportionate amount of calories from the worst possible foods.

Over time, I would find creative ways to increase the sizing of just about any food. To add calories cheaply, I would encourage sugar being added to everything that it was possible to put it in. I would even encourage the sugar industry to make the sugar cheaper through hydrogenation and synthetic chemicals. One example of this is high fructose corn syrup. I would encourage this on all levels. The other extra benefit of added sugar is that it will make people have stronger appetites. The artificially high amounts of sugar will cause people to have a sugar crash from too much released insulin. This will then induce artificial hunger pangs to bring the low blood sugar levels back up. People will then consume even more calories. I would put vending machines in schools that sell sugar-filled drinks and chips and lots of junk foods. I would put a cash dispensing machine near each vending machine. I would find the highest calorie foods like chips and pizza and fries and put those in as part of the daily foods offered at school lunch. The food would not be cooked from scratch at the school instead it would be brought in from outside all packaged up from various corporations that know how to put in the additives and chemicals properly.

Everyone, even those on a low income would be able to afford to purchase the junk food at a reduced rate.

I would sell off all the parks, and soccer fields, basketball courts, and any other item that encourages exercise. I would have virtually no sidewalks and pavements. Every home would have one or two or three cars so that people would never need to walk anywhere.
In the psychology department I would accommodate being fat as painlessly as possible. In every culture I would have advertisers create campaigns that make obesity attractive. Obese people would be used more in ads. I would encourage society to not only accept fatness but to prefer it. Being fat would become the 'norm'.

I would find ways to make it so people had to work constantly. I would create an economic climate that required most everyone to only have a few minutes a day to themselves. With increased business, people won't want to spend their few minutes preparing healthy foods and will be more likely to eat the fast food from the drive-thru on the corner, have junk food delivered to their door or stock the house with lots of microwavable packaged food created just for them. People that are excessively tired will turn to food stimulants like caffeine laden sodas and sugar to make it through the day. People will still have freedom to resist, but we will keep the media programming so powerful it would be just too tempting for most people to eat more.

...And who to blame? I would certainly encourage media to blame obesity for reasons that can't be changed. I would blame it on big bones, hormones, defective genetics, and poor self control. In fact, I would most often make it an objective to point out how lazy obese people are and that they just had a poor upbringing. Proper blaming will keep corporations from feeling any regret, sorrow, or responsibility for their products. More importantly it will keep the public from demanding or looking for any types of changes. They will simply believe that they have poor will power and blame it on themselves. The sadness and despair will have the positive effect of more people popping antidepressants and that will be good for the economy. The last and final smokescreen would be to have lots of cheap 'supermarket' style gyms. People would then get together once a week to learn how to lose weight. There is one really good reason for this. People that don't want obesity will think that someone out there is able to help them for peanuts in payment.

However, the supermarket style gyms are invariably poorly staffed with low education, low motivated and poorly paid individuals who are themselves addicted to gym life because of anxiety in dealing with regular society. Gyms are one of the few places where not much is required intellectually and the people who have gravitated to them as a workplace are generally just the other extreme of being unhappy with whom they are. So when the obese people join the gym, they receive no real support or education with their weight problem and so still fail to lose the weight and the blame will then continues to shift to themselves and not on systemic problems created by fast food giants media campaigning for over excessive consumption. It also keeps those who are the angriest with obesity to simply have an outlet to cry out their pain and this makes them less threatening to the obesity society.

Epilogue:

Past is prologue so it can only get worse-which is hard to imagine. I am sure I've given you enough to think about but I am also sure you can come up with a lot more ways to make people fat. It's pretty easy in a society like ours.

For more articles like this click the link below for a free copy of the latest issue of Rob Blakeman's Shape and Style Magazine

http://www.robblakeman.com/A1Shape&StyleMagazine_SPRING_ISSUE_2013.pdf]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2423881 2013-01-07T07:50:01-05:00 2013-03-09T05:12:01-05:00

Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/
The hospital in question says they have this policy to ensure good health in employees, well, BMI is a pretty basic measurement and in no way guarantees good health so part of the reason this policy is in place must be to address physical appearance.

In the UK in the end of 2012 the subject of overweight nurses was raised in the House of Lords by a former President of the Royal Society of Medicine who said ministers should introduce a "requirement" for all health service employers to "address obesity in their staff at all levels". Baroness Finlay of Llandaff said; "Hospital staff are often themselves quite severely obese and actually act as a very poor role model to those patients whose own obesity should be being addressed."

So here we go again, not only employers but politicians trying to legislate for other people's size and shape - it's as futile as trying to legislate against bad breath. These issues are problems of the individual regardless of how common they may be and only the individual can make the necessary changes to address them. Each individual must find their own personal motivation to change and this can only come through education and positive reinforcement. Rewarding weight loss rather than penalizing being heavy might be one way employers could cope with this situation but really the employer has a pile of applications to go through in these times of recession so what does he care?

It's astonishing to this writer at least how anyone eats junk foods in this day and age when so much information about their true make up is available. The vast majority of high street chain-store fast foods are chemically constructed and engorged with the most horrific additives and addictive substances known to man and yet millions of people feed themselves and worse still, raise their offspring with this refuse every day (sometimes every meal) without a second thought.

The resulting physical downslide for the adults involved must bring some regret or self conscious feelings when going for that important job interview, stomach bulging and jowls hanging? You don't hear the term inferiority complex much these days but the old textbook definition still rings true; an inferiority complex is when you compare yourself unfavourably against others. So, in other words when you have a negative self-image, you make yourself psychologically inferior. If this is the case then we need to accept the contention that our attitude will inevitably suffer if we don't keep a good self-image. So even if you don't care about how others think you look, it should be of paramount importance how you appear to yourself because of how it affects your attitude.

You may not look as bad to others as you think but you can end up communicating a negative attitude because you don't look good to yourself. Could this possibly contribute to the fact that being fat is such a discriminatory issue these days? The rather sad fact is that in most cases, better looking people do better in life. By better looking I don't mean handsome or beautiful of course, which is pretty subjective, no I mean clean-cut, groomed, trim and energetic looking people, who give the impression that they have got things together. These factors usually indicate a good degree of self-discipline, self control and good self esteem-all highly desirable qualities in the workplace. Successful people are no longer judged merely by how much material wealth they may have but by less easily defined things such as work-life balance, health and wellness, spiritual fulfilment and all round contentment and performance.

If we are ambitious but overweight, perhaps we might consider how our weight affects our career. When we go for that special job or promotion we need to feel propelled by positive aspects that make us individual, it can be difficult enough identifying your own gifts, any special advantages and qualities that others will benefit from without the added disadvantage of a lack of confidence in our figure or body shape. How do we think potential employers or business partners will view the validity of such great qualities as 'self-motivated, resourceful and hard working' appearing on our CV if we are very physically overweight? It could easily be viewed as mere platitudes and further if they don't appear to immediately appreciate our value, our special qualities, then we can't really blame them. The impetus is not on them to seek out and recognise these qualities but for us to present them in a way that is easily understood. If we wish to illustrate our organisational skills, our discipline and dedication to pursue goals and work with purpose then we need to understand that a part of that is, on some level, connected by some degree with our appearance. We need to see that anyone who wants his or her career to reach its potential then it's for that individual to communicate their value to their employer or co-workers or the bank manager or whoever.

Understand that this value as a person that we know we can contribute (which may be tremendous) is being minimised, diminished, constrained, restricted and lessened until we liberate it by having our weight under control. It is one very powerful way to let all of the people in your life see and understand the commendable qualities and the advantages that you as a person bring to them by association with them. Now, if you are getting angrier and angrier reading this and moreover you are heavy and you choose to dismiss this entire premise as body facism or mere narcissism and you don't do anything to get your weight under control then you are relying on sheer luck to have your character recognised as that of an achiever in any situation in which you find yourself with people unfamiliar with you. Because of your weight problem you risk people overlooking the potential that you have as a real grafter! You may have really powerful and meaningful reasons why the qualities you possess add value to a business and empower people around you and provide real usefulness in the lives of others but you may never be given a chance to show them because being fat is equated with laziness, even if you're not, and that's how you may well be judged!

So I guess what I am saying is this; there is no law (yet) that says you must be slim to get the best job or career and reach your potential in life and nor should there be one. However, if you don't have your weight under control then you must accept that to some discriminating people your value will be reduced and you may never get out of life anywhere close to what you are worth in terms of material and spiritual rewards that life has to offer. The impression of someone focused externally demonstrates to everyone just how together you are and hey, you will be enriching yourself at the same time.

When you look good to yourself the world seems a much happier place to live.

http://robblakeman.com/index.html]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2364485 2012-12-27T17:55:50-05:00 2013-02-26T05:12:01-05:00

Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/
In between the eating will be the gift giving and receiving. The number one gift for adolescents is unsurprisingly computer games. The pattern of less and less physical exercise for the kids continues this year too then. There are also 17% more fast food 'restaurants' in the UK than this time last year so we can clearly see despite any hyperbole we have heard to the contrary that no proposed government initiative to curb obesity is really being effective at all. More calories consumed for any period requires more exercise during and after that period to maintain or return to normal weight. It's very easy to understand then how the obesity crisis will continue to grow.

A little known fact is that all of us, even those on a fairly healthy diet and who take some exercise fairly regularly on average put on a pound a year every year continuously after the age of 28 for the rest of our lives - don't do the maths - its frightening! This can be justified perhaps by looking at this fact as just age slowing us down a little but then take a look at the average sedentary youngsters of today, already a little heavier and lazier than they should be and do the math for their future. The average man in the 1970s consumed more calories a day than we do now yet the average man in his twenties now is fatter than his father was. The quality of the food consumed in the 70s was also much higher in terms of being real food in the true definition of the word.

Today more chemicals are consumed in the form of microwavable meals and burger bar take outs so more debilitating symptoms of poor nutrition are evident as well as being merely fat. ADHD, arthritis, anaemia, diabetes and rickets are just the tip of the slippery iceberg that's floating through our playgrounds. Just 7% of the population in the 1970s was classified as obese but now it's a whopping 26% and I truly believe that is very conservative. We all eat less but are all getting bigger-seems the kids are not the only ones playing on the ps3 instead of moving around more.

The majority of PlayStations and games are also purchased online nowadays too so we don't even have to walk to the store buy them! Labour-saving devices, products and services coupled with readymade meals mean more of us are turning into battery hens with everything we need just a click of a mouse or the flick of a switch away. January will see millions of us joining a gym only to drop off by February disillusioned that our 12 months of digestive abuse and physical negligence can't be corrected with 20 days of sweating and slimming shakes.

Parents need to try much harder to stick with a program in order to be a role model for their own children. For anyone who has worked or spent time with special needs, seriously ill or disabled kids you will be familiar with their parents periodically breaking down and looking at you or the heavens to ask; "Why me? Why have I been given a child with spinal problems or cancer?" There is of course no answer. Except to consider that throughout my numerous tours of schools in every province lecturing on healthy eating and exercise I have never heard a parent ask why they were given a perfectly healthy child-only to abuse that privilege and see fit to assist or enable the child to stuff itself silly on junk foods and live the life of a semi-disabled person, rarely moving from one chair in front of a screen or monitor.Unwilling to use the swings or the roundabout at the park which so many sick children will never do.

Just think about that for a minute. Consider if you could never see your children play football or swim how you would feel? Yet thousands of us don't bother to do these things or do so less and less. So you have a choice. If not for your sake then for little David's or Brittany's sake-do the right thing and put a limit on Game Station time equalled by activity play time. An apple eaten for every chocolate consumed. It really is that simple to change things. It doesn't have to be colossal change just different choices to begin with; the apple instead of the muffin, the healthy recipe magazine instead of the gossip filled rag, a walk around the block instead of slumping in front of Corrie and Emmerdale, a family picnic with freshly made sandwiches instead of a trip to the Golden arches-it's up to you which choices you make but know that you will be the sum of them in years to come and so will your children. It's up to you. It always has been.

http://www.robblakeman.com/eshop2/ebooks]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2314543 2012-12-17T07:11:59-05:00 2013-02-16T05:12:01-05:00

Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/
Floyd Mayweather did not absquatulate from Pacquiao; I truly believe neither Floyd nor Manny fear any man. I also believe Floyd fully intended to fight Manny in what could have been the Mayweather Show Finale; however procrastination for whatever means has cost Mayweather the opportunity of giving his truly brilliant career the fitting end it deserves - by proving his greatness once and for all in giving Pacman the drubbing of his life as he has said he would do each time it has been brought up for discussion!

So while I don't think for one second that Floyd avoided Manny out of fear as that theory bears no logic under scrutiny. Nevertheless the responsibility for the fight not happening between what were considered just a short while ago the two best men in the sport has to ultimately lie with the current pound for pounder. So onto his final fight: Mayweather could by now have already fought Timothy Bradley or Saul Alverez if he had not had to serve a little jail time and indeed he may still choose do so but at 35 years old how much longer will he want to fight on and risk an undefeated record? Beating either of these men will make little or no difference to his legacy. Everyone in the sport knows he can pretty much fight who and when he wants to a large degree such is the payday and opportunity for glory that he brings to the table of negotiation. However, as great has Mayweather is, even he couldn't have done a better job of finishing off Pacquiao than Marquez did last week! This was the most conclusive loss of the great Pacman's career; The Giant Killer was truly slain-in style. Huge Antonio Margarito couldn't do it, neither could the highly skilled Miguel Cotto nor heavy handed Joshua Clottey nor veteran Shane Mosley and let's be honest, neither could Tim Bradley truly beat Pacquiao when they fought even though statistically he did in what must be the worst judging decision of the year.

The fight between Money and Pacman would certainly no longer be the box office-shattering event it would have been not so long ago with it's crossover appeal and the pound for pound decider status it would have carried. It is no longer between the two best men in the business -Marquez removed all doubt last weekend once and for all over who is the better man between him and the Philippine legend. Now, who even knows what fight will next for Mayweather's as he must finally be mapping out its conclusion? Robert Guerrero, Andre Berto or maybe 'Canelo' Alverez? None of these men however excellent they may be, I fear will pose the threat that a motivated Pacquiao would have. After them who can step up to the plate for the swansong of the great one? Maybe the much over hyped yet still deluded Amir Khan will move up a weight to become the final victim for Floyd in what surely would be the blood soaked mismatch of the decade. Then again, if we're being fair, (and we're not, lets face it, not much in boxing is fair) if Khan were to deserve this shot at greatness he should surely be behind Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson in the queue. Both of these great guys would give Floyd at least as spirited a challenge as the talented but chinny Amir. That's only one of the reasons why I don't think the fight with Khan will happen. It's a pity that there is such a space in weight dividing Floyd from the only fighter in the world who really could test him on a skills level as well as all other departments - Andre Ward.

Mayweather v Pacquiao for all of the marbles would have been the perfect end to the career of probably the most gifted and extraordinarily talented fighter since the peak Roy Jones. In any event this is now a mute point as it appears we will have to settle for procrastination being the true pound for pound winner at this juncture in boxing history.

http://robblakeman.com/fat-burners.html]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2282689 2012-12-13T19:00:08-05:00 2013-02-12T05:12:01-05:00

Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/
Going back to Victor Polo, through tough fights with genuine gunslingers such as Juan 'The Baby Bull' Diaz and Michael Katsidis; every time Marquez would pull it out of the bag and pull off the upset.

This is a man, don't forget, who beat Marco Barrera, another Mexican legend. He got up twice to beat great Cuban champion Joel Casamayor, another in a line of big punchers who could not stop Marquez. Anyone interested enough to research Marquez would quickly see his impeccable pedigree.

Growing up in Mexico he had a great amateur career, losing only once in 36 outings and winning two Golden Gloves tournaments along the way. The fights with Pacquiao are as exciting as any in history. Unfortunately for Manny in this most recent one he was desperate to make a big impression since his controversial loss to Tim Bradley and decided to go in for a gunfight with a proverbial Doc Holiday of gunfighters.

He should have realised Marquez would rather die than lose and is made of iron. Even pound for pound champion Floyd Mayweather could only manage a points win over Marquez. The same Mayweather who knocked out the at that time unbeaten Ricky Hatton. Mayweather also punched holes in and stopped renowned tough guys Arturo Gatti and Diego Corrales but couldn't truly put a dent in teak tough Marquez.

The world still wants to see a fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather because Pacman's ferocity alone will make it special. He should obviously ignore calls of retirement from the likes of Hatton who can barely hide the sour grapes he just tasted in his recent return and subsequent beating by a man who is a decent fighter but hardly a household name. Pacquiao keeps himself in prime shape, treating his body like a temple and is good for another couple of years yet-just look at Marquez who is almost 40 years old and still at top level because he too lives a monk-like existence with a strict training and nutrition regime worthy of such true champions.

Just because Pacquiao has been beaten by Marquez and in turn Marquez by Mayweather does not automatically mean the first guy also beats the third guy. Styles make fights. Take a look back at Hearns, Hagler and Duran. Marvin destroyed Hearns in three rounds but struggled with Duran's style and had a tough points decision. Hearns went on to destroy Duran with comparative ease.

Last Saturday night a great fighter went toe to toe with a great professional boxer and found himself wanting using those tactics as so many of his predecessors have. There's no shame in this defeat and if he chooses to dust himself off and move on he can still garner even more spectacular achievements than he has already.

If boxing history has taught us anything it's that no fight is decided until it is actually contested. In a fight with modern great and arch rival Mayweather, Pacquiao would ultimately, win or lose, shower him elf in glory and deserve to be recognised as one of a very rare breed - champion of champions.

http://www.robblakeman.com/]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2225901 2012-12-02T00:22:51-05:00 2013-01-31T05:12:02-05:00

Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/
It's a shocking symptom of our 'instant gratification' society that many people believe that they can achieve the true body beautiful through the cosmetic surgeons' hands alone and don't need to concern themselves in the least with adopting habitual healthy eating and regular productive exercise.

A recent report and video on NBC news showed a woman who could 'turn' her buttock implant into the reverse position under the skin! (See link below) She is one of millions it appears who delusionaly believe unquestioningly, whether through anatomical ignorance or just poor understanding of post surgical consequences that cosmetic surgery can completely compensate for the neglect a bad lifestyle can inflict on the physique and visage.

This illusion has been somewhat ironically encouraged further by advertorial-style media stories of dubious 'celebrity'role models who claim they have not had any surgery but then appear in public to be photographed with a new butt/chin/ nose, etc. The poor misguided short-cut-to-beauty-seeker is then convinced that cosmetic surgery is the ultimate panacea and set out to completely change their corporeal profile and body shape by "cutting and stitching" rather than eating well and working out.

There are two major drawbacks with this approach. Firstly, the end result, the law of actions and consequences of plastic or cosmetic surgery invariably fails to live up to expectations (again see the backward butt lady in the link below!). Tummy tucks, liposuction and the like consistently leave aggressive scarring and possibly worse, they only heighten awareness that surrounding tissue and body parts appear more fleshy and without tone than before the procedure.

In other words the surgery looks completely false and out of place-a bit like putting Kate moss's head on the body of Dawn French. The second snag is even if someone is pleased with the results and yet continues with the same poor lifestyle habits that caused the droops then invariably problems will return and more surgery becomes required. Facelifts can be even more disappointing. Stretched, pulled and surgically lifted skin is in effect made older in its performance and the presentation of complexion. It has poorer circulation and significantly less elasticity. It's not freshly invigorated skin, rejuvenated by improved circulation and enhanced tone that can only be gained from drinking plenty of pure water, good cleansing and regular facials.

Throat and neck muscles gain tighter and more natural tone with regular weight bearing exercise and superior nutrition. Successful natural face and body rebooting is like reinventing ourselves. There's nothing wrong with that and wanting a better, more attractive body is fine and valid but also MUST be holistic. The girl in the video has hideous legs and torso and so in any case would not have been happy with a perfect butt implant procedure(whatever that is!)because like most who resort to surgery to change a persistant and historic physical defect she hit the law of diminishing returns-her lower body had slipped too far down the greasy pole of living like a couch potato to ever be revived.

The best bodies, the kind that we all admire have been achieved and maintained with disciplined eating and regular workouts with a professional trainer and maybe a little nip and tuck here and there - the surgery is never the cornerstone of the celebrity hot bod tool set!

Moreover, if we look deep down we find that the true reward for owning this fastidious kind of body is for the contented sensation of self mastery, or efficacy. That's the real reason behind all goal-achieving, to experience that feeling that only comes from achieving goals. You could see it on the faces of the Commonwealth Gold winners recently. They are fresh with the flush of endorphins that only appear when one truly feels in control of ones own destiny. When the strategic planning and execution of a successful operation, propelled by sacrifice and dedication and conceived and executed with military precision produces the euphoria of fulfilment solely consistent with and dependant upon overcoming obstacles or adversity in order to succeed.

They know the reward is worth all of the forfeit, the glory worth the pain. Even if we could have the great body just through surgery (which requires no great effort on our part) we would emerge the same person underneath, the same anxieties and lack of confidence in our powers to overcome personal hang-ups and inadequacies. We only achieve more confidence by gaining the knowledge about exercise and nutrition and applying the disciplines of avoiding junk foods and vice in order take control of our lives and thus become a more effective person.

As a Personal Trainer and experiencing women's vanity daily I can tell that women who feel that all they need is a boob job to feel better about themselves are not at all in a minority. Many insecure ladies feel compelled to become more cartoonish-like curvy in order to 'keep that man' and thus remain in a relationship that really isn't all that it should be-in short to become surgically objectified to meet some Neanderthals physical ideal and in the process experience no personal growth whatsoever but rather become the unwitting victim of a kind of surgically assisted arrested development. However, the most evolved people know that to attain truly improved and lasting self worth through physical change you need not only to work on your body but also learn to feed and train the mind in the correct philosophy for lasting happiness and self contentment. It's a cliché but still true.


http://bodyodd.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/30/15576743-backward-butt-implant-video-shows-dangers-of-cheap-plastic-surgery]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2154426 2012-11-18T09:11:23-05:00 2013-01-18T05:12:01-05:00

Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/
In an action derived from some nutty yank in New York Johnson thinks he can make fat people thin by blocking the way to the chip shop for an hour or so. Trying to legislate against obesity is as logical as doing the same about people with bad breath! It's down to personal choices. It's also about the nurture of the child from birth. Fat burger-guzzling kids do not come from homes where the parents routinely eat grilled chicken with organic rice for dinner.

True, kids have other influences, they have tremendous pressure from media everywhere but the buck finally stops with Daddy and/or Mummy. Parents who serve up nasty fatty foods at meal times don't do so because they don't realise it's bad for them-HELLO?! In 99% of cases they just don't care. A good example set at home with healthy eating habits and regular trips to the park for a kick about is the only way to go. Positive role models really help too. Athletic, sporting heroes make for a better influence in posters on bedroom walls as opposed to Gangsta Rappers who sing about shooting policemen.

This is one way to turn a child into an aspiring Beckham and avoid him become a bullied obese boy. You are the parent aren't you? I mean who is running your household? Boris should have a clear understanding of the facts before throwing good money after bad on yet another hopeless anti-obesity scheme: Fat people will always find a way to eat fattening food and they will feed it to their kid's too without the slightest compunction. Remember those pictures in the newspapers of parents passing French fries through the school fence in Rotherham a few years ago?

In 2001 I went on a huge tour of UK schools in the West Midlands and was shocked by the parental indifference. One school with 300 kids (so a potential 600 parents) sent out invites to my seminar that took place on Parents evening in the school. This was in one of the most obese counties in the country by the way and the invite stated that free, healthy snacks would be given to all attendees.

Guess how many showed up for the seminar? Seven people and four of those were teachers from local schools who wanted to see the effect. I was so depressed but only for a week or so. I soon realised my high paying personal training clients should remain my main focus and they do to this day. Free advice is generally wasted in my 20 year experience in helping people follow a sensible healthy diet.

True, a couple of well meaning teachers and headmasters did pull on my heartstrings a few more times after the abortive event described earlier. They would periodically ask me to 'keep trying' and come and talk to the kids in their schools about being fit and strong and my social conscience made me really think about it. Then, the lack of understanding of said teachers was clarified to me when one of them suggested I contact a famous Rock Star I had trained to come along with me to the school and warn the kids about other kinds of 'vice'. Even if the guy had agreed it would have been a disaster soaked in irony. He had spent more time in rehab than in any recording studio and to hear him tell the kids not to do drugs would have been just too much!

In fact I would have stood up in the assembly hall myself and cried, "Don't worry; we can't do any drugs because you already did them all! We'll have to wait for you to die so we can smoke your ashes!"

Fame is not a role model particularly in this reality obsessed age. Kids need real athletes, people who have sacrificed time and socialising, dedicated themselves to Spartan training regimes and followed healthy diet plans in order to excel in the field of sports. All over the world countries have launched hundreds of government back anti obesity schemes and every single one of them without exception has made no discernable difference to the statistics whatsoever! Kids are getting fatter and their kids will be even fatter.

I leave you with the opening line from a book that is still used in schools as part of food and domestic technology in the UK and has been for the last 8 years. It's packed with good advice about food choices, horrific details about fast food preparation and frightening statistics about the future. This book has also made absolutely no difference in the attitudes and habits of Britain's obese kids; I know because I tracked its effects vociferously-mainly because I wrote it.
I think some parents have actually read it too but knowing better but not doing better just isn't enough. Anyhow the quote is from The Journal of the American Medical Association and it was published in 1999:

"Rarely do chronic conditions such as obesity spread with the speed and dispersion characteristics of a communicable disease epidemic."

The disease is here to stay and someone really should tell Boris.

http://www.robblakeman.com/eshop2/ebooks]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2091218 2012-11-08T01:36:37-05:00 2013-01-07T05:12:01-05:00

Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/
I later understood that Dad's army didn't mock the war or its effects on people, rather it paid tribute to the Great British spirit of keeping a dignified stiff upper lip even in the darkest and direst of circumstances. Inept, incompetent and decrepit the Walmington-on -Sea Home Guard may have been but they were courageous to a man and even as a pre-teenager I could vaguely on some level appreciate this.

Today's sad obituary made me think of a time when some truly terrific people were famous; in fact it made me think of a time when only truly terrific people were famous. The most famous boxer in the World was Muhammad Ali (Can you name the current Heavyweight Champion?) Clint Eastwood was the biggest Movie Star and Farah Fawcett was the most desirable lady in the world. It was also the return of the Movie worlds fascination with Aliens which continues to this day, indeed the first Alien movie came out in 1979.

As a boy I had been in love with old T.V. reruns of the 1950's classics Invasion of the Body snatchers and Thing from another world on T.V. but Alien was a new era in space terror! Even Star Trek was brought back in 1979 with 'The Motion Picture' featuring mine and my brothers (older) childhood heroes Kirk and Spock. Even Superman was resurrected from the 1950's (don't forget he was an alien!) and to further satiate our thirst for space the Bond film was Moonraker.

In real life British Prime Minister was Margaret Thatcher and I don't believe we've seen a more significant one since-at least not on the world stage in any positive sense. Do you really think there will be an Oscar winning movie like the Iron Lady being made about Dave Cameron 30 years from now? Most especially memorable for me about this time was that the most famous bodybuilder in the world, Arnold Schwarzenegger was becoming big in the movies with Terminator and Conan.

It wasn't all popcorn and androids though, culturally in the movies this was a great time too with Kramer v Kramer and The Deer Hunter emerging and remaining all time favourites with many. My favourite era also had a soundtrack that was equally good. This was supplied by Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Blondie, the Eagles-even The Village People were there! On the small screen we had a late night show called The Old grey whistle test to introduce us to new bands. While we waited for this to come on we couldn't watch DVD's and even video players were rare but we had Happy Day's, Charlie's Angels and reruns of Dad's Army to keep us amused. Clive Dunn's death triggered something in me that was mixed with melancholia and nostalgia, a slightly sentimental longing or affection for a familiar past to which I can never return. A time that I have a much happier association with than anything I can think of today. I'm well aware one often views ones childhood with rose coloured specs but 79-80 was truly a great time. I could go to see ACDC or Iron Maiden for the grand sum of 50 pence! I could get fish and chips on the way home and still have change-you see my point?

Woody Allen, whose own masterpiece Manhattan emerged in 1979 recently made Midnight in Paris I believe to help put his own nostalgia fixations to rest. In the movie the hero is magically transported back to Paris in the 1920's and meets historical greats' Gertrude Stein, Hemingway, Picasso, Dali, etc. He then learns his own lesson when a contemporary girl whom he is in love with reminisces about an earlier Paris of the late 1800's inhabited by Toulouse Lautrec, Cezanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin. Doomed then it seems we all are to be permanently dissatisfied with the here and now. Helpless and unsuspecting victim to emotions triggered by a familiar smell, sound or keepsake, or by conversations with generational contemporaries or feeling lonely as an expat like I sometimes does. Not wishing to return to the past exactly but an emotional sense of loss. A longing for the feelings of comfort our memories seems to have. A feeling of belongingness or sociality, to a time when we felt our lives were more meaningful and positive. It's a resource which people my age use to harness strength--a fuel source that allows them to cope more effectively with the vicissitudes of life.

My God, I'm beginning to sound like Gomez Addams but let me tell you why. Recently I went to see the new Bond film and this was saturated with a touching sense of nostalgic indulgence with Bond returning to his childhood home for safety from a predator who appeared to be at least his equal only to witness the demise of his very own replacement Mother-Figure 'M'. No! Please don't kill 'M'! Stop the world I want to get off-and if it's not too much trouble drop me anywhere between 1979 and 1980.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2055906 2012-11-01T07:58:13-04:00 2013-01-01T05:12:01-05:00

Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/
There are two types of fat that you have in your abdominal area. The first type that is called subcutaneous fat and lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles. The second type and more of a health concern is called visceral fat. This is the fat that lies deeper in the abdomen beneath your muscle and surrounding your organs. Visceral fat is a big part of the reason many men (and increasingly more women!) have what is known as a "beer belly" appearance. A large, rotund and protruding stomach that looks particularly unsightly and also feels sort of hard if you push on it.

Both kinds of fat are serious health risk factors, increasing the risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases, but excessive visceral fat is particularly dangerous because it releases more inflammatory molecules into your body on a consistent basis.

Arteriosclerosis, the presence of fatty plaques in the vital arteries, is a chronic circulatory disease caused by these inflammatory molecules so if you truly care about the quality and value of your life losing your tummy if you have one has to be one of your main priorities! Not only will you probably extend your life by more than a decade you'll also look better in and out of clothes!

So what gets rid of excess abdominal fat? The first thing you must understand is that there is absolutely NO quick fix solution that you can buy on the shopping channel or anywhere else for that matter! You can't throw money at the problem and expect to apply no discipline on your part. None of the gimmicky 'twenty second abs' or other contraptions out there will help reduce the size of your stomach. You also can't 'spot reduce' just your stomach fat by using any of these worthless contraptions. It simply doesn't work that way. The only solution to consistently lose your abdominal fat and keep it off for good is to combine a sound strategic nutritious diet full of unprocessed natural foods with a properly designed exercise program that stimulates the necessary hormonal and metabolic response within your body. Both your food intake as well as your training program is important if you are to get this right.

In studies, a diet-only group lost significantly LESS abdominal fat than the diet and exercise combined group.

Treadmill and cycle cardio routines also didn't reduce tummy size significantly either. People lose weight but stay the same shape - thick through the middle! Take a Personal Training client of mine as an example we'll call her Jane. She first come to see me in September this year, she believed that she only needed to lose her tummy to feel and look great. It quickly became clear to her however that the weight needed to come from all over - true more from some parts than others but that's fine as you will lose most bodyfat from where you carry the most.

Three months and 15 kilos later she looks fantastic and has lost weight from her face, arms, legs and torso. She also toned those body parts to a higher degree than they had ever been and now, people meeting her for the first time can't believe she was ever overweight! The main reason for that is her new found confidence she exhibits. She knows exactly what's required for keeping in shape but also knows when she can kick loose and enjoy the party!

She follows a program that is NOT just abdominal exercises, (that is only a very small portion of it) or hip and thighs or whatever other combinations of problem areas some uninformed exercisers may follow. The holistic routine she follows is a lifestyle, it gives great and lasting results for the entire body and mind, using the most effective strategies for losing stubborn abdominal fat, so you can get rid of that dangerous health risk, and be happier with your entire body and performance.

Can you look forwards to a festive Christmas with all the extra eating and drinking it entails, knowing you can make the right adjustments in January 2013 to be back in great shape? Or do you already need to lose weight and shape up before you can party? Make a choice now-you can still make a difference in the eight weeks or so beforehand-just get the right advice.
http://www.robblakeman.com/eshop2/ebooks]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2021714 2012-10-26T04:36:40-04:00 2012-12-25T05:12:01-05:00

Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/
No weakling himself, Steward had won 94 of 97 fights boxing as an amateur and was the bantamweight champion of America in 1963. Moving into the seventies he opened the Kronk sweat gym where he soon discovered his first world champion Hilmer Kenty, the first world champion the motor city of Detroit had seen since the great Joe Louis. The first real glimpse of Steward's talent came shining through in 1980 with the then vicious welterweight Hearns.

Steward was instrumental in constructing what is still regarded as the one of the greatest fights of all time, the super-fight between Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard. Typically modest Steward said the whole thing was done in an hour. Hearns then went on to fight in THE greatest fight ever against Marvelous Marvin Hagler, getting knocked out in the third round.

Steward went on to become trainer and mentor to a total of 43 world champions. He also had a wonderful secondary career as a ringside analyst alongside Larry Merchant for HBO boxing. He would take champions and re-model them. Not only in fighting style but adding little quirky ideas, such as the time he gave Hearns a pair of white shorts to box in. Steward said the lighter colour was what had inspired Ali to be so light on his feet as he had shadow boxed in front of a full length mirror. Dark shorts said Steward, made you feel heavy.

He created tighter defense systems for two of the dominant heavyweight champions of the last decade - Lewis and Klitschko, rehabilitating both after each had come off losses. Lennox became the most successful British Heavyweight ever, retiring at the top and defeating in rematches his only two conquerors. He had fought Tyson, Holyfield, all of his peers and beaten them all.

The list of champions at one time under Steward's guidance remains impressive; James Toney, Gerald McClellan, Jermaine Taylor Miguel Cotto, Wilfred Benetiz, Michael Moorer, Mike McCollum and Oscar De La Hoya all came to Steward for his guidance. He taught them to blend balance, movement, power and speed with a vibrant enthusiasm that was contagious. Steward loved boxing and loved to talk boxing day or night. He had been fighting a stomach cancer for some time until his death on 25 October 2012. A true Hall of Famer, boxing has lost one of the Greats. With Angelo Dundee passing away not so long ago, we may not see the like of Emmanuel Steward again.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1995170 2012-10-21T01:35:21-04:00 2012-12-20T05:12:01-05:00

Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/
As an athlete growing up and competing myself, he was the only sportsman of my era who I ever saw and believed was truly better than me. As a somewhat arrogant young man I viewed all other sportsmen, in whatever particular field they were in, as equals. I truly felt that if I had worked hard developing those particular skills, soccer, tennis, whatever, I could probably be competitive with most of them.

Holyfield though was beyond competitive. His mental strength and will to win was supernatural. This led him to win legitimate world heavyweight titles four times (Ali only managed three!) That's not to mention his undisputed and undefeated cruiserweight reign. He started out as a fighter little more than a middleweight, training alongside Mike Tyson in an early Olympic team. He later recruited Lee Haney, the greatest bodybuilder of his time and coincidentally also from Evander's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, to build him up to be a bigger heavyweight for a rematch fight with Riddick Bowe. Holyfield was the rematch king, beating Riddick Bowe and Michael Moorer and Tyson in rematches.

His first fight with Bowe in 1991 is ranked as one of the best fights ever and the tenth round in particular is ranked as THE best in heavyweight history. Holyfield lost but showed the heart of a lion while doing so. No one gave him a chance in the rematch with Bowe, a fact I exploited greatly with the bookies (seven to one against thank you very much!) This result really should not have been much of a surprise as only a couple of years earlier Evander had beaten Mike Tyson's first conqueror Buster Douglas by knockout in a fight he was once again not meant to win. These great wins were outshone forever though when he captured his third belt with a shocking upset knockout of Mike Tyson in November 1996 - still the greatest sporting event I have ever personally witnessed. When first announced the fight was derided by many in the sport as the ultimate mismatch. Some of his many fans sent Holyfield 'Get Well Soon' cards before the fight had happened! Others begged him not to participate in what was surely to be a vicious and one sided beating. Millions of dollars were bet on Holyfield being stopped in the first round. Evander simply smiled and just continued to tell everyone that they should stop worrying about him being hurt and further more he would win the fight. To have such belief in yourself when all around you doubt is equalled only by Ali's confidence before facing the awesome George Foreman.

We all know what followed was a spectacular knockout of Iron Mike. This performance from a man of whom all of the 'experts' said didn't have true heavyweight punching power. Holyfield's return was always in doubt as originally he had been forced to retire after a loss to Michael Moorer after which he was taken to hospital and diagnosed with a hole in the heart. A man of great religious faith, Evander attended many church sermons in the months that followed and prayed to be healed. Miraculously, when tested again at one of the finest cardiac hospitals in the world the Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, the hole in his heart had 'disappeared'. Although the truth is there was probably a misdiagnosis in the first place. To Evander it was a sign from God for him to return.

After winning his third title from Tyson, then losing to Lennox Lewis he won a world title belt for an unprecedented fourth time against John Ruiz. Further and particularly unjust he was robbed of a fifth world title when he fought giant Champion Nikolai Valuev in a battle where everyone could see the superior skilled Holyfield had outworked and out punched the man-monster who went on to be dethroned legitimately by David Haye. By then in his late forties Evander still didn't want to retire. It was understandable as he still looked great - no George Foreman blubber for Holyfield in his middle age years as a fighter, he remains in the peak of visual physical condition.

So like Ali who beat Sonny Liston and George Foreman against the odds Holy was a born winner. His destruction of Tyson though, this time with bookmakers odds of 25/1 against him, for me eclipses Ali regaining the title for a third time from Leon Spinks whom, though much younger than Ali, could never be truly called a great. Holyfield's skills were sublime and deceptive. Perhaps because he did everything so well it was hard to tell how great he was. Mike Tyson later confided in me personally during my brief stint in training him at the tail end of his career that when he fought Holyfield for the first time he couldn't believe what a first class counter-puncher he was. Counter punching is the art of out punching a man by striking a faster blow just as he tries to hit you.

These then are the many reasons I love Evander as much as Ali - and why I don't want to see him end up in similar physical condition. People can blame Ali's condition on Parkinson's all they wish but I for one will never be convinced his debilitation isn't something to do with taking those final few hundred punches when he just couldn't do anymore the thing he truly loved to do. Last night everyone was expecting Holyfield to announce his retirement but instead he expressed a desire to fight the Klitschko Brothers, both current Heavyweight division rulers who are not only much younger but are at least six inches taller than Holy and outweigh him by more than 20 kilos!

To my mind, there has never been a sportsman with less to prove than Holyfield. To continue fighting now is madness and I only hope the medical authorities ruling over boxing finally force the old warrior to hang up his gloves]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1973019 2012-10-17T07:38:27-04:00 2012-12-17T05:12:02-05:00

Rob Blakeman http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-blakeman/ Guardian 3rd October)

The person contacting her was rude and personal. However, this still doesn't mean that she is not neglectful of her weight problem and the health issues it brings with it and that as such she is not a good physical role model to the youth of America or anywhere else for that matter.

This fact was overlooked by many in the media who should have known better than to give gratuitous support to someone who now amounts to a fatty enabler. Eleanor Mills, a large lady who writes for The Times newspaper quickly jumped on said bandwagon commenting on the lack of larger women on television. Sorry Eleanor, you know deep down that you would like to be in control of your weight and this 'sisterhood' act is merely confirmatory bias.

Jennifer Livingston went on to tell us all on US national television in a broadcast that quickly went viral that we have not met her personally so we don't know anything about her. I don't need to have met her personally to know that like all large ladies she knows how depressing it is to struggle to put on an item of clothing that fitted just a few weeks ago. She knows how it feels to be out of breath just from climbing a flight of stairs. She may even know how it feels to get stuck in the tub - I have met many ladies who have fessed up to such embarrassing things but only when they are ready to take positive action about their weight.

If you don't like this emotional argument then let me put it to you rationally; experts estimate that as many as 98,000 people die in any given year from medical errors that occur in hospitals. That's more than die from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS - three causes that receive far more public attention than obesity. Indeed, more people die annually from medication errors than from workplace injuries. Add the financial cost to the human tragedy, and medical error easily rises to the top ranks of urgent, widespread public problems. People worldwide continue to get sick at a rate that we will never find affordable in a million recession-free years let alone these fiscally challenged times. Our elected leaders can't fail to see the global pandemic of health concerns that threaten to engulf us daily. Yet they are helpless in their efforts to stem the flow of sickness and disease, pushing a metaphorical finger into a hole in a dam as a thousand more spring open. The failing healthcare system in modern western society threatens greater disaster to our economy than any other long term misfortune ever could. More and better healthcare is not coming our way. The money poured into health services would be better spent in prevention. The health problem is not bad people in health care - it is that good people are working in bad systems that need to be made safer by having their workload reduced by people taking better care of them selves.

Our main objective then as individuals should be to stay the heck out of hospitals! We also should be helping others to do the same by living healthily. Obesity is a choice, granted it may be an economically influenced one in some cases (people who eat junk tend to be less educated than those who do not) but by putting a fast food shop in walking distance of every school are we really being smart? When fast food companies are amongst the main sponsors of our Olympics is that really judicious - in the long term? Obesity is up by 12% between now and 1993. What we don't need is influential big people telling us that being overweight isn't a problem. Just eat the cookies and don't worry about the weight piling on. Really? What happens when the youngster has to take gym classes? True no one should laugh at a fat person puffing with effort trying to climb a rope but they will.

Being overweight isn't a disability or a disease or any other such nonsense. To tell youngsters this is to condemn them to accept the role of the victim. Those girls we were all so proud of taking part in the Olympics recently got there through discipline, hard work, sacrifice and dedication. Obese people generally get that way through gluttony and inactivity. That's why the physical result is nothing to be proud of. This of course does not mean that anyone who doesn't have a body beautiful is worthless. Far from it, some of the greatest people in history have been all shapes and sizes but neither should obesity be presented like wearing a medal! Any lack of discipline in one's lifestyle takes away from the whole. I have helped many hundreds of ladies lose stones in weight and not one of them ever told me that they were happier when they were big - not one. The changes did not need to be colossal for them to start taking back control of their weight. They changed the mid-morning muffin for an apple. They took a walk around the block instead of spending all evening in front of the TV. Before they knew it they were buying the health magazine instead of the one full of cheesy celebrity gossip. In short, every discipline they added to their life added to the whole.

A few small lifestyle disciplines repeated every day leads to a happy and healthier life. Likewise a few small errors in judgement repeated every day leads ultimately to physical disaster. By the way Eleanor should know that the only large women I could think of on TV were Jo Brand, Dawn French and Sarah Millican. They are all comedians who make fun of their weight. Now that's interesting....]]>