20 replies to this topic

[molive]

The "Nuno Cobra Method"

Nuno was the personal trainer of Ayrton Senna for ten years, he also coached Mika Hakkinen, Rubens Barrichello, Gil de Ferran and Christian Fittipaldi, among others, from professional athletes to business men, like Abilio Diniz (Pedro's father).

Now, after some 40 years of work, Nuno decided to publish a book, titled "Semente da Vitoria" (literally: Victory's Seed). In the book he gives the basic principles of what he calls the "NC Method", which is, for lack of a better description, a set of "rules" that he developed since he started studying the human body and its response to various sport fitness practices back in the 60s.

I read the book this past week, and although I find very difficult (or almost impossible in my case) to follow strictly some of his advices, I have already incorporated some of the practices into my daily life. They're only small things, little changes in our routine/practices, but when you add up they can really make a difference.

But the book isn't about fitness only, it's about success, and how to channel one's inner strenght to achieve his goals.

Anyway, with the risk of over-simplifying NC's approach, I took the liberty of enumerating the most practical aspects of his method, maybe you will find them useful:

1. Our brain is "dummy". Tell him the right things and he will believe.

2. The sleeping time is the basis of human life. 8 hours/day is the min (from around 23:00 to 7:00). During the "deep" sleep our body produces the complex hormons and substances. Sleep less and your body will suffer.

3. Eating habits: drink a full glass of water first thing in the morning, before breakfast. Then drink 2-3 liters/day. Choose a quiet place to eat. If you have time, rest for a few mins before eating lunch. Smell the food, chew slowly, and don't go without eating something each 3-3 hours. And of course, eat healthy stuff, specially fish.

4. Working out: If you don't work out, start slowly. really slowly. painfully slowly. Walk for months before jogging, jog for months before running. Develop your heart before working your muscles. Use your own body weight for lifting or use free weights, avoid machines that do some of the work for you.

5. Reserve a few mins every day to meditate. Find a silent place, think good stuff, breathe.

6. Believe, you can.


Easy, huh? Of course, there's way more than that. But those are the things I have decided to at least have a try. If it worked for Senna and Mika....;) If you wanna know more....well, buy the book.

[100cc]

Originally posted by molive

3. Eating habits: drink a full glass of water first thing in the morning, before breakfast. Then drink 2-3 liters/day. Choose a quiet place to eat. If you have time, rest for a few mins before eating lunch. Smell the food, chew slowly, and don't go without eating something each 3-3 hours. And of course, eat healthy stuff, specially fish.

Why chew slowly??? I always eat quite fast, and I've heard this before(eating slowly), but I haven't heard why it helps?

[parklife]

Some health experts say that well-chewed food is already half-digested (except meat, since saliva does not help to digest meat ) and therefore much less energy is expended in the abdominal digestive process.
Well-chewed food reaches the stomach at an ideal temperature - neither too hot nor too cold, but the right body temperature - that makes for excellent digestion / absorption.
Plus, chewing well ensures better absorption by the body of the nutrients in the food (because of salivary action and material breakdown provided by good chewing )
It also helps reduce your calorie intake if you have a tendency to overeat, because it makes you feel full with less food.


I personally don't believe all of this - especially the 'half-digested' bit ! My experience has been that once you start eating more slowly you realise that lots of boring foods that are good for you - like vegetables- actually taste quite good.

[SeanValen]

Interesting stuff, I'll copy and paste your rules, they seem very good, if Senna did it, then it's gotta be good.

[maclaren]

I once read an another similar book, it was quite interesting. I belive these things make a lot sense. Unfortunately I have not enough motivation to do things that way from day to another

[pRy]

Might be an interesting book although im sure Schumachers trainer has a few interesting tips too.

[scheivlak]

Originally posted by molive
The "Nuno Cobra Method"

1. Our brain is "dummy". Tell him the right things and he will believe.

2. The sleeping time is the basis of human life. 8 hours/day is the min (from around 23:00 to 7:00). During the "deep" sleep our body produces the complex hormons and substances. Sleep less and your body will suffer.

3. Eating habits: drink a full glass of water first thing in the morning, before breakfast. Then drink 2-3 liters/day. Choose a quiet place to eat. If you have time, rest for a few mins before eating lunch. Smell the food, chew slowly, and don't go without eating something each 3-3 hours. And of course, eat healthy stuff, specially fish.

4. Working out: If you don't work out, start slowly. really slowly. painfully slowly. Walk for months before jogging, jog for months before running. Develop your heart before working your muscles. Use your own body weight for lifting or use free weights, avoid machines that do some of the work for you.

5. Reserve a few mins every day to meditate. Find a silent place, think good stuff, breathe.

6. Believe, you can.

Good advices, but they also remind me of all the good intentions Mr. Bolsheviks' characters have when they wake up from their teisted dreams I think this will be classic material for his next columns.

[30ft penguin]

Originally posted by 100cc
Why chew slowly??? I always eat quite fast, and I've heard this before(eating slowly), but I haven't heard why it helps?

The stomach needs about 15mins to generate the "not hungry anymore" feeling. That is, if you eat slowly, you will eat less, because you will feel satiated from a lesser amount of food. On the other hand, if you eat really fast, you will eat more than you actually need, since the "full" feeling takes too long to build up.

Eat slowly, and you will eat less and still feel satiated. And of course it's fun, because you really can enjoy the taste of the meal

[rtcoman]

molive, this sounds interesting and makes sense, but I don`t understand why you should drink a glass of water when you wake up? Does the author, Nuno Cobra, give any explanations?

[daedalus]

Originally posted by molive

Nuno was the personal trainer of Ayrton Senna for ten years, he also coached Mika Hakkinen, Rubens Barrichello, Gil de Ferran and Christian Fittipaldi...

Great CV.

So, he worked with Senna for 10 years? I wonder how long MH was his pupil and if he actually did the whole program.

[pRy]

Originally posted by rtcoman
molive, this sounds interesting and makes sense, but I don`t understand why you should drink a glass of water when you wake up? Does the author, Nuno Cobra, give any explanations?

I imagine its just a good time to do it.. your waking time is a regular event for your body so it would possibly make a good time to introduce it to the system on a daily basis. It would also clear out the system ready for the day.. hense why they say before breakfast.

[molive]

Originally posted by rtcoman
molive, this sounds interesting and makes sense, but I don`t understand why you should drink a glass of water when you wake up? Does the author, Nuno Cobra, give any explanations?

yep. Pry nailed it. it's a cleaning-up thing.

Nuno says that fluids have preference within our system, so by providing some water to start up you make sure the breakfast will be used more efficiently by a clean and well hydrated system.

I didn't use to drink water early in the morning, because I just didn't feel thirsty at all, just around 10am, at work, I'd drink the first glass, now I'm trying to follow this simple procedure.

Btw, he also said that one should avoid drinking during lunch, because fluids have preference, when you drink your body stops processing the food to process the liquid and it breaks the "flow" of things, specially if the liquid is cold. Also, by chewing slowly you will turn solids into liquids and thus will not feel "thirsty" during a meal (that one is specially tough for me, I'm used to drink during lunch, and I'm finding it's very hard to break away from it).

[tombr]

1. Our brain is "dummy". Tell him the right things and he will believe.

This strikes me as the most important. Like a computer... Garbage In = Garbage Out. Whether you believe you can succeed or fail, you are correct.

[molive]

Originally posted by tombr


This strikes me as the most important. Like a computer... Garbage In = Garbage Out. Whether you believe you can succeed or fail, you are correct.

yep. if you ever played tennis you will know exactly what psychological strength can do for or against you.

[100cc]

is there any chance that there's an english version of the book??

[daedalus]

unfortunately, it´s only in Portuguese, but its just released, maybe they´ll translate it next year...

check the review here:

http://www2.uol.com..../nunocobra.html

[molive]

Originally posted by scheivlak


Good advices, but they also remind me of all the good intentions Mr. Bolsheviks' characters have when they wake up from their teisted dreams I think this will be classic material for his next columns.

Actually, I'm taking them as part of my own list of "things to improve" in 2002....I'll let you know one year from now if it worked.

[klipywitz]

Hello everyone,

I think the key thing here that is going mostly unnoticed is the number of meals one should have during the day. As stated above, you shouldnt really go more than 4 hours without eating anything. In fact, you should break the big meals into smaller ones, so that you pretty much eat the same quantity of food, but in different "servings" (meals, for the lack of a better term).

I found this to particular true a while back. This is the way to get your metabolism really going. If you only do one or two meals a day, you pretty much load of on food, overloading your digestive system. You get that heavy, stuffed feeling, etc. Plus, by not eating for a long time, your body also tends to store up all the food you eat in order to prepare to go that long without eating. It goes into the "power saver" mode. That said, it is obviously not helping you to be lean -- it is just helping you store what you eat. Instead, if you eat every four hours or so, the opposite will happen. The quantity of food to be diggested will be smaller, making the process easier, and your system will slowly learn not to store the food. With time (that happens rather quickly, actually, at least with me), you will notice that you will fee better, more energy, and you might shed off some pounds too.

yes, I know it is a pain, because it is a little bit more time consuming (4 meals and all), but it really pays off. You guys should try it out if you are willing to improve your health condition.

[100cc]

that eating slow thing works, I tried it

[daedalus]

Originally posted by 100cc
that eating slow thing works, I tried it

Me too. It´s tough. i´m used to fast food, and I usally finish before the 10min mark...

[daedalus]

Originally posted by daedalus


Me too. It´s tough. i´m used to fast food, and I usally finish before the 10min mark...

Well, if it doesn´t work, t least you´ll be able to enjoy the taste of the food better...