Back...

 
Well, it's been a while. More than five months to be more precise. Suffice to say that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

There's a good reason I want to post now. I had a mind-altering experience when I completed the 2010 Taitung 123K Triathlon over the weekend.

There's precious little available in English about this kind of stuff for people (foreigners) stuck living in Taiwan. So I wanted to post a couple of pictures etc.

Check the following post.

The Beach Boys?

 
Well, everyone has to make a buck. And in these economically challenging times, a few are forced to turn to the "oldest profession". Unfortunately, the authorities do not always take kindly to this kind of thing and so we have the following article from Bali in the Taipei Times:

 Beach boys’ rounded up in Bali after gigolo film

Indonesia has detained 28 “beach boys” accused of selling sex to female tourists on Bali after a documentary on the resort’s “gigolos” hit the Internet, an official said yesterday.

The "Kuta Cowboys" have always been part of the Bali scene. They were already around in '98 when the wife and I were there.So this overreaction is as a result of a documentary.

They’re young, fit-looking and tanned, mostly surfer beach boys,” said I Gusti Ngurah Tresna, the chief of security on Bali’s main Kuta beach.

Next challenge - who are they? Apparently anybody with a gym membership and a tanning lamp could be on the list.

“They will approach foreign female tourists, especially Japanese, on the beach, befriend them and the women will pay for their company and food during their stay here. Sex may be involved,” he said.

Okay, that explains why I wasn't approached. I'm not Japanese.

“All this while we’ve been selling our beautiful waves, sunsets, turtles, culture and nature conservation, and suddenly now we’re seen to be selling gigolos? Such films are really harmful to our image,” he (the security chief) said.

The irony is that this is the same place where the 2002 and 2005 bombings occurred. Surely there are more pressing concerns for the security chief? You've got to know - somewhere behind this there is a confused politician.

Of course, in South Africa we have no gigolos...

 

 

No Sweat

 
So, just when I paid my gym fees the New York Times destroys my grim determination to lose weight by publishing this article:

Weighing the Evidence on Exercise

How exercise affects body weight is one of the more intriguing and vexing issues in physiology. Exercise burns calories, no one doubts that, and so it should, in theory, produce weight loss, a fact that has prompted countless people to undertake exercise programs to shed pounds. Without significantly changing their diets, few succeed.

Okay, this is the bit that stopped me.

“In general, exercise by itself is pretty useless for weight loss,” says Eric Ravussin, a professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., and an expert on weight loss. It’s especially useless because people often end up consuming more calories when they exercise.

And that's true. I usually run either an 8K or a 12K on a non-gym night. And I get back ravenous! I'm walking the house literally looking for something to eat - like a pillaging army I assault the fridge and eat everything from leftovers to the kids' vitamins. Apparently, this is normal.

The NY Times goes on to say that this is especially true for women who are biologically programmed to replace lost calories to maintain energy stores for reproduction.

Also that exercise is good for keeping weight down ... you just have to lose it first.

And lastly, since we succumb to this horrific calorie-compensation if we exercise hard, low intensity workouts are probably the way to go. The report shows that simply standing at work  instead of sitting (or lying down - I suppose a lot depends on your line of work)  forces one to burn many more calories without the need to eat afterward.

I'll think about this on the way to the fridge...

Battle of the Bulge

 
I started at the gym today. And let me tell you it's been a few years since I saw the inside of one of these establishments. This one is very pleasant though. Clean, well-organised and not too many patrons at the time I was there. So I was able to do the exercises I wanted and use the equipment I needed. There is also a sauna/ jacuzzi etc, but you won't find me there. I'll never understand that kind of stuff. A good shower and I'm good to go!

I had no idea where to start out with workouts and I ended up at bodybuilding.com. I have to recommend this website to anyone who is looking for information on exercise or nutrition. They have lots of advice, great instructional videos - all geared towards specific age and gender groups - and you can buy just about any gym-related product at their online store.

Well, my shoulders ache and my hands are shaking so much that it's a miracle I can type. Feels great though!