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Hollywood here we come!

WE’VE cast our eagle eye over the glitzy world of Hollywood for our cover story in this issue and researching our shape shifters feature revealed just how determined and focused the big names are to land the huge dollar roles. Christian Bale is one actor who’s pushed his body to the limits. For The Machinist he dropped to a frail 128lbs and resembled a skeleton draped in skin. Six months later, for the lead role in Batman Begins, he had gained more than 70lbs of lean muscle mass. He’d actually gained too much for the role and the film’s director, Christopher Nolan, needed him to drop 15lbs of muscle before the open day of shooting!

Working to a daily training and nutrition plan is essential to keep yourself in check and to monitor what brings out your best results. If you can pair this with some personal training sessions you will reach your goals in a shorter time frame. The instructor will check your exercise form and make sure you’re understanding the exercise plan. I was working closely with the guys at Fitness First to help get back to full fitness but I recently crashed while motorbike racing and broke a series of small bones in my right foot and damaged ligaments. I don’t seem to bounce any more! So, I’ve had to tailor an exercise plan that works around my injury and keeps the rest of my body ticking over.

Our Features Editor Richard Bevan has been out and about again sniffing out some gems for this issue and he tracked South African hot shot striker Benni McCarthy down at a hotel near his Cheshire home. Benni was full of animation as he talked about his life in football from his childhood, through his Champions League winning days at Porto, to his current life in the English Premier League with Blackburn Rovers. But imagine our surprise when Benni revealed that the years he spent as a teenager playing for a local gangster’s team were the most enjoyable and lucrative he can remember!

From one smiling sports star to another we caught up with the girl they call Happy Gilmore, Women’s World Surfing Champion Stephanie Gilmore. At just 21 years old she’s already been No. 1 in her sport for the past two years - her first two years surfing on the top level ATP Tour - so she’s got plenty to smile about.

We pride ourselves here at SFME on searching out underground and interesting sports and Parkour is certainly both of those. There are no bats, balls, engines or referees but this sport will definitely keep you fit and test your physical skill. The city itself provides the playing surface as competitors move along a set route negotiating whichever obstacles are in their way in the quickest, most direct and efficient way possible. Make no mistake - this sport requires real mental and physical fitness, flexibility and spatial awareness.

We also like our extreme sports at SFME and Ben Stookesberry has to be one of the bravest (or is that craziest) people we’ve ever interviewed. Ben is an extreme kayaker, which means he likes to find the biggest waterfalls he can and paddle his small, plastic canoe over the edge of them before negotiating some of the hardest water known to man. Rather him than us but his exploits certainly make for interesting reading.

Alex Gallemore Editor

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Nutrition Training Tips Equipment Style News / Calendar Events Adventure Features

Shape

shifters IN the last issue of Sport&Fitness we had a brief look at the top five movie bods. But it was brought up by quite a few of our readers that we should have a looked at how the physiques of action heroes have changes over the decades.

At the end of the day, the stars of the silver screen tend to be the driving inspiration in the gym. Once we started to look into the various eras it became apparent that the modern day box office giants have expertly utilised nutrition and training techniques in order to transform their bodies for different roles.

COVER STORy Published in the uAE by: Prographix, PO BOX 24677, Dubai, uAE

18

Shape Shifters With multi million dollar lead roles at stake actors and actresses are going the extra mile to prove they can adjust their physical shape to fit the script put before them. Adding weight for a lead part was common practice in L.A. but sculpting more than 70lbs of muscle or cutting up to five per cent body fat has shown just how much Hollywood has evolved.

FEATuRES 26

Benni McCarthy South Africa’s all time leading goal scorer tells Richard Bevan about his childhood in tough Cape Town suburb Hanover Park, where playing football for local gangsters proved a very lucrative pastime.

REGuLARS 12

Sports News A concise look at recent sporting events from around the globe.

34

Stephanie Gilmore The two-time defending World Women’s Surfing Champion from Australia’s Gold Coast tell us why she’s got plenty to smile about.

16

52

65

City Rage Parkour is a new urban sport taking the world by storm. City Rage saw contestants use city streets, buildings, monuments and bridges as an urban obstacle course as filmed themselves going up, over and under.

Sports Calendar A look ahead at what’s happening each month on the international and local sports scene.

Style The luxury items indulged in by sport’s top earners. Where money is no object!

76

Ben Stookesberry One of the world’s best known extreme kayakers talks about his experiences taking on some of wildest rapids and highest waterfalls on the planet.

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Candy

Shop FOR her recent Transformers films Megan Fox hired a personal trainer who had her do a time compressed body-weight routine.

Megan’s trainer obviously understood the benefit of sticking to bodyweight intervals to keep her body slim, sexy, and functional without bulking up.

Believe it or not, this is a similar routine that actors like Brad Pitt and Daniel Craig do to get ready for their movie roles.

MEGAN FOX’S WORKOUT Planks: Megan’s workout relied heavily on planks.

Hollywood Trainer, Craig Ballantyne has a video page which shows several variations. Planks are by far the best move for women to get sexy, flat abs like Megan.

A Brief Ab Circuit: After blitzing her abs with planks, she would then spend 15-20 minutes doing a circuit that involved knee ups, leg swings, and ball leg lifts.

This is done in an interval like fashion...hard effort with just a little rest and back to a tough exercise. The idea is to do three-four different exercises back-to-back, rest 30-60 seconds, then do it again. Repeat for 15-20 minutes. It is harder than it sounds!

Old School Stationary Bike: She then took advantage of the increased heart rate by finishing off with 30 minutes of cycling. This was done with low intensity (intervals, followed by low intensity cardio is extremely effective for getting lean).

TRANSFORM YOUR FIGURE 62

Megan Fox She’s kept many a man glued to the screen in the latest series of blockbuster Transformers films but the hot brunette has worked hard to achieve her pin up physique. Check out how she did it.

Training & Nutrition

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Stallionbodybuilding y on an Sylvester Stallone’s weight training routines were intensive, and therefore split over the week. He also trained twice a day, training different body parts each time.

To undertake such a training programme he kept to a strict diet, had plenty of rest, sleep and maintained good form while training to avoid over-training and injury.

Stallone’s Split Training Schedule: On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays he split his training into two sessions per day as follows: Morning: Chest, back and abs workouts, including bench presses, lateral pull downs and crunches.

Afternoon: Shoulders, arms and more abs, including military presses, lateral raises, bicep curls and tricep extensions, and more crunches and leg raises.

37 Power Plate

It helps to improve muscle tone, combat cellulite and reduce body fat, by enhancing the metabolism. The low impact form of exercise, which allows anyone, regardless of fitness levels, to benefit without putting strain on joints or other parts of the body.

53 The Knowledge with Fitness First

Whether it’s self motivation, understanding Superfoods, blood type characteristics, bench pressing over 1000lbs or know what to do if a shark attacks, SFME explains all.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays he also trained morning and afternoon; Morning: Calves and thighs, including calf raises and squats.

Afternoon: Rear deltoids, traps and more abs, including rear deltoid/ bent-over rows, shoulder presses, upright rows and more crunches.

Stallone’s routine was a very intensive six days per week with a double split, which is the style of weight training that professional bodybuilders use when competing – not surprising seeing that he employed a professional bodybuilder to guide him.

Sly followed a standard 8-12 repetition with 3-4 sets pattern.

He did 3 to 4 exercises per body part. Each day he varied the exercises using instinctive training, to keep the muscles form falling into a routine, and ensuring a plateaux was not reached too soon. He also exercised his abs furiously, with abdominal routines daily.

His ab routine consisted of a total of 1000 repetitions, by training four different areas with combinations of sit-ups, leg raises, side leg raises and side bends. Often 50 reps of each exercise would be done for each for 5 sets, i.e. 5 sets of 200 exercises. This was old school circuit training done to the extreme, which any military training instructor/drill sergeant would be proud of.

60 ASK SFME

With the help of the team at Fitness First SFME answers a number of questions that will help you get the most out of your training and nutrition 80 Hard as Rock In the past three decades many action heros have come and gone. One or two have even gone into politics but the Rock just keeps on going. At 63 and still ripped his workout and dedication is unrivaled.

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AIR Russian daredevil Valery Rozov sky dives into the crater Mutnovsky volcano in Kamchatka using a specially designed wingsuit.

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water Competitors race horses through a low tide during a traditional trotting race meeting on the North Sea coast in Duhnen, Germany. The event begins as the ebbing tide exposes the mud flats on which the races are run.

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snow Cross-country skiers start ascending a hill during the Engadin Ski Marathon, a 42.2km race near the Swiss resort of St.Moritz.

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NEWS

RAS AL-KHAIMAH TO HOST AMERICA’S CUP

UAE YACHTING fans are in for a maritime treat next year after the announcement that Ras Al Khaimah will be the host venue for the 33rd America’s Cup in February 2010.

The emirate was chosen by the Société Nautique de Genève, who had the right to pick the next venue after its yacht racing team Alinghi won the 32nd America’s Cup in 2007 in Valencia.

“We are pleased to announce that Ras Al Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates, will be the Host Country for the 33rd America’s Cup,” said Fred Meyer, Vice-Commodore of the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG). “This is a venue that offers perfect weather and great sailing conditions for a Match in February; the authorities have shown tremendous interest

The “Alinghi 5” catamaran sails along the Genoa coast August 15, 2009. Ras al-Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates, will be the host country for the 33rd America’s Cup that will start on February 8, 2010

in, and support for, hosting the America’s Cup; and the country has experience in organising first-class sporting events such as ATP tennis, PGA golf and Formula One. They will make a purpose-built island available at the Al Hamra Village in Ras al-Khaimah to provide the America’s Cup teams, sponsors and fans with an outstanding venue.”

Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth revealed that the safety of the teams competing in the showcase event, due to begin on February 8th, was a key factor in the choice of Ras Al-Khaimah as host venue.

“Our absolute priorities in making this decision are the prevailing weather conditions and the resulting safety that they bring to both teams,” explains Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth. “We looked everywhere for a venue that suited having good racing for the Match dates in February. We had trained in the UAE in the winter with Alinghi before and in the end we settled on Ras al-Khaimah in particular because of the infrastructure in Al Hamra

Village and because it has a great building sea breeze during the day, similar to Mediterranean conditions in the summer, making it good for these boats and safe for all concerned.”

His Highness Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Crown Prince of Ras al-Khaimah, expresses his satisfaction: “It is a great moment for us to host the America’s Cup here. It is significant because it reflects how the Emirates have become a place for hosting international events. It is a reflection on what we have achieved in terms of becoming the destination for tourists and trade and industry and is a reflection of our integration in the world at large.

This announcement reflects the nature of our country and its aim of becoming host to many nationalities who live side by side in peace. It is a hope and dream that this is the kind of space that we want to have on our globe. It is a great moment for us to host this prestigious event and to welcome all the sports people to the UAE and to Ras al-Khaimah to watch this great event; we are looking forward its success.”

CITY TO OPEN ABU DHABI ACADEMY AND TRAINING BASE MANCHESTER City are set to further strengthen their ties with Abu Dhabi by giving talented youngsters in the region the chance to progress with the opening of a football academy.

Jim Cassell, the former director of the club’s Manchester academy, who brought a total of 27 players through the youth system into the first team in 12 years, will be brought in to run the new establishment, which will be tasked with unearthing the most promising youngsters in the UAE and Gulf Region. Cassell is enthused by the amount of sporting progress he has seen in the region since he first visited in 1990 and is relishing the opportunity to develop this further.

“I had a relation in Dubai and visited them,” said Cassell who was responsible for the development of current premier league stars such as Shaun Wright-Phillips, Micah Richards and Stephen Ireland. “When I see the growth from back then to now, it’s amazing. It shows what you can build and achieve over time. It was so exciting when I heard Sheikh Mansour had taken over the club.

“I know the enthusiasm is there for sport,

particularly football, in the UAE and if we can help the young players out there, then why not?

“We have been out to Qatar in the past and these are very young countries in terms of sport. We have to put structures in place that will develop the whole process; walk before running.

“But I believe it will come and I hope we can work with, and develop, talent in Abu Dhabi and other parts.”

City also announced that they are to open a winter training base at luxury hotel Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.

“We are proud to claim Emirates Palace this first class facility and one of the most extraordinary hotels ever built - as our official winter training headquarters,” said Manchester City Football Club CEO Garry Cook.

“Our partnership with Manchester City fits with the hotel’s mission to offer our clients exclusive and unique experiences - in this case Manchester City Football Club,” Emirates Palace General Manager Hans Olbertz said. “We are delighted to be the hosts of this now globally relevant club at key times throughout their training schedule.”

Dubai Sports City Swimming Academy Partners with ASA DUBAI Sports City’s Swimming Academy (DSCSA) has announced a major partnership with the Amateur Swimming Association of Great Britain (ASA) to deliver learn to swim programmes and development coaching courses to swimmers of all ages and levels across the UAE. This agreement between DSCSA and the ASA is unique in the GCC and will ensure that Dubai will be at the forefront of the all aquatic disciplines utilising the Swimming Academy’s facilities at Dubai Sports City.

The partnership adds to the family of Dubai Sports City academies which deliver accredited development pathways and coaching education opportunities to sports enthusiasts of Dubai.

“These strategic partnerships underpin the basis of our delivery

philosophy and ensure a unique experience for those within all of our coaching programs,” says Jeff O’Brien, Academies Manager.

According to Seth Chappels, Swimming Academy Manager, “We are delighted to be working in partnership with the ASA, who have built an outstanding reputation as the English National Governing Body for Swimming, and their knowledge and experience will add considerable value to the courses being delivered at the Dubai Sports City Swimming Academy.”

Dubai Sport City’s Swimming Academy will be a resource for swimmers of all ages, levels and abilities, and is open to anyone who wishes to improve their swimming technique as well as their general fitness.

Chelsea FC given lengthy transfer ban CHELSEA Football Club have been banned from registering any new players in the next two transfer windows by FIFA for inducing Gael Kakuta to break his contract at French club Lens.

FIFA’s dispute resolution chamber (DRC) ruled French winger Kakuta must also pay compensation of €780,000 for which Chelsea are “jointly and severally liable”.

Lens lodged a complaint with Fifa after Chelsea signed Kakuta two years ago.

The 18-year-old has never made a professional appearance for Chelsea, although he has been featuring in the reserves this season. www.sportingpublications.com l Page13

NEWS Black Sea Double For Fazza!

VICTORY Team boat Fazza 3, crewed by Nadir Bin Hindi and Arif Al Zafeen, swept to the top of the Class 1 World Powerboat Championship with a second win in 24 hours at the Romanian Grand Prix in MamaiaConstanta last month.

In searing heat, Bin Hindi and Al Zafeen flew from the start line to lead the seven-strong field on the opening straight. And with the best of the world’s Class 1 fleet unable to live with the black cat’s speed and handling, the Dubai duo enjoyed a wire-to-wire triumph at an average speed of 182.23kmph that puts them back on top of the world after their third win from four starts.

“It was another great drive from Arif,” said Bin Hindi, who dedicated the win to Victory Team chairman HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum after opening up a 15-point lead in the race for the world title.

“Once we had established the lead we took it a little easier to save the equipment but we were never complacent. The team has done a fantastic job getting this boat as good as it is but we can’t just sit there and think we are going to win every race no matter how well she runs. We always give it 100% and take nothing for granted.”

Ponting gets backing from Cricket Australia AUSTRALIA’s Test captain Ricky Ponting will not be sacked after the 2-1 Ashes defeat to England, according to Cricket Australia selection chairman Andrew Hilditch.

Ponting has admitted he wants to remain as captain, despite losing the last two Test series against England on English soil, and Hilditch has said some of the blame has been unfairly put on Ponting and the selectors.

“He had a very good series,” said Hilditch. “He’s been under incredible pressure. I think everyone will be looking for people to blame but I don’t think that in any way we can hold the selectors accountable for us losing the Ashes.

“It was only six or seven months ago that we had a fantastic series in South Africa where we beat the number one team in the world with a pretty similar line-up (and) the selectors were hailed for their selection.”

Ponting said: “With a loss, I’m more determined than ever to be a better player and leader than I am at the moment, I hope I have another chance to play another Ashes series back in Australia.”

Nader bin Hindi and Arif Al Zafeen storming to victory in the Romanian Grand Prix in Mamaia-Constanta

FITNESS FIRST “LADIES ONLY” CLUB CONCEPT LAUNCHED FITNESS FIRST celebrated the launch of the chain’s first ‘ladies only’ club worldwide in the UAE earlier this month. The latest club is situated in the new Oasis Centre Mall on Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai and represents a brand new focus for the regional player.

Commenting on the opening of the club, Fitness First CEO Gary Knill explained: “Delivering a first-rate club offering has always been what Fitness First has been about in the region. However, we recognise – because our members tell us – that there is a significant demand for niche facilities like the Ladies Only concept across the region, and we look forward to offering more tailored classes, dedicated programmes and special activities aimed at these valuable members as we open more and more Ladies Only facilities in the coming months”.

Fitness First Oasis Centre Dubai represents the 16th club that the group has opened across the Middle East with clubs set to open in the coming weeks in Sharjah, Jordan, Bahrain and Dubai.

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October

October 8 - 10 Adrenaline Sports Live presented by Rani Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates

Lovers of adrenaline and adventure sports will be eagerly anticipating the Adrenaline Sports Live festival set to take place at Abu Dhabi’s National Exhibitions Centre.

Taking place over three days, the festival sees exhibitors showcasing their products to consumers in an exciting, interactive atmosphere with a host of demonstrations, trials, competitions and displays taking place. Whether you like to just sit back and watch or get involved and have a go yourself there will be plenty to keep you amused during this great day out.

October 27-November 1

WTA Sony Ericsson Championships Qatar The women’s WTA Tour reaches its climax in Doha as the top eight singles players and top for doubles teams from the ‘Race to Doha’ compete in the WTA Sony Ericsson Championships. Venus Williams took the spoils in the singles last year, coming from a set down to finish in style over three sets 6-7, 6-0, 6-2 and this year’s event will once again be the hottest sporting ticket in town.

best of the rest Oct 20-24 The Bodrum Cup Turkey The Bodrum Cup is an annual yacht regatta organised by ERA Bodrum Sailing Club with the aim of promoting interest in sailing around the region.

Held every year since 1989 the spectacular regatta marks the end of the sailing season and invites privately owned yachts, Turkish or foreign, to compete within a variety of categories. Passengers are allowed on board competing boats for a close up view of the action.

Oct 10 World Cup Qualifiers Various, (football)

Oct 1-4 Dunhill Links Championship, Old Course, St Andrews, Carnoustie & Kingsbarns, Fife, Scotland (golf)

October 10 Super League Grand Final, Old Trafford, Manchester, England (rugby league)

Oct 4 Japanese Grand Prix Suzuka, Japan (motor racing) Oct 8-11 Presidents Cup, Harding Park GC, San Francisco, California, USA (golf)

October 13-18 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, London, England (gymnastics)

Oct 14 World Cup Qualifiers Various (football)

Oct 18 Australian MotoGP Philip Island (motor cycling) Oct 12 ATP Shanghai Open, Shanghai, China (tennis)

Oct 18 Chinese Grand Prix (motor racing)

November November 1,

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Yas Marina Circuit Abu Dhabi

THE Middle East will once again write a new chapter in the sporting history books when the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi plays host, for the first time, to the climax of the F1 season with the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The 2009 season has been one of the most surprising and exciting in recent years and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is sure to provide a fitting spectacle to bring the curtain down on a captivating year for the sport.

best of the rest Nov 14 (tbc) England v Brazil, Doha, Qatar (football)

November 16-22

Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup Dubai

DUBAI sports fans will be spoilt for choice during the third week of November. Not only is the Dubai World Championship taking place at Jumeirah Golf Estates, the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup gets underway on Jumeirah Beach.

Back-to-back defending champions Brazil will once again be the team to beat while host nation the UAE will have a tough job in Group A with three-time Oceania champions the Soloman Islands as well as beach soccer stalwarts Portugal and Uruguay.

Nov 15 World Touring Cars, Macau, China (motor racing) Nov 1 New York City Marathon USA (athletics) Nov 3-4 Champions League Match Day 4, Various (football) Nov 4-8 WTA Tournament of Champions, Bali, Indonesia (tennis) Nov 5-8 WGC-HSBC Champions, Shanghai, China

Nov 22 MLS Cup, Qwest Field, Seattle, USA (football) Nov 24-25 Champions League Match Day 5, Various (football)

Nov 7-8 Fed Cup Final, Calabria, Italy (tennis) Nov 8 Spain MotoGP, Valencia, Spain (motor cycling) November 19-22

Dubai World Championship

Nov 22-28 ATP World Tour finals, London, England (tennis)

Dubai

GOLF joins women’s tennis and F1 in coming to a dramatic finale here in the Middle East as The European Tour’s inaugural ‘Race to Dubai’ reaches a crescendo with the first ever Dubai World Championship played on Greg Norman’s Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

The top 60 players on the Tour will compete for a prize fund of US$10,000,000 with a further US$10,000,000 to be shared by the top 15 players in the rankings following the tournament.

Nov 26-29 Mission Hills World Cup, Shenzhen, China (golf) Nov 14 Manny Pacquiao v Miguel Cotto, Las Vegas, USA (boxing)

Nov 28 Wales v Australia, Cardiff, Wales (rugby) www.sportingpublications.com l Page17

Shape

Nutrition Training Tips Equipment Style News / Calendar Events Adventure Features

shifters IN the last issue of Sport&Fitness we had a brief look at the top five movie bods. But it was brought up by quite a few of our readers that we should have a looked at how the physiques of action heroes have changes over the decades.

At the end of the day, the stars of the silver screen tend to be the driving inspiration in the gym. Once we started to look into the various eras it became apparent that the modern day box office giants have expertly utilised nutrition and training techniques in order to transform their bodies for different roles.

www.sportingpublications.com l Page19

Model and actress Charlize Theron is one of Hollywood’s jaw droppers. At 5’ 10” and a slight 135 pounds she’s a natural starlet.

But there’s more than meets the eye beneath that glamorous exterior. In 2002 she added 30 pounds for her role in the film Monster. Her powerful portrayal as serial killer Aileen Wuornos, earned her the 2003 Oscar for Best Actress.

Nutrition Training Tips Equipment Style News / Calendar Events Adventure Features

Above: Will Smith at a lean seven per cent body fat displays his ripped physique in the film I am Legend.

Right: Jason Statham underwent a rigorous training regime to produce this svelte body shape for his role in Death Race.

HOLLYWOOD’S leading earner Will Smith has used weights and nutrition to help him become the biggest name in Hollywood. He’s come a long way since his TV show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The gangly teenager with a quick wit and lovable charm has gone from earning $100,000 per series to $20 million plus per movie. It would have been easy for Smith to follow in the footsteps of the stereotypical action heroes he portrayed in Independence Day and Bad Boys.

You know, the lean, good-looking, confident ladies’ man that was always saves the day.

Thank goodness for his ability to diversify his physique and character or we’d be still watching him in Independence Day – The Trilogy or Bad Boys 7. It was for the film Ali that Smith really knuckled down and dug deep in the gym to emulate the shape of his life long hero Mohammed Ali. Naturally tall and lean, Smith was always able to trim down but for this role he needed to add nearly 40 pounds of lean muscle to his frame in order to convince audiences around the globe that he was the ‘Louisville Lip.’ To transform his body Smith worked on a fiveday lifting programme every week, focusing on one or two body parts per session. In addition, he ran at least five miles, six days a week as

well as undertaking two full boxing sessions.

He combined his training with a high protein, high-carbohydrate diet to maximise repair and provide the necessary energy to get him through the tough physical routines. He quickly added quality muscle and his metabolic rate increased as the body needed extra calories to maintain the new muscle tissue.

At this point he reduced the food intake to help burn fat and tapered his carbohydrates as the day progressed but never eliminated them as the his high calorie routine meant a huge calorie deficit would have had a reverse effect.

The the body, crying out for precious calories, would have turned to his muscle stores for energy. It’s fine balance between losing unwanted fat and torching hard earned muscle, but once a solid muscle foundation has been built you need to be patient in the cutting stage.

Remember, the guideline to burning unwanted fat is a loss of two pounds a week – no more than eight pounds per month.

But when you drop to around 12 per cent the process becomes more challenging and monitoring your calorie intake to expenditure is essential. To lose two pounds per week you require around a 500 calorie deficit per day in order to release your fat stores to make up the

Will Smith has come a long way physically and financially since he first hit our TV screens in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air back in 1990.

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It’s hard to belive that the images above are all Christian Bale. Top left is taken from the film The Machinist when he weighed a mere 121 pounds.

The image to the right is an action shot of him portraying Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins, weighing a healthy 210 pounds just six months after finishing the filming of The Machinist.

“When it actually came to building muscle, I was useless.

I couldn’t do one push up the first day. All of the muscles were gone, so I had a real tough time rebuilding all of that.”

– Christian bale

difference. Actors putting on weight or slimming down for a role has been common practice for years but to actively transform your physique is the work of a real genius. Robert Di Nero is arguably the greatest actor of all time and his ability to ‘shape shift’ has landed him so many legendary parts and two Oscars. He muscled up in 1980 for the film Raging Bull where he portrayed the explosive boxing champion Jake La Motta, seven years later he added nearly 30 pounds of fat to depict Chicago mob boss Al Capone in the Untouchables, but his greatest physique shift came four years later in Cape Fear. By dropping his body fat to six per cent and using extensive tattoo art and creative dental work he was able to finish off the full evil character Max Cady.

England’s Jason Statham is another modern day actor who has proved incredibly skilled when it comes to ‘moulding’ his body to fit certain roles. He shed the pounds and created an impressively ripped physique for his role as convict Jensen Ames in last year’s Death Race.

“That is the leanest I’ve ever been,” said Statham. “[Director] Paul W.S. Anderson wanted me to change and get fit. He had an idea of me

being really skinny and ripped. It’s sometimes good to give yourself a little challenge, anyway, and give yourself some discipline. It works rather well.”

Statham was put through his paces by the personal trainer responsible for many of the expertly sculpted bodies on display in battle epic 300 in order to prepare for Death Race.

“Yeah, he worked with a lot of the guys on ’300.’ [Matthew] Logan Hood, his name is. He’s an ex-Navy Seal. He’s like a machine. He’s very knowledgeable, and a great motivator. I did about 10 weeks with him and was on a very strict diet, and it all just fell away.”

It’s not just the men that have become skilled ‘shape shifters’. Actresses in the past tended to be more typecast for either their beauty or acting ability. The leading lady was often the eye candy as filmmakers knew a pretty girl rolled more dollars through the turnstyles. However, times have changed. Audrey Hepburn would have cringed at the thought of adding excessive body weight in order to get into character and the bulk of her fans would probably have torched the film set and had the producer sent to Alcatraz. But the drop-dead gorgeous

Swanky: In 2004 Hilary Swank won an Oscar for Best Actress in the blockbuster Million Dollar Baby where she played the lead as a professional boxer – a role where appearance was essential for the audience to buy into the film.

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1.

Heavy weight actors: 1. Matt Damon recently added 30 pounds to his slim physique for his role in The Informant.

2. Mickey Rourke rolled back the years and muscled up for his lead part in the award-winning film The Wrestler. Adding 24 pounds of solid muscle was just the start of his physical ordeal.

The actual wrestling stunts during training and in the ring would have battered most professional wrestlers let alone a 54-year-old actor.

3. Robert Downey Jnr can be made out of iron one minute and ripped the next.

After overcoming off screen troubles he’s back to his best, adapting his physique according to his scripted character. He bulked up for Tropic Thunder and pictured right he’s cut up for his role in Sherlock Holmes

3.

Charlize Theron gained 30 pounds for her role as deranged, killer prostitute Aileen Wuornos in the film Monster. Hailed as one of the best performances in the history of cinema, Theron went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in this film.

Another award winning actress who transformed her draw-dropping physique was Hillary Swank. Swank is no stranger to changing her appearance for a movie role. After playing a boy in Boys Don’t Cry, she practically became one for her performance as female boxer Maggie Fitzgerald in the Oscar-winning film Million Dollar Baby. She trained for months with professional boxers and the serious workouts

ironed out her petite feminine curves and added three inches to her arms!

Action films are always going to have extensive budgets and competition for the multi-million dollar lead role is a fierce. Following the box office flop of 1997’s Batman and Robin starring George Clooney, producers searched for an actor to intensify and darken the Bruce Wayne image. The part was given to Christian Bale and having already proved his acting credentials in American Psycho he now showed his physique was also up to the task. To make matters more challenging for Bale he’d just finished filming The Machinist where he’d lost 63 pounds, dropping his body weight to a frail

2.

4.

Heavy weight actors: 4. An actor who is moving up the Hollywood Most Wanted list is Gerard Butler who played King Leonidas in the film 300.

5. Robert De Niro was the original modern ‘Shape Shifter’. Fat, thin, ripped, bald, mohikan or hippy, De Niro has done it all. He’s been there and walked away with the Oscars.

5.

121 pounds. He had six months to muscle up for the Batman role and the clock was ticking.

“When it actually came to building muscle, I was useless. I couldn’t do one push up the first day. All of the muscles were gone, so I had a real tough time rebuilding all of that.” With the help of a personal trainer, Bale succeeded in meeting the deadline, gaining a total of 100 pounds in the six months to tip the scales at 230 pounds. He subsequently discovered that he had actually gained more weight than the director desired and dropped his weight to 190lbs by the time filming began.

Adding quality muscle in a short time frame was something Gerard Butler had to do to create his legendary physique for 300. To play the part of Greek warrior King Leonidas he had to train like one!

Butler enlisted the help of Mark Twight, a former world-class mountain climber who, based on personal experience, believes in training as if your life depends on it. In fact, Twight would argue that a good workout should make you feel almost queasy upon hearing what lies ahead.

For example, to hasten Butler’s mind-body transformation, he created what he calls the,

“300-rep Spartan workout.” (Trust us, 100 reps is plenty hard.) It goes like this: Without resting between exercises, Butler performs 25 pullups, 50 deadlifts with 135 pounds, 50 pushups, 50 jumps on a 24-inch box, 50 floor wipers, 50 single-arm clean-and-presses using a 36-pound kettle bell, and 25 more pull-ups.

All this was in addition to utilising other unconventional yet equally taxing training methods, such as tire flipping and gymnastics-style ring training.

Five weeks before the cameras were to roll, Butler took on extra sessions with a Venezuelan bodybuilder named Franco LiCastro in order to exaggerate the physique he was after.

“I wanted to look really strong,” says Butler.

“I’ve seen so many actors play these kinds of roles, and you see all this equipment on either a big belly or skinny little arms.” It worked in more ways than one: On-screen, the bearded actor lords over the battlefield like testosterone incarnate, with the steely gaze, cobblestone abs, and broad, chiseled shoulders you suspect one would need to command 300 men to the slaughter. “You know that every bead of sweat falling off your head, every weight you’ve

pumped -- the history of that is all in your eyes,” says Butler of his dedication. “That was a great thing, to put on that cape and put on that helmet, and not have to think, ‘Shit, I should have trained more.’ Instead, I was standing there feeling like a lion.”

Today’s movie stars are so adept at shift shifting you often have to look twice when you see them on screen, often thinking, ‘that can’t be them, can it?’

One such actor that recently made us double take was Matt Damon. By adding 30 pounds of lard to his ‘boyish’ frame and growing a bushy moustache, the awardwinning actor has dramatically diversified from the indestructible Jason Bourne in the Bourne Series to play whistle-blower Mark Whitacre in The Informant.

True, multi millionaire stars are able to transform their appearance due to the abundance of time they have, personal trainers, dieticians and personal chefs. Yes, they usually have a great head start, but they still need the drive and determination to get the job done in time. Give us six months and $10 million and we’ll give it a good try! n www.sportingpublications.com l Page25

Gangster’s Pardise

Richard Bevan chats with South Africa’s all time leading goal scorer Benni McCarthy as the former Champions League winner, who currently plays for Blackburn Rovers in the Barclays Premier League, looks back on the golden moments of his career in football.

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“Sunday was massive – they called it the ‘gangster league’ because all these mafia guys had teams. They’d organise tournaments where all the teams would play each other and every gangster would put $20,000 in the pot – it was big money.

You wouldn’t see any fighting on a Sunday whatsoever.” – Benni Mccarthy BENNI McCarthy, ace striker for Blackburn Rovers of the English Premier League, may have won league titles and numerous cups, including the UEFA Champions League, in a colourful professional career spent playing in four of Europe’s top leagues.

He might be South Africa’s all-time leading goal scorer with a string of personal honours and all the trappings associated with being one of the world’s top players – the shiny new Bentley, the mansion in leafy Cheshire, the diamond earrings and Rolex watches.

But, as he tells me when we settle down for a drink near his Cheshire home, all of it plays second fiddle to what he regards as the most enjoyable period of his footballing career – the one played out in the badlands of rundown Cape Town suburb Hanover Park. Back then, despite living in one of the poorest, most deprived areas in the country, McCarthy had more money than an 11-year-old could ever dream of.

Shootings, stabbings and severe beatings were commonplace in an area controlled by rival drug gangs and anyone foolish enough to stray into enemy territory would be dealt with swiftly and often brutally. But McCarthy had a weapon that transcended all of it – his gifted ability with a football. Far from making him a target, McCarthy’s talent on the football pitch made him something of a local celebrity and someone that the local community, gangsters included, cherished and protected – proud of the thought that one of their own might some day make it as a pro.

Playing for local Saturday League team The Crusaders, McCarthy was poached to play for a side run by one of the gang leaders in lucrative Sunday ‘gangster tournaments’. It was a move that proved extraordinarily lucrative for the youngster.

“All of the big time gangster and mafia guys loved football,” he says with an infectious smile spreading across his face. “During the week they’d do their gangster business but when Saturday and Sunday came it was football time.

“Sunday was massive – they called it the ‘gangster league’ because all these mafia guys had teams. They’d organise tournaments where all the teams would play each other and every gangster would put $20,000 in the pot – it was big money. You wouldn’t see any fighting on a Sunday whatsoever. All of the worst gangsters you could

imagine were at these football tournaments – if you saw them on a normal day, on the streets, you’d run because they were just ruthless people. But on a Sunday, it was all about football – sworn enemies would stand chatting and watching the games, hugging each other when they won. The next day the same people would be shooting each other!

When there was football there was peace, but when there was no football, there was no peace.”

McCarthy, whose father Dudley had himself fallen into a gangland lifestyle in his younger days and was therefore determined that his kids wouldn’t go the same way, was initially apprehensive about joining a local gangster team. But, after some persistent persuasion from one of the team bosses, he eventually went along and found himself in a whole new world.

“People had been telling this mafia guy, who ran one of the teams, ‘if you want to win tournaments you need to check out this kid who plays for The Crusaders, he’s an amazing player,’” says McCarthy.

“When he first came to my door, he knew my dad, because my dad had been one of the naughty boys when he was younger. He said, ‘I hear your boy’s some player’. My dad just said, ‘he’s ok.’

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“The guy asked me if I wanted to come and play for him. I was really scared so I just said, ‘no’. I’d heard about so many things that this guy had done and here he was asking me to play football for his team.

“On Sundays my mum used to make me go to church. I’d be sitting in church and this guy would turn up. I’d be hiding thinking ‘oh my god, it’s that gangster guy come to take me to play football.’ He kept coming back again and again. I thought if I kept saying ‘no’ he might tell someone to come and do something to me, so one day I said, ‘ok I’ll play for you.’

“It was the best thing I ever did. I met so many friends and had a great time. They called us ‘Brazil’ because of the style of football we played. We won our first tournament – it was a $50,000 tournament.

We were a bunch of 11-year-old kids and we were playing against Under 19s, Under 20s – men!

“We kept winning more and more tournaments and I’d often be the top goal scorer. After the tournament the team boss would come and give me about five or 10 grand. I tried to refuse it at first but he’d say, ‘you won us the tournament, take it.’

He’d give everyone in the team $1,000 or $2,000

SFME’S Features Editor Richard Bevan enjoys a soft drink and a chat with Blackburn Rovers striker Benni McCarthy. www.sportingpublications.com l Page29

“That was my greatest footballing moment – knocking the team I’d supported my whole life out of the Champions League. Even though people knew about me before that it really put me on the map.” – Benni mccarthy

Above: Benni McCarthy celebrates winning the Champions League with team mate Deco after a 3-0 win over AS Monaco at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany in May, 2004.

Top left: Benni scores the first of two goals against Manchester United in the first leg of their Champions League clash in 2004.

Top middle: Benni scores against local rivals Wigan last season.

Top right: All smiles with current manager Sam Allardyce after netting against Sunderland in the FA Cup last season.

but because I was the best player or the top scorer he would say, ‘don’t tell the others how much I give you,’ then hand me all this cash. I used to give it to my mum because what was I going to do with 10 grand? I was only 11 years old! My mum would ask me ‘where did you get this money’ and I’d tell her ‘some guy gave it to me for playing football.’

“I started playing every week – on a Saturday for The Crusaders and on a Sunday for Brazil – and that’s how I became tougher because I was playing with guys who were so much older.”

One of the friends McCarthy met while playing for ‘Brazil’ was a youngster by the name Quentin Fortune, who went on to play for Manchester United as well as joining his old pal in the South African national side.

“I came up against him and then asked him to come and play for us,” says McCarthy. “But Quentin only played once because he was so scared about all the gangsters who were there!”

After several fruitful years McCarthy himself eventually decided that the time was right to end his days as a gangland football star.

“I played for about for four years continually,” he says. “If I was smart I probably would have kept playing for that team because I was earning more money then than when I first turned professional – one Sunday could earn me $15-20,000 if I was lucky. The money in that gangster league was frightening. But when I got older I realised it wasn’t what I really wanted to do so I quit and concentrated on studying and playing normal football.”

Where most of the kids in Hanover Park dreamed of emulating the gangsters who flashed their money around at these tournaments, McCarthy dreamed of making his mark as a legitimate footballer. But even if he hadn’t been blessed with huge natural talent, his influential father, who sadly

passed away last year, would never have allowed him, his sister or two brothers to follow the wrong path.

“Football was a way of escaping that lifestyle for me but even if it hadn’t been, I’d have got a good ass whooping from my dad if I’d ever tried to get into any of that stuff,” he says. “He used to be really strict because he’d been through that life himself when he was younger so he never wanted us go through what he’d been through. If ever we stepped out of line or he heard about anything that was non-football or non-sport related we’d get caned big time.”

RAW TALENT Playing for The Crusaders, at 16 years old, McCarthy was scouted for professional Cape Town club Seven Stars and it wasn’t long before he once again started shining among his fellow players and netting a hatful of goals. From there he moved to Holland and an Ajax team that included the likes of current Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar, who taught the young striker to hone his unquestionable raw natural talent by putting in the hours on the training ground.

“I always tell people that he was the person who taught me to be so sharp in front of goal,” says McCarthy, “because he used to pull me back after every training session to work for an extra half an hour so he could practice his goalkeeping.

He needed a decoy and it was always me because I was the young boy and he’d say ‘hey youngster, you’re staying behind with me.’ But I benefited loads because I was practising my shooting. It taught me not to have stage fright when I came face to face with goalkeepers in match situations because I’d practiced with Edwin so much. It helped get all those fears out of me and made me relaxed knowing that all I

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had to focus on was getting the ball in the back of the net. “Nowadays we stay behind after training and have shooting competitions. We put money on them – £10 or £50 – but the other players say, ‘don’t tell Benni’ because they know they might as well just give me the money!”

McCarthy tasted top level success for the first time while at Ajax, winning a Dutch League (Eredivisie) and Cup (KNVP Cup) double in his first season before again claiming the KNVP Cup the following year. He was then sold to Spanish La Liga club Celta Vigo where he endured a turbulent relationship with manager Victor Fernandez during four seasons.

But they say every cloud has a silver lining and that proved to be the case for McCarthy as he was shipped out on loan to play for Portuguese side Porto for a young and at that point unknown manager called José Mourinho. He scored 12 goals in 11 matches, helping Porto to third place in the Portuguese League, which secured them automatic UEFA Cup qualification.

McCarthy returned to Spain and had to sit on sidelines, predominantly warming the bench as a substitute for Celta Vigo, while Mourinho and Porto grabbed the world’s attention with a Portuguese Liga and UEFA Cup double the following season. But Benni got his chance to link up with the man he describes as second only to Sir Alex Ferguson in world football management when he was sold to Porto the following season. And what a season it turned out to be as McCarthy’s goals helped fire his team to victory in both the league and the Champions League.

“That was definitely the best time in my football career besides the gangster league,” laughs McCarthy, who won the Portuguese Golden Boot (awarded to the league’s top scorer) with 20 goals in 23 league games during that 2003/2004 season.

“It was an extraordinary and indescribable feeling.

Even though Porto had won the UEFA Cup the year before everybody thought, ‘it’s the Champions League, Porto have got no chance’. But we started winning games and all of sudden everyone was watching us.

“We had a young manager who was cocky as hell, but he had a great brain. The stage was set for us as players, if we played our part, to make history as a small club winning the Champions League.

Not only that, we could put ourselves on the map as individuals. Big teams would be looking at us and saying, ‘we want those players from Porto’, and that’s exactly what happened. Mourinho went to Chelsea and Porto became like a scouting camp for the top European Clubs. That’s how Porto made their millions.”

MANCHESTER UNITED One of the teams Porto saw off during their charge towards a swashbuckling 3-0 Champions League Final victory over AS Monaco was Manchester United – the club McCarthy had supported since childhood. After scoring both goals in Porto’s 2-1 first leg victory at the Estádio do Dragão, the South African then hit the decisive free kick in the dying moments at Old Trafford for Costinha to knock in the rebound, sending the Red Devils crashing out of the competition after a 1-1 draw on the night and a 3-2 aggregate defeat.

The win prompted Mourinho to perform his now famous jig down the Old Trafford touchline.

“That was my greatest footballing moment – knocking the team I’d supported my whole life out of the Champions League,” smiles McCarthy. “Even though people knew about me before that it really put me on the map.”

McCarthy got his dream move to the Barclay’s Premier League a season later when Mark Hughes

snapped him up for Blackburn Rovers for a reported bargain price of just £2.5 million. It proved to be the deal of the century as the striker set the English league alight with 18 goals to finish in second place behind for Didier Drogba in the Golden Boot Award.

“It was very warming to the heart,” says McCarthy, recalling his first season in England, “to come into the toughest, most extraordinary league in the world – with the most passionate fans, the electrifying pace of the English game etc, and do so well in my first year was an amazing feeling.”

McCarthy believes that the fact that he was still something of an unknown quantity in England, despite his antics with Porto, meant he was able to catch defenders off guard easier.

“You can come up with the element of surprise,” he says. “They’ve probably seen you playing once or twice in the Champions League or the bigger games but they don’t really know what you’re about.”

He was also helped greatly by fellow Blackburn striker, Jason Roberts, who made him feel at home immediately. “He became one of my best mates.

There was a time when everyone started calling us Yorke and Cole (ex Manchester United strike partners). I understand the fact that we’re black but we look nothing like them! I think I’m quite good looking and Jason’s a decent looking bloke as well.

But when they said that about us I always said to Jason ‘ok you’re Yorke and I’m Cole!’

“Jason helped me settle in and we developed a good relationship on and off the field. We really could have been the new Yorke and Cole in a playing sense but he had a lot of injury problems so it was left with just me. I played with such joy that year. I loved the system the manager was playing because everything we did went through me so I was in the mix all the time. You start feeling important to the team.” The following season Mourinho tried to

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MCCARTHY’S PREMIERSHIP PREDICTION “Manchester United will be right up there again this season and I think Chelsea are going to be their main threat. What United have achieved over the last few years with those young boys is phenomenal and it’s basically the same team. Ronaldo and Tevez have gone but some good players have come in. I think they’re going to be equally strong without Ronaldo – it will leave a missing link in the team but I don’t think it will affect them too much.

I back them to win the league again but it won’t be as easy this time. Chelsea are very strong and Liverpool and Arsenal will be up there again – City could also be a threat with all the money they’ve spent. Arsenal look really sharp and they’ve probably got the best youngsters in the country but you can’t always win things with just youngsters – you need an experienced back bone. Fergie is the master of blending the young boys with experience. He’s got the experienced back bone down the middle – Van der Sar, Ferdinand, Vidic, Scholes, Giggs. Around them he has all the young boys to do the running but the brains that make the engine work come from the older boys. They’ll be the team to beat again this year.”

“I feel like I’m back to how I used to be now and playing with a smile on my face again,” he says. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in the gym as much as I have this season.

The trainer I’ve been working with is absolutely fantastic. He’s very good at nutrition and he’s been telling the correct things to eat to build my structure completely differently than before – no carbs, lots of protein.” – Benni mccarthy buy McCarthy for a classy Chelsea team that he was strengthening in an attempt to wrest back the Premier League crown they had surrendered to Manchester United the previous season. With the chance of an assault on the top honours in front of him and the opportunity to hook up again with a manager he had enjoyed phenomenal success under, McCarthy set his heart on the move. Hughes and Blackburn, however, had other ideas.

“I could understand it. Blackburn bought me for next to nothing,” he says. “They had a player who could score them 20 goals a season and you pay £15-20 million for a player like that. They would have made a massive profit if they’d sold me but who would they get to replace me? They might spend £10 million on a new player but they don’t know that they will get the same amount of goals from him.

You don’t sell your best assets unless you have to.”

The blow of missing out on his dream move nevertheless hit McCarthy hard and he admits it had an effect on his performances in the 2007/2008 season as his league goal return fell to eight from just 21 appearances, 10 of which were as a substitute.

“I’d started thinking about what it was going to be like at Chelsea – winning trophies and playing in the Champions League,” says McCarthy, who was further hampered by the emergence of fellow striker Roque Santa Cruz, bought by Hughes that summer. “Blackburn are a good team but a modest team and no matter how pleased I was about how I’d been treated by them, going to Chelsea would have been a huge step up. I set all my sights on that and when it didn’t happen my heart sank.

“It’s really hard when it’s top four team that you have the chance to go to. Your attitude and mentality changes a little a bit. You’re not the same happy guy you were – people see you go from having a massive smile on your face every day to being extremely quiet, not mingling with your teammates as much and just getting on with your job. It was a big disappointment and at certain times I was hoping the manager wouldn’t pick me because my heart just wasn’t in it. It affected me big time. At the same time Roque took the chance that I wasn’t taking in the team.”

McCarthy battled hard to regain his place last season but the knock-on effect of his dip in form the previous year meant that he was restricted to just eight starts and 10 substitute appearances in the Premier League. He fell out of favour with Paul Ince during the young manager’s short and ill-fated

reign before Sam Allardyce came in and steadied the ship, guiding the club to 15th place in the league. McCarthy still finished the season as top goal scorer with 13 goals in all competitions but he’s demanding much more of himself and Blackburn this season. Santa Cruz has been sold on to moneybags Manchester City but the striker hopes to finally forge a Yorke-Cole-esque partnership with Roberts.

FRIENDSHIP “If Jason stays fit I think we can form an amazing partnership – our friendship off the field definitely helps our understanding,” he says. “I was disappointed with last season. I only had eight starts in the league and I want to be playing way more than that. My goal return was decent – 18 games, 13 goals, but I want to play more this season.

“It can be hard to adapt when a new manager comes in and I think the beginning of last season was the hardest period of my career, but our results showed that the whole team struggled. Sam saved us from relegation last season and now that we’ve been with him for a while we’re getting used to his system. He’s brought that toughness back into our team that gave us our old fear factor – teams used to be scared coming to Ewood Park because we didn’t let them play – Sam’s bringing that mentality back.”

At 31 McCarthy is also glad of Allardyce’s decision to bring in some fresh young striking blood in the form of 21-year-old Nikola Kalinic and 20-yearold Franco di Santo.

“When you get to this stage of your career, you don’t want to run the channels,” he laughs. “You play more with your head than with your legs.

You have to be more intelligent than when you were younger – Ryan Giggs is a great example of someone who has done that. When you get to this age you lose your speed a bit but you read the game better. I always say to the young guys, ‘when I come short, you go long’ never the other way around! When I was young I was the one who had to run the channels so now it’s their turn.”

Despite adapting his game as he reaches the twilight of his career, McCarthy is still working as hard as he can to improve his fitness in order to extend his time in the game as long as possible.

He’s been working closely with a fitness trainer to improve his all round condition and has even followed Giggs’ example by doing yoga to improve

flexibility and suppleness. “I feel like I’m back to how I used to be now and playing with a smile on my face again,” he says. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in the gym as much as I have this season.

The trainer I’ve been working with is absolutely fantastic. He’s very good at nutrition and he’s been telling the correct things to eat to build my structure completely differently than before – no carbs and lots of protein. He says physically he’s going to get me in the best shape I’ve ever been – even better than when I was a young boy at Ajax.

“I’m doing lots of core work, flexibility, speed training and even yoga, which really helps. If I can combine that with all of my experience I’ve built up over the years I’m going to be a much better player.

“When I was younger I used to think the whole ‘science’ side of football was a load of rubbish but when you start doing it you realise it really does work. Once you get past 30 you want to do anything you can to stay fit and if it can give you another two years in the game – you do it.”

Next year’s World Cup is being held in McCarthy’s South African homeland and the burning topic of conversation there surrounds whether the player will be selected. Despite being the Bafana Bafana’s all time leading scorer with 31 goals, McCarthy has endured a frosty relationship with the South African Football Association with both parties clashing over a variety of issues including accusations that he’s pulled out of important games when fit to play.

He missed out on the national team’s run to the semi-final of the Confederations Cup – also in South Africa – where a lack of goals was, ironically, cited as the key reason for their failure to go all the way.

But McCarthy insists he is thinking only of getting back to his best for his club this season.

“I want to just concentrate on playing for Blackburn and getting back to scoring 15-20 goals a season,” he says. “If I get called up to play in the World Cup it will be the cherry on top – the reward for working hard. If I get selected, I’m never going to say no to my country.”

McCarthy is undeniably one of the most colourful characters in the game today. If he does get selected to play in next year’s World Cup he’ll no doubt light up the competition just as he’s lit up the Barclays Premier League during his three seasons there.

But whether it’s Blackburn Rovers, Porto or South Africa, McCarthy’s smile will always grow widest when looking back on the time he spent playing for Brazil. n

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Staring down the barrel Iain Richardson finds out about life riding the ocean waves in an exclusive interview with women’s World Surfing Champion Stephanie Gilmore.

THEy call her ‘Happy Gilmore’ and it’s easy to see why. Stephanie Gilmore has more reasons than most to be cheerful. In fact, the 21-year-old blonde bombshell leads the kind of life that makes us mere mortals sick to the stomach with jealously.

Not only does she spend five months of the year touring around some of the most beautiful and exotic locations in the world, competing on surfing’s top level ASP Women’s World Tour in places like Australia, Hawaii and Peru. She’s also the best female surfer on the planet and famous enough to make a very healthy living via sponsorship and endorsement deals from a sport that lags significantly behind its male counterpart when it comes to prize money.

Gilmore is the two-time ASP Women’s World Tour Champion and ranked No. 1 in the world. She won the first world title in her first year on tour in 2007, at the age of 19, making her the first ‘rookie’ to be crowned World Champion and the second youngest female in 30 years.

To prove it was no fluke she went out and won the world title again last year and she’s currently leading the ratings by some margin after two events this year, setting up the prospect of a phenomenal hatrick of triumphs.

The Aussie’s quick fire success as a professional surfer comes as no surprise to those who have followed her career in the sport. She’s been making waves (sorry, couldn’t resist) since her days as a junior, when she won back-to-back World Junior titles among a string of other tournament victories which propelled her into the limelight as the hottest prospect in surfing. She bagged a sponsorship deal with Rip Curl when she was 17 and still at high school, having just won the ASP’s Roxy Pro event as a wildcard entry. By winning the Havianas Beachley Classic the following year Gilmore became the first person in the history of surfing to claim two top level pro events as a wildcard. Her astonishing achievements in the sport have seen her nominated as the lone female among six finalists for the prestigious Laureus Foundation World Action Sportsperson of the year award two years running. She looks like a lady but surfs like a man and the smiling siren looks set to dominate the waves for years to come.

SFME: you’re the two-time ASP world Tour Champion and leading the current ratings …would it be an understatement to say you’re pleased with how things are going since joining the Tour?

SG: yes I would say that’s definitely an understatement! Everything happened so quickly and it’s all just panned out perfectly. I guess right now I’m thinking, ‘OK, where do I go from here?’ but I’m just enjoying it so much and it seems like everything just keeps on getting better so why not continue doing what I’m doing and see how far I can take it.

SFME: Have you surprised yourself how quickly you’ve found your stride – did you think it may take you more time to bed in before you started to dominate the ASP Tour?

SG: I felt comfortable among the best female surfers in the world and it just felt so natural to be travelling the world and competing. I’m a pretty competitive person so just winning in general something I love to do. It has surprised me that it’s all happened so quickly but at the same it, it hasn’t, if you know what I mean. It’s a great feeling and I’m still learning a lot. I’ve already achieved what I dreamed of for so long but I know there’s still so much more out there for me to accomplish. I’ve only just begun.

SFME: Is that one of the challenges of achieving success so quickly – you have to learn to re-evaluate your goals as you go along?

SG: Exactly, that’s one of things that I’ve learned to do quite well – cross off my goals and start new ones pretty quickly. I think that’s really important for all athletes – to try to have some sort of a plan and some goals because it makes you motivated to work hard to achieve them. you never know what’s around the corner and it’s an insane feeling to be able to say, ‘yeah, I did that, now I’m going to try and do this.’ It keeps you interested in what you’re doing.

SFME: we interviewed the American softball player Jennie Finch for our last issue. She’s made a big impression in the world of softball by showing that women in the sport can be aggressive, highly competitive, brave etc whilst still retaining their femininity. Can parallels be drawn with what you’ve achieved in the surfing world?

SG: Definitely. I think it started with Wendy Botha and then Lisa

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Anderson (both four-time Women’s World Champions). Lisa was the first female in our sport to be out there with the men and have that really strong presence but not be trying to rival them. She was doing it just because she loved it – her style was so graceful and beautiful and then she’d get back onto land and still be so feminine and girly. She really kind of broke down that barrier for the current generation coming through.

Now I feel a lot of the girls are completely different entities from the men, which is really important in keeping our sport heading in the right direction. We’re surfing aggressively and doing some of the same stuff as the men but we have more of a graceful touch to it, more of a twist.

I think female surfing is beautiful and the guys really respect that so it’s pretty cool.

SFME: How important is it for you to you to try and move women’s surfing forward?

SG: I think the only way that the sport is really going to move forward is if we make it really strong and push for the female personality to come out. We’re just young girls who want to have fun but we can still go out and surf and put on an incredible, powerful performance. We’re not trying to compete with the guys – we look up to them at the same time – but we’re putting our own twist on it.

SFME: Surfing is fairly different to a lot of sports in that as well as the human involvement, you’re also to a certain extent relying on the wave to be a good one. How much of it is down to the luck of getting the big waves at the right time?

SG: It’s definitely a very subjective sport which can be good at certain times and bad at others. Because of the ocean it’s such a rare sport.

We rock up to events and can have a 10-day waiting period. Nothing is really set in stone. You don’t go to bed and think, ‘yep I’m going to surf tomorrow,’ because you could wake up in the morning and the waves might not be there, or they could be too big. There are so many factors that are uncontrolled and they play such a big role in it. Luck comes into it a fair bit but I’m a firm believer that you make your own luck.

If you’re out there in the water and time is ticking away and you’re in second place and need a score to get through a heat but no waves come, you can’t control that. It’s something that’s hard to comprehend when it’s happening but it’s something we just have to come to terms with in our sport.

SFME: You grew up on Australia’s Gold Coast, which is something of a surfing Mecca. Tell us how you got into the sport and what you loved so much about it?

SG: I grew up in Kingscliffe, which is about 15 minutes south of the famous points like Snapper Rocks and Kirra, known as the Superbank. I live in Coolangatta now and surf pretty much every day.

My dad is a really keen surfer so he got my two older sisters into it first and I followed. I think everybody in Australia kind of lives that beach lifestyle – hanging around the beach, surfing, having barbecues with friends and family.

I was riding boogie boards at first and it was just a great feeling. It’s a really rare sensation being on a wave – something that’s moving down the beach. That feeling of the water rushing along underneath your board is such a beautiful feeling. Mind you, when I was a kid I wasn’t thinking about that sort of stuff all that much!

To be honest I liked the performance aspect of surfing. Being from the Gold Coast there are always loads of people on the beach so when I was surfing there was always people watching and I think that was something I really enjoyed. I knew I could do something cool on a board so I’d want to perform for people. That’s what surfing is about.

The wave is your stage and the sun is your spotlight.

SFME: How old were you when you started surfing?

SG: I was about nine and I won my first event when I was 11.

SFME: A lot of surfers say that it becomes a way of life. Did it consume all of your time when you were growing up?

SG: Very much so. As soon as I got my first little trophy in my hands it was all over, I just wanted to win everything. But I played a lot of other sports as well. I played soccer, hockey, touch football. I did athletics and actually wanted to be an Olympian in discus or javelin, but once I got into surfing there was no looking back. It’s just one of those things – every time you go out there it’s a new experience so you always want to go back and do more – you always want to find out what the new day will bring.

SFME: Did you hang around with other surfers and have the whole lifestyle going on?

SG: Yeah, basically I grew up with the boys because there wasn’t that many girls surfing at the time. I’d get my dad to drop me off down at the beach in the morning and I’d just get in my wetsuit and surf all day with the boys.

It was cool because I kind of had two sets of friends – my school friends, who didn’t really surf, and then the boys down at the beach. It kept things balanced.

SFME: Did surfing with boys all the time help you improve quicker, having to hold your own against them?

SG: Definitely. Those boys give you stick and then you have to go out there and prove to them that you can do just as well as them. Snapper Rocks was our club and I used to go up against them in heats. I beat them a couple of times and they got pretty scared.

SFME: Did your surfing affect your schooling at all?

SG: I definitely surfed a lot and I remember thinking that it was all I wanted to do – I could have quite happily left school and just surfed.

But I saw a lot of my friends, the boys especially, who had left school and just surfed all of the time and they were getting burned out because that’s all they did. I kind of had that escape where I’d go to school hang out with different people, talk about different stuff. I stuck with school all the way until I finished in Year 12 and got my HSC. I don’t regret it at all – it gave me that balance I needed to still be interested in surfing today.

SFME: You enjoyed a successful junior career, tell us about that and some of the key achievements?

SG: In Australia the ASP Junior Series is really awesome. They have events all over Australia – we have a lot of international kids come over and the prize money is good – it’s just a really good stepping stone on the way to a career on the world stage. I did that for a couple of years and won a couple of World Junior titles. Everything just rolled along really nicely!

SFME: I believe you were the first person since Kathy Newman in 1989/1990 to win two consecutive World Junior titles and first surfer ever to make three consecutive World Junior finals.

SG: I didn’t know that, that’s pretty cool! I should have won that third one though!

SFME: At this point were you 100% focussed on making a career in top level surfing?

SG: I signed up with Rip Curl in 2005 as my major sponsors for five years. It was a pretty lucrative deal – I was still in high school at the time and I’d just won the Roxy Pro as a wildcard. I was 17 and I had all

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SFME: How would you describe your own surfing style?

SG: I’d have to say it’s smooth…and fluid. I’m probably not as fast as I’d like to be. Recently I’ve been working on trying to be a bit more explosive, I think my surfing was a little too fluid at times, which is awesome to watch, but at the same time when you’re competing the judges want to see you being explosive. So that’s one of the things I’m working on. But overall I think my style is pretty relaxed that’s a good word for it!

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SFME: winning your first ASP women’s world Tour Championship in 2007 at the age of 19 made you the first “rookie” to claim an open age world pro crown and the second youngest female world champion in 30 years of pro surfing. That must have been mind blowing – what sort of reaction did you get from the surfing world?

It was strange because in the first year everybody expected me to do it, even my peers. I really believe that even the girls on Tour expected me to win in my first year. I think because of all the hype in the industry it played on peoples minds. It seemed quite easy to knuckle down and not really think about the other girls, I just do my own thing. I learned a lot about the sports psychology part of competing, which I found really interesting. It definitely came in handy.

SG:

these offers and interest from companies. It was quite overwhelming.

All of my school friends were wondering what they were going to study at uni but I knew that my next few years were kind of planned out. I knew deep down it was going to happen but it all got handed to me pretty nicely.

SFME: you won two events as a young wildcard, which really put you on the map. Beating the top level guys at that stage must have confirmed you had something special?

SG: With the first one in 2005, it was my home break and everything was perfect. But to go back and do it again in 2006 confirmed that the first one wasn’t a fluke and that I was ready to go on Tour and win world titles.

SFME: you also started to get a lot of attention. Did it make it harder for you having that level of expectation?

SG: Well I probably had more pressure from myself because I really had high expectations of myself. The most overwhelming part was dealing with the media. I learned that there was so much more to being a professional surfer than just surfing. I learned that really quickly after winning my first event. But it was all great and I’ve definitely used that knowledge to help me now. It’s important to know when to save energy during events because doing interviews all the time can take it out of you.

SFME: To win the world title for the second time last year must’ve been quite something. was it more difficult to do it second time around?

SG: Last year was really satisfying because I had to back up what I’d done the year before and everybody wanted to take me out. The elation when you win your first world title is pretty phenomenal. The second one is a different feeling, but still great.

SFME: Are you confident of making it three in a row?

SG: I think it’s possible. I’m in the lead at the moment although we’ve not had an event in a while. The next event is the Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic so it’ll be back in Australia and that’s where I’m comfortable. I’ve won there a couple of times before so yeah I think I can do it. It would be pretty cool, why not go for three in a row.

SFME: Describe the feeling you get when you catch the perfect wave. Is it the best feeling in the world for you?

SG: The perfect wave in my eyes is where it’s a really easy take off and you can really read the wave, pull in and get barrelled. Getting barrelled is what every single surfer is looking for – when the wave swallows you and you’re inside it. It’s incredible to even think about it. you hear all these crazy sounds – all these swooshing noises. When you come out, it’s like the wave breathes on your back – it spits water at you.

SFME: How does women’s surfing compare with men’s in terms of the prize money etc – can you make a decent living from it?

SG: Prize money is not really sufficient enough to have a full career, which is pretty sad in this day and age. Sponsorship is what gives you that room to be able to just concentrate on competing and to travel in comfort. I think in the future it will be better for the girls.

SFME:what’s the craziest, big wave surfing experience you’ve had?

SG: I would say at Sunset Beach in Hawaii – it’s a pretty scary place. It’s the last event of the year and there’s a big build up to it. The waves are big and powerful and the whole industry is there watching – it’s kind of like make or break. The year before last the waves were really big and scary and I got smashed pretty bad. They were probably about 10-feet high. It was a heat that I really needed to win and I got smoked, broke my board and lost so I was pretty bummed out. That was probably the worst wipe out I’ve had.

SFME: It takes some guts to ride such big waves on a small piece of fibreglass.

SG: yeah it does. There are a lot of girls out there riding some huge waves. Some of the guys are riding 60-footers, you can’t even comprehend that! On the ASP Tour they always have great water security – there are always guys on jet skis watching everything – so if you’re going to go and charge big waves, in a competition is the best place to do it. I enjoy it but it is a part of my repertoire that I need to improve.

SFME:There have been a fair few deaths in surfing over the years – does that ever creep into your mind when you’re facing a big wave?

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SG: I think being a female – we have this little voice in our head saying, “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” whereas the guys will just go for it.

You’ve got to really go hard on big waves when it’s necessary but be smart with your decision making. When you’re a surfer, after a few years you learn how to read the ocean. It’s a pretty fine line between throwing yourself a challenge and pushing yourself past your limit.

SFME: You must feel pretty blessed to have a career that takes you to such beautiful spots to do something you love so much?

SG: We’re definitely spoilt. We get to travel, surf and compete. Plus all the girls on Tour are really good friends. It’s the dream Tour.

SFME: Where are your favourite places to surf?

SG: I like Europe. I love going to Hossegor in France and I also like the Mentawai in Indonesia, which has really good waves. I’d have to say Hawaii as well. We spend a fair bit of time there.

SFME:It’s not renowned for its surfing but have you been to the UAE? SG: I haven’t but I’d love to. I’ve heard it’s a really cool place.

SFME: Layne Beachley is probably the most famous Aussie female surfer, having won the World Championship seven times. Was she the biggest influence on you when you were starting out?

SG: I think Layne was there for all the young female Australian surfers to look up to. At the time that I really started to follow surfing she’d already won five or six world titles, which is just crazy. Lisa Anderson was a big influence just because she surfed so beautifully. She was so stylish and great to watch. Chelsea Hedges was one of my favourites because she had no fear and surfed like a guy but she was also a fun cool girl to hang out with as well.

SFME: What kind of fitness regime do you have to keep to in order to maintain a top level surfing career?

SG: I do a programme called CHEK – it stands for Corrective, Holistic Exercise Kinesiology. I’ve been doing it for the last few years to maintain my body and keep it injury free, which is the most important thing for any athlete to prolong their career. I love just being active – running, skipping dancing! Swimming’s really good for you as well. At CHEK we do a lot of core strength work and making sure that your body is really balanced and fit. We do a lot of stuff on a Swiss ball, balancing etc – it’s all really specific to my body and to surfing. A lot of surfers overwork their shoulders and traps through paddling all the time so I go to the gym and build up my chest area using dumbbells while leaning on a Swiss ball. I also do squats standing on a Swiss ball, that kind of thing.

SFME: There’s quite a big gap in the middle of the season so it must be even more crucial to keep your fitness up at this time of year?

SG:Yes it’s important. We surf so much that you have to make sure you’re keeping up with your maintenance too otherwise you’re going to get to your event and be tired and won’t be able to perform at your best.

SFME: What do you want your surfing legacy to be?

SG: I would definitely love to be able to say that I was a role model to young girls in the sport. As much as I love to break records, win titles and all of that sort of stuff, I’d really just like to remembered as the girl who just went out there and had fun, enjoyed herself and represented what female surfing is all about. Also as somebody who was professional and did the job well.

SFME: Is it true they call you Happy Gilmore?

SG: Yeah some people do. I guess I smile a lot or something!

SFME: Do you follow any sort of special nutritional plan?

SG: Nutrition is something that s really, really important. We

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travel a lot so you get a lot of jet lag and you ve got to make sure that your body is able to recover at its best. I m not on any kind of strict diet but I try to eat food that s really fresh, lots of veggies, fruit and protein. It s just about trying to have a good balance in what you eat.

I learned a lot about that through CHEK. Also staying well hydrated is very important because we re in the sun a lot.

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o traverspeing t y a w t s e the caodooles are fast deevuerlo b ll e w s. And y r e n v c a io y r t a ic f m s a e r s u lv Parko n jungle, and it ho call themse acingí their way r the urboarderless tribe w , literallaynyt obstacle in thmeuirch o d y e h b t a t t into s exactly wha d, on and off ur is abuotufacing thatí , under, aroun ovements. Parkols abo acrossh fluid human mthleticism; itís ah aond sense of a pat ironment. path wit iming ainndding a personaol w t n a h t n env e r r mo enges and f u o y in chall illment right there fulf

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parkour lowdown Parkour, fast becoming an obsession in countless countries, has its roots in France. It requires extreme levels of physical fitness and mental strength and the desire to overcome obstacles.

Some of the recognised movements of this freestyle sport are: Demi Tour: Any kind of turn vault, literally “half turn”.This move is used to place yourself on the other side of an object, facing the direction you came.

Equilibre: Walking or crawling along the crest of an obstacle.

Franchissement: Jumping or swinging through a gap between obstacles; literally “to cross.”

Laché: Hanging drop, double grab, literally to let go. When you hang (on a bar, on a wall, on a branch), let go and ìlatchî onto the next obstacle or branch.

Passement: Vault: Overcoming an obstacle by vaulting.

Passe Muraille: Going over a wall.

Planche: Muscle up/Climb-up. To get from a hanging position (wall, rail, branch, arm jump, etc) into a position where your upper body is above the obstacle, supported by the arms. This then allows you to climb onto the obstacle and continue.

Reverse: The reverse vault is where the traceur leads with his back – mostly followed by a spin to finish facing forward again. Good to create torque in combinations and to use when you are very close to the obstacle or at an angle to it.

Roulade: To roll on the diagonal of your back. It is used primarily to transfer the momentum and energy from jumps.

Saut de Bras – Arm Jump: To land on an obstacle in a hanging/ crouched position. The hands grip the edge, and steady the body to perform a planche/muscle up.

Saut de Chat – Cat Jump: To dive onto an obstacle, place your hands, and follow through with your legs, and in the end push off with the hands to bring the body back in a vertical angle, ready to land.

Saut de Détente – Gap Jump: To jump from one place/object to another, over a gap/distance. This technique is most often followed by a roll.

Saut de Fond – Drop: Literally jump to the ground or drop down from something.

Saut de Précision – Precision Jump: To jump from one object to a precise spot on another object.

Tic Tac: To kick off a wall in order to overcome an obstacle in the path or gain height to grab something.

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Parkour is the art-inspired human movement that takes traceurs beyond obstacles, either man-made or natural by a series of elegant movements that include running, jumping, vaulting, climbing on, off and around things.

IT was in this spirit that the seed of an idea for the Red Bull City Rage germinated, took root and grew to blossom in three polish cities, Gdansk, Warsaw and Cracow. The plan: traverse the three cities with three teams of three traceurs, two cameramen and a photographer and in doing so, kick-start Parkour in the local scene. The aim: to have fun and to shoot, cut and edit three short movies about Parkour, each 10 minutes and with an interesting plot. All the team members had to be involved in making the film, which would be premiered at a public screening in the Polish capital of Warsaw.

Parkour is the art-inspired human movement that takes traceurs beyond obstacles, either man-made or natural by a series of elegant movements that include running, jumping, vaulting, climbing on, off and around things. Buildings, rails, staircases, fences, walls and ledges are the natural habitat of the dedicated traceur, who sees Parkour as much as a mental discipline as a physical one. This is all about testing your limits, overcoming obstacles, refining technique – all with the intention of being at one with your environment: a heady mix of part extreme sport, part Jackie Chan stunt and part Zen. The First Contact Parkour is an underground movement for and by free spirits so the first step of the project was to set up www.redbullcityrage.pl and start posting news of it in internet forums. Those interested had to submit a 4-minute action film of a team of 3-4 traceurs to be judged for the final selection for Red Bull City Rage. Two of the world‘s most famous traceurs, Jocelyn Demoniere, president of the Parkour Worldwide Association (PAWA) and Dominique Lexilus, were called in to evaluate the entries. Both have close personal connections with the iconic Frenchman David Belle, who is credited with the creation of Parkour.

and very ritzy spot for the young, beautiful and very active. Kosciuszko Square in Gdynia and the wooden pier in Sopot were also on the hit list.

At the seaport cargo, the boys literally took 15 m containers in their stride and flew over the two metre gaps, separating them like the birds they felt they were becoming. Then came the ultimate challenge – tackling the huge arches on the railway viaducts and that meant traversing a narrow ledge 30 metres above the ground – the equivalent of taking an elevator to the 10th floor. This raised the wary eyebrows of the railway guards who were so taken aback by the guerilla action that they decided to leave the boys to get on with it.

By now, in the well-frequented locations, the action had taken on the character of a performance and both crowd and traceurs loved it. This was just the kind of spirit to carry Red Bull City Rage through to Warsaw, the Polish capital, the next stop on the tour. Here there was a wealth of challenges awaiting them as they tackled famous locations like the Palace of Science and Culture, the bridges, the historic Old Town and the roof of the Galeria Centrum shopping mall.

But while the local constabulary feigned a lack of interest in the boys and their antics in Warsaw, their luck was bound to run out sooner or later, namely in the historic and beautiful Cracow, the former capital of the country. The SMC team from Warsaw couldn‘t resist a shot at the newly built bridge over the Wista River, apparently a favorite spot for suicides.

The boys on the bridge soon caught the attention of almost every emergency service in the city and before they knew it had the fire brigade, ambulance and police boat patrols breathing down their necks.

They quickly became verbal traceurs and with some fast talking managed to wangle their way out of nothing more serious than a fine of €170. They took it in their stride and wrote off the brush with the constabulary as “running” expenses.

The Tour The field of 30 teams was narrowed down to three – SMC from Warsaw, Parkour Patriots from Lodz and Black Traceurs from Tychy. Each group was allocated a van for the traceurs, film crew and photographers and received a map of the locations in the three cities. They were to explore one location that was symbolic of the city and free to choose their other locations. They were also encouraged to be spontaneous, to discover other interesting spots and set out first for Tri-city – the three adjoining cities of Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot on the Baltic coast.

Cracow turned out to be a gem for the flying feet of the traceurs who sought out the roof of the Galeria Kazimierz and climbed down a 5-floor elevation. They stopped a few hearts in the main market and moved on to the fantastic industrial backdrop of the Bonarka Chemical Works with its spectacular 20 metre-high factory chimney.

The Action The group had a time frame of June 12-21 to wrap up the job and each team worked together to plot their film scenario before filming. It didn‘t just have to be spectacular, it also had to be interesting!

The Gdansk shipyard was an obvious location as was the roof of the Centrum Handlowe Manhatten Shopping Center – a highly frequented

In the true spirit of Parkour, this was not really a competition and there was no winner – except Parkour itself, now safely lodged in the mind‘s eye of Polish youth as a perfect way to experience your own personal freedom in any environment. In Poland, Parkour has ceased to be a glimpse of a neat trick on a video clip and has entered into the lingua franca of the local youth.n

In the two weeks that followed the tour, the traceurs had to get together with the film crew and edit the short films, which were finally screened before an enthusiastic public in Warsaw.

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Core Strength with

Power Plate The Power Plate® machine utilises Acceleration Training™ exercise to help increase muscle strength, improve flexibility and stamina, and enhance fitness and wellbeing.

It helps to improve muscle tone, combat cellulite and reduce body fat, by enhancing the metabolism. Beautiful visible results are possible with just three short sessions a week, as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Simply hold a pose, such as a squat, bicep curl or stomach crunch, on the Power Plate® machine’s vibrating platform to activate multiple muscle groups simultaneously to stretch, tone or strengthen. The vibrations cause the muscles to contract automatically, intensifying the effects of the exercise and saving you time. Whether you want to fight a flabby stomach or tone your bottom and thighs, you can target particular areas of the body using the Power Plate® machine.

This is a low impact form of exercise, which allows anyone, regardless of fitness levels, to benefit without putting strain on joints or other parts of the body.

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Workout Power Coare

For this Core workout program select the following settings on the Power Plate machine, according to your experience and your level of training: Time: 30-60 seconds Frequency: 30-40 Hz Amplitude: Low.

Abdominal V-Sit Crunch n Place your bottom in the middle of the platform, raise your feet off the ground, with knees bent, and lean back as far as comfortable to create a ‘V Shape’ with your body.

Hold this position, or slowly crunch in and out of position by moving your knees and chest away from one another and then returning to your start position.

Side Plank n Place your right forearm on the platform and both feet on the ground stacked one on top of the other. Your body should be straight and your hips held off the ground to recruit the oblique stomach muscles (‘love handles’).

Repeat on the left side.

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n To increase the difficulty, slowly lower and raise your hips to create a dynamic movement.

Front Plank n Place your forearms on the platform and your feet on the ground (or raise on a step or ball for added difficulty). Your body should be straight with your stomach muscles and back held strong. Keep your head in alignment with your body. Hold for the duration of the exercise.

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Gluteus Bridge n Lie on your back on the ground in front of the machine and place both heels onto the platform. Raise your bottom from the ground, pushing through your heels, so that only your shoulders are in contact with the ground. Once in position, ensure your knees are bent at a right angle. n With your bottom squeezed high hold this position or slowly lower and raise your hips for a dynamic workout.

Push Up to Rotation n This is a dynamic, integrated, more advanced move to engage the shoulders, chest, core, hips and ankles! n With your hands on the platform shoulder width apart, and feet on the ground, slowly bend your elbows and lower your chest towards the platform for a push up. As you push out of the position, rotate onto one side of your foot, turn your hips out and raise one arm to the ceiling. Return into the push up position and then push out and rotate to the other side. Continue to alternate sides.

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And there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be again. Which is why Emirates now serves more than 100 destinations across the world with crew from over 100 nations.

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com comPuter gAmes hel helP your sPort HAVE A WORD WITH YOURSELF Geeing yourself up with a pep talk yields instant fitness results.

A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning discovered that high jumpers who said to themselves, “I can jump high” out loud before jumping produced greater power in their legs than those who said nothing. The theory is that by verbalising the action you tell your brain’s cerebal cortex to activate more muscle fibres.

NB: Be careful if attempting to use this technique in the bedroom as it may prove a turn off!

Learn how to razor curl Pain is not an indicator of physical Playing games success.computer The only way to tell if you’re improves athletic working at your the right intensity is to listen to your body so yousay know how performance by 53%, often and howathard train. Pain is researchers thetouniversity notMontreal’s an indicator School of physical of of success.

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Pain isPlus, not anyou indicator high scores. can of physical success. The only way to tell have a pre-match warm up by if you’re working at the right intensity leaping off the sofa as if you’re is to listen to your body so you know crowd-surfing at Glastonbury. how often and how hard to train.

MAGIC NUMbERS The possible percentage decrease in your risk of developing colon cancer if you always exercise at least three times a week.

If that’s not enough reason…

British Journal of Cancer

HOW TO SURVIVE A SHARK ATTACK

If you find yourself under attack, George Burgess, Director of the Florida Programme for Shark Research says, be as aggressive as possible. Playing dead won’t work. “Sharks, like all predators, respect size and power,” he says. A shark’s nose is a sensitive area, and it won’t be expecting you to hit it; so punch its nose, hard. The animal will veer off, and hopefully give you a few more minutes to get out of the water.

But it won’t stay away. “Sharks are persistent,” Burgess says. “The bop on the nose only goes so far. And if they do come back, go for sensitive areas on their head. The eyes and the gills are areas that are vulnerable.” Basically, Burgess says, the key is to demonstrate that you won’t go without a fight. And once you’re out, do whatever you can to get out of the water as quickly as possible. www.sportingpublications.com l Page 53

Y

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good health

blood so simple

type

ab 4

type

o 45

type

b 11

Your blood can predict your future. Harness its unique qualities for a healthier, happier life.

if you are type

type

a 40 if you are type

b

Longevity is in your blood. A Japanese survey found you’re twice as likely to make it to 100 with Type B. “Strengthen your immunity further by upping your probiotic bacteria intake,” says Tom MacDonald, professor of immunology at Barts and the London School of Medicine.

Eat three portions of leeks and garlic a week and sink a small Activia yoghurt pot daily.

honey

a

if you are type You produce more adrenalin than any other group, so you’re more prone to blood sugar swings, fatty deposits and heart attacks. Drink a glass of milk each day to restore hormone balance and guarantee shut-eye. “You need to up your intake of the calming amino acid tryptophan, found in abundance in dairy and poultry,” says Donnelly. And get regular exercise to further lower your heart-attack risk.

Improving Athletic Performance: Honey is an excellent ergogenic aid and helps in boosting the performance of athletes. Honey helps maintain blood sugar levels, muscle recuperation and glycogen levels after a workout.

HAIR LOSS TIPS

if you are type

o

You face a 20% higher risk of heart disease from high salt intake because your blood platelets (particles involved in clotting) swell in a high sodium environment, Copenhagen University researches warn.

Eat seven portions of fruit and veg per day to improve your platelets’ ability to maintain fluid and clear your arteries (as well as keeping you more regular than a Japanese bullet train).

OLD WIVES TALE

GETTING THE BUZZ OUT OF NATURE Weight Loss: Though honey has more calories than sugar, honey when consumed with warm water helps in digesting the fat stored in your body.

Similarly honey and lemon juice and honey and cinnamon help in reducing weight.

ab

Having both A and B antigens in your blood often weakens your stomach acid, making it hard to digest protein from red meat. “ABs extract maximum nutrition from food like fish and dairy,” says Richard Donnelly, professor of vascular medicine at Nottingham University. So snack on sushi, don’t stuff in slabs of steak and you’ll extract the maximum possible proteins from your meals.

Cheese gives you nightmares!

Antioxidants: Honey contains nutraceuticals, which are effective in removing free radicals from our body.

As a result, our body immunity is improved.

No. But if you eat FALSE a large or heavy meal before bedtime your sleep will be disrupted

Just as moderate exercise increases bone density and can improve hearing, it also improves blood circulation in your scalp. www.sportingpublications.com l Page 55

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IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING

EVERyONE NEEDS

SuPERFOODS Imagine a superfood -- not a drug -- powerful enough to help you lower your cholesterol, reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer, and, for an added bonus, put you in a better mood. Did we mention that there are no side effects? you’d surely stock up on a lifetime supply. Guess what?

These life-altering superfoods are available right now in your local supermarket.

“The effect that diet can have on how you feel today and in the future is astounding,” says renowned nutritionist Elizabeth Somer. “Even people who are healthy can make a few tweaks and the impact will be amazing. I’d say that 50% to 70% of suffering could be eliminated by what people eat and how they move: heart disease, diabetes, cancer, hypertension can all be impacted.” you don’t need specific foods for specific ailments. A healthy diet incorporating a variety of the following superfoods will help you maintain your weight, fight disease, and live longer.

“One thing they all have in common – every superfood is going to be a ‘real’ (unprocessed) food,” Somer points out. “you don’t find fortified potato chips in the superfood category.”

Top Superfoods Offering Super Health Protection: Beans Blueberries Broccoli Oats Oranges Pumpkin Salmon Soy Spinach Tea (green or black) Tomatoes Turkey

Walnuts yogurt Blueberries – Antioxidant Superfood Packed with antioxidants and phytoflavinoids, these berries are also high in potassium and vitamin C, making them the top choice of doctors and nutritionists. Not only can they lower your risk of heart disease and cancer, they are also anti-inflammatory.

“Inflammation is a key driver of all chronic diseases, so blueberries have a host of benefits,” says Ann Kulze, MD, of Charleston, S.C., author of Dr. Ann’s 10-Step Diet, A Simple Plan for Permanent Weight Loss & amp; Lifelong Vitality.

When selecting berries, note that the darker they are, the more anti-oxidants they have. “I tell everyone to have a serving (about 1/2 cup) every day,” Dr. Kulze says. “Frozen are just as good as fresh.” Be sure to include lots of other fruits and vegetables in your diet as well. Remember too that, in general, the more colour they have, the more antioxidants.

Omega 3-Rich Fish – Superfoods for the Heart, Joints, and Memory “We know that the omega3s you get in fish lower heart disease risk, help arthritis, and may possibly help with memory loss and Alzheimer’s,” Somer says. “There is some evidence to

show that it reduces depression as well.”

Omega-3s are most prevalent in fatty, cold-water fish: Look for wild (not farmed) salmon, herring, sardines, and mackerel.

Aim for two-to-three servings a week. Other forms of omega3s are available in fortified eggs, flax seed, and walnuts.

These superfoods have the added benefit of being high in monounsaturated fats, which can lower cholesterol.

Soy – Superfood to Lower Cholesterol A study reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association (2003) showed that a diet of soy fibre, protein from oats and barley, almonds, and margarine from plant sterols lowered cholesterol as much as statins, the most widely prescribed cholesterol medicine.

“Look for tofu, soy milk, or edamame -- not soy powder,” says Somer. In other words, soy sauce won’t do the trick. One caveat: If you have a family history of breast cancer it is not recommended that you eat extra soy.

Fibre – Superfood Aids weight Loss and Checks Cholesterol A diet high in fibre will help you maintain healthy cholesterol and blood sugar levels. As a bonus, because fibre helps you feel full

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Dark Chocolate – Research has shown that dark chocolate is packed with antioxidants and can lower blood pressure. It’s recommended that you look for chocolate with 60% or higher cocoa content; the darker, the better. In addition, the darker it is, the lower the fat and sugar content. longer, it’s a great tool in weight management. Whole grains, beans, fruit, and vegetables are all good sources. Kulze recommends throwing some beans in your salad. “Fresh, frozen, or dried are the best” she says. “You can use canned, but they tend to be higher in sodium.”

Tea – Superfood for Lowering Cholesterol and Inhibiting Cancer “The overall antioxidant power of black tea is the same as green tea,” says Kulze, “but green tea does have ECGC, a powerful antioxidant that we really do think is quite special.” A recent Japanese study on green tea found that men who drank green tea regularly had lower

cholesterol than those who didn’t.

Researchers in Spain and the United Kingdom have also shown that ECGC can inhibit the growth of cancer cells. For a double health whammy, replace sugary sodas with tea.

Calcium OK, OK, you know the drill: Calcium helps build strong bones and prevents osteoporosis.

Look for it in dairy products or supplements. Added bonus: Some studies show that calcium helps with weight loss. Here are the calcium levels recommended for adults by the USDA: Age 9 to 18 -- 1,300 mg Age 19 to 50 -- 1,000 mg Age 51 and over -- 1,200 mg

Antioxidants in Dark Chocolate Dark chocolate – but not milk chocolate or dark chocolate eaten with milk – is a potent antioxidant, reports Mauro Serafini, PhD, of Italy’s National Institute for Food and Nutrition Research in Rome. Antioxidants gobble up free radicals – destructive molecules that are implicated in heart disease and other ailments.

“Our findings indicate that milk may interfere with the absorption of antioxidants from chocolate and may therefore negate the potential health benefits that can be derived from eating moderate amounts of dark chocolate,” says Serafini.

So remember to say, “Dark, please,” when ordering at the chocolate counter. Don’t even think of washing it down with milk. And if health is your excuse for eating chocolate, remember the word “moderate” as you nibble.

Researchers are close to linking chocolate with the capacity to boost brain power

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Protein.

It’s like going to the gym twice as often.

Being toned. Getting in shape. Losing weight. Goals that drive you to the gym and make you work hard when you’re there. But much of that sweat and effort will go to waste if you don’t feed your body with the nutrients it needs to get toned, fit and in shape. Trust nature to have the perfect answer. Protein. The finest nutrient for naturally toning and repairing our muscles.

This is where Promax Diet comes in. It’s packed with 37g whey protein, for developing your muscle tone and making your hard work in the gym more effective.

Best of all whey protein makes you feel fuller for longer, helping to avoid those cravings that ruin your diet. A couple of servings a day as a shake or in a fruit smoothie will make a noticeable difference to your gym programme.

Available from

www.maximuscle.ae

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fItness bulletin

HULK sets 1074lb bench press record Ryan ‘Hulk’ Kennelly is an American powerlifter who specialises in the bench press.

Since November 8, 2008, Kennelly has held the World Powerlifting Organization world record in the assisted bench press with a lift of 1075 lbs (489 kg) during the Pride Strength Wars held in Kennewick, USA. This world record is classified as an assisted, or “geared” world record, meaning the lift is completed with the aid of a bench shirt.

His current record marked the third time last year that he had broken the “geared” bench press world record.

On April 12, 2008, Kennelly set the bench press record with a lift of 1070 lbs during the American Powerlifting Association Open Iron War in Washington.

Three months later he added four more pounds to his record when he successfully completed a bench of 1074 lbs (488 kg) during the United Powerlifting Association Bench Bash For Cash in Iowa.

Kennelly measures 6’ 2” (1.88 m), making him one of the tallest power lifters in active competition.

Isaac “Dr Size” Nesser CAN BENCH 825lbs DRUG FREE

SFME: Isaac, you have the world’s largest muscular chest and arms. You have bench pressed over 800 pounds.

Could you tell us some more about your feats of strength?

SFME: Do you feel that there have been any disadvantages of remaining drug-free? Do you think you could have improved your performance with drugs?

According to The Guinness Book of World Records! Isaac Nesser has the world’s largest chest and arms. With a 74”chest, 29” arms and tipping the scales at 362lbs he can bench press 825lbs and is completely drug free.

He would like to get the word out to as many people as he can, that its possible to achieve great things without drugs.

Isaac: I’ve benched 820lbs. I work out with barbell curls up to 315 lbs for five reps. Not a so-called cheat curl either.

I do one-arm tricep extensions with up to 180lbs. I’ve lifted truck engines over 700lbs and carried them; lifted and carried 500lbs stones; lifted station wagons off the ground with my back in the front where the engine is; carried 100-gallon drums filled with gas. Those are just a few feats of strength I’ve done.

Isaac: No. I don’t feel there have been any disadvantages in being drug free because I’ve built the biggest muscles in the world – even getting bigger than any other men who have used the drugs.

The only disadvantage, in my view, would be that I’ve had to lift harder and lift more for longer hours to achieve my goal. But it is well worth it.

HEIGHT: 6 ft WEIGHT: 362 lbs NECK: 23.5” CHEST: 74.5” FOREARM: 22” BICEPS: 29” WAIST: 44”

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ASK SFME Q: Explain why warming up is so important.

SFME: Several physiological and practical reasons exist for warming up prior to engaging in more vigorous aerobic exercise. Among the more commonly cited reasons are the following: Increases the degradation of oxyhemoglobin Breaking down the chemical complex of oxygen and hemoglobin results in the release of oxygen from the blood, enhancing the delivery of oxygen to the exercising muscle.

Increases body temperature The elevation in body temperature produced by warming up reduces the potential for skeletal muscle injuries and connective injuries, since cold muscle and tendons have been shown to be more susceptible to injury.

Increases blood flow to the exercising muscles The greater level of blood reaching the muscles involved in the activity aids in the delivery of the fuels (e.g., glucose and free fatty acids) required for energy production.

Increases blood flow to the heart A greater level of blood delivered to the heart reduces the potential for exerciseinduced cardiac abnormalities.

Decreases the viscosity of the muscle Reduced muscle viscosity increases the suppleness of the muscle, thereby enhancing the mechanical efficiency and power of the exercising muscles.

Q: Will I lose body fat more efficiently by performing my aerobic workouts at a low, rather than a high, intensity?

SFME: Many aerobic exercise programmes and videos feature low-intensity workouts which purport to maximise fat burning. The argument behind such an alleged theory is that low-intensity aerobic training will allow your body to use more fat as an energy source, thereby accelerating the loss of body fat.

While it is true that a higher proportion of calories burned during low-intensity exercise come from fat (about 60 percent as opposed to approximately 35 percent from high-intensity programmes), high-intensity exercise still burns more calories from fat in the final analysis.

For example, if you perform 30 minutes of low-intensity aerobic exercise (i.e. at a level of 50 percent of maximal exercise capacity), you’ll burn approximately 200 calories – about 120 of those come from fat (i.e.

60 percent).

However, exercising for the same amount of time at a high intensity (i.e. 75 percent of your maximal exercise capacity) will burn approximately 400 calories. Using a 35 percent fat utilisation yardstick, 140 of the calories you’ve burned will have come from stored fat.

Although the more vigorous exercise burns both more total and more fat calories, the less intense form of exercise has its benefits as well. For example, because many overweight people tend to find that lowerintensity exercise is more comfortable, they may, therefore, be more willing to engage in such workouts.

The point to remember is that low-intensity workouts do, in fact, promote weight and fat loss. You just have to do them for a longer period of time.

Low-intensity aerobic exercise, however, is not a better or more effective way to lose weight than more intense physical activity – the idea of a “fat-burning zone” is simply a myth.

Keep in mind that you lose weight and body fat when you expend more calories than you consume, not because you burn fat (or anything else) when you exercise.

Causes an early onset of sweating The earlier onset of sweating promotes evaporative heat loss and, as a result, decreases the amount of heat stored by the body. This will help to prevent an individual’s body temperature from rising to dangerously high levels during (more strenuous) exercise.

Enhances the speed of transmission of nerve impulses As nerve impulses are conducted at a faster rate, neuromuscular coordination tends to improve, resulting in better performance of certain motor tasks.

Increases the blood saturation of muscles and connective tissues A higher level of blood reaching the muscles, tendons, and ligaments involved in the activity increases the elasticity of these tissues, resulting in a safer, more effective performance of stretching exercises. Prepares the cardiovascular system for the upcoming (more strenuous) physical activity.

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ISSUE4 Q: What is cross training and does it offer any significant benefits?

A: Cross training is typically defined as an exercise regime that uses several modes of training to develop a specific component of fitness; in this instance, aerobic fitness.

A relatively sound argument can be advanced to support the premise that using two or more types of aerobic exercise in your training regime is in your best interests.

While no evidence exists to support the oft-stated claim that cross training somehow induces a better aerobic conditioning response, research indicates that using several modes of training can provide an exerciser with a very positive orthopedic benefit.

By combining different exercise modes, you prevent the same bones, muscle groups and joints from being stressed over and over. As a consequence, cross training tends to reduce the likelihood of your being injured as the result of exercising “too much.”

Q: Are there any risks associated with excess protein consumption?

SFME: The human body is unable to store extra protein. Protein consumed in excess of the body’s needs is not used to build muscle; rather, it is used for non-protein bodily functions.

If individuals consume protein in excess of their caloric and protein needs, the extra protein will not be stored as protein. Unfortunately such extra protein is converted to and stored as fat. As a result, if individuals consume large amounts of extra protein in addition to their regular dietary intake, any weight gain would very likely be in the form of fat.

Another important point to keep in mind is that the potential for harm exists if protein is consumed in excess. Such harm is most likely to occur in the individual who consumes protein or amino acid supplements.

For example, excess protein may lead to dehydration, because protein metabolism requires extra water for utilization and excretion (i.e. elimination) of its by-products.

Since exercising individuals are already at an increased risk for dehydration, the additional strain of protein waste excretion may further promote dehydration.

Excess protein has also been shown to lead to an increase in the loss of urinary calcium. A chronic calcium loss, due to excess protein intake, is of particular concern because it may increase the risk of osteoporosis, especially in women.

Q: Does any proof exist that exercise can help a person live longer?

SFME: Absolutely. In fact, one of the largest study measuring fitness ever conducted found that exercise will indeed help a person live longer.

Led by Dr. Steven Blair of the Institute of Aerobics Research in Dallas, the eight-year study evaluated the fitness and mortality levels of 13,344 men and women. Researchers involved with the study found that exercise reduces the death rate from all causes, particularly cancer and heart disease.

Physical fitness was measured by each subject’s performance on a standardised treadmill test – a test which is designed to accurately assess aerobic fitness (the most commonly accepted indicator of physical “health”). Based on the test results, the subjects were then grouped by gender into five categories ranging from least to most fit.

The results of the study, which were published in the Journal of The American Medical Association, showed that the higher the fitness level the lower the death rate, after the data was adjusted for age differences between the subjects.

Compared with the most-fit subjects, individuals in the leastfit category had death rates 3.4 and 4.6 times higher for men and women respectively. The differences in mortality rates held relatively constant even after obvious causal factors, such as smoking and cholesterol level, were considered.

For both men and women, the largest drop from one fitness category to another was from the least-fit to the next mostfit group. Expressed as deaths per 10,000 person-years, the age-adjusted death rates for men and women in the sedentary category fell from 64 and 39.5 to 25.5 and 20.5 respectively in the next most-fit group, a decline of more than 60 percent for men and 48 percent for women.

The implication of Blair’s findings are extraordinarily significant, particularly for a sedentary individual. On a major scale, this study documents the fact that a modest amount of exercise can and does go a long way. The equivalent of walking 30 minutes a day is all that is required to move from the most sedentary category to the next most fit category.

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Candy

Shop FOR her recent Transformers films Megan Fox hired a personal trainer who had her do a time compressed body-weight routine.

Megan’s trainer obviously understood the benefit of sticking to bodyweight intervals to keep her body slim, sexy, and functional without bulking up.

Believe it or not, this is a similar routine that actors like Brad Pitt and Daniel Craig do to get ready for their movie roles.

Megan Fox’s Workout Planks: Megan’s workout relied heavily on planks.

Hollywood Trainer, Craig Ballantyne has a video page which shows several variations. Planks are by far the best move for women to get sexy, flat abs like Megan.

A Brief Ab Circuit: After blitzing her abs with planks, she would then spend 15-20 minutes doing a circuit that involved knee ups, leg swings, and ball leg lifts.

This is done in an interval like fashion...hard effort with just a little rest and back to a tough exercise. The idea is to do three-four different exercises back-to-back, rest 30-60 seconds, then do it again. Repeat for 15-20 minutes. It is harder than it sounds!

Old School Stationary Bike: She then took advantage of the increased heart rate by finishing off with 30 minutes of cycling. This was done with low intensity (intervals, followed by low intensity cardio is extremely effective for getting lean).

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PREMIERE

LEAGUE STYLE

Nutrition Training Tips Equipment Style News / Calendar Events Adventure Features

THE world’s top sportsmen aren’t short of a penny or two and they certainly aren’t shy when it comes to flashing the cash.

Fast cars, big houses, private jets – you name it, the top earners in the sporting world have their pick of the bling.

So close your eyes for a moment and imagine you’re the next Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan or David Beckham. All that money’s just burning a hole in your pocket, but what to spend it on…

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$12.5 Million 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa Perhaps you could go for this 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, which sold at an auction in Italy in May for US$12.4 million making it the most expensive car in history.

Only 22 250 Testa Rossas were ever built at the Ferrari plant in Maranello so you may have your work cut out if you want one. If you can’t persuade the current owner to part company with his new pride and joy you could always opt for something more modern like the Scuderia Spider 16M shown on the previous page. The car was released last year to commemorate Ferrari’s 16th victory in the F1 Constructors Championship and is a snip at just US$333,000.

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$115 Million Lord of the Manor So you’ve got the wheels but where to stay? Every sporting superstar needs a palatial pad to lay his hat when he gets back from a hard day at the office and if you have a spare $115 million you could be the envy of your teammates by splashing out on Updown Court in Surrey, England. Currently being advertised on www.primelocation.com, this sprawling mansion has no less than 24 bedrooms, 23 bathrooms and seven reception rooms so you can invite the whole team round to stay without a problem!

Nutrition Training Tips Equipment Style News / Calendar Events Adventure Features

www.sportingpublications.com l Page69

$60 Million

High Flyer It’s all very well having some nice wheels and a posh pad but the life of sporting icon is a truly international affair with appearances and engagements all around the world, so you’re going to need a private jet to ensure you always arrive on time and in style.

This GulfStream G550 is powered by enhanced Rolls-Royce BR710 turbofan engines. It features up to four distinct living areas, three temperature zones, a choice of 12 floor plan configurations with seating for up to 18 passengers. Maintaining contact your team mates is easy thanks to host of standard communication features: a fax machine, a printer, a wireless local area network and satellite communications. You can even opt for the inclusion of a high-speed broadband Internet connection. The price? A mere $60 million.

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DON’T LOOK

DOWN Richard Bevan talks to extreme kayaker and film maker Ben Stookesberry, who gets his kicks paddling kayaks over 100-foot waterfalls.

I

T’S February, 2006. Ben Stookesberry and his extreme kayaking partner and co-filmmaker, Jesse Coombs, are deep in the underbelly of war-torn Chiapas, Mexico, one of the most dangerous and volatile places on earth.

The rebel Zapatista Army of National Liberation, who have been at war with the Mexican government since 1994, have their base in Chiapas…and they don’t like outsiders. During Stookesberry’s last visit to the deprived state in 2002 24 Zapatistas in dug out canoes tried to kidnap the American’s group as they embarked upon their mission to become the first kayakers to paddle the fabled Rio Santo Domingo. It was just one of a series of setbacks which ultimately halted their challenge on that occasion and yet still he’s back with Coombs to finish what was started four years earlier.

Starting in the flat section of water at the top of the river they begin their descent and in an instant they’re engulfed in a furious rage of white water spray as they career down one of the steepest sections of river on the planet, putting their lives in the hands of the gods to boldly go where no man has been before. The raging

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DON

DOW

’T LO OK

N

Rio Santo Domingo drops some 480 vertical feet in just an eighth of a mile and their death defying descent includes two 90-foot waterfall drops. After one of the most extreme adrenaline rushes imaginable they emerge unscathed and victorious, their place in the extreme kayaking history books secure.

“The Rio Santo Domingo is the river that I really feel has defined my career,” reflects Stookesberry, one of only a handful of kayakers in the world to regularly ride waterfalls of over 100 feet and the proud owner of 51 first descents in 11 different countries. “It set the precedence for what I feel like I’m all about.

Having patience, being able to go in and if we didn’t have the tools or conditions to do it the first time, keep coming back and basically use my stubbornness to get it done.

“When we first went to Mexico in 2002 on a three-month driving trip in an old beat up van we ended up in hot pursuit of this river, which had been seen 10 or 12 years previously, that was supposedly completely un-runnable but was one of the most spectacular series of waterfalls in the world. We thought it could be kayakable and imagined we’d just go there, claim the first descent, and go home again. But as it turned out there are about two dozen Rio Santo Domingos in Chiapas so it became a bit of a protracted search for the one we were looking for.

Terrifying “Chiapas is one of the wildest and most lawless places in the world and over the course of a month we saw many Zapatista riots. The night we were almost kidnapped was a pretty terrifying experience. We’d heard the area was getting pretty volatile and that we may not be able to get through the middle section of the canyon we were on because it was being completely guarded

by Zapatistas, who were trying to keep foreigners out. Five of us were just paddling through this big swathe of river when a bunch of guys came out, two sets of 12 in dug out canoes, wielding machetes.

“We all hopped in the raft we had with us but they secured our bow line and started pulling us to shore towards a pretty angry looking bunch of locals. I shouted to my friend, who was in the front, to cut the rope, and we sprung free and paddled away through the night. It was really intense. It was the first time we’d run the river so we didn’t know if they were going to be waiting for us at the next section, but luckily they weren’t.

“Our group of five eventually dwindled to two. We found ourselves on this long taxi drive out to the final Rio Santo Domingo on our list to search out this section of waterfalls. It

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“The first time you’re in a kayak is a challenge to role it or make the thing sit straight. Then as you get better that stuff becomes easy so you look for something else to recreate that challenge and the feeling of adrenaline from that first time and it naturally brings you to harder and harder water.”

was 15 days after New Year’s Eve when we stumbled upon one of the most spectacular canyons I’ve ever seen. The only problem was it was raining like crazy. We spent five days under a bridge – the river was completely flooded. We probed down into the canyon twice and had to hike out so we ended up not being able to get into that section of river.

“But the Rio Santo Domingo stayed very much in my mind and it was such a thrill to be able to go back there with Jesse and make the first descent down what is now considered the steepest section of kayakable water on the planet.”

Challenges such as the one he faced in Mexico are what Stookesberry is all about. It’s not just the geographical complications of travelling to and penetrating some of the most uncharted stretches of river in the world; or the physical challenge of steering a six-foot hollowed out piece of plastic down the most treacherous rapids and over the biggest waterfalls possible. This 30-year-old Jackson Kayak Team member likes it tough on all sides. Civil unrest, political turmoil, social depravation – it’s all just par for the course.

“I definitely thrive on adversity,” he says. “It all adds to the challenge and feeds the flame.”

Stookesberry has been kayaking for just 11 years, which is a

relatively short time to go from never having paddled before to being the world’s most experienced rider of waterfalls over 65 feet. A native of Colorado, his first sporting passion was skiing but during a summer break from college his room mate invited him to join him in Moab, Utah working as a raft guide on the Colorado River. In temperatures of 110 degrees the only thing to do with their spare time was to mess about on the water so the room mate, who had already been kayaking for a few months, introduced him to the sport.

Potential “It was an incredible experience,” says Stookesberry.

“Certainly not something that I thought at the time was going to change the rest of my life but I definitely saw a lot of potential and had a lot of fun with it.”

Later that summer Stookesberry had a serious mountain biking accident and broke his leg. Unable to ski he turned to kayaking as a way of remaining active while keeping weight off the leg and from there his love affair with the sport truly blossomed.

“The recovery of my leg was really slow but at the same time my kayaking was advancing all the time and it really took hold of the passion in my life. I ended up transferring colleges

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“For me, the bigger the canyons get, the steeper the waterfalls, the more spectacular the aesthetics become so it sort of perpetuates itself from that.”

to California where I could boat all year round and from then on I’ve spent at least 175-250 days of every year on the water.

“It’s just like any other sport – as you improve you seek the same challenge as you found right at the beginning. The first time you’re in a kayak it’s a challenge to role it or make the thing sit straight. Then as you get better that stuff becomes easy so you look for something else to recreate that challenge and the feeling of adrenaline from that first time and it naturally brings you to harder and harder water.

“Along with that come these incredible aesthetics. For me, the bigger the canyons get, the steeper the waterfalls, the more spectacular the aesthetics become so it sort of perpetuates itself from that.”

Four years after first stepping into a kayak Stookesberry had progressed to Class V standard – the top level in the sport and the classification used to gauge the most difficult runnable rivers. Not content with simply running the rapids, he looked for the next big thrill and found the answer in daring waterfall descents.

Big Drop The first big drop he ran was in Colorado and it was one that taught him some lessons about the importance of proper planning and keeping a clear head, which he has kept with him to this day.

“It was drop that I’ll never run again, I felt like I got away with one there,” recalls Stookesberry, who despite several sponsorship deals still has to work a ‘normal’ job in construction for five months every year due to the lack of money in the sport. “It was around 65 foot into a pool that was made by a beaver damn. It was kind of an angstridden period of my life. I’d just lost my father in a car accident and I guess I was taking out a lot of that sadness and anger and aggression on the river. But I ran that drop and had an incredible line, came up at the bottom and realised what was possible in a kayak although I didn’t want to role the dice like that again as it was a close one. But I knew that there was so much that was possible in a kayak that had never been done before.”

The one that really got Stookesberry noticed on the world kayaking stage came shortly after that first run, in September 2001, when his girlfriend took him out to the Lower Mesa Falls in Idaho, where a group of pro kayakers from the esteemed Montana boating community had been running two drops. Keen to impress both his girlfriend and the pro extreme kayakers, Stookesberry decided to take it a step further.

“As it turned out there was this whole other side of the falls that had never been run, that was a sheer drop in places,” he says. “Up until that point I’d been boating every day and had handled some pretty hard water in Colorado. I had a lot of confidence in my kayak

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and there was a sense of wanting to prove myself and proving my ability to this pretty famous boating community.

“My girlfriend at the time thought I was completely crazy but when I soared over the falls and came up upright at the bottom after having an absolutely perfect line, it really set the stage for what I’ve done since. Only instead of just travelling a couple of hundred miles to Idaho I’m travelling several thousand miles around the world to make first descents.”

The girl, he says, was suitably impressed.

Technique “She was more than impressed. She didn’t waste any time letting people know about it. The news spread like wildfire and a few months later that same group of pro kayakers were attempting the same drop to prove that they could do it too. One of them landed on his head and broke his paddle, the other one swam. To me that sort of validated my technique and showed that I had something special to offer the sport.”

Now a pioneer in the world of extreme kayaking Stookesberry is just as interested in the thrill of seeking out hidden gems of water in far flung lands as he is in throwing himself off the tallest waterfalls he can find. He’s also keen to highlight the ecological issues surrounding some of these great rivers as well as learning more about different cultures around the world, and these elements run throughout the films he and Coombs make about their adventures for their Clear H20 Films production company.

“Really what we’re trying to show people are the last virgin places on the globe, the last untouched places on the planet that exist in these river gorges,” says Stookesberry who lived in Argentina for six months to prepare for a first descent of the Rio Tunuyan. The river includes a section twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and had claimed the life of one of the previous kayakers who attempted to run it. His kayaking adventures have also seen him exploring new rivers in the likes of Columbia, Brazil, India and Pakistan.

“We also try to show the different cultures of these places, the politics of the area and the state of them in terms of their environment – the incoming dam projects, the loss of forests etc. To be able to discuss and bring to the forefront so many places outside of the U.S. that at this point are in much bigger danger and much greater peril than our domestic rivers of falling to the axe of the dam is a big goal of mine. We raise awareness of that through some of these extreme descents and first descents that we make. We don’t want to just focus on a what we call ‘white water porn’ we want to get people interested in a place and an adventure.”

A decade ago the discovery of new sections of river was much

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“In the old days the old guys would kind of just plonk over the falls. They’d lean back in their kayaks and put their hands over their heads. We’d see a lot of shoulder dislocations, a lot of paddles getting ripped from the hands.”

rarer. The old round bottomed fibreglass kayaks couldn’t stand up to the 100-foot drops made by Stookesberry so rivers which were completely locked by huge waterfalls remained unchartered until the new flat-bottomed, ultra-strong plastic boats began to be developed.

The new style of kayak is also much shorter to enable greater control in the rapids while the new breed of extreme kayakers have also developed a special technique that involves tucking the body forward into a pike position during waterfall descents to minimise the risk of injury.

“In the old days the old guys would kind of just plonk over the falls,” he says. “They’d lean back in their kayaks and put their hands over their heads. We’d see a lot of shoulder dislocations, a lot of paddles getting ripped from the hands. They were putting their bodies in such a vulnerable position.

“We found that staying forward, staying aggressive and actually entering the water in a pike position – you can imagine sitting in the kayak and trying to touch your toes, that’s what we’re going for – protects your chest and your face and basically makes you crash ready.

“Being able to go into a river and be the first one to have navigated downstream and to have basically solved the puzzle is extremely rewarding. At the same time it’s also thrilling to go down these fabled rivers that you’ve heard so many stories about.

“The interesting thing for me is that I feel a lot less stressed paddling a river that has never been done before than going into a river where there are all these crazy stories about mishaps and dangerous spots. So at the same time as being a huge challenge, the first descent offers a blank slate – a chance for you to write your own story. In so many ways it’s a pretty pure experience.”

Dangers Despite the obvious dangers of the sport – Stookesberry himself watched a good friend die while navigating a fairly small waterfall near his current home town of Shasta, California in 2003 and narrowly escaped drowning himself during the descent of a 50-foot fall in 2004 – the American says that it’s actually much safer than you would imagine.

“Broken noses are the most common injury in our sport, caused due to the forward position at landing. There haven’t actually been that many deaths and most of them have happened in pretty inconspicuous spots rather than big falls – hidden logs, things like that which you can’t plan for. When we plan out the big descents, take our time and visualise the line there are very few deaths or injuries. At base of the falls the water can be up to 50% air which is fantastic for the landings.

When you hit the bottom it’s nothing like hitting the hard surface of a lake, it’s like falling into cotton balls. But the other side of that is that

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it’s much harder to get purchase with your paddle to get back up when you roll, unfortunately that was happened when my friend drowned.

“Careful planning of when to run and when not to and proper river selection are crucial but I still maintain we see relatively few injuries and deaths. Anyone who has been running Class V has become intimately aware of the power of the river and humbled by it.”

Clear Head While most of us would see our entire lives flashing before our as we were about to paddle over a gushing waterfall, Stookesberry says that the pros actually strive to keep a completely clear head.

“In the most ideal situation you’ve reached that moment of clarity,” he says. “Just before you drop your whole being and every thought is dialled in to that last stroke on the lip and your tuck on the way down.

So there’s really not a whole lot of anticipation or anxiety that’s going through your mind at that point.

“When you’re scouting the drops and considering the possibilities and the hazards, there’s a lot of anxiety and a lot of introspection. But when you’re doing it right you reach that moment of clarity right at the lip. All thinking stops and those who are dialled into their line are able to continue through, make the movements all the way down the fall and reach that perfect position for impact.

“Those who get caught up in the moment and succumb to their anxiety and distress, freeze up at the lip and are unable to make the movements down the falls because they lose consciousness on the way down.”

Extreme kayaking hit the headlines around the world when Stookesberry’s friend Tyler Bradt set a new world record with a 186foot four-second descent of Palouse Falls in Washington State earlier this year. That was over 55 feet higher than the previous record but Stookesberry is planning an expedition to South America in search of an even bigger drop to attempt.

“My friend Pedro and I are heading back down to Brazil – that’s the location of the previous world record that happened a few months before Tyler’s,” he says. “I think if and when Tyler’s world record gets broken it’s going to happen in Brazil. The quality and quantity of the waterfalls there makes it the best place to find that drop. But that’s really what it’s about, the search for that drop – finding the perfect falls.

Tyler found his perfect drop and for me to even consider the possibility, I need to find my perfect drop.”

With countless other adventures such as a long-time ambition to be the first person to run the entire Tsangpo River from China to Tibet in the pipeline Stookesberry’s white knuckle journey through the world’s most extreme uncharted rivers shows no signs of slowing down. n

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s endou in trem rip into d e y a t l s il t can st ne has Stallo 63, the hero ie. But he firs r e t s e g f v v l o o in y e m S in g s the a ambo cade se tra For de ven now at in his last R II. The inten ul eye of, e f y d , h e e k c p c w t ho wa sha r Ro Italian as he s ape fo w, under the nsured the pete e action serious sh to com lumbo ed belo to got in mme, detail , Franco Co lar enough u a ia c r p lym d mus prog e Mr. O ded an two timn was shred stage. g Stallio bodybuildin y n a on Sylvester Stallone’s weight training routines were intensive, and therefore split over the week. He also trained twice a day, training different body parts each time.

To undertake such a training programme he kept to a strict diet, had plenty of rest, sleep and maintained good form while training to avoid over-training and injury.

Stallone’s Split Training Schedule: On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays he split his training into two sessions per day as follows: Morning: Chest, back and abs workouts, including bench presses, lateral pull downs and crunches.

Afternoon: Shoulders, arms and more abs, including military presses, lateral raises, bicep curls and tricep extensions, and more crunches and leg raises.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays he also trained morning and afternoon; Morning: Calves and thighs, including calf raises and squats.

Afternoon: Rear deltoids, traps and more abs, including rear deltoid/ bent-over rows, shoulder presses, upright rows and more crunches.

Stallone’s routine was a very intensive six days per week with a double split, which is the style of weight training that professional bodybuilders use when competing – not surprising seeing that he employed a professional bodybuilder to guide him.

Sly followed a standard 8-12 repetition with 3-4 sets pattern.

He did 3 to 4 exercises per body part. Each day he varied the exercises using instinctive training, to keep the muscles form falling into a routine, and ensuring a plateaux was not reached too soon. He also exercised his abs furiously, with abdominal routines daily.

His ab routine consisted of a total of 1000 repetitions, by training four different areas with combinations of sit-ups, leg raises, side leg raises and side bends. Often 50 reps of each exercise would be done for each for 5 sets, i.e. 5 sets of 200 exercises. This was old school circuit training done to the extreme, which any military training instructor/drill sergeant would be proud of.

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Impossible is Nothing.

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