Written by:

Alexandra Tan, Year 12

With so many positive responses from teachers and students about last week’s ‘Health and Fitness’ article, this is the second installation featuring more of your favourite teachers, and their advice on achieving healthy and active lifestyles.

Mr. Keens

PE teacher by day, athlete by night- Mr. Keens epitomizes a healthy and active lifestyle. Being physically fit is a prerequisite for a PE teacher, but to Mr. Keens, this position means more than just teaching sport and this is clearly reflected through his passion for health and fitness.

Mr. Keens: Being a PE teacher allows me to encourage and inspire youngsters to lead a healthy lifestyle incorporating exercise and a healthy diet. While I understand not everyone enjoys exercising, I think more should be done to highlight the psychological benefits of short exercise sessions per day. Exercise not only increases the release of endorphins (feel good chemical in the brain), but it is also widely regarded as a great tool to prevent depression and decrease levels of stress.

Exercise doesn’t mean you need to go to the gym and buy all the needless accessories and matching outfits. Keep it simple. Exercise can be anything that works up a sweat: walking, cycling, swimming. Try to incorporate this into your everyday life, be creative if time constraints are tight. Try walking or cycling to work, walking and talking to a colleague rather than email (we are all guilty of taking the 'easier' option) and try making the effort to go to that fitness class with your friend. In a world of ever increasing pressures taking the time out to invest in your health is a last priority for some and I feel that this issue needs addressing.

Q: What role has your love for football played in your lifestyle?

A: Football is a fantastic game and I have been involved in since I was about 7 years old. I have followed Sheffield United from a young age and hope to see them reach the FA Cup Final, fingers crossed we can beat Hull City in the semi-final!

I currently play in the UFL for Nomads FC, the oldest team in Manila. Nomads try to strike a balance between being a social and serious football club and currently compete in the 2nd tier of Philippine club football.

I currently train twice per week with the squad and we have a game each Sunday. I supplement this with my own training such as yoga and running, aiming for 2 rest days per week to allow for some rest and recovery. Football training sessions generally last 2 hours and includes possession work, fitness work, small sided games and lots of work on the 'shape' and tactics of the team's play.

I would recommend football to anyone looking for a sport to take up. It doesn’t get much better than 5 a side football match; it's fun, social, challenging and competitive all at the same time.

At Nomads alone we have over 10 different nationalities in the squad from different continents, all brought together by sport. Friendships made through sport are sometimes the best and longest lasting!




Q: Any nutrition tips?

A: It is vital for young people to exercise regularly and eat healthily. The physical health benefits are well published: reduced risk of Type II diabetes, decreased risk of heart attack, decreased risk of stroke etc. I worked on weight management camps in the UK for a number of years I have a strong knowledge of nutrition and here are some of my own nutrition tips:

1. Look at eating healthily as a lifestyle change and not a 'diet.' It needs to be sustainable so one step at a time, not at once - it won't and can't last!

2. Learn how to read and understand food labels so you know what you are eating- amazingly simple and sometime truly shocking, especially in drinks!

3. Don't eat when you're bored, you're probably not hungry so go out and do something instead.

4. Try to eat 'real' food and avoid replacement drinks/ bars that claim to have the same benefits.

5. Eat plenty of vegetables, you’re mum was right; they are good for you!

6. Drink plenty of water; this is an underrated but crucial part of a healthy diet.




Q: What’s your favourite workout music?

A: Anything with a beat when I'm running. Jay-Z is always a good shout, a bit of old school rock and David Guetta too.

Q: What’s the best advice you can offer to the BSM community about healthy living?

A: Find a sport or exercise you enjoy and do it regularly. Combine this with a healthier diet and you will suddenly find yourself following a healthier lifestyle. You will look, and, more importantly, feel great!

Ms. Taylor

Ms. Taylor is one of the most active teachers in BSM, having initiated the Running Club. Though this was initially aimed for IB students, the club has grown and attracted many students throughout the entire senior school.

Ms. Taylor: I started the before school ASA as a way to help IB students with their action section of CAS. By giving them something to do in the mornings, they can have after school to focus on creativity and service projects. I see running as the easiest and cheapest way to stay fit. My aim for the club was to have members participate in a 5 and 10km run.

Q: How has married life affected your fitness?

A: Getting married and the run up to the wedding did make me run more, but I don’t think being married changed my fitness. However, it is BSM and moving to the Philippines that has affected my fitness for the better. I live in a condo with a gym; the weather here never stops me from running or cycling outside, unlike England where I was known as a ‘fair weather cyclist’ who would only ride to work from March-October.

Q: What's your fitness routine?

A: I try to train with a trainer twice a week and we have a routine that involves resistance training. Then I run 3km at running club on Wednesday mornings. I try to do two more cardio sessions a week, either 10-12 km on a cross trainer or a 3-5km run outdoors. I enjoy being part of Mr. Hunt and Mr. Tibbits’ International Award. You get a workout by trekking for hours and get to see some more of the country.

Q: Any nutrition tips?

A: Don’t diet, eat everything in moderation and enjoy food. It is the energy your body needs to grow, repair and work.

Q: Favorite workout song/playlist/artist?

A: Roni Size, Mika, Mark Ronson, Phoenix, Blondie, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Florence and the Machine, The Kills, Maximo Park- anything as long as the tempo is quick. I’ve got some of my songs on my Nike+GPS app and there is even an app called Pace DJ, which I want to try out.

Q: What’s your best advice for the BSM community wanting to get fit?

A: Start. Workout by yourself and with others, their motivation helps. Set yourself a manageable goal. Mine was to run a 10km, which I did with Mr. Moore, Mr. Kennedy and some Year 12 science students last year. Since then I haven’t done another 10km run, so perhaps I need to.

Written by:

Alexandra Tan, Year 12

Written by:

Ryan Heng, Year 12

In the 1988 Olympics, Kenya shocked the running world when its top male runner won the 800m, 1500m and 5000m and the 3000m steeplechase. Based on population percentages alone, the likelihood of such a performance is one in 1.6 billion. Since then, black athletes have been dominating both the speed and endurance aspects of running.

There is substantial statistical data showing the superiority of blacks in running. Blacks including African Americans who trace their ancestry back to West Africa hold more than 95 percent of the top times in sprinting. Athletes from Kenya make up more than one-third of the top times in middle and long distance races; including top performances by other East Africans (most from Ethiopia), that domination swells to almost 50 percent. Mexicans (Native Americans) are strongest at longer races such as 10,000 meters and the marathon.

There are many theories as to why blacks seem to be faster sprinters and endurance runners than whites. In 1995, when British athlete Sir Roger Bannister spoke of 'certain natural anatomical advantages' possessed by 'black sprinters and black athletes in general' at the British Association for the Advancement of Science, he provoked a mixture of fear, anxiety and silence. Sir Roger believed that blacks possess certain anatomical differences that make them naturally better sprinters.

Edward Jones, a professor at Howard University who specializes in adolescent obesity, nutrition and body composition, conducted an investigation into this phenomenon. The study concludes that black athletes may outperform athletes of other races in running events because their center of gravity tends to be higher, as shown in the differences of the length of their limbs and the structure of their bodies.

"Blacks tend to have longer limbs with smaller circumferences, meaning that their centers of gravity are higher compared to whites of the same height. Asians and whites tend to have longer torsos, so their centers of gravity are lower," said Adrian Bejan, Jones' co-author who is also an engineering professor at Duke University.

"These differences are small, and we don't really see them when we look at someone, but these small differences certainly matter in races lasting less than 10 seconds," Bejan told Life's Little Mysteries. He adds, “A person's center of gravity affects how fast his feet are moving when they hit the ground. Each step a runner takes is like falling, except the athlete breaks the fall with his foot. So the feet of a person with a higher center of gravity will hit the ground faster than someone with a lower center of gravity.”

Apart from center of gravity, research carried out at Laval University found that on average, blacks have more fast-twitch muscle fibers compared to whites who tend to have more slow-twitch muscle fiber. Fast-twitch muscle fibers are thought to be better adapted to power movements such as leaping or sprinting. As such, blacks seem to dominate sprinting as they have a more natural sprinting body.

This would scientifically and quite convincingly explain why blacks with West African origins hold 95% of the top times in sprinting. Then what would explain black domination in endurance running?

Even though whites tend to have more slow-twitch muscles, which are better adapted in endurance running in long races, this does not make a big difference in race times. Although white runners match or surpass black runners at distances up to 5km, black runners are “clearly superior at distances greater than 5km.” Research at the University of Cape Town shows that blacks are able to run at a higher maximum oxygen capacity, while whites lag behind by nearly 10 percent. The muscles of black athletes also reveal fewer signs of fatigue, as measured by lactic acid concentration.

This presents a nature/nurture conundrum: Does hard training lead to a change in oxidative capacity and fatigue resistance or does it merely reflect a genetically well-endowed athletic machine? In my opinion, the complete domination of black athletes in sprinting and endurance races indicates that blacks are favoured by genetics, with higher chances of having high muscle efficiency. Hard training will certainly improve oxidative capacity and fatigue resistance of the muscles, but the innate advantages the blacks possess will always make them more superior to the whites in running.

Written by:

Ryan Heng, Year 12