Figure 1. source

For some cultures, tea is more than just a drink. For the Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Russian, and English people, tea is a profoundly important part of their lives. In China, in particular, each regional group has its own philosophy of tea, and each ideological trend reinvents the implications that a cup of tea has in one’s day.

Great tea comes from remote mountains. Whether it’s white, green, or black, it conveys the essence of its natural surroundings. I’m not talking about overly processed tea that you can get at any store. I’m talking about delicate, potent, and clean tea that makes a world of a difference.

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In 2019 I had the opportunity to train at a center here in Barcelona (GlobalPerformance) that specialises in isoinertial training methodology and equipment. It was the first time I did this type of training so I took some notes.

This is a type of training originally developed for outer space use since it doesn’t rely on gravity as the traditional weight machines do.

In the video below, you can observe some exercises that can be done with the pulleys and flywheels used in this type of training.

The nice thing is that the machines could be attached with a monitor that took note of each concentric vs eccentric movement of my muscles and measured the variation between them. In just one session I was able to observe the weak points of my body and that gave me a very good indication of what I need to be working on for gaining further strength while at the same time preventing injury.

This type of training is excellent for tennis and padel training as there’s a lot of emphasis on correct posture and using the whole kinetic chain effectively for every movement, and this can transfer very well to our oncourt performance.

There are many misconceptions around Cholesterol that I want to tackle in this post. I have inherited high cholesterol levels and so I have a personal interest in the subject.

Typically doctors tell me that I need to eat healthy; as if I don’t already do so as an athlete. I understand that many people have unhealthy diets that worsen pre-existing conditions or even lead to specific conditions, but when you have a healthy athlete in front of you, dishing out generic advise like that is a bit nonsensical.

What is Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that humans need to survive. Your body makes cholesterol and absorbs it from the foods you eat.

When people talk about cholesterol in relation to heart health, they usually aren’t talking about cholesterol itself.

They are actually referring to the structures that carry cholesterol in the bloodstream. These are called lipoproteins.

Lipoproteins are made of fat (lipid) on the inside and protein on the outside.

There are several kinds of lipoproteins, but the two most relevant to heart health are low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL).

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