Monday 22 April 2013

30 Days of Squatting? Challenge Accepted!

Recently I have been bored on my computer so I have inevitably fallen into the hype of looking at things such as 'lol cats' and funny pictures. Whilst amusing, this activity is also rather soul crushing but amidst my pointless searching I came across a picture entitled 'The 30 day squat challenge' I didn't think much of it at first and went on to look at funny pictures of pugs doing handstands but it kept cropping up again and again, so without any other choice(and because I was curious) I found myself clicking on the picture.
Basically you are challenged to do roughly a month of squats, starting at 50 and working your way up to 250 in one day!
Challenge Accepted!

Naively, I thought '250 would be easy' I am currently on my 5th day and already my legs are killing me! I have worked up to 70 squats a day and already the difference is amazing! But you really do need to persevere,  its very easy to give up in this challenge!
Online people are raving about this. The soreness will pass and at the end the results will be well worth it apparently!
 Me and my friend are doing the challenge but decided to take it up a level! As well as the squats, we plan to match the amount done daily with sit-ups/crunches and all in one go, where as some people I have seen are spreading it out throughout the day!
So I will keep doing this challenge and update on my day 30, if you are doing it yourself let me know how its going! And for everyone else, I challenge you to do this! You won't be able to walk properly to begin with but it really is an interesting challenge!

k.

Friday 12 April 2013

Skin! Look after it and it will look after you!


Skin! Something we all have and would have a lot of trouble going about our daily business without it (or even surviving without it for that matter) but a lot of the time most of us don't even think about it and definitely don't look after it! I'm writing this because I have been trying to improve my skin lately and make it look better but it lead me to question how to do this and why! So I thought I would share my findings with you!

Our skin works hard to look after us! It keeps us warm and cool, protects us against the weather (or if your in Britain, mainly just the rain), fights of infections for us so we don't get ill, allows us to feel with millions of nerves in it and much more! It is one of our biggest and complex organs yet we seem to forget about it and mistreat but why should we? You wouldn't treat your heart or your brain like that!
Now for something that may put you off your food but I thought I'd share anyway because it's rather fascinating! we shed about 40,000 every hour! That's almost a million a day! It constantly regenerates and pushes the old, dead, skin cells out leaving you with healthy, fresh and new skin! why thank you skin! The disgusting part is that the skin cells lay around your house and everywhere you go collecting and ending up as dust! Which is an amazing reason to keep your house clean, so you don't have billions of little dead, 'you' bits hanging around!
So here is how to do it and get some awesome looking and feeling skin!

  • Eat healthy. What you put into your body can be reflected on the outside. The general consensus is if you are healthy your skin is healthy!
  • A very obvious one is to protect yourself from the sun. Sun damage can cause an array of problems such as cancer and can make you age a lot quicker.
  • Water is especially important and I can definitely preach this point! If you are dehydrated your skin can look older and tired, something none of us would want so make sure to drink plenty of the right things, especially if drinking alcohol. 
  • Sleep.
  • Wash of your makeup at night! It can block your pores and damage your skin and then re-wash your face in the morning before reapplying to make sure everything is fresh and clean, it also helps avoid infections although be careful when washing! Strong soaps or over washing can get rid of the skin's natural oils that protect your skin and keep it healthy!
  • Face masks can help the appearance of skin, they are quite cheap and come with a host of benefits such as banishing blackheads, cleansing, toning and much more (plus they are quite fun if I do say so myself!)
  • Skip a day of makeup. whenever you can, try and not wear makeup that day, even if its just around the house, it allows you skin to breath and promotes it to heal itself, get rid of more dead skin cells and make you look healthy and radiant!
  • Moisturize! A lot of the time our skin can lack moisture, especially because of our surroundings and environments  so moisturizers can top up what our skin needs! It's better to get a natural moisturiser, one with less chemicals so your face can breath a lot more. I recommend 'Dream Cream' from Lush, it is amazing and I swear by it! If you want to find out more about it, keep an eye on the blog I will be posting a review on the stuff!
  • Try and relax. Stress causes effects on your skin such as dehydration, wrinkles and lines, spots, patchy-ness, redness and a lot more! So chill out and your skin will stay clear and lovely!
  • Drink green tea. Personally I think the stuff is disgusting but always try and get a cup of it in when I remember! The tea has anti-inflammatory properties which helps reduce puffy skin and redness!
  • Vitamins. If you can try and regularly take vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin D complex and vitamin C, it will give your skin and your body everything it is lacking so it can keep protecting you and doing its job properly.
So there are a few tips to get you going, it is quite simple but highly important to look after your skin. If you have any other tips or anything let me know! It would be interesting to find out more about this, it's something you have your whole life and as you get older especially you have to take care of yourself and skin is a priority we sometimes overlook.

k.

Thursday 4 April 2013

Cambion, Mind for Murder and Anal Bead at Tiverton Tomato Bar

When: Saturday 30th March
Where: Tomato Bar Tiverton
Who: Anal Bead, Mind for Murder and Cambion.

Who knew such a small venue in the midst of Tiverton high street could provide the backdrop of such a high energy evening? As soon as I arrived at the Tomato Bar there was already quite a lot of buzz and excitement with people everywhere, chilling out surprisingly to the sound of 'Sikth' blasting over the speakers.
Anal Bead
As the rest of the crowd started to ascend on the bar the first band took the stage. There's not a lot of words to describe Anal Bead. They really are a marmite band, you either love them or hate them, and fortunately Tiverton love them! As you can guess from their name, Anal Bead is a comedy metal band that take pride in not taking themselves seriously, so far so that they don't even play the instrument they originally learnt to play! The front man/guitarist is actually a drummer, the drummer is actually a guitarist...you get my point but all this aside they make for one hell of an evening of entertainment! Starting with their infamous song 'Any holes a goal' they had the whole crowd laughing and singing along (other songs include titles such as 'Mayonnaise salute' and the ever popular 'we like boobies'.) At one point the front man 'Frank Dennis performed a song on the shoulders of someone in the audience, although I don't think he was expecting that!
Anal Bead are a funny band that really get the show going with their simplistic sounds, likened to that of 'Lawnmower Deth'. The best way to sum up Anal Bead though was actually posted on the event page for the gig. "Anal Bead are without a doubt Tiverton's best shit band!"
Mind for Murder
Next to play were 'Mind for Murder.' Not a band I had ever heard of before but definitely one to watch out for now! One thing that strikes me about this band was their very effective old school style. Rather than playing fast, chaotic riffs and overly complicated beats they stuck with the once and always great style, reminiscent of bands such as 'Soil and Pantera' and to really drive the point home they even wowed us all with a cover of metal giants 'Crowbar - High Rate Extinction'. The vocals also caught everyone's attention with singer Lewis throwing some new and interesting techniques into the mix to liven things up! 
This band is very connected and work well together, they can listen to each other and respond well to create strong, blasting rhythms and catchy and memorable songs that get everyone moving.
This Bristol based band really deserves everyone's support and I would definitely suggest to everyone to go catch them live if you can!
After a short break with everyone running to the bar, the small room was quickly filled back up again with people desperate to get to the front, even lining the stairs awaiting the return of Cambion.
Cambion
Straight into the set, no messing around and they opened up with 'Death March' a song from their previous E.P 'Last Rites'. With a seamless flow they worked through the first E.P showing of their melodic and technical style that had anyone who could move head banging. A crowd favourite was definitely 'Salem' which had the whole crowd singing along with frontman Elliott. The thing that impresses me the most with this band is the stage presence each of them have. Unfortunately you do see some bands who have great music but let their performances down with lack of stage presence but not this band. Even the Drummer was head banging and wind milling in time with the rest of them whilst blasting out some amazingly technical beats. There sound definitely has a djent edge to it, you don't often see around these parts and you can see how bands such as 'Meshuggah and Animals as Leaders' influence their sound, yet they manage to pull off their own style. 
Finishing the set they played through their latest E.P 'Virus'. What I loved most about Virus was how atmospheric it is, you really get a sense of a story when they are playing. Just like their previous songs, Virus is technical and melodic but you can instantly hear the malevolence in all the songs, it's especially honed in 'Virus part 3' Death'. Although each song follows on from the last you really do get a variety of sounds and Levels from 'Part 1' throwing you in at the deep end to 'Part 5' almost restoring your faith in humanity (Listen to the song/words and you will understand) Clean vocals intermixed with the aggressive screaming and they have perfected the art of conveying emotions beautifully.
Brutal beats, face melting riffs, amazing live sound and all around metal, you can't really ask much more from this Devonshire band yet they strive to give you more.