Day three. Let's do this :)!!!
This is another post in my Aedificamus health and fitness series and specifically for Saron Yitbarek's #HealthyTech30 challenge. Today I will be showing what may be a blast from the past and another way to consume yerba mate. Yesterday it was the hot and traditional approach. Today will be a colder but still somewhat traditional approach :).
Exercise: Let's Push Some Steel
I'm curious if anyone out there knows what these are ;).
If you are my age or thereabouts, my guess is that you have come across these a time or two in your lives. If you are sitting there thinking "you have got to be kidding, you actually have a BULLWORKER?!" my answer is "yes, and not just one, I have two of them!"
I owned one of these when I was a teenager and I used it for conditioning when I was on my high school's track team. Years later, when I was thinking about having an easy to use at home exercise apparatus I thought, I wonder if they are still around or if I could buy a used one somewhere. Turns out they are indeed still around and thus I purchased two of them, a classic bullworker (the bigger one) as well as a smaller model called a Steel Bow.
OK, for those wondering, a Bullworker is basically a compression spring between two sleeves, with a pair of handles, one on each end and a pair of cables connected to the handles. The goal is to compress the spring either by pushing the handles or pulling on the cables. I also have a set of extension straps that allow me to do broader range movements and attach it to a door. The smaller Steel Bow model also comes apart easily and allows the user to put in one of three spring tensions (light, medium, heavy).
Today I focused on abdominals, lower back, and shoulders. Whee!!!
These devices work on the concept of isometrics, where you contract your muscles and hold them in that flexed position for an extended period, as well as a progressive resistance push. Some movements you will be able to cover a lot of range, others you will feel like you are barely moving the device at all. If you are putting pressure and able to hold it, you are getting the benefits. Point being, if you go to Goodwill you may be able to find one of these. For compact, at-home exercise equipment, this is actually pretty cool.
Food: Yerba Mate: Tereré
Yesterday I told you all about how I've grown to love chimarrão, a variation of yerba mate that is popular in southern Brazil. It's a preparation that is, IMO, best enjoyed hot. However, I hear some of you say, what if I prefer it cold? Does it work for that too? It can be but if you like your mate cold, there's another preparation that is popular in Brazil and several other South American countries, particularly Argentina, and that's what I'll be telling you about today, tereré.
First, tereré has a different flavor profile altogether compared to chimarrão. The leaves are dried using hot air and smoke from a fire, so they have a distinctive smoky flavor to them. Additionally, the leaves are thicker, so you can prepare tereré right in a calabash gourd or you can also prepare it and drink it straight from a canning jar (granted, the second way is a bit less elegant but still works.
Traditional prep method first. This is a mate gourd and a bomba that are both well suited for drinking tereré. Preparation is simple, take about half a cup of tereré leaves and put them into the gourd. take cold water or ice water and pour it into the gourd, up to the brim. Let steep for about 10 to 15 minutes. From there, place the bomba into the gourd and drink. The bomba filters out the thicker leaves.
If you'd like to do this without having a fancy gourd and bomba, here's my other method. Again, Brazilian and South American tereré fans, my apologies if this is borderline blasphemy but hey, it works :).
1. Take a canning jar and fill it halfway with ice.
2. Put 1/2 a cup of tereré leaf into the jar.
3. Fill the jar with cold water.
4. Close the jar and shake.
5. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Use a tea strainer and pour off the liquid into a cup.
7. Add more cold water to the jar and keep refilling.
After multiple refills, you will reach a dilution point but it will take a while.
It is also popular to punch up tereré by adding citrus juices (lime, lemon, orange, grapefruit) or pineapple juice but it is also very nice all by itself.
How healthy these are is open to interpretation but if you are someone who actively consumes soda or other beverages throughout the day, consider switching to yerba mate and see what you think. Hot or cold, I doth fully dig it :).
This is another post in my Aedificamus health and fitness series and specifically for Saron Yitbarek's #HealthyTech30 challenge. Today I will be showing what may be a blast from the past and another way to consume yerba mate. Yesterday it was the hot and traditional approach. Today will be a colder but still somewhat traditional approach :).
Exercise: Let's Push Some Steel
I'm curious if anyone out there knows what these are ;).
I owned one of these when I was a teenager and I used it for conditioning when I was on my high school's track team. Years later, when I was thinking about having an easy to use at home exercise apparatus I thought, I wonder if they are still around or if I could buy a used one somewhere. Turns out they are indeed still around and thus I purchased two of them, a classic bullworker (the bigger one) as well as a smaller model called a Steel Bow.
OK, for those wondering, a Bullworker is basically a compression spring between two sleeves, with a pair of handles, one on each end and a pair of cables connected to the handles. The goal is to compress the spring either by pushing the handles or pulling on the cables. I also have a set of extension straps that allow me to do broader range movements and attach it to a door. The smaller Steel Bow model also comes apart easily and allows the user to put in one of three spring tensions (light, medium, heavy).
Today I focused on abdominals, lower back, and shoulders. Whee!!!
These devices work on the concept of isometrics, where you contract your muscles and hold them in that flexed position for an extended period, as well as a progressive resistance push. Some movements you will be able to cover a lot of range, others you will feel like you are barely moving the device at all. If you are putting pressure and able to hold it, you are getting the benefits. Point being, if you go to Goodwill you may be able to find one of these. For compact, at-home exercise equipment, this is actually pretty cool.
Food: Yerba Mate: Tereré
 |
| Thicker cut tereré leaf with a typical mate gourd (made from calabash) and a bomba for drinking. |
Yesterday I told you all about how I've grown to love chimarrão, a variation of yerba mate that is popular in southern Brazil. It's a preparation that is, IMO, best enjoyed hot. However, I hear some of you say, what if I prefer it cold? Does it work for that too? It can be but if you like your mate cold, there's another preparation that is popular in Brazil and several other South American countries, particularly Argentina, and that's what I'll be telling you about today, tereré.
First, tereré has a different flavor profile altogether compared to chimarrão. The leaves are dried using hot air and smoke from a fire, so they have a distinctive smoky flavor to them. Additionally, the leaves are thicker, so you can prepare tereré right in a calabash gourd or you can also prepare it and drink it straight from a canning jar (granted, the second way is a bit less elegant but still works.
If you'd like to do this without having a fancy gourd and bomba, here's my other method. Again, Brazilian and South American tereré fans, my apologies if this is borderline blasphemy but hey, it works :).
1. Take a canning jar and fill it halfway with ice.
2. Put 1/2 a cup of tereré leaf into the jar.
3. Fill the jar with cold water.
4. Close the jar and shake.
5. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Use a tea strainer and pour off the liquid into a cup.
7. Add more cold water to the jar and keep refilling.
It is also popular to punch up tereré by adding citrus juices (lime, lemon, orange, grapefruit) or pineapple juice but it is also very nice all by itself.
How healthy these are is open to interpretation but if you are someone who actively consumes soda or other beverages throughout the day, consider switching to yerba mate and see what you think. Hot or cold, I doth fully dig it :).
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