Fitness and Nutrition

As part of Guyana’s national team, I competed at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Bodybuilding and Fitness Championship last weekend in El Salvador, where I placed second in the Men’s Physique class.

In last week’s column, I wrote about adopting positive traits of elite athletes to achieve fitness goals and I mentioned gymnast Simone Biles, sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah and swimmer Katie Ledecky.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics have seen some record breaking and scintillating performances by numerous athletes, among them were Elaine Thompson-Herah on the track, Katie Ledecky in the pool and Simone Biles on the balance beam.

There are many misconceptions about vitamins and supplements and I would like to clear up some of them.

Rice is not the enemy to your physique goals. Despite being on a calorie restricted ‘diet’, I eat rice and other things people deem as out of the question for fat loss.

In a few days, the world will witness some of the best sculpted and shredded physiques battling for medals and bragging rights.

While exercising may be the ‘easy’ part, staying on top of your nutrition may pose more of a challenge when it comes to fat loss.

I’m currently preparing for a competition in El Salvador next month and hence I am on the homestretch of intense training and a strict diet regimen.

Many emotional eaters/ drinkers more often than not tend to consume ‘feel-good snacks’ that provide very little nutritional value and are loaded with calories, which when abused would lead to weight gain.

Anyone who scrolls through the social media pages of women who work out is likely to find photographs of them doing quite a number of lower body exercises, many of them squats in several variations.

During the restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the gyms were still closed and most people were confined to their homes, I picked up a new hobby: cooking.

Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka is one of the fittest and highest-earning women in the world.

If you ever find you can’t decide between a sandwich or salad, know that it is possible to have both.

After announcing on social media and at the gym that I had taken my first shot of Sputnik V, one of the vaccines in the fight against COVID-19, I was asked several questions.

Face masks are available in many colours and styles and it seems getting vaccinated could make them passe  It looks like masks are coming off and I am all for it. 

At 22, Miss Bikini Champion Rosanna Fung is fit and fabulous and despite being at the top rung of the ladder in terms of health and fitness, she is a strong advocate for people to be vaccinated in order to help in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

So, I finally did it. I had my first jab of the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, the Sputnik V from Russia.

For many people, one of the biggest reasons for not taking adequate care of their health and fitness is because it is deemed expensive.

The most common answer I get from people when I ask why they don’t exercise is, “I just don’t have the time.”

Most regular gym goers, including myself, typically work out for 45 minutes to an hour, three to four days a week.