Seven Strange Competitive Sports

Looking for a sport you can have a lot of fun doing?

Well there is a lot of strange sports out there - and some of them are surprisingly fun to do.

#1. Cheese Rolling

The goal? Beat a giant Double Gloucester roll of cheese to the bottom of a hill.

#2. Chess Boxing

Alternating rounds of boxing with chess... Not kidding. There is even a World Chess Boxing Organization.

#3. Underwater Hockey aka Octopush

Yes, it is basically just hockey under water. Sounds easy, right?

#4. Fistball

Basically like soccer... but you use your fists.

#5. Bog Snorkeling

Swim through a thick peat bog using naught but snorkel and flippers.

#6. The Annual Man Vs Horse Marathon

Exactly what it sounds like. The man actually has a fair chance of winning because horses aren't that good over rough terrain or longer distances.

#7. Wife Carrying

Invented in Finland, but also popular in the USA...

Dog Jogging for Beginners

Rule #1. Don't walk your dog - JOG YOUR DOG.

Rule #2. Use a short or medium length leash - this way as your dog jogs, you have to keep up according to their speed. For best results get a leash that goes around your waist.

Rule #3. Stop to drink once in awhile - Give your dog a drink too!

Rule #4. Jog the same speed as your dog is jogging. Not too fast, not too slow.

Rule #5. When your dog is tired it is time for a break!

Rule #6. If your dog is really big or really small you will need to learn to be either faster or slower while jogging.

Rule #7. Avoid areas with high traffic. Less busy streets are best.

Rule #8. Skip your iPod for once. Listen to the sound of your heart and your feet (and your dog's feet) on the pavement.

Rule #9. Eat something after you are done jogging. A protein shake, a boiled egg, chocolate milk - something with protein in it. Feed your dog too!

Rule #10. Remember, DOG JOGGING IS FUN. And the beauty of it is because your dog wants to go jogging it forces you to stick to a schedule.

Note: There is even COMPETITIVE DOG JOGGING. Nothing like a frugal competitive sport to get you in the mood to exercise!

Balancing Your Carb Intake

Many dieters are low carb crazed. While nutritionists will agree that going easy on carbohydrates is a good thing, cutting out carbs entirely is really unhealthy.

What Do Carbohydrates Do For You?

Carbs are your brain food, the fuel that gives energy to your heart and muscles all through the day. Carbs are good for you, but too much of a good thing can also be bad for you.

 

Balancing your carb intake means focusing on whole grains, brown rice and healthier alternatives like whole wheat pasta. Avoid white bread, white rice, pasta. Also try bulgar, quinoa, beans and lentils.

What Will No Carbohydrates Do To You?

A low carb diet will make you lose weight. Unfortunately this will be mostly water weight. This is not a diet that can be sustained. Eventually your body will be unable to resist carbohydrates, and you will gain the water weight back. You will also experience very low energy, headaches, and stomach upset.

Striking The Carbohydrate Balance

Vegetables are a carbohydrate but gluten free and lighter than traditional rice and pasta dishes. Try a vegetable and chicken (or tofu) stir fry, but then the next day, try a bulgar, bean and vegetable stew. There is no harm in trying new foods.

By giving your body different types of meals to process, you will keep the metabolism working hard, and it won't grow accustomed to the same old thing. Some nutritionists believe that support that this "carb cycling" method speeds up the metabolism and aids in weight loss.

5 Tips to Help You Live Longer

#1. Force yourself to eat healthy. Learn what is good and bad for you and start avoiding the bad stuff.

#2. Learn to have fun eating healthy. Learn which healthy foods you enjoy the most and step #1 will be ridiculously easy once you get started.

#3. Be active well into your old age. If your muscles and bones deteriorate due to lack of exercise then you are much more likely to have poor balance... fall and break your hip... become bedridden... your healthy deteriorates further... and kaput, you're done! (Seriously, I've lost track of the number of people I know of who died because of their poor exercise levels resulted in them falling, breaking a hip and then their health falls to pieces within a short time period.)

#4. Start being more active now. Don't wait for later. Being active now will add years to your life and your quality of living.

#5. You only live once, so overcoming your mental laziness is your first step to overcoming physical laziness.

BONUS - Find something energetic that you enjoy doing and keep doing it well into your old age - and you won't just live longer, you will pass on your passion (eg. like your passion for bicycles) to the next generation of your family.

Dominant Eye for Archery and Other Sports

Some sports require good hand eye coordination. This is especially true of archery. (Other sports like baseball, tennis, golf, etc, also require a lot of hand eye coordination so this post will be equally beneficial for people in those sports.)

To check which eye is dominant follow the instructions below.

Form your hands into a small triangle shape and using both eyes line up an object in the distance by looking through the tiny triangle in the middle. Don't move your hands during the next part.

Close one eye and then vice versa close the other eye to see which eye is more accurate and can see the object.

The more accurate one which can see the object is your dominant eye.

This technique is also used by photographers sometimes.

In archery determining this helps to determine whether you should use a right handed bow or a left handed bow. Your eye is more important than the hand coordination in this case. In other sports the hand may be more important, but if a player is ambidextrous but left eye dominant they would probably be better using their left hand. (Although this is a matter of debate for players, depending on the sport.)

Another way to do this test is to hold up a CD or DVD instead of using your hands and go through the steps the same way, but using a CD or DVD is unnecessary since you can easily do it with your hands instead.