Friday 16 October 2015

Female Physique Athlete Research Study

Currently I am back living in Australia and completing my Masters Degree in Sports Nutrition with The University of the Sunshine Coast which is by research. 

I obviously love the outdoors and extreme sports but I also have a fascination with sports where competitors have to make weight or have a low body weight as well as aesthetic sports. This is where the inspiration for my current research in female physique athletes (i.e. athletes who compete in body building competitions or other divisions such as bikini model, fitness model, and figure) came from.

At the moment I'm searching for female physique athletes with competition experience to complete an anonymous survey focusing on training methods, supplement use, eating attitudes, body image and menstrual cycle.

If you are a female physique athlete who has competed and  willing to donate your opinions, experience & expertise to scientific research please visit:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/59D8WGC
Not only will you be making a contribution to scientific research but you will also go in the draw to win one of five 6 Pack Bags!






Tuesday 28 July 2015

Control Strength Yoga

I've not posted anything for so long as I don't have the usual excitement in my life (well in the context of endless traveling, kayaking and rafting) although there are still things to be excited about.

After not being home for over 3 years I decided to move back to Australia last year in August so I could focus on completing my Master's Degree.

Even though Australia is my home it's been difficult to settle back into what now seems like a completely new environment and form a routine. I guess living in such a big city it means it's harder to make new friends as I'm no longer living in environments such as small towns/rural villages where you get to know almost everyone in the community.

Whilst I was living in the UK I got into Jivamukti yoga and had a fantastic teacher called Salema. I loved how challenging her classes were and the fact we had the same group of people in class every week - all supporting and encouraging each other. I tried a couple of yoga studios when I first moved back to Melbourne and I was a little disappointed that they did not have the same vibe as Salema's classes. This disappointment ended up in me stopping yoga for about 10 months.

A lot of people make the comment that with yoga it's all about the teacher. Everyone has their own individual preferences and will find different teachers will meet their needs differently to other yogis.

2 months ago, by chance I came across a new studio in Prahan called Power and Posture with an incredible teacher called Shimi. I knew straight away that she was the teacher I had been searching for.
Chin Balance - Ganda Bherundasana 
Shimi's classes are challenging because we focus on gaining control strength so we can learn and perform different inversions and arm balances. This appeals to me as I've never ever been able to do a handstand (not even against the wall!), or a headstand. We do a lot of gruelling core work, drills and Shimi's signature 'psycho sequence' - all in the one class. In only just 2 months I have found myself to be able to get closer to achieving inversions I never thought possible and arm balances I've dreamed of.

The best part is we have small classes, with the same people attending consistently. This means we have all quickly become great friends who support and encourage one another. Even though the classes are intense there is a lot of fun and laughter in the class. If I haven't been to class for a day it feels like a week as I get so excited about class and what we may learn next.

The week before the program ended Shimi arranged a photoshoot for us. It will be really great to look back on these in the future to see how we have progressed because even though many of us can do certain inversions and arm balances if we keep up the hard work obviously we will gain a lot more strength, control, flexibility and achieve better alignment in our poses.
Eka Pada Koudinyasana - Still got some work to perfect this pose!

These photos were taken by a faboulous photographer called Grace Petrou.