Hendrick Ramaala is a marathon runner who has represented South Africa at the Olympics four times.
He started running in his twenties and has never had a coach in his life. Two years after winning the New York Marathon, he set his fastest marathon time at the London Marathon with a time of 2:06:55 in 2006.
There’s no doubting he’s a legend, and he told us the secret behind his success.
After graduating with a law degree from Wits University in 1996, Ramaala decided to run full-time. “I packed my bags and left because I had a half-marathon and a 10 000 metre record here at home. I thought, ‘One day I’ll be the best in the world.’ I wanted to at least die trying,” he says. “In 2000 I started my marathon career and then I focused on the road races like the London and New York marathons.”
How he improved
After deciding to run full-time, Ramaala moved to Europe and to be part of the athletics circuit. “As Africans, we are too far from the circuit. If you want to be part of the bigger game, you go there. Europe is still the home of athletics. You have the full package there: You can run marathons, track and field, cross-country, and you can make a living out of it.”
Ramaala’s London Marathon in 2006 was where he hit his personal best, but he says it was not his best marathon “I could have done better on the day. I’ve always thought I could have run it faster, but I think I never got the opportunity. When I was doing New York I was in control of that race on the day. I was really in good shape. Nobody was going to beat me on that day.”
How he improves
As he has no coach, Ramaala relies solely on his own judgment. “You take all the decisions. You’re not going to blame anybody,” he says. “The best thing is to listen to your body. You don’t do as they say, you follow the feeling. When you are feeling like you are doing too much, you withdraw and you take a break. You are in charge.” This works for him, because he only began running in his twenties. “I was a late starter. I’m not advising any youngsters to do what I did. I was mature. For youngsters I think there is a need for a coach.”
Diversify your portfolio. Ramaala is no one-trick pony. “I’ve done the 5k, the 10k and the half marathon. I have two national records: Half marathon and 10 000 metres.” Explore a discipline’s variables before you see where your strengths match up.
“It’s not one race; I built my career slowly. I started with track and cross country, graduated to the road and then later to marathons.”
This article was originally published onwww.mh.co.za
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Joe De Sena isn’t your average fitness guru—you’re much more likely to find him lugging a log through the woods than running on an elliptical. As the founder of Spartan Race, which hosts more than 200 extreme obstacle course events around the country each year, De Sena made his name on unconventional workouts. “I just love carrying heavy things up mountains,” De Sena said. “My workout style is always centered on mobility and flexibility, at its core, so I’m always carrying stuff, hiking with whatever I have.” He’ll crawl, jump, and run in the rain, or channel his past experience working construction by carrying a sheet of plywood up the mountain or a file cabinet up the stairs. He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t think there’s a bad place to do burpees. He’s even happy to do them at McDonald’s, while spreading the gospel of more activity, less French fries.
The Spartan philosophy is simple: “Push harder, do more with less, be healthy. Sweat. It’s just about being comfortable with being uncomfortable,” he said. Humans, he says, are meant to jump, run, crawl, and climb. And feel free to DIY your home workouts, whether that means jumping over a bucket, squatting with a full laundry basket, or lugging jugs of water (which, he points out, weighs 8 pound per gallon). “In my mind, there’s nothing really unique about it—it’s what a human being was meant to do.”
He may not have set out to become a fitness personality, but he’s nevertheless managed to spread his philosophy to millions of race-goers. Spartan Races come in 3-, 8-, and 13-mile varieties, with up to 40 obstacles depending on the length. Obstacles range from climbing cargo nets and crawling under barbed wire, to jumping over fire and throwing spears (De Sena’s favorite). They even host children’s races with all the usual obstacles miniaturized. For beginners looking to embark on the Spartan journey, he recommends Bikram yoga because it can help prevent injury.
We asked De Sena to demo a Spartan-style workout that anyone can do at home. In the above video, he takes us through his morning routine, which focuses on body weight moves—like burpees, windshield wipers, and box jumps—mixed with yoga poses for increased flexibility. We filmed him working out in the Health studios, but De Sena says he prefers the elements to the cameras. “I want to be outside in the dirt, under the barbed wire with people,” he says.
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Preheat oven to 450°F with oven rack positioned 8 inches from heat source. Toss together mushrooms, thyme, 2 tablespoons of the oil, and 1/4 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle pork evenly with paprika and 1/2 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper. Place pork in center of baking sheet; spread mushroom mixture evenly around pork. Roast in preheated oven until a thermometer inserted in thickest portion of pork registers 130°F, 7 to 8 minutes.
Step 2
Remove from oven; add Broccolini and shallots, and drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Return to oven; roast at 450°F until pork reaches 145°F and Broccolini is almost tender, about 10 minutes.
Step 3
Remove from oven; transfer pork to a cutting board, and let rest 5 minutes. Meanwhile, return baking sheet with Broccolini to oven, and increase oven temperature to broil. Broil until Broccolini is lightly charred and tender, about 5 minutes. Slice pork. Sprinkle pork and vegetables evenly with tarragon, and serve.
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You think you’re on top of your workout game. You’re always in the gym, you mix up your muscle groups – you even make cardio a priority. But when was the last time you worked your deep cervical flexors?
Before you Google where those muscles are, let’s assume you haven’t made time for them in your regular workout routine. But that’s about to change.
Many men apply the “bigger is better” philosophy to working out. But some of the most important muscles in daily life require the least equipment to strengthen.
While you’re focusing on the muscles you can see – the lats, pecs, biceps, rectus abdominis, glutes and quads – the muscles that actually help you get things done are being left out. These areas need your attention, too – or you might even face problems down the line.
Here is a list of five muscles (or muscle groups) that you’ll want to work into your regular fitness routine to help you get stronger, starting now:
1. Deep cervical flexors
Chances are you’ve never thought about these muscles in your life, but they are crucial for proper head positioning.
Deep cervical flexors include the Longus Colli and Longus Capitis, which play an important role in stabilising the neck and improving your head position and cervical alignment. These muscles are often weak in people who spend many hours at a computer or at a desk, leading to a forward head position or the chin being tilted upwards.
Research shows that strengthening the deep cervical flexors can reduce symptoms in people living with chronic neck pain. Unsure if your neck is weak? Try lying flat on your back. Tuck your chin downward then lift the head up using only your neck. Try and hold this position for 20 seconds. Not so easy, huh? Weakness in these muscles can lead to cervical and thoracic pain, and even headaches.
Try a chin tuck to strengthen these muscles, and try incorporating your new and improved alignment into your lifting routine.
We use our hands for countless tasks every day, but how often do you take time to specifically strengthen your grip? Unless you’re a rock climber or training for the next American Ninja Warrior competition, the answer is probably not often enough.
Research shows that grip strength might be an early indicator of long-term health and longevity. In fact, it may also be a predictor of disease risk in the future. On top of that, your hands are the connection to those heavyweights you’re lifting at the gym. Make an extra point to ensure those hands are strong, and you’ll only see positive results.
If you’re just starting out, try low-resistance wrist extension/flexion with a dumbbell, squeezing a soft ball with your hand, or practising pinch gripping heavy weights to target some important muscles in the fingers.
3. Intrinsic foot muscles
Our feet connect us with the world. Most of the time, they are our only physical connection, so what happens down there matters. Intrinsic foot muscles are the muscles that start and end in the foot itself. We don’t use our feet for climbing and traversing rocks and sticks like we used to back in prehistoric times, so the role of our feet in daily life has been minimised. But that doesn’t mean we don’t need them to be strong.
Arch support comes from a team of muscles, including the intrinsic foot muscles. By strengthening these muscles, you can help prevent your arches from collapsing. Why does this matter? When those arches collapse, your feet pronate. This can contribute to valgus at the knee (or the knees knocking together or moving inward inward). This stresses the inner knee compartment. Compound the force created by that movement with heavy lifting, single leg leaping and jumping, and you put your knees at high risk for injury.
Try practising foot doming while you lift to train your feet stay in better alignment. Your knees will thank you.
When people think of the “core” they often imagine the rectus abdominis (RA) muscle, or the muscle that gives you a six pack. But the transverse abdominis (TA) is often left out of training.
If you’ve ever seen a low back brace when someone is lifting at the gym, you should have an idea of the purpose of this muscle. The TA is deeper than the RA and wraps around the lower abdomen and upper pelvis to form your very own built-in low back brace.
The first step is figuring out how to engage this muscle. Once you practise some gentle activation and strength exercises, the TA should be engaged for stability prior to any lifting.
5. Lateral ankle stabilisers (peroneals and tibialis posterior)
If you’ve got wobbly ankles, the more weight you load onto your body the more prone to injury you become. The peroneus longus and peroneus brevis wrap around the outer (lateral) ankle and move your ankle to the side while helping dorsiflex the ankle (lift the toes up – important for not tripping and avoiding turf toe). The tibialis posterior is on the other side of your ankle, wrapping around the inner (medial) ankle and helping to both move your ankle inward and point your toe downward.
But most of the time, these muscles are working together to stabilise your ankle. They are part of an important group that helps to prevent excessive ankle movement during single and double leg activities. To work on ankle stability, try single leg exercises such as standing on one leg and moving the other leg forward, sideways and backwards ten times. If that’s easy, try doing it while balancing on an unstable surface like a pillow or a BOSU.
Look back at this list. If you’re lifting heavy with bad head positioning, weak grip strength, turned in knees and no built-in low back brace, you might be putting yourself at risk for an injury.
Save yourself the setback by focusing on those little muscles you never thought about before. You could even wind up becoming the guy with the strongest cervical flexors in the gym. You’ll only see positive results from putting in the extra work, so start focusing on the little things to make the big things even better.
This article was originally published onwww.mh.co.za
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The late Minister Edna Molewa died from Legionnaires’ disease – an extremely acute form of pneumonia, her family said on Sunday.
“Our sister passed away yesterday, 22 September 2018 following complications of Legionnaires’ disease,” said the minister’s brother Fana Mmethi in a statement issued on behalf of her family.
“Knowing she had been ill has done little to lessen the blow,” expressed Mmethi, adding that the family was “bereft”.
Molewa died in a Pretoria hospital. She was 61 years old.
Her brother said that her loved ones were finding it difficult to accept her death “given that she was cut down in the prime of her life when she still had so much to offer to her family, her friends, her colleagues, her church, and to her community”.
He said that the support and messages of condolences from South Africans – and across the globe – were much appreciated by them.
“We are comforted in the knowledge that we are not alone in this, our darkest hour. South Africa had lost a great leader: an activist, a patriot and a revolutionary who has been called to her Maker, leaving us bereft.
“The scroll of history has recorded the life and deeds of this great woman who played a formative role in the liberation of South Africa,” said Mmethi.
In her personal life, he noted “her unwavering, deep and abiding faith” which led to a life of service and selflessness.