Sandra Bullock - Gravity and Age Defying Fitness

I just read the review of Gravity in which Sandra Bullock plays a lost in space astronaut. At 50, Bullock is getting rave reviews for her yummy appearance.

Bullock was always one my favorite people on screen. With this performance (which I will be sure to watch) my admiration for her has gone up a notch or two. Just one generation back - 50 was considered to be irretrievably old. Male actors have transcended the 50 years barrier with meaty roles for sometime. Women havent been so lucky. Good roles yes - but "gravity" defining roles at 50 - cant remember any!

Bullock's role which must have demanded a load of stamina is a tribute to her fitness. Sandra trained specifically for her "weightlessness" in the movie. She admits she pushed her body to the extreme during training.

Read about how Sandra trained for Gravity here.

Bullock's fitness regime is apparently a combination of dance routines for cardio, yoga and pilates. She revealed on Today Show to Jay Leno recently that she does kick boxing and rides a bike whenever she can and runs when she is in Austin.

Sandra Bullock Workout Regime

Sandra's workout by as prescribed by her trainer Eden Paul includes
Squats
Reverse Lunges
Push ups
Dumbbell Workouts
Scissor Kicks for those killer abs
Side Lunges

Sandra reportedly has been working recently with Simone De La Rue at the Body by Simone Dance Studio on
Yoga, Pilates and Dance Cardio. She apparently puts in one hour every day six days a week with Simone to get her killer looks.

The number 1 in DVD workouts at Amazon


Best of Fitness DVDs

Sandra Bullock Diet

What diet does Sandra follow? Sandra apparently maintain her looks and fitness by a healthy eating habit. She has revealed at times that she doesnt have a specific diet plan as such but avoids junk food. She apparently cheats a day a week.

Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred

Such an example of health and fitness coupled with true beauty and acting skill - deserves a shout.

Keep it up Sandra!

Lalu Prasad Yadav - Birsa Munda Jail Inmate

You can love Lalu, you can hate him - but you cannot ignore him.

For those who don't or cant delve deep into the murky world of Bihar politics, Lalu was a fascinating figure. The ultimate kingmaker.

Many in the nation held an aversion to Lalu during the scam days, his belligerent ways, his "I am above all laws in Bihar" attitude - and similarly many more had more or less replaced those images of him with those of a "successful minister", a kindly outspoken avuncular person, someone who understood the grassroots, family values. Especially when it became known he was not becoming the PM in the near future.

Lalu playing holi in dhoti, Lalu cooking for his family, Lalu in HBR and Lalu spouting truly secular values somehow managed to outweigh in the public's mind the very audacity and volume of the fodder scam. Of course in recent times the audacity of the multi thousand crore mining and 2G scams have somehow dwarfed the few crores Lalu apparently pocketed. But Lalu can be said to be the original Godfather who didnt care about how far and how deep he looted the nation without remorse or shame. A fact which he tried to mute later with a change of image and an able bureaucratic backup.


As the shutters come down on the fifteen year old fodder scam - we the hoi polloi wonder - will we see more justice and get better deliverence from the rabid politicians who rule us? It took a revengeful Deve Gowda who wanted to squash his king maker to ensure CBI registered the scam. So will this very system of unholy democracy ensure the politicians biting each other and giving each other up - to ensure deliverance for the common people? Maybe this venal politics will serve a better purpose than a squib of a jan lokpal bill! Again that means - a different party has to come to power every few years to trip up the corrupt in the previous regime.

Anything...to help us poor countrymen.

Even though Lalu is still the most fascinating and loved of all.

A Healthy Run - That Was Not Healthy!

A 5 km run is just going to be a stroll in the park, right?

Wrong. If it has been organised by Apollo Hospital, if the runners are made to wait for an hour after the schedule of the run for the numerous guests, chief guests to stroll in, if there is no line marking the starting area - that the DJ co-ordinating the run has to shout herself hoarse, threaten, cajole, plead to get the runners into a supposed starting line which had already been changed twice, if there is absolutely no water along the way, if... the list goes on.

I am talking about the Run for a Healthy heart Run organised by Apollo Hospital Bhubaneswar on 29th September to mark a Healthy Heart day.  If "organised" is a word that can be used for the event.

The saddest part was there were many young children and older people who had come with such enthusiasm. It was touted as an everyman run. But apparently they forgot to provide water. I completed the near 5 km distance in 35 minutes, my son in 30 minutes - and if as claimed by the organisers the water was finished on the way - was it only provided for the professional athletes? For God's sake - we are not talking about fancy stuff that runners need - just water.

It was okay for me - but what about the 1000 odd casual people who had strolled in for such a run seeing the delightful ads? How can dehydration help a heart? Or did Apollo spend all the money for the event on the ads?

I guess it is a mistake being lured into such events by the general noise.

The only heartening thing about the run was the participation and general discipline and enthusiasm of the runners - despite everything.

And of course it didnt rain!