Virtual Ping Pong

Mark Stubbles asked:


What is a Kettlebell?

A kettlebell as we know it today is a round weight with a handle on the top, they are usually made from cast iron. Kettlebells come in various sizes for both men and women, the most common sizes available on the market range from 4-62kg. Kettlebells are equally suitable for those that are either just getting back into exercise or seasoned gym goers, it is probably advisable to start off with a lighter weight so as to prevent injury and damage to surrounding objects.

Kettlebells have started to become very popular of late hailed for the fat loss and body conditioning benefits they offer, despite their virtual anonymity until the last couple of years kettlebells are not a new phenomenon.

Kettlebell History

Kettlebells have been around in Russia for a very long time, so popular were they that Russian strongmen and weightlifters were referred to as “kettlebell men.” In Russia kettlebells are know as Gyria, Russia probably did not invent the kettlebell though. There is strong evidence to suggest kettlebells where used 1000’s of years ago in ancient Greek civilization by the Athletes and Gladiators of the time.

Even the legendary fighting monks of the famed Shaolin Temple used granite padlocks known called “Chinese kettlebells” as a training tool to enhance their kung fu fighting skills.

What Benefits does the Kettlebell offer?

Kettlebells offer an excellent way to burn fat, a few high rep sets of kettlebell swings or snatches will work your body as one complete unit and burn a great deal of calories. To increase the fat burning effects of a kettlebell workout you could try adding some skipping or jogging in a circuit training style, for example 10 swings on each arm followed by skipping for 1 minute and repeat with snatches etc.

Because many kettlebell exercises are compound movements using your major muscle groups they not only increase your calorie expenditure during exercise. Kettlebells utilize your major muscle groups in these compound movements the muscle groups include your hamstrings, upper and lower back. Building and toning these muscle groups not only improves your posture and strength, the more muscular tissue you have the more calories you burn, your metabolic rate will increase so you burn more calories even when your resting.

What benefit does the Kettlebell offer over Dumbbells?

The benefit offered over a dumbbell which is used mostly in isolation movements like the dumbbell curl is that kettlebells enable you to get your whole body working together, strengthening your supporting muscles as well as your major ones this means you become stronger as well as leaner. These compound movements will improve the way your muscles work together, increasing your explosive power delivering vast improvements in nearly all sports (maybe even ping pong and darts).

The compound movements and short bursts of high intensity exertion that kettlebell training requires will see your cardiovascular fitness improve, if time is of the essence for you the average time of your training sessions will be reduced down to about 30 minutes.

Kevin Gianni asked:


This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s Renegade Roundtable, which can be found at http:// www.RenegadeRoundtable.com. In this excerpt, Matt Monarch shares on his path to becoming a raw vegan and the blood gas theory as it relates to weight loss.

Renegade Water Secrets with Matt Monarch, a raw vegan and author of Raw Success.

Kevin: So let’s get on to today’s guest. Matt Monarch is 100 percent raw vegan. His diet consists of only raw vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and seaweeds. He has been eating this way for eight years now. And I believe it’s 100 percent for eight years. Matt you went cold turkey, yeah?

Matt: Cold turkey, overnight.

Kevin: And he enjoys extraordinary good health, bountiful energy, clarity of mind and a deepened connection to nature. And you can tell by his pictures. Prior to going raw Matt worked in a demanding corporate environment and ate the Standard American Bachelor’s Diet, which I think is probably worse than the Standard American Diet, including cooked meats, dairy, bread, greasy foods, candy. And despite all this he went raw, his overall health was good. Other than a few pimples he was in good shape. But Matt did not go raw to receive any major health issues. He simply embraced wholeheartedly the raw foods lifestyle. Something that made complete sense to him. He was particularly attracted to the fact that this lifestyle offered increased longevity and freedom from degenerative disease. So Matt Monarch, I want to welcome you to the show.

Matt: Thank you, thank you.

Kevin: Well let’s get right into it. For those people who don’t know who you are, let’s give abrief little clip on your whole experience over the last eight years, where you came from and where you are now. And then we’ll get right into everyone’s questions here.

Matt: Okay, sounds great. Before I went 100 percent raw, I seriously did not have a spiritual path. I didn’t even know that a spiritual path was an option. I didn’t know it was possibility. I was president of my fraternity, like the number one partying fraternity at Cal State University at Northridge. And what happened was, I was educated about the 100 percent raw food diet. I didn’t even know it was a possibility. I thought I kind of ate healthy. And when I went 100 percent raw, it just absolutely threw me into like a spiritual lifestyle. I can’t explain exactly when it happened because it was just so profound. Many of you have probably read my book RAW SPIRIT where I said my third eye opened after a huge Psyllium Bentonite cleanse and being 100 percent raw for six months. But what had happened was it automatically just threw me into spirituality, a spiritual path. I became interested in it because I started to receive this huge film of like Universal, cosmic energy in through this body. It was just automatically channeled. And I didn’t do anything. I didn’t meditate. It just automatically happened on its own. And what had happened was I started, it was profound to me, so I started reading different books on meditation, things like that, and I’ve just been growing ever since this moment. So from that aspect, it was actually life transforming. Quite amazing.

Kevin: Well, it sounds pretty good man. Let’s talk a little bit about your latest book because there are some questions on it, your latest book RAW SUCCESS. The major question, what you talk about in the book is the blood gas theory. So one question was, “How does the blood gas theory impact weight gain and weight loss?” So in order to even address that question, you kind of have to talk about what the blood gas theory is and then move on into the question. So why don’t you go ahead and explain that a little bit.

Matt: Okay. It’s pretty in-depth here.

Kevin: Yeah.

Matt: The blood gas theory, okay, let’s do it. When we eat food, through the natural process of digestion, fermentation happens. It’s just a natural process of digestion. Depending on the kinds and quantities of food you eat, will determine the amount of fermentation that’s produced. So if you eat a hamburger and baked potato, massive amounts of fermentation is going to produce a lot of gas. When you eat a pound of grapes, which is the on the total other aspect of this, very little fermentation is being produced and you’re not going to get as much gas. So the blood gas theory is, let me explain a concept called gas diffusion real quickly.

Kevin: Okay.

Matt: It’s a very simple, basic principle. As soon as I say it everybody’s going to understand what it is. When you take gas in a very concentrated form, like you have all these high concentrations of gas molecules, like let’s say in a balloon, and then you pop the balloon, what happens is there’s space now where the gas can dissipate and become equilibrium to where all the molecules just balance out. So it’s pretty much gas molecules just reach an equilibrium, by going, just reaching equilibrium, pretty much. By lowering the molecules until it’s all even, all around in that space area. So when we eat a Standard American Diet, all this fermentative gas is being produced from the food we eat. And from all the years and years of poor eating we’re continually putting all these gases in our system. And what happens is our cells actually take on this gas and they actually start to grow inside. And they get bigger and bigger and bigger as the years go by. When you start to eat a 100 percent raw food diet, okay, one more thing, let me go back to. It’s confusing. The reason why the cells grow bigger through the process of gas diffusion is because there’s so much pressure against these cells, there’s so much gas from the blood stream, that they actually grow and they inflate because there’s so much pressure of gas. So when you start to eat a 100 percent raw food diet, you’re putting less gas in the system. So what happens is through the same process of gas diffusion, the cells can actually contract and give off this gas within the system. And this is what detoxification is.

Kevin: Okay.

Matt: I hope that made sense to everybody.

Kevin: It made sense to me.

Matt: Okay, good.

Kevin: I understand. So as your body is eating these foods that are causing gas, what it’s doing is that gas is diffusing through your body. So it’s on a plane, almost an equal level diffusing throughout your body. And then as you’re eating more raw food, or even 100 percent raw food, then those gases start to release.

Matt: Yeah, they release from the cells. Due to the process of gas diffusion there’s less pressure against the cells, so now they can actually contract and give off that waste. And there’s actually a direct correlation with how long someone has been 100 percent raw and how sensitive they become to their surroundings and old food choices that they used to eat.

For example, if you’re a raw food eater, I think, if you were to eat a hamburger right now, I mean I’ve been doing this for eight years, I’d probably end up in the hospital, while most people outside could eat two hamburgers and be fine. And my mentor Dr. Fred Bisci who’s been on a raw food diet for forty years, he’s been detoxing for forty years, only doing a raw food diet, so his cells have been becoming tighter and tighter giving off these gases, and they’re so small that what can happen is he can actually, if he were to have the same amount of hamburger that I ate, literally, I don’t think he would make it.

And let me explain why this is with the blood gas theory. Just for visual purposes, we’re going to say someone on the Standard American Diet eating fast food, we’re going to say their cells are the size of a yoga ball. And since I’ve been on a raw food diet for eight years, my cells have been contracting and shrinking so they’re the size of probably a soccer ball, while Fred’s are the size of a ping-pong ball. Now the fermentative gas produced from a hamburger or baked potato would fit right inside that yoga ball. I mean the body’s made up of trillions and trillions of cells. The gas would go through the body and all the cells would accommodate these new gases, but my cells are the size of a soccer ball, they’re much more smaller so there’s not enough space within the cell to where it can actually shock my system, I can end up in the hospital. And Fred, there’s absolutely no space whatsoever and he just might not make it.

Kevin: Gotcha. So as, actually this can become dangerous to some degree, if that’s what you call it. Yes?

Matt: Yes, yes let me just put this in a little more layman terms. I always talk about it’s more important what you don’t eat than what you actually eat. The more you leave out of your diet, the more you’re going to cleanse. For example, if anybody goes on a water fast, you’re eliminating everything from your diet except for water. And you’re going to cleanse, you’re going to be knocked out, you should close your eyes as you just go through healing. Now, the 100 percent raw food diet in my mind is like a life-long fast, because you’re eliminating everything from your diet except for water-rich foods, raw food, and of course nuts and seeds. And what happens is a lot of people they go on a raw food diet and they go through a lot of cleansing, they don’t understand what’s happening, and it’s an ongoing thing and that needs to be taken care of. So what is happening is, I mean there’s a lot of factors involved but one of the factors is you’re cleansing on a cellular level, and of course there’s a massive cleansing period in the beginning that’s going to be crazier than them all, but it’s going to be an ongoing situation for the rest of our lives.

Paul Bopanna asked:


If you are like me, one of the many millions of overworked people in the US or in any other country for that matter, and you feel the need for an occasional break from the daily grind, why not alleviate some stress by playing video games for a few minutes.

I know it sounds crazy, but for many people work has is no longer just part of their life, but it is there life! It is all they do. Sure, they may have families or other interests and hobbies they attend to during downtime, but more often than not they’re consumed by their jobs. And who among us doesn’t know someone like this. It may even be that person we see in the mirror every morning. And this type of lifestyle just isn’t healthy in the long run. We, as people, are not meant to work 24/7, round-the-clock. Always keeping an eye on the job, even when we are not supposed to working.

And in this case, technology doesn’t help. Thanks to the Internet, e-mail and mobile phones, virtually anywhere we go we are still just a click or a call away from our jobs. Where once we could find freedom and rest bit in places like a movie theater, ballgame, the beach, or even shopping, many of us are still on the clock in some fashion, checking our e-mail, checking our voicemail all the while harboring a subconscious fear that if we.

A result of this job-first lifestyle can be poor health thanks to added pressure and stress. The more you devote your time to work naturally the less your body can relax and recharge its internal batteries for the next challenge. By staying on the job, you risk running down your batteries to the point of when you will need energy the most, nothing will be there. So just how do you relieve some of the stress and pressure you faced while at the office? There are many ways.

Eating right and maintaining any decent exercise schedule works for me. But often it’s difficult to find the time for a good, strong work out. With time in short supply I found another avenue that offers me a brief vacation from the office work, and that, believe it or not, is from playing video games.

Who among us hasn’t played a video game or two of their life, and usually when we do play videogames were not thinking about other things like work. We might not particularly like the video game we are playing but guess what, while were playing it were usually focused on the game and not on things like writing that memo to the boss. We are allowing our mind and body to refresh and recharge, if only for a 10-15 minutes.A great place to find a wide selection of free games is IndiaArcade.com which has popular games like Pacman, Chess, Tetris and many other more that can give your mind and body a bit of a break from the 9-to-5 so many of us are caught up in.

I know it sounds silly but it works for me, so next time you’re feeling under feeling run down or just feeling and you are stuck in the office, take 10 or 15 minutes and log onto India arcade for a few video games and your stress might not go away but it least your mind will be recharged when you focus back on your job.

Cole Carson asked:


Most people know that they need to be getting more exercise, but they don’t want to commit themselves to the arduous exercise programs or gyms that they dread attending. People do not want to do something that feels like simple work, and for most of us, that’s all exercise is. We don’t do it because we enjoy it – like our jobs, we do it because we like to see the end result. Fortunately, however, this doesn’t have to be the case. Exercise exists in many different forms of all shapes and sizes, and the trick is to find the kind that works perfect for you. You need to find a way to get yourself moving that you enjoy. If you enjoy it, it won’t feel like a commitment – it’ll feel like an enjoyable pastime, and that is the true secret to permanent weight loss and a healthier body. Here are four perfect recommendations for activities that will get you moving that are easy to commit to.

Table tennis is a sport that everyone can enjoy. It has the fast pace and action of tennis, but isn’t nearly as physically draining. It is, however, a great activity that you can take up to get yourself mobile and off of the couch. Playing table tennis isn’t nearly as physical as most other sports, but that’s the beauty of it – it gets your heart pumping and your body moving and burning those calories, but it’s not so intense that you’ll be winded and sweaty the whole time. It’s also a lot of fun, and is an addicting sport. You’ll find yourself playing for “just five more minutes” all of the time, and there’s no limit to how long you can play. The rules are as simple as can be, and if you have a table you don’t even have to leave your house!

Another sport similar to table tennis is badminton. Another tennis spin-off, badminton has the advantage of being much more portable and versatile than table tennis. It can be played anywhere as long as you have a birdie and two clubs. The amount of physical exertion is requires is also extremely varied. The birdie is uniquely designed, and catches air as it flies up and over the net. Because of this, is “floats” instead of lobbing like a tennis ball, so you can play leisurely or pick up the pace for a better workout. It also gets your legs moving, which is much better for your cardiovascular system.

Swimming is an exercise that most people don’t have to be talked into. It also happens to have more benefits for your physical fitness than most other forms of exercise. It’s as low impact as exercise can possibly be, and because your body has to work hard to propel itself through water it burns energy extremely rapidly. Your heart will work hard, building your cardiovascular health. Holding your breath is also a great exercise, and building lung capacity helps to make all other forms of exercise easier. It can also be very simple and low-key. You don’t have to do Olympic-style swimming or make laps to get the benefits. Simple swimming and treading water will do just fine, and that’s something very easy to commit to. When you’re finished, you can lie out in the sun or break out the floats and drift along lazily.

Finally, we have a form of exercise that is truly unique: video gaming on the Nintendo Wii console. The Wii is marketed as the first video game system that actually promotes physical activity, and Nintendo has actually developed several games that are geared towards motion and exercise. Never before has a person been able to burn calories as they play a video game, but now you can conveniently do so from your own home. Aside from exercise games, there are also several sports games that will get you moving and competing. The beauty is that none of these games are as physically demanding as the sports they represent, but they will get you moving and burning energy and exerting yourself. You can also easily get yourself caught up in competition with your friends, playing for hours as you burn calories and build up the strength of your heart.

Don’t think that sit-ups, pushups, jogging, and gyms are the only way to lose weight and improve your health. The fact is that it’s the little things that you enjoy that will really be responsible for improving your health, because they are easy to commit to and don’t take a lot of dedication. Finding ideas like the ones mentioned above are easy ways to get active, and they are all aimed at convenience. A healthier, more attractive body is much closer than you think, so start looking for that perfect activity that’ll help you burn that fat, tone that body, and get you off of the couch.

Paul Hata asked:


The world we live in is growing increasingly fast-paced, stressful, and filled with responsibility. Because of this, everyone needs some time to relax and have some recreation.

Our modern way of life also tends to be sedentary, and the meals we eat are often not very healthy. Exercise is a very important component in renewing us. For these reasons, sports recreation activities are some of the best recreation we can choose. There are many options for hobbies to provide sports recreation. You may even want to learn some new recreational sports skills.

Courses to learn new sports recreation skills can be found online and in larger cities. You can learn and participate in team sports through the local Y and other organizations. Team sports recreation activities you might like to participate in include softball, baseball, basketball, and sometimes soccer for younger people. Another team sport you might enjoy is bowling. Regardless of your skill level you can find a bowling team to have fun with.

Individual sports recreation activities you can learn and participate in include golf, tennis, running, aerobic dance, gymnastics, and horseback riding. Don’t overlook bicycling and weight training too. Many of these sports can be learned at the local Y as well. For some of these, you’ll want to have a friend to play against or share the exerience with. Many runners, for instance, like to run with a friend. And games like tennis and handball really need cooperation for best results.

If you’d rather, you can learn about sports recreation skills online. You can find courses to teach almost any sport or activity you can think of including underwater hockey, fly-fishing, and para-gliding in the Alps! Of course, unless you can get some hands-on experience you’ll only have the theories of the sport. Still, online courses are a good way to get a taste of different sports and recreational activities you might someday want to try out.

A really fun sports recreation game you might get a chance to play is ping pong. Ping pong, or table tennis as it is sometimes called, is played on a table with rubber coated paddles and extremely lightweight plastic balls. You must hit the ball with your paddle so that it strikes the table and clears the net before your opponent strikes it and bounces it back to you. One way to become more adept at ping pong and increase your chance of winning is to sometimes hit the ball harder than at other times. This keeps your opponent guessing what you will do next.

Sports recreation activities are a great way to get exercise and relieve stress. They are also a lot of fun. Whether with friends or alone, everyone needs a favorite sports recreation to take part in.

Ruth Bird asked:


The eye is made up of so many parts. Like a camera, what we see from the outside is only a simple picture to what lies beneath. The overall function and design of the eye is much more than just a white ping-pong sized ball with a colorful space and a little black dot. Your eye is the window to the world. It takes thousands of ‘calculations’ so to speak. What you see is only a small part of the overall picture. The following is a summary of each part and its function.

* Eye socket: This is the hollow space, the opening in the head. This space holds and Supports the function of the eyeball itself

* Eyelid: The skin over the eyeball. This skin moves through muscular automatic and voluntarily movements. It acts in this capacity to help keep the eyeball moist and to keep it clean and free from debris.

* Eyelashes: These are the tiny hairs framing at the end of the eyelid.The lashes although decorative are there for much more than holding mascara. Lashes work to catch dirt and minimized it’s entrance to the eyeball.

* Eyeball: It is the ping-pong sized white part of the eye. The white part of the eye is made up of a tough material called sclera. It covers a huge part of the outer covering for the eye. The eye has noticeable tiny pink threads, (Blood Vessels) which deliver blood to the sclera.

* Cornea Clear/Transparent dome: This dome sits in front of the colored part of the eye. It help the eye focus as light passes through.

* The Iris: The colored part controls how much light goes through the pupil

* The Pupil: The Little Black Dot set in the center of the eye, the pupil is actually an opening into the inner parts, the size of this black dot is dependent on the amount of lights it’s exposed to. When the dot is smaller, it’s due to brighter light, thereby minimizing the amount of light that enters. When it’s larger, this is due to a darker area, in opening, it allows more light in, so you can see a little better in the dark.

* Anterior Chamber(not visible: The space between the cornea and the iris. The transparent fluid is there to nourish they eye.

* Retina(not visible: Processes what the eye sees. It receives the signals or information which is sent to the brain for understanding.

Your retina is at the far back part of the eye that takes the light the eye receives and changes it into nerve signals so the brain can understand what the eye is seeing. It uses cells called rods and cones to process light. In all there are about 120 million rods and 7 million cones per eye.

* Lens (not visible: Like a camera, the lens processes and captures the image. It is held by fibers which are attached to muscles called ciliary muscles. It actually changes the size and shape of the lens.

* Vitreous (not visible: This sits behind the lens, and forms two thirds of the eye’s volume and gives the eye its shape. It’s filled with a clear, jelly-like material called the vitreous humor.

* Rods (not visible: Works the processing of black, white, and shades of gray.

* Cones(not visible: Work to process color. They only see colors. They are most sensitive to one of three colors; red, green, or blue. Together they are able to differ what they see to form millions of other colors. Those without functioning cones experience color blindness.

* Optic Nerve:(not visible: Acts as the messenger in the back part of your eye. It carries the information it sees to the brain for understanding.

* Lachrymal Glands Tears: These glands produce tears for flushing foreign bodies from the eyes. This fluid is regulated by blinking.

Your eyes do so much; protect them and SEE how great they really are!!

Matthew Bredel asked:


Candida can be deadly for those with immune system problems. The average person who suffers from a yeast infection will find it troublesome and a hassle to deal with; especially if they have recurring problems with candida. But the person suffering with an immune system deficiency such as HIV or AIDS or cancer patients that are undergoing chemotherapy will find it to be even more worrisome for their health and well being.

Candida and AIDS

There is a connection between candida and our immune system and a strong impact on the body when AIDS or HIV is factor. AIDS cripples the body’s immune system and candida takes full advantage of that scenario.

HIV and AIDS patients are suffering from a nearly defenseless immune system so it can be difficult to fend off candida. In a normally healthy person who has a lowered immune system due to a non-life threatening illness it can be harder to fight off a yeast infection but for someone who has a seriously impaired immune system candida can become deadly and it can:

- get into the bloodstream,

- interfere with functions of vital organs;

- and stop the body from absorbing necessary vitamins and nutrients.

Many who are dealing with immune system problems quickly learn that they need to take these yeast infections very seriously and work with doctors and natural health practitioners to actively keep their yeast levels under control through medication and through natural supplements and a candida diet.

Our bodies are accustomed to playing a bit of ping pong with bacteria. When people ingest antibiotics, albicans yeast take advantage of the fact that our positive flora cannot keep them away because normally our positive flora can keep them from overpopulating our bodies. It is common for a person who is taking penicillin to have problems with yeast infections and oral thrush.

When people are given chemotherapy, the same thing can happen and unfortunately, people with HIV / AIDS can find themselves in a very precarious position where yeast infections are concerned and for some, recurring yeast infections are their doctor’s first clue as to a problem with their immune system strength.

We can develop yeast overgrowth for many reasons including a poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, through sexual contact and because we’re prone to yeast overgrowth. But if you’re someone who has constant yeast infections and candida symptoms you need to look at whether or not there is another cause for this problem such as diabetes or HIV.

Many doctors will prescribe anti candida medications to be taken on a regular basis by those who have immune system problems and will suggest you avoid candida causing foods such as yeast and sugar. Foods off limits might be white bread, mushrooms, alcohol and sugar as well as fast food.

You might also consider taking a combined probiotic and prebiotic supplement called a synbiotic and taking antibacterial products and foods that are known to fight candida including: organic coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, raw garlic, probiotic yogurt, prebiotic cheese and kefir.

The good news for those who suffer from recurring yeast infections is that knowledge is increasing about ways to fight this off and do so naturally so that your body’s immune system can be strengthened which can increase your health and longevity.