Greetings from Sri Lanka! I’m away for 2 weeks, but of course that won’t stop me writing my blog, and indeed filming. Do check out this week’s video on polyphenols – what they are, why they are important, and how you can get more of them. I’m a little hamstrung by the hotel wifi – so far it’s 39% uploaded but hopefully it gets there this evening!
Have you been watching the Olympic games? My whole family is a bit addicted. We love watching minor sports that otherwise you might never see. We also love the whole concept that these men and women have dedicated their lives to this one thing. This one event to try and prove themselves the best in the world. It must take such dedication, such sacrifice.
I’m not sure what my favourite is, but there’s certainly a few highlights. In no particular order…
The skateboarding was awesome for a number of reasons. I used to skate (badly) as a teenager, so I know how difficult it is, and the sheer technical ability of the skaters is amazing. However even more amazing, is that in the same discipline, there was 51 year old Andy MacDonald competing for Team GB, and 11 year old Zheng HaoHao competing for China! I can’t think of another sport where there could be such an age gap between elite athletes. Tony Hawk was there cheering people on too who is the GOAT (greatest of all time) so that was pretty cool (I even had one of his skateboards aged 14).
The gymnastics for so many reasons. The sheer control those athletes have over their bodies is inspiring. The strength, flexibility, power. I find it truly amazing (and admit I am rather jealous of their skill). Simone Biles was simply on another level. Remember too that this is the woman who was strong enough to pull out of Tokyo citing mental health concerns, before coming back and smashing it in Paris.
The Velodrome looks SO good. I love cycling anyway, am what I would consider very fit, and know the sort of power output I can sustain on a turbo-trainer. My numbers are frankly laughable compared to these athletes. They are so far off the charts in terms of performance it is super-human.
I have loved the swimming mainly because my daughter swims competitively, and so watching the technique and times of the best in the world with her has been really fun. It seems many of them didn’t truly show their potential until their mid-teens, so perhaps there’s hope for her yet (she’s 10!), and if nothing else, it has provided some inspiration for next season (and she’s going to watch Adam Peaty in a demonstration swim at the end of the holidays).
I was hoping to catch the weight-lifting but will likely have to stream it back. I loved watching world’s strongest man as a child and this is the same principle – just being astonished by how strong these people are!
So what’s the take away this week? Simple really. Our bodies can do some truly amazing things, and we owe it to ourselves to use them as best we can. Of course only a select few can be Olympians, but nearly all of us can move our bodies better than we do at present, and the physical and mental health benefits of doing so are limitless.
What can you do this week?
If you haven’t caught any of the Olympics on TV, BBC iplayer has so much content to catch up on, and I’m confident even a non-sports fan could find something to pique their interest.