POWERHOUSES IN THE GYM

The Scotland rugby team has been to many gyms across the world in their pursuit of quality facilities with sufficient weight & platforms for the players of up to 125Kg able to squat 200kg plus. In Wellington they found such a place in Powerhouse in Marrion Square. Powerhouse Gym, Wellington website

Scotland players completing weighted chin-ups through the chain

The gym has specialised in unconventional training methods with  variety of racks, platforms, chains & rings. They have been tagged with a hardcore 'No frills, hands on' training approach for powerlifters, weightlifter & bodybuilders within the Wellington region.

Scottish Rugby Head of Strength & Conditioning at this Rugby World Cup is Dr Neil Potts, and he endorsed the gym by ensuring the squad spent two afternoons enjoying the facilities for a strength as well as a power/plyometrics session. 
















The players were also suitably impressed with the attitude of the lifters that went about their business alongside the Scots, and they exemplified the qualities desired by Warren the manager of Powerhouse as noted on their website (see above).

FRIENDS REUNITED- AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

Great to meet up with old friends and colleagues when travelling abroad-today in Hutt near Wellington Gillian & I met with Marty Leslie, the ex-Edinburgh & Scotland flanker during the Open Training Session.

Scotland's Chris Paterson with Matt Taylor

This presented an opportunity to renew acquaintances  and review injuries from the past. This reminded me of meeting up with Matt Taylor whom was also a flanker signing professionally for Edinburgh in 2000, as well as playing for Scotland A and the Scottish Borders. He was commenting on his coaching career moving from working with the Queensland Reds Youth Academy squad to the full Super 15 Reds team as Defence coach. His most interesting comments were around recovery, particularly from travel to New Zealand or South Africa.

Ander Monro (in red) with Al Strokosch & Ross Rennie

Also met on Australia's Gold Coast was Ander Monro, another professional rugby player with Edinburgh who moved on to play internationally for Canada, and played this weekend against France in Napier.

It has been great meeting these ex-colleagues, with more to come from the SPACE stable in Matt Merrick & James Saunders next week in Auckland!

DIET DRINKS COULD PROVE TO BE ANYTHING BUT HEALTHY

Alarming news for lovers of diet drinks.  Two recent studies have linked drinking diet carbonated drinks to poorer health compared with those who don't drink the beverage.

A second study that found the sweetener aspartame raised blood sugar levels in diabetes-prone mice. A second study that found the sweetener aspartame raised blood sugar levels in diabetes-prone mice.

The human study was based on data from 474 participants in a larger, ongoing study called the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Ageing. In that study, the participants were followed for nearly 10 years. Diet soft drink drinkers, as a group, experienced 70 percent greater increases in waist circumference compared with those who don't drink diet drinks. 

In the mouse study, researchers fed aspartame, a calorie-free sweetener used in some diet sodas, to diabetes-prone mice.  After three months, the mice that ate aspartame showed elevated blood sugar levels suggesting that there may be a direct link between aspartame and increased blood-glucose levels. Researchers speculated that artificial sweeteners may trigger appetite but don't provide calories to satisfy the craving, or that the sweeteners could inhibit brain cells that make you feel full, thus prompting more eating.

All in all, this spells further health risks to drinks that offer a veneer of health. Check out the article on the Livestrong Foundation website that also flags up a 2005  paper when researchers from the same University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio found that a diet soda habit can cause significant weight gain.

Read more: Livestrong article: diet drinks cause obesity

RUGBY WORLD CUP KICKS OFF IN NEW ZEALAND

Rugby World Cup 2011 is so close it's tangible at last!

This evening (Friday 9th) sees the Opening Ceremony & first match of the tournament between Tonga & hosts New Zealand with a 60000 sell-out crowd anticipated at Eden Park in Auckland.

Richie McCaw the NZ captain seen prior to RWC Opening

Scotland kicks off tomorrow with the second match when we take on Romania in Invercargill, and the scenes here in Southland have been enthusiastic and memorable for the squad as you may have seen on twitter (@SpaceClinics) over the past week, with vigorous Maori welcomes backing up the noisy and exciting meeting at the airport on Wednesday.

There remain tickets available for all of the matches here in Invercargill but there is no doubting how well-received the Scottish Squad have been since their arrival.

Scotland supported Gerry Ford
seen surrounded by kids sporting Romania colours, Invercargill

Links to read about the Rugby World Cup Tournament, 

and its build-up for the Opening Ceremony:

RWC 2011 set to begin

NZ Herald

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!

FAREWELL AUSTRALIA - KIA ORA NEW ZEALAND!

Internet smash video of kangaroos invading our training pitch aside (watch here on SpaceClinics own You Tube Channel ), the last hours in Sanctuary Cove were spent packing up and the Scotland Rugby bandwagon rolled on into Invercargill at the southernmost tip of NZ.



How much kit do we carry?
Scotland physio Paul McGinley & I packed up over 400Kgs of medical kit including tapes/splints/emergency devices & rehab gear several weeks ago and were reunited with it this evening in our base in downtown Invercargill.

Al Strokosch enjoying a traditional Maori welcome

We received, as the other competing countries before us, a rapturous welcome from locals at the destination airport, but the welcoming warmth of the good folk of Southland genuinely touched the players and management, figuratively and literally with Moari challenges, greetings and hongi-the latter involving a mutual pressing of noses.




So we are the last of the nations into New Zealand, and with just two nights now until the whole shooting match kicks off on Friday with NZ playing Tonga, last minute team declarations and preparations are all that are left. Scotland officially name their team to the press tomorrow, and you can see then whom the twenty two men carrying the hopes of the nation into RWC 2011.

What you get for 400 Kgs

AUSTRALIAN SPORTS NEWS-TATTOO BAN FOR TOP TEAM

Which team in which sport has banned body ink? Rugby League aces the Sydney City Roosters' Chief executive Steve Noyce has confirmed that the in-season banning of players getting tattoos is an initiative that comes from the club's high-performance unit. "We've found it can affect their ability to train at 100 per cent," Noyce said.

Roosters Frank Paul Nuuasaula, Jake Friend and Nate Myles visit Bondi Ink from The Daily Telegraph

One Roosters player, BJ Leilua, has recently experienced a bad reaction to painkillers and created a scene in the Sydney Football Stadium car park. This response had not actually been confirmed to be linked in any way to the presence of recently-acquired body ink, but demonstrates how this issue of a tattoo-ban is being reported in the news-hungry press here in Oz.


Australian papers have generous quantities of newsprint (and now virtual space) dedicated to sports, with soccer struggling to find space, even for the national side (who scraped past Thailand 2-1 in their first World Cup Qualifier on Friday in Brisbane) alongside the onrushing Rugby World Cup, and the latter stages of the rugby league & Australian Rules Football seasons: a far cry from soccer-centric Scotland!

This has been an eye-opener for the Scotland squad (many of whom sport tattoos by the way), although a few of them have enjoyed the last day of the regular season for the NRL (rugby league) competition this weekend at Skilled Park (Titans v Eels) & Suncorp Stadium for Darren Lockyer's final home match for the Brisbane Broncos against Manly Sea-Eagles in front of a record near-51000 spectators. Except it won't be as the post-season begins with a home match for the victorious Broncos against NZ Warriors next weekend anyhow.


For which there will be even more newsprint generated in sports-mad Australia!

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IN AUSTRALIA-SUNSHINE, SURF & SNAKES!

Scotland's #RWC2011 rugby squad have enjoyed the week training at Sanctuary Cove on Queensland's Gold Coast including a joint training session with Canada on Friday.


Controlled scrums and contested line-out throws were enjoyed by both sets of forward packs, whilst the backs ran through an array of dazzling moves against the opposition back division on a warm day in Surfers' Paradise.



The day before a party of nine squad members including SPACE's own Gillian Main & Stephen Mutch had taken advantage of an afternoon off to try a surf lesson, and can report exclusively that everyone (even Dalry's finest) managed to stand on a board by the end of the 2 hour lesson!

Finally our wildlife experiences here in Oz were further enhanced by the (close) presence of a Carpet Python snake which slithered with remarkable speed and economy towards Gillian as she filmed the joint training session yesterday! Whilst the video analyst Gavin Scott was heard to mutter about her missing sections of the training as she (briefly) scarpered, 'Guns' Main held her poise more than her Canadian equivalent, the Canuck jumping around anxiously whilst the python manouvred itself towards its prey!