The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Work out less, get stronger with HIIT workouts Posted: 10 Oct 2012 12:37 AM PDT  A fitness buzzword, HIIT offers peak training in as little as 20 minutes. — AFP/Relaxnews The HIIT workout, which means high-intensity interval training, has benefits "outlined in an avalanche of scientific papers," writes Wired magazine this weekend. While not new, the HIIT workout is a buzzword in the fitness world, with a slew of videos and websites devoted to quick, fuss-free workouts that promise to burn up fat and build muscle using simple plyometric exercises, track drills, and bootcamp sessions all following the HIIT principle. Here's a sample: And according to a 2011 study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting, just two weeks of high-intensity intervals was found to improve your aerobic capacity as much as six to eight weeks of endurance training. If you want to give it a try, one popular HIIT workout designed by researcher Izumi Tabata involves the following: after a 10-minute warm-up, you alternate between 20 seconds of intense effort, as fast as you can go, followed by 10 seconds of rest. Repeat for eight cycles. After a quick cooldown, the workout should eat up about 20 minutes of your time. Learn more: HIIT VS. LONG WORKOUTS — AFP/Relaxnews |
| Afghan addicts help run daring new restaurant in Kabul Posted: 10 Oct 2012 12:08 AM PDT  Former drug addicts have breakfast at "The Mother Camp", a part of the Taj Begum ("Woman's Crown") restaurant in Kabul, October 4, 2012. — Reuters pic Haidari plans to find staff for her Taj Begum ("Woman's Crown") restaurant through the shelters she runs, giving addicts a chance to rebuild their lives and learn new skills while helping her run a business. Haidari's idea is revolutionary in a poverty and war-stricken country where treatment options for opiate addicts in Afghanistan vary from the non-existent to limited. There is just one methadone substitution project, despite there being over one million users, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. There is also such a heavy stigma attached to drug addiction in ultra-conservative Afghanistan that drug use by females is almost never even mentioned. But Haidari is already helping two women recover in her restaurant, which serves an array of Afghan, Iranian and Turkish dishes while operating simultaneously as a shelter. "I am tired of using drugs because I cannot face people's harassment any more," said waitress Masoma January. "Now I hope to live without drugs. I am thinking of my sons. They are innocent. I don't want my background have a destructive and dark effect on my sons' lives," Jan said, her head covered in an orange and yellow scarf.  Masoma, 25, a former drug addict cries as she speaks at "The Mother Camp", a part of the Taj Begum ("Woman's Crown") restaurant in Kabul, October 4, 2012. — Reuters pic The restaurant, which opened this month, ended her marriage. Her husband filed for divorce when she announced her plans, refusing to negotiate even when she suggested he take a second wife as compensation. But Haidari felt compelled to go ahead. She spent years caring for her own brother who was an opium addict, resolving to take action after witnessing the suffering of users congregating under a notorious bridge in Kabul. "I was always thinking about what I could to do help them and protect them," Haidari said. She opened a shelter for men and another for women and children about a year ago, and says hundreds of addicts have passed through their doors. There are currently about 35 men, four women and four children at her shelters, while her restaurant employs 17 former addicts, including a folk musician Abdul Ali, who was addicted to opiates for a decade. He entertains guests with his dambura, a traditional Afghan instrument similar to a banjo. "I just want to keep my friends busy with music in order make them stop drugs and enjoy life," he said. — Reuters |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Features To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan