“Keep calm and go to Icebergs” – that appeared to be Bondi’s reaction to the COVID 19 pandemic, less than two weeks ago.“World in crisis, Aussies hit the beach!” the tabloids declared with glee, blasting images of scantily clad backpackers and oblivious surfers around the world.For shame.The police turned up the next day, after the mercury dropped and the swell disappeared – a dollar short too, one might argue.While Bondi’s en masse gathering is exactly what we need to avoid right now, how it was reported created more division among Sydneysiders than any of Scott Morrison’s ‘distancing’ legislation.

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A post shared by A Q U A B U M P S (@aquabumps) on Mar 17, 2020 at 11:36pm PDT

“Please stop being so selfish,” one health worker wrote underneath a photo of the Bondi masses, “As a health worker this is absolutely devastating to see.”Another wrote: “They’ll probably pop into visit grandma on the way home.”To which (presumably) an Eastern Suburbs sun-worshipper responded: “Safer to go for a surf or swim at Bondi then sitting in a pub or a mall.”While, two weeks on, this debate is now irrelevant (you can’t go to the pub or the mall either now), the exchange reveals an interesting psychological phenomenon: Sydneysiders being played off against each other, by everyone from The Australian to The Guardian to The Daily Mail.Whether or not you 100 per cent agree with that, anyone who has lived in Sydney will have seen Bondi singled out condescendingly by media (see: Finally, People At Bondi Are Getting The Message) and heard the stereotypes that everyone who lives there is either cocaine addled, roid addled or worse, a hipster.Convinced not everyone who lives in the Eastern Suburbs is a smug bastard, DMARGE got on the phone with Dr Lars Madsen, a clinical psychologist who sits on the board of the mental health charity The Mindshift Foundation, to understand the psychology of living in Bondi.First off: does living in a certain suburb really lead you to develop a distinct mindset? According to Lars, it’s a solid maybe: “What we know is that as people we are affected by other people – we are constantly comparing ourselves to other people no matter whether we like it or not, in one way or another.”“If you’re in a culture or environment where you have a lot of high achieving people dressing in a particular way or talking about things in a particular way, we will seek to align ourselves to them,” Lars says.

“The same way if you’re in a culture where people are taking drugs, drinking alcohol, not working, we kind of drift that way as well in terms of our attitudes – there’s lots of psychological research that shows that [this] happens – the environment affects people’s behaviour.”

So: could moving to Bondi turn you into someone who wears aggressively sexy activewear? Someone who feels entitled to live it up? Someone who feels obliged to live it up? Is Bondi like Paris after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, but misguided?Or maybe it was just a nice day.We put it to Lars, “Can moving area change your mindset?” To which he replies: “Absolutely: it depends on who they associate with and who they identify with – if they go to a different area where they are surrounded by different attitudes and different people… then people will gravitate to the norm of that mindset and the people around them.”In terms of Bondi specifically? “Yes, I think so.” Then: “I think people go and live in Bondi and have an expectation that it is something and that maybe affects how they are, and how they interact with others – probably just like people go to Toorak in Melbourne much the same way.”DMARGE then spoke to Elizabeth Venzin, founder and CEO of The Mindshift Foundation, to get her take: “From a personal perspective I think if you live in a suburb that kind of mirrors your own community you feel much more at home.”As for whether Bondi deserved to be singled out by the media, Elizabeth says: “My friend’s son is on the council at Bondi and my friend is a doctor – he said it was absolutely disgusting what happened at Bondi.”

“The people that were down there were irresponsible or living in another world, so I definitely agree with him.”

“Bondi is one of the [COVID] hotspots anyway so it goes to show you can’t behave like that….that’s my personal opinion,” Elizabeth adds. “I saw it with my own eyes, I was there three weeks ago, before it got really bad but while we were supposed to be doing social distancing.”“I was staying in a little apartment in Bondi, and you’d go for a little walk and you’d see backpackers… totally oblivious to reality.”Elizabeth says she thinks “it’s not [the fault] of Bondi itself, but because Bondi attracts so many backpackers… It’s a huge tourist destination, kids have finished their uni degrees and are travelling the world and are carefree… they have the same in Byron.”

“Everyone knows Bondi – that’s why it went all over the world.”

Read Next

• Photographer Reveals How Seriously Bondi Locals Are Taking The World’s Woes
• The Truth About Why Sydneysiders Are So Rude To Tourists 

The post Living In Bondi: Mindset Of Residents Exposed In Lockdown appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

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The majority of business and workforces have been hit hard by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. The global pandemic has shut many places down and forced thousands out jobs. But those who have been able to keep their jobs, have had to adapt to working in new ways, most likely from home.Everyday work-life still requires colleagues to interact with one another, but instead of making several phone calls, they have resorted to using collaboration software such as Zoom – which has seemingly come out of nowhere to become the video conferencing software of choice.But what will happen once the virus disappears and we’re all allowed to go back outside and resume normal life again? The University of South Australia’s Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments (IVE) believes we’ll soon see a huge uptake in both virtual and augmented reality applications.If there’s one thing this pandemic has taught us, it’s that thousands of workers can in fact work from home, even if it was said, or believed, that they couldn’t. But if we continue to work from home following the outbreak, our need for software will only increase.To this, Professor Bruce Thomas says, “Necessity is the mother of invention, and the current pandemic situation is going to push users and developers of remote collaboration technologies to find out what works and what doesn’t, and what solutions really need to be delivered.”

“Higher uptake and demand usually lead to a technology being scrutinised and refined, so I expect we’ll see some real innovation in this area over the coming months.”

Of course, there are other benefits to working from home besides keeping people apart to help minimise the spread of a virus. Fewer people travelling to work means fewer carbon emissions.The University of South Australia’s IVE unit has a team, led by Professor Mark Billinghurst, which is “working on a system that allows a remote expert to guide an individual through a complex task at another location through a combination of AR and 360-degree video,” says Prof. Thomas.Think expert pilot guiding a complete amateur to land a plane, without being in the cockpit with them.He continues,

“This will allow highly skilled experts in fields such as medicine, engineering and maintenance to apply their knowledge in multiple locations without having to travel there physically.”

As for the corporate workers and those in offices, boardroom meetings are commonplace. Prof. Thomas believes these can be replaced by technology, too. His team of researchers are currently looking at solutions that would allow large teams of people to share the same virtual space via VR (virtual reality). Not only would all participants be able to view the same presentation, for example, but put across their own emotions and gestures, just as they would if they were in a physical room.“The back-end capability for this sort of thing is already in place,”

“The challenge is the front end, the interface – how do you share the experience in a meaningful way. How do you have people interact in a lifelike fashion?”

The IVE research teams are currently having to work from home themselves, so they’re getting real-world experience at the same time as carrying out their work.“I think initially we’ll stick with the existing, established communication methods while getting used to the situation, but as we become accustomed, we can start to trial some of the more experimental systems we are working on.”

Read Next

• The Unexpected Technology That’s Taking Over The World
• Weird Habits Australians Are Developing Thanks To Social Distancing

The post How Working From Home Technology Will Change Forever Post-Covid appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

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It’s no secret that the current lockdown measures in place to prevent the spread of the potentially fatal coronavirus has put a real dent in the dating lives of many. Some have resorted to virtual dates, where they have dinner and drinks over FaceTime or Zoom, while we suspect some others have resided to the fact their dating lives are on hold, so will just focus on themselves for the time being.But the quarantine has also caused some people to get creative in other ways, in the hope of finding that special someone. Take Jeremy Cohen for example. The Brooklyn, New York resident has gone viral for his genius move to pick up a girl, and he managed to do so while remaining well over six feet away.

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A post shared by Jeremy Cohen (@jermcohen)

Jeremy decided to head to the rooftop of his apartment building one day and happened to notice a girl – Tori – dancing on the rooftop of hers, just over the road. He eventually caught her gaze, waved and got a wave back. For Jeremy, it was game on from there.He wrote his number on a piece of paper, attached it to his drone and flew it over to Tori. Fortunately for our quarantined casanova, it worked, as he got a message from her around an hour later. But it didn’t end there, he arranged dinner with Tori and so the two had their own separate meal on their own rooftops, and spoke across the table with one another via FaceTime.And being a professional photographer, Jeremy even took some photos from across the road of Tori to remember the date by.Speaking to Bored Panda, Jeremy said, “I actually haven’t been on a date in at least a year. I think I was just craving some social interaction, and being confined by the walls of my apartment inspired some creativity for me.”“Flirting is normally daunting for me, but since I’ve been quarantined in my apartment for a week now, I was screaming for social interaction.”https://www.instagram.com/p/B-SXQqpjEPE/“The date went well and depending on how long this quarantine lasts, I might be in a long-distance relationship with someone who lives across the street from me.”“We’re going on our second date soon. It’s a little strange with all the pressure of everyone watching compared to a normal date, but I think I can handle it!”

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• ‘Co-Vating’: Home Isolation Sparks Creative New Dating Trend
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The post Unusual Date Idea During Quarantine Ends In Success appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

In this current unprecedented – and hopefully unrepeated – time we’re living in, getting outdoors, to the gym or to the yoga studio is next to impossible. It’s safe to say that for a lot of us, our fitness levels are going to take a hit. Obviously, it’s never been easier to do workouts at home, thanks to myriad equipment and Zoom video calling to bring the gym indoors.

But that naturally requires motivation, something that the distractions of home life can hugely affect. It’s all too easy to think “what’s the point of doing some upper body exercises today? I’m just going to sit down after”.

However, achieving your goals is easier than you think, especially if you break it down into short periods. We spoke to Ben Lucas, Director of Flow Athletic and former Cronulla Sharks player, to find out just how ripped you can get during two weeks of isolation.

 

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If you don’t give up on something you truly believe in, you will find a way. @flowathletic

A post shared by Benjamin Lucas (@ben_lucas1) on Mar 29, 2020 at 3:56pm PDT

When posed with the question of what can be achieved, Ben bluntly told us, “a lot”. However, he adds that we should all be realistic. “It’s important during this time of isolation that you don’t lose motivation to continue if you don’t hit your goals in this two week period.”

“My suggestion would be to set a goal, do your best but at the end of the two weeks assess how you went and tweak your goal for the next two weeks accordingly. This way you will be inspired to continue and it will teach you to be a little more realistic.”

We asked Ben to break things down into three categories: strength, cardio fitness and flexibility and got him to suggest some exercises and workouts that can easily be done in the home so that we don’t all become couch potatoes.

Focusing on strength for the moment, Ben says, “For simplicity sake, let’s say your goal is to do 10 more push-ups than what you are doing now, for some people that could be achievable.”

When it comes to push-ups, there are a few variations you can carry out, all of which relate to where you position your hands. An example workout could include 9 sets, split into three, with a 45-second rest between each set.

• First three sets: neutral grip (hands shoulder-width apart)
• Next three sets: wide grip (hands 3 inches wider than shoulder-width apart)
• Last three sets: close grip or tricep push-ups (hands 3 inches apart and elbows in)

“Obviously you would practice doing push-ups to achieve this, but you should also work key muscles in other ways and other areas, to get stronger in general in order to achieve that additional ten.”

“Exercises you can be doing include bench press, overhead press, bicep curls and tricep extensions.”

As for how you can do these exercises, you can either pick up a set of dumbbells or a barbell from a fitness or department store, or you can follow the advice of fast-talking German Jo Lindner and use a set of resistance bands – or if it allows, your sofa.

“Only do these exercises every second or third day to give your muscles time to recover and get stronger. If you don’t achieve ten more push-ups in two weeks, slightly tweak your goal.”

You can even use push-ups to work your arms, but instead of getting down on the floor, you can use the walls of your home, and the sofa for tricep dips.

And, as we all know, you should never skip leg day. Easy leg exercises can include lunges and squats, and if you have some weights, you can add in a few deadlifts, too.

As with all exercise, Ben puts a heavy emphasis on your form and technique,

“If your form is better doing push-ups on your knees then start with that and move up to toes. You will get more out of an exercise that you are doing properly, and possibly cause an injury doing something incorrectly.”

Ben’s overall message to anyone attempting exercise at home, is to set goals. “If you don’t have one to work towards, you won’t be able to track your progress”, and ultimately, if you don’t quite hit them, don’t be put off and give up. Simply “amend your goal based on the results” and you’ll soon start benefitting from the positive energy when you hit them.

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The post Fitness Expert Reveals How Ripped You Can Get In Two Weeks Of Isolation appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya stunned the crowd when he defeated Robert Whittaker at Melbourne’s Marvel Arena in 2019’s UFC 243.Dancing pre-fight, talking smack post, the New Zealander was loved by purist fans for his insane timing, and loathed by the bulk of the audience for beating their Aussie hero.Your DMARGE correspondent was one of those Aussies (see: The Big Mistake I Made When Going To The UFC For The First Time). However, a few months later, Adesanya appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast where he won many people over.Turns out he’s not as arrogant as we thought: as he told Joe, the ‘chill but flashy’ pre-fight routine (which rubbed some people the wrong way), is as much a defence mechanism for The Stylebender as Robert Whittaker’s glowing silence is for him.Also, Adesanya’s honesty about other fighter’s skills (including Whittaker’s), as one Youtube commenter beneath the above video wrote, “outside of his feelings about them,” helped to win people over, as did his attitude towards his new title belt: “When I get back, I don’t even look at this thing.”He works hard and he knows: when you’re at the top, everyone is coming for you. And to stay there you need a winning mindset.The champ’s Instagram is consistent with this philosophy: playful, insightful and – somehow – still humble. And it’s clearly resonating with people: you don’t amass 2.4 million followers with fight IQ alone.On that note, Adesanya recently shared his take on the current COVID 19 lockdown, revealing how a winners mindset is both brutally honest but also positive: “I’ll keep this short and sweet. This next four weeks is going to make and break some people.”

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‪Kindness is strength, community is strength, calmness is strength.‬ ‪#onlythestrongsurvive ‬

A post shared by Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) on Mar 24, 2020 at 11:59pm PDT

“Some people are going to come out of this with drinking problems, drug problems, domestics, broken families… or some people going to come out of this with better relationships settling old beef with family and friends, cooking skills, better brains, healthier bodies.”

“I’m not your fucking guru, I’m not nobody, but yeah I’m the UFC champion and people carry some weight sometimes with what I say. But yeah, stay strong ‘cos only the strong are going to survive this shit.”

Though there were some light-hearted jabs in the comments (“SMH I already had a drug problem nice try buddy”) there was also a lot of agreement and appreciation (“This actually made me quit smoking pot and drinking”).Whatever the case, it’s refreshing to see some honesty, and to see someone famous acknowledge they’re just another person and give their unfiltered two cents, rather than pretending to be anything other than they are.As Adesanya captions the video: “Kindness is strength, community is strength, calmness is strength.” We can’t think of a better note to end on than that.

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• ‘Cyber Pub’ Initiative Hopes To Keep Australian Men Connected During Isolation
• Barry Du Boid Reveals The Problem With How Australians Think About Mental Health

The post Israel Adesanya: UFC Champ Reveals How To Maintain Winning Mindset appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

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While Australians battle to get fit in gyms that wouldn’t look out of place in a maximum-security correctional, German fitness sensation Jo Lindner has taken to Instagram to showcase a much more fun way of working out: turning your furniture into equipment.He first made a splash (on DMARGE) by showing the world a genius $12 solution for the total home workout (for those that aren’t ready to wrangle their furniture) and now he’s at it again, for those with a bit of mass behind them, showing you sofas aren’t just for sitting.How so? Yesterday Jo added to his home fitness regime by bench pressing his sofa. But that’s not all: he also showed how it can be used to do leg press, overhead tricep exercises, squats, bicep curls and sit-ups.

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A post shared by Jo Lindner (@joesthetics) on Mar 29, 2020 at 4:08am PDT

Almost as impressive as the improvised pull up workout he posted last week…

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A post shared by Jo Lindner (@joesthetics) on Mar 26, 2020 at 3:58am PDT

In any case, it appears all one needs to replicate Jo’s sofa workout is a set of muscles proportionate to the weight of one’s couch (and a sofa with metal bars affixed to its underside).That said, most of the exercises Jo showcased, though easier with the bar, can still be done with a regular sofa. Of course, we encourage caution at all times, as it would be somewhat mortifying (not to mention painful) to call the emergency services and tell them “I’m currently trapped under my sofa.”Your call though: those gains look impressive.

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• Affordable Equipment For Conquering Your Home Workouts
• The Ultimate No Weights, No Worries Home & Hotel Workout

The post Jo Lindner’s Home Workout Is A HIIT appeared first on DMARGE Australia.