wulfen Forum Posts (810)

RE: The Italians are beginning to rule English football!

Glad to see another football thread mate!

I think the Italians are much more in the 'chess' aspect of the game, while also being more disciplined, and that gives them an edge when it comes to management.

For the past few years, many of the top clubs have had Italian fitness coaches as well, and you can see the effect this has had on English football in general. Players no longer go onto drinking sprees, eating junk food etc after a game.

RE: Who is the prettiest female singer?

You forgot to add Kylie Minogue to the list

How many of you follow a sports related lifestyle & diet?

You make an interesting point there. I guess one could compensate with iron & protein shake supplements (though the latter is a milk derivative, so I guess still a no go for a vegan).

Re-getting slimmer and losing fat, yes I can see the logic of that since vegetables are high in fibre and have little fat. When I first started working out and eating healthily I was 30kgs overweight, and during the summer it took me to lose that weight I ate mostly salads and nothing else.

To build & preserve muscle however meat is necessary however. I do keep my body flushed and clean since I eat a good portion of high fibre muesli for breakfast, plus my other meals during the day contain fresh or steamed vegetables in them; which does mean I usually make 2-3 trips to the toilet a day like your friends did!

Re-the craving, I can understand that feeling, in my case it's usually a chocolate craving!

What's your favourite football team?

Lol true, and then they complained when everybody cheered every time Inter lost!

How many of you follow a sports related lifestyle & diet?

How did you get sufficient iron and proteing from a strict vegan diet though? Although I know a few athletes who are vegetarians, they have to eat a lot more food (in terms of quantity) to get the same amount of protein.

This can also be seen in nature. Herbivore animals munch throughout the day non-stop, while a carnivore will have one good meal and then can usually go days without.

Going on a meat alone diet is definitely unhealthy, but chicken breast & fish are certainly something our body needs to stay strong. It's much easier to digest protein from meat than from vegetables after all.

What's your favourite football team?

Also, first having Ibra in their team, and now Mourinho & Balotelli doesn't earn Inter any sympathy points either!

How many of you follow a sports related lifestyle & diet?

I completely agree with you smoky. One of my favourite martial artists, Jean Claude van Damme (who was a karate world champion in the 80's before becoming a movie star) practiced classical ballet as a child.

During an interview years later he admitted that a ballet workout is much tougher physically than his usual martial arts/gym workouts.

You also made a very good point re-a healthy diet. According to most nutritionists & fitness instructors, training alone is only 35% of the work in staying healthy, the rest is due to eating healthily.

I tried an experiment a year ago, where for a couple of months I continued to train regularly while not keeping to my strict diet; and I did notice a gradual reduction in muscle strength during that period. Once I got back to my regular diet, I quickly regained the lost fitness level.

How many of you follow a sports related lifestyle & diet?

Hi mate, since you live in Mosta, there's a gym there located in the Mosta Industrial estate (the martial arts dojo where I train is just 2 doors away from it), else you could try the Ta' Qali gym. It's the best one in Malta, plus it's not far from Mosta.

Good job on losing that much weight man

What's your favourite football team?

Mancini has won 3 consecutive leagues in Italy with Inter, but he is not considered a 'great' since Inter were basically competing alone during those 3 years, while in Europe their record has been abysmal, struggling even against modest opposition.

Milan & Juve had to deal with the penalties imposed from the calciopoli scandal, while Roma gave them a good challenge, but they're not on a par with Inter financially.

Even so, Roma managed to take the title challenge to the last game, even being 'virtual champions' till the last half hour of the last game of the season, before Inter clinched their 3rd title with Mancini.

RE: the Uefa Champians League 2009/10

Hi mate, I think you've made some very good points here.

Re-the Milan vs Man Utd game, history favours Milan, and it will be interesting to see how both teams manage to adapt their game since both lost their star player during the last transfer window (Kaka & C. Ronaldo).

On the tactical level, I think United have the advantage as Alex Ferguson is vastly more experienced that Leonardo(who even with the recent run of good results, still has to convince that he's a coach worthy of Milan), and so is more likely to come up with a surprise on the day. Re-the loss of the star players, I see Rooney has upped his game a lot this year, while Pato, while a great player with huge potential, still needs a year or 2 of extra experience to finally explode.

What's your favourite football team?

What do you think of Milan's Champions' League draw vs. Man Utd? History favours Milan, but I see it tough this year. There's also a Champions' League thread somewhere around here if you want to post there as well

What's your favourite football team?

I guess they face the same problem as most other East European clubs, lack of cash right?

It's a pity as when I was a kid back in the 80's I remember a lot of good East European teams giving the richer Western clubs a good run for their money in the then Champions' Cup.

At Roma we currently have Mirko Vucinic who plays for Montenegro. The fans here have nicknamed him 'Il Genio' (The Genius) for his skill, which is also a tribute to Savicevic as he used to have the same nickname in his playing days.

How many of you follow a sports related lifestyle & diet?

Re-the pushups, if you find difficulty in doing them in a horizontal position with your hands on the floor, try using a couple of chairs to support your hands on.

That way your body is inclined at a 45 degree angle upwards, and takes a lot of the strain off your shoulders. Ok, they're not as effective as 'normal' pushups, but still a good starting point.

I'm afraid my dancing isn't up to par though! Even though my martial arts teacher insists that a martial artist should make a good dancer as well, since at the end of the day both martial arts & dancing require footwork techniques to perform.

How many of you follow a sports related lifestyle & diet?

Yes dark chocolate is great in small amounts, my trouble is that if I start eating chocolate, I find it hard to stop!

RE: the Uefa Champians League 2009/10

In the quarter finals I bet a lot of the big teams will be hoping to face the winners from these 2 games.

What's your favourite football team?

He he, isn't Wayne Rooney from Liverpool (as in city, not team) though?

What's your favourite football team?

Hi mate, Red Star used to have a really cool team before the civil war there. I remember Pancev, Savicevic & Prosinescki used to play for them right?

How are they faring nowadays, I guess Red Star are still strong in Serbia, any chance of seeing them shining again in the Champions League in the near future?

How many of you follow a sports related lifestyle & diet?

At 64 years of age, I think you're doing very well mate, keep it up If you could include some light resistance training, it helps a lot in keeping the body flexible and strong. I'm talking about doing some pushups, situps & squats, so you don't need to go to the gym but can train from home.

How many of you follow a sports related lifestyle & diet?

Well, the title says it all. Just curious about how many here are into training regularly and following a healthy diet that helps them keep their fitness levels up.

Post your feedback & any tips about your diet play you might learned over the years.

As for me, I have been training regularly for the past 4 1/2 years, before which I was 30kgs (66lbs) overweight. Apart from training 6 days a week (Sunday being my only rest day), here's the diet plan I have been following regularly for this timespan.

It's a balanced diet that provides carbo-hydrates, vitamins, protein & iron necessary to keep up your energy, and your fat levels down.

Breakfast (Monday - Sunday): Cereal & Muesli mixed with low fat yoghurt; 1 glass fruit juice, 1 banana & 1 mug of coffee;

Mid-Morning Snack: Apple & Orange;

Lunch: Tuna 'ftira' (it's a typical Maltese bun). It's basically bread, tuna, tomatoes, fresh rukola, olive oil & 'bigilla' (a Maltese speciality, a paste of crushed beans, lentils & a tiny bit of garlic and herbs mixed with a touch of olive oil);

Dinner: 4 times a week I'll have a mixed chicken breast & red meat (roughly a ratio of 4:1 in the portion), mixed steamed vegetables (mainly peas, sweet corn & carrots), and olive oil.

Twice a week I'll have a pasta dish instead of the chicken breast dish above.

Sunday is my 'cheat' day, in which I can indulge myself to a treat, eating a different dish, a chocolate bar etc.

Re-beverages, I drink lots of water during the day, I enjoy an espresso after a meal, while in the afternoon & evening I enjoy a nice cup of tea (both the 'British' style, or else green tea).

RE: BERLUSCONI

Or else, it can be like the situation in Malta. We have 2 main political parties, the Nationalists (centre-right) & the Malta Labour Party (once staunch commies, now trying to pose themselves as a modern centre-left).

Many families here support one of these 2 parties with the fanaticism which is more akin the support for a football club. I'm from a 'Labour' family, and when I 'came out' that I'm no socialist and would not be voting for Labour but would be abstaining, my family's reaction was 'this way you'll be giving 2 votes to the Nationalists'; and since I was raised in a 'Labour' family, it was my duty to vote Labour.

Don't worry if you don't understand that line of reasoning, I never did either

RE: BERLUSCONI

Very good point venere. Somehow those who aren't in power always tell us how things will change once they are in government etc, then once they get elected, something 'unexpected' will always somehow crop up causing them to follow their predecessor's footsteps.

Just take America as a recent example. Obama got voted in on a wave of public support after a media campaign that depicted him as the new Gandhi/Jesus/Buddha all combined. Yet America is still at war, the economic crisis is still there etc.

The worst thing is that people never learn and will still believe the stuff that politicians promise.

RE: BERLUSCONI

Nah you post good stuff too man!

RE: BERLUSCONI

I think democracy is the best form of government about not being treated like cattle (though its current form can still be improved on), so we've gone through that. That doesn't mean I consider leaders to be free from flaws, on that I agree with you.

Leaders are by definition attracted to power, and the lure for power will necessarily lead them to do 'pacts with the devil' in an effort to gain that power, no matter how pure and idealistic they may start as.

Going back to Italy, as an outsider that follows Italian news and who has visited there often, I do think Berlusconi is the best choice amongst the political leaders available. That doesn't mean I consider him a saint either.

RE: BERLUSCONI

All that you mention is true, but tell me, would the situation be any different with a different leader than Berlusconi? At least he has business acumen (which all the other leaders do not), and has helped Italy weather the storm as best as it can by providing stability.

Having an election every year which was the norm in Italian politics from 1946 till Berlusconi appeared on the scene wasn't any better in my opinion.

RE: BERLUSCONI

At the end of the day, you still need leaders to have a society, else you fall into anarchy.

Even anarchy is not a long term solution, as new leaders will emerge from that anarchy to restore their sort of order.

It may not be fair, heck, it sure isn't, but it's the way humanity works. Might as well try to stop the waves in the sea can you?

RE: BERLUSCONI

Very good points Venere

RE: The Simple Solution for the middle east conflict between Israel and palestine

Yes like flooding Malta with the boatloads of African refugees that end up in Libya. I don't usually wish ill to others, but if that missile during the 80's American raid on Libya had busted the colonel in tiny microscopic parts, they'd have gotten a cheer from me for sure.

RE: BERLUSCONI

The Italian media have reported that the guy who hit Berlusconi has been in mental health clinics over half his life. This guy's father was interviewed on video and said as such, so it's probably true.

There is a rumour that this guy wasn't operating alone, as 'witnesses' reported seeing someone else handing the aggressor the statuette, but these reports are as yet unconfirmed.

Berlusconi is certainly milking the sympathy cow to its fullest, and honestly, I can't blame him. In a political sense, this attack has been a godsend to garner sympathy and make the left appear as savage thugs. The fact that leftist supporters actually applauded the attack when it happened has led to a whole backlash in the media against them.

RE: BERLUSCONI

Yes you make a good point there, but considering how the 'experienced' ones have performed in the past, I doubt the newbies could do worse!

I liked your take on the mafia being ingrained in Italy, that was very insightful. I doubt that the mafia can ever be eradicated (like the rest of organized crime), so finding a way to minimize them as much as possible without resorting to outright war against them seems the less painful solution.

The only guy who really gave the mafia a scare was Mussolini, but his methods cannot be used in today's western world.

RE: British court issued arrest warrant for Livni - report

Yes completely agree with what you said here about the past few years, but islamic nations were hostile to israel from the start.

Neither side is guilt free in my opinion.