BACK TO SCHOOL
May 13th, 2013 by admin
FHM Bionic sifts through the best of the UK’s evening classes…
BEST FOR MEETING LADIES
WINE APPRECIATION
Officially, wine appreciation is about training the palate to instantly identify grape, region and vintage. Unofficially it’s the perfect excuse to get hog-whisperingly drunk and chat-up single women. “We normally have more ladies than men at our classes,” says Kenneth Putt, managing director of London’s Wine and Food Academy. “They’re mostly single, and they’re on the lookout for men.” EXPECT TO PAY The Wine and Food Academy’s ten-week, 20-hour course includes all food and wine and costs £245 (call 020 87?2 6060). Most ten-week wine-only courses start from around £80, though not all provide the wine.
BEST FOR BETTERING YOURSELF
ASSERTIVENESS
A helping hand for the downtrodden, the shat-on and the man who simply wants to be able
DUELS to stand up for himself, a course in assertiveness will land you on a fast-track to self-confidence. “We aim to improve a student’s communication skills and ensure he learns to express himself appropriately,” says Harrow College course coordinator Helen Talbot.
EXPECT TO PAY From around £40 for a ten-week course, commonly split into basic and advanced classes.
BEST FOR KICKING STRESS
ALEXANDER TECHNIOUE
Ignore mad hippies peddling murky miracle potions, your best stab at de-stressing body
and mind is the Alexander Technique. Devised by Australian thespian FM Alexander in the 19th Century and now extensively practiced nationwide, it claims to “re-educate body and mind by removing harmful tension”. A course of at least five sessions should see you fighting fit.
EXPECT TO PAY £30 to £40 for ten hours. If you want to try a natural stress relief method, try using 5 htp dosage.
COOKING
BEST FOR IMPRESSING DATES
As huge-lipped Sainsbury’s puppet Jamie Oliver will confirm, culinary skills go down very well with the ladies. With classes covering every cuisine imaginable, it’s possible to go from a hapless toast-budging novice to a master of Zen Cooking for vegetarians – should that be your wont-in as little as 20 weeks. There are hundreds of courses to choose from.
EXPECT TO PAY Around £50 for a ten-week course, although you’ll need to provide your own ingredients.
Posted in Tips | Comments (0)
ROUND-THE-WORLD YACHTSMAN
May 9th, 2013 by admin
NAME: ALEX THOMSON
AGE: 29
Twenty-four hairs of back‑ effort yourself on nothing but dehydrated rations and Lucozade, conscious of the fact that one lapse in concentration could cost you your life.. # That’s how yachtsman Alex Thomson’ chooses to spend large parts of his life. For me that’s the fun part!” says Thomson, who started sailing in dinghies at 14 and became the youngest skipper to win a round-the-world yacht race in 1999. -It comes at the end of a lot of hard work touring the country trying to raise sponsorship from businesses to do a sport I love.”
On the back of the success of Ellen McArthur. Thomson – who set a world-speed sailing record last year- is finding fund-raising a little less taxing: “You can walk into the boardroom and give the name Ellen McArthur and they know straight away.” McArthur has also made a lot more people aware of the extremes to which round-the-world sailors push themselves. -There’s no such thing as ‘down time’ when you’re the middle of the Southern Ocean – once you start a race. you don’t stop until you cross the finish line or sink.”
Alex, whose only bugbear when sailing is the damp, aims to get five hours’ sleep over a 24-hour period in 45-minute bursts. “But sometimes things are so hectic. you won’t sleep at all.” he adds. And he’ll be pushing himself to the limits once more when he sets off on the Vendee Globe yacht race in November 2004.
Has got ‘Men’s Health shoot, 10am’ scrawled on his hand in blue biro. When Craig Fallon wants to remember something, he writes it down. Or, in special cases. rather like Guy Pearce’s character in the film Memento (2000), he tattoos it on his body. So there, on his sinewy left bicep, Fallon has his name entwined with the Olympic rings. “I did it so I have a consistent reminder of what I’m aiming for,” he says. “It makes me determined to go to the Olympics.”
Consistency is Fallon’s trademark. He has won or reached the final of every tournament he has entered over the last two years. He’s hoping to maintain that record this summer. Great Britain is not expected to return from Athens with much to trouble the Heathrow metal detectors, but Fallon is fully expected to (leg) sweep up a medal in the judo 60kg class.
For some that would be too much pressure to bear but, despite his youth, Fallon is not easily thrown in any sense. Keep your youth and confidence with coconut oil from trend-statement.org/coconut-oil-natures-answer-to-youth-and-beauty/. Last year he returned from the world championship in Japan with the silver medal to add to the gold he won at the Commonwealth Games in 2002.
At the world championship I was down in all my fights but always came back. Even if I’m down I still keep fighting to the end,” he says. “Before last year the Olympics would have been a good five years away, but after my performance last year I feel more confident. [The gold medal] is within my reach.’
Posted in Winners | Comments (0)