NRL vs Super 14: the differences in the game and the players

On the surface, rugby union and rugby league appear similar. Same field, same length of time, same core skills, same mode of scoring. All identical.

Yet you get a completely different viewing experience.

It’s an age-old debate among armchair sports fans: which is better to watch, rugby union or league. Of course, it’s an entirely subjective question, you watch what personally appeals to you.

And obviously we like to watch different things.

Why it’s faster to run than take the train in Auckland

There is one good reason why Aucklanders don’t commute by rail. It’s slow. But just how slow is it? To find out, I decided to run against a commuter train over a 7 km distance to see who was fastest.

 

Here’s the scenario. I live in Kingsland, and recently I’ve been working at premises right by Ellerslie Racecourse in Greenlane. And this week my car is being serviced. These circumstances have given me the opportunity to experiment with alternative ways to travel at the start and end of the day.

My first choice of non-car transport is always to run. I like running. If my travel distance is less than about 8 km, I will generally choose to run.

 I like trains (I used to live in Tokyo, see). However, living in Auckland provides few opportunities to catch the train. We only have 3 train lines in the city, serving a very small percentage of the population. It is very unlikely that your origin and destination points will both be within a short distance of a train station. But I am one of the lucky few these days: my home and my daytime destination are both 5 minutes walk from a station. A rare event and one that should be taken advantage of.

Follow me on Twitter: philmstewart

Running races on Auckland’s newest motorway

I have never run on a motorway before. Probably because it’s illegal. And dangerous. But a few weeks back I saw a section of motorway that was absolutely perfect for running a 1km sprint.

I’ve never run the 1km distance before and have always wanted to. The almost-complete new State Highway 20 motorway link through Mt Roskill in Auckland includes a straight and flat 1 km section that seems to be custom-made for running this distance. We had to get in early to avoid construction workers, but hadn’t counted on 24-hour security….

Central city hill-sprints

Do you sometimes question the motives of people who choose to run through the central city rather than in the ‘burbs or around the park? Why would choose to run through an area crowded by people and traffic? I don’t know, but on Easter Monday I decided to try some hill-sprints right in the middle of Auckland city.

 

I love hill-sprints, and so created a running circuit to include the 7 steepest streets of Auckland CBD. It’s not often that you’re running through the middle of town – so why not make the most of it.

 

The thing was, I thought town would be quiet because of the public holiday. But things turned out to be busier – and much more dangerous – than I expected…

From 0 to 196 in 16 minutes

I like running up hills as fast as I can. Why? Because: 1. it’s a great workout for the whole body and it doesn’t take long 2. it is intense and exhilarating. Not far from my apartment is a dormant volcano, the top of which is the high-point of the city. In the other direction from where I live is the sea. So clearly a great run would be from the lowest (sea level) to highest (top of volcano) point in town – in the shortest possible time. On the weekend I took the challenge.

Mt Eden - the endpoint of the run. I started by the sea just right of the tall buildings in the background.

To prove my time and to capture my level of effort, I decided to run with a camera to take a photo of myself at various points along the way. Please excuse the faces that I pull along the way. It’s just that I was getting quite exhausted…!

Clint reverses the 30-something spread

The latest Body Transform success drops 12 kg of fat and gains 5 kg of lean muscle in 10 weeks.

Clint's change from September to November 2008

Over the last few years – with a young family to raise and a business to grow – Clint had found that his former exercise habits had started to slip. And alongside that, going into his 30’s, the inevitable slowing down of the bodies metabolism meant that Clint’s body was starting to age quickly. Like many in their 30’s, he was filling out and getting weighed down as time went on…

Six volcanoes. One day.

I had the idea two weeks ago. I was spending the day at the beach, and before going for a swim I usually insist on doing at least a little exercise. A couple of weeks ago I visited Cheltenham Beach – in the shadows of North Head on Auckland’s North Shore. North Head is one of the city’s many dormant volcanoes, and so a nice hill-sprint to the top was an obvious choice for pre-swim exercise.

It was very worthwhile, so the next weekend I decided to sprint up 6 of Auckland’s urban volcanoes. To help celebrate this being the first post on my new blog, I thought I’d invite my very first client through Body Transform, Todd Mohi. Todd completely transformed his body almost two years ago (read about it). The question was, what kind of shape is he in today? And would he make it up all 6 peaks that I had mapped out for us? As it turned out, we got an extra challenge along the way…

A new standard for success

Steve, 46, loses 18kg and gains life

Steve proves to us that you can get into great shape regardless of whether you have any prior experience exercising or eating well. For the first 47 years of his life, Steve had done very little exercise – he just didn’t see himself as the ‘sporty’ type of person. He perceived himself as the ‘intellectual’, and for most of his life that had been his focus. Certainly he has had great success in his professional career, but at what price to his health? When Steve came to Body Transform he knew that his very life was at risk due to his unhealthy lifestyle, his weight, and where he was heading.

Steve's 18kg lighter in a matter of weeks

Todd changes his mind, then changes his body

Todd, 31, replaces 6kg of fat with 6kg of muscle in 10 weeks

Todd shows that this Program works for 30-somethings who want to recover their health and fitness after ‘living it up’ in their 20′s. Often times as 20-somethings we spend a lot of time socialising and partying, all the while allowing our health to slip. It’s very common! However, there comes a time for many of us that it’s time to do something about it. Todd had come to this point – not only was he out of shape, he was struggling to get through his days due to low energy and motivation. Unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercise had carried over from his 20′s and was holding him back…

Todd puts on 6kg of muscle in just 10 weeks