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Summer's
when you're most likely to think of getting back into shape, assuming,
of course, that you once were in shape, that is. Because summer's
the time when you're most likely to be spotted out-of-doors without
a shirt (think the pool) or, if not that, then just a T-shirt
and shorts. In north India, particularly, summer's when you shed
those layers of clothing and opt for thin, short-sleeved shirts
even at work. In the hot and humid east, west and south, you do
that all year round, but that's a different story. The bottomline:
summer's the season when you're most concerned about getting rid
of your extra flab, especially the stuff around your middle.
A couple of editions back, Treadmill (June
4, 2006) had written about a cable-pulldown exercise in which
you use a thick rope to do weighted crunches. It's a killer exercise
that tones up your abdominal muscles but, in all fairness, I have
found it to yield better results for the upper section of the
ab muscles. For many people, including me, it's the lower section
of the abs that poses the bigger problem. Getting ripped lower
abs (the zone around the navel) is generally tougher. But there
are several exercises that target this region and here's one that
I've found to be effective. Let's call it the weighted flat bench
leg pull-in. Quite a mouthful that but it works. Here's how you
do it: sit on a flat bench with your legs off one of one end,
while gripping a light dumb-bell between your feet. Hold the bench
at the sides with each hand. Stretch your legs straight out while
keeping your back at a 45-degree angle to the bench. This may
sound like a contortionist's feat but it isn't that complex-check
out illustration 1. Now, pull your legs in, bringing your knees
towards your mid-section, taking care to see that you feel the
stress on your abs (hint: the key is to make the movement slow
and focussed). Hold for a couple of seconds and then return slowly
to the starting position. That's one repetition.
You should be breathing out when you're pulling
your legs in and breathing in when returning to the starting position.
You could increase the weight of the dumb-bell your feet are gripping
to make the exercise tougher as it gets easier to perform. I'd
recommend three sets of 12-15 reps but you could do more sets
if you like. Ideally, you can couple this with floor exercises
for the abs like the plain vanilla crunch and do the combo thrice
a week.
Oh, yes. Remember that crunches or pull-ins
or leg raises alone cannot give you a flat middle. You need to
shed flab by burning fat through cardiovascular exercise and a
controlled diet. Crunches and other abs exercises only tone the
muscles that lie below the flab.
-Muscles
Mani
write to musclesmani@intoday.com
Caveat: The physical exercises described
in Treadmill are not recommendations. Readers should exercise
caution and consult a physician before attempting to follow any
of these.
DEALING
WITH DIABETES
The
world health organization estimates that there are 25-30 million
known diabetics in India and another 20 million who do not know
that they are suffering from the ailment. It's known as a silent
killer, but it can be contained by a strict regime of dietary
restrictions and exercise. There are no known cures for diabetes.
What is it: Diabetes is an ailmentmarked
by high levels of blood glucose resulting from inadequate insulin
production in the body.
Managing the disease: Diabetes management
focuses on food, fitness, medication and monitoring. "Diabetes
patients sometimes have to change their lifestyles quite dramatically,
and this can pose a serious challenge to most individuals. But
this is often an essential part of preventing or delaying complications
ranging from tingling feet to heart attacks, kidney failures and
blindness," says Dr Surender Kumar, Senior Endocrinology
Consultant, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi.
Where to begin: Find a physician who
has skill and experience in diagnosing and treating diabetes.
Monitoring: Monitoring blood sugar
is a vital part of treating diabetes. There are several key reasons
for testing blood sugar levels: identify patterns in glucose build-up,
reduce risk of long-term diabetes and understand the impact of
food, activity, and medications on blood glucose.
Food: "Small, frequent, low fat
meals are highly recommended for patients," says Dr Kumar.
Regular meals and a consistent diet are considered essential and
help your medication work effectively.
Fitness: Losing weight and regular
exercise can help prevent diabetes. Stress reduction techniques
can work as well.
Medication: Medicines and pills tackle
diabetes on three problem areas-they stimulate beta cells to make
more insulin, decrease the liver's glucose production and make
muscle cells more sensitive to glucose.
-Manu
Kaushik
PRINTED
CIRCUIT
Musical Phones
Here's how two new
digital music players-cum-mobile phones stack up.
Nokia N91
Nokia
is redefining multimedia phones with its n-series range. The N91
is possibly the first true digital music player-cum-mobile phone
to pack so much capacity. It is also the first publicly-available
GSM handset with an on-board 4 GB hard drive. Four gigs doesn't
sound like much, but considering that PCs had less capacity less
than a decade ago, it's a bit.
It doesn't stop there. The n91 is actually
more capable than many standalone players, including the Apple
iPod. In fact, it can play a multitude of digital audio formats-MP3,
WMA, AAC, EAAC+, wav and Real Audio. It is also unique in the
sense that it supports Digital Rights Management (DRM). This will
allow you to download a song from your network operator, maybe
as a teaser, which it can programme through its DRM to lock after
10 days, unless you pay a certain fee. Ditto for downloaded video
content, but unlike its dexterity with audio formats, the n91's
video playback is limited to mp4 and 3gp formats. The audio quality
is surprisingly good, provided you have good earphones. The ones
that Nokia ships aren't bad, but when you spend Rs 33,999 on this
phone, you might as well burn some money for better headphones.
The n91 also has a 2-megapixel camera, and
thanks to huge amounts of on-board memory, you can virtually keep
on clicking forever.
However, while Nokia has got it right with
the phone (again), its pc Suite software seems to be headed in
the other direction. The only adjective you can use for this software
is 'bad'. And unless something is done about this, the user experience
will continue to be bittersweet.
 Sony
Ericsson W810i
The citrus is dead-well, only in form it
seems. The w810i, successor to the orange w800, might have lost
its orange case, but the menu is still orange. And it carries
enough music inside it to while away serious time.
But, seriously, how is the w810i as a music
player? Well, Sony has packaged its 'TruBass' and 'Stereo Widening'
technologies into the phone, so as a music player it actually
isn't too bad; playback is unusually good compared to the mp3-enabled
phones of yore. But, that is not to say that the w810i doesn't
have its share of issues.
First, at Rs 21,995, it is expensive. Dedicated
Digital Audio Players, including Sony's own Network Walkman, are
cheaper. But, keep in mind, unlike a 'dedicated' mp3 players,
the w810i doubles up as a camera as well, and with a nice, compact
form factor, is not a bad-looking phone.
The second issue with the gadget is that
it comes with a measly 512 megabytes on a Sony 'MemoryStick',
which barely suffices for a few hours and thanks to an awful transfer
speed, you'll spend lots of time loading music onto the phone.
A bigger 'MemoryStick' costs big money (around Rs 10,000), which
makes this phone a bit of an Orange Elephant.
-Kushan Mitra
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