With all the talk of recession and hotels like home owners behind on payments one would think booking a ski holiday in Austria the week leading up to Christmas would be both easy and more to the point cheaper than previous years. Not so… I’ve found out.

It seems a contradiction with what is being reported in the USA, many hotels in the ski resorts are asking higher rates when I would expect many people are looking for bargains. Does this reflect the economy, or can the conservative Austrians bear the bad times out? Is this due to many hotels wanting to cash in on the peak period to ride out the off-peak weeks when maybe less people will come? Not sure. Are people really booking these and paying full price? It would seem so with some hotels indeed already full!

Well damn to all that. I’ve decided in these recession times that I want a bargain and if I don’t get one I’m gonna stay at home for the hell of it. Stubborn? Maybe. I can go when I want.

So if any of you hoteliers are looking to fill rooms in my preferred Ski Amade area of Filzmoos or close by, then let me know, I’m available from 18th to 26th!

Watched an interesting documentary on the National Geographic channel last night regarding the Mayan calendar, or rather the end of it on 21st December 2012.

Apparently some 5062 years ago the Mayans described a climate disaster that just happened overnight. The documentary reveals that this actually happened world wild. Snow fell and temperatures dropped. The Mayans where apparently very good astronomers detailing over 2600 years how the earth, galaxy and sun and planets are approaching each other. I was a bit disappointed that the documentary did not give any evidence that the end of the Mayan calendar is at all linked to movements of the planets, the Sun and the galaxy but rather finished nothing that the circle is complete. Nature will repeat itself at the end of the calendar.

What are your thoughts? Are our climatic changes heading for a disaster on 21st December 2012?

Is it time to start thinking about moving to higher ground?

There are thousands and thousands of extremely interesting design patents that could transform the world with for example super efficient clean energy (not nuclear), optimized car engines that require a lot less fuel consumption of todays engines yet most of these ingenious designs are kept under wraps by large corporations and some governments in what I can only conclude is due to greed and fear.

I am sure that the original designers, typically bought out by corporations and effectively silenced, would just love to see their design brought to fruition. Whilst these new designs may have a hugh impact on some corporate profits it could mark a changing point for that corporation to diversify. It could even change there branding and identity.

Won’t it be a great idea if someone made a television documentary exposing these great designs and question why large corporations and governments keep them under wraps? Once something is exposed its only a matter of time before the ripples of change start to vibrate and start an unstoppable momentum.

So if there is anyone out there listening… please make it happen.

Yes, “Truth about Abs” is an eBook by Mike Geary. I first got introduced to this book about a year ago and did nothing with it.

I am generally someone who liked to go running outside whenever I could running up to a maximum of 13Km or about an hour before I would generally get bored. Running is great as you can do it anytime, don’t need a gym and you burn off a lot of calories. However I’d kinda got to the stage where I just couldn’t shift stomach fat and my general physique was thin.

Following Mike’s multi-joint free weight exercise suggestions over the last 2 months I’ve replaced cardio running with 30 minute Sprint training and maximum 1 hour fitness sessions 3x per week in the nearby gym and I have to say I am impressed with the results. I now have a toned chest, shoulders, back, arms and legs. My stomach fat has reduced but not totally gone away. Further I feel good, powerful and athletic. I look bigger yet my weight has remained the same, replacing body fat with muscle. The key to a lot of the exercises are to use free weights rather than the traditional machines. This ensures that all stabilizing muscles are used rather than letting a machine focus on one set of muscles. Another key is that the exercises are all multi-joint utilizing a large number of muscles thereby reducing the time needed to workout all muscles.

So if you have being thinking about buying TruthAboutAbs then I would certainly recommend it. My next step is to start utilizing Mike’s nutrition and meal suggestions even though they are not entirely vegetarian. So I expect some adaption of the recipes by removing the meat and not using tofu and soya based products.

Imagine, thinking… “How much pleasure can I stand” quote from Dr. Richard Bandler’s Licensed NLP Practitioner training course in London early this month.

What a fantastic experience. I didn’t know quiet what to expect and boy did we learn some cool stuff from Richard, John, Kathy and the assistants. I feel changed. Thinking positively and having fun. How did they do that? First overwhelming us with information, talking directly to our unconscious self, experimenting on each other with different exercises and finally wrapping the course up with a test! Yes, a test where you amaze yourself with how much you have learnt.

I could listen to Richard’s stories and explanations all day long. He is a brilliant storyteller, has humour and can explain the techniques in crystal clear words. I’m still amazed at my own brain. We know so little yet it is so powerful.

It took me a while to adjust to the thick American New Jersey style of John La Valle. John has his own unique style that came together later in the week. He is funny too.

I highly recommend attending this course!

Heart over Heels - Bob Mandel

What an excellent book, brilliantly written. Couldn’t put the book down – I read it from start to finish. A must read. Just shows how your upbringing models you for the rest of your life…. or does it? We can change once we become aware of it. Its yet another book that shows how correct connected breathing can release old trauma’s and proved access to thoughts and beliefs that you were not even aware you followed!

Each chapter has a number of really good affirmations. You will know which one is for you when you work your way through the list… the one that has the most impact on you!

The Mastery of Love - Don Miguel Ruiz

I have being reading through Don Miguel Ruiz book entitled “The Mastery of Love”. Actually I think it should have a different title, something along the lines of, “How to find yourself”, even if he does gives practical advice about love and relationships.

It is absolutely brilliant how he describes how we live in society, that we are ruled by our beliefs based on fear rather than love. That these beliefs feed a parasite on our emotional system causing wounds and poison.

The objective of the book is to make the reader aware and then describe a way to open the wounds with the truth and clean the wounds with forgiveness. This is the only way to heal. The more we become aware that our beliefs are based on fear leading to self-rejection, selfishness, negative self esteem, anger, guilt and possessiveness the more chance we have of changing our fundamental patterns to a belief of love.

A very convincing book. It reminds me very much of the Matrix movie. I guess in a way, just like Neo could choose which pill he could swallow, you too can choose whether you want to read this book and start to make a change.

The decision is yours.

Over the last 6 weeks I have being experimenting with a health combination supplement called Chlorella-CFG-Spirulina.

Natural wonder food

There is plenty to find on the Internet that suggest that these naturally occurring foods provide the necessary vitamins, amino acids, complex compounds and minerals that your body needs on top of detoxing your body of heavy metals.

These are the benefits I found taking 5 tablets with each meal, so 3 times a day:

• Found I could do more and stretch myself whilst execising
• My general skin condition improved.
• My muscles felt more supple
• I didn’t need to go to the toilet as often as before so I guess it calmed my bowls

I stopped taking the pills after 4 weeks and almost within 2 days I felt the following:

• My muscles seemed to stiffen up
• My joints seemed to crack a lot
• My skin went back to how it was before
• My general fitness and condition remained high

I have latter found out that there are some concerns about the increase in uric acid with this combination of health foods and a possible cause/risk of rheumatism. As I outlined above, I did not have any pain as such whilst I was taking the supplement only after stopping did I find that my joints seemed to crack and that my muscles also stiffened up.

In conclusion I am left with the feeling that if I continue to take the supplement then this will have a good effect on my body only I am unsure about the prolonged use with respect to rheumatism… thats something I certainly don’t want to end up with. Further that one needs to continue to take the supplement to see the benefits which is also something I am not particularly thrilled with.

Have you being taking this combination of wonder health food? I would be interested to find out how it has impacted your life in a positive way and any side effects you may have noticed.

Just recently I have joined a new tribe that for a monthly subscription helps you understand and make money with Online marketing. It is called  The Maverick Money Makers club

The Maverick Money Makers Tribe

I have to say I was a little bit skeptical of the American style lengthy marketing at first but they have really a lot of content in video form that is very clear and to the point and its all in one place. A gold mine of information.

So, I’ve kind of come to the conclusion, for me anyway, that it is definitely worth joining just to look at all the helpful information even if I later decide to cancel the subscription.

Let me know what you think.

Have you heard of a ROM machine? Probably not.

They have being manufactured in good old California since 1990 and boast that all you need to do is a 4 minute program every other day. In fact it is really 8 minutes… 4 minutes for the upper body and 4 minutes for the lower body. For the whole 4 minute duration one engages up to 72% of ones muscle tissue thereby burning off an incredible number of calories, approximately 300. To put it in comparison, when I run I can burn off anything from 500 to 1000 dependent on the duration 30-60 minutes and heart rate.

I was so intrigued by these devices that I decided to sign up for a 3 month program at 75E per month at FastFit in Amsterdam. The first two weeks are free and if I don’t like it I can bail out of the program. Let’s find out.

Whilst these machines may seem very expensive at $14,000 the main attraction of course is the amount of time spent exercising compared to traditional methods. In other words one would be more inclined to actually do the 2×4 minutes than a 1 to 2 hour gym session.

Anyway, I will update this post when I have some results after 3 months. BTW – this will compliment my other fitness programs of Yoga at Unlimited Health, gym sessions at Fit4Less, occasional outdoor swimming when the weather is good and an almost daily run around the marina’s and habours of Amsterdam.

UPDATE.

After 2 weeks I have decided to not continue with the ROM for the following reasons:

1. The benefits of the 8 minute (2×4) workout are outweighed by the time it takes to travel to and from FastFit compared to visiting my local gym.
2. Having visited every other day I have only seen minor benefits mainly around muscles in my shoulders and pecks.
3. Whilst the ROM boasts that it uses 70% of your muscle tissue I find some muscle groups not exercised especially around the stomach areas. This could be due to learning the technique but I have done my best to follow the advice of the instructors.
4. No pain no gain. Yes, I have felt absolutely no pain either during or after exercising with this machine. Maybe it is just my expectation that if one doesn’t feel anything then it can’t be doing much.
5. FastFit offers InfraRed sauna’s and Shiatsu massage seats. Whilst these are nice to use, I found the massage seat a gimmick more than the real thing. It did relax me. I found the pressure points a little muffled compared to having someone give you an actual massage.
6. With an increase in weight my BMI has gone up not down.
7. I have being using the ROM as a supplement rather than the only form of exercise. Although the marketing would have you believe that with a massage, infra red sauna and ROM workout one can loose up to 800Kcalories I can’t really believe. Going running for 45 minutes to hour will easily burn this off in the fresh air.

So my conclusion is that while a 2x 4 minute workout will be good for some people that do generally no exercise, for me I prefer a longer and more rigorous workout. Further, I still find the price, $14,000 to buy such a machine outrageous compared to buying a combination of treadmill, stepper, free weights and still having a lot of change to do other things.