Learning Vocabulary: Health and Fitness

Introduction

Jack: Hi Rich. You’re looking a bit out of breath. Where have you been? 

Rich: Hi Jack. I’ve just got back from the gym.

Jack: Really Rich, the gym?? When did you start going there? 

Rich: Last week. I really need to get into shape. You know, lose a few kilos, start building that six-pack up again.

Jack: Have you ever had a six-pack?

Rich: Haha! No, I don’t think so. But, it can’t be that hard, can it?

Jack: Are you alright? I think you should have a sit-down. What happened there?

Rich: I forgot to stretch when I was warming up. I’m just a bit stiff that’s all.

Jack: It looks like you’ve done your hamstring to me.

Rich: I’ve what?

Jack: It looks like you’ve pulled a muscle. Your hamstring. The muscles that are in the back of your leg. Behind the thigh. It’s one of the most common injuries in football.

Rich: Ah well, I’m sure it’ll be OK in the morning.

Jack: I’m not so sure, Rich. You might be out of action for a few weeks. You should probably get it checked out.

Jack: It’s Paul from the office downstairs. He wants to know if you want anything getting for lunch?

Rich: Great. Tell him to pick us up a kebab, a portion of chips and a large coke.

Jack: Really? What about getting fit?

Rich: Ah, I suppose that can wait until I can go to the gym again!

Welcome - Health and Fitness 

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich

Jack: and I’m Jack

Rich: and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast

Jack: Where we talk about football and help you with your English.

Jack: What’s happening this week, Rich?

Rich: In this week’s podcast, we are going to talk about the language of health and fitness.

Jack: We’re going to look at some common phrases about diet and some common phrases about fitness. 

Rich: When we’re introducing this week’s phrases we’re not only going to talk about individual words and what they mean but we really want you to feel confident using these phrases when you are speaking.

Jack: This means we sometimes need to look at the meaning of each phrase, the pronunciation of the phrase and how and when the phrase is used.

Rich: In this podcast, we have time to look at some important phrases but we want you to learn much, much more.

Jack: So, right now, we are producing another Premier Skills English Live Activity Week on the Premier Skills English website where you will see lots of extra pages and activities related to the language of health and fitness.

Rich: The activity week starts on Monday so come back to the Premier Skills English website and we will have lots more about health and fitness.

Jack: You can register for this activity week and our past activity weeks on the Premier Skills English website now. It’s free, it will help you with your English and if you complete it, you can download a certificate. Click the tab on the menu that says live!

Rich: Finally, don’t forget to listen to the end of this podcast because we have a new football phrase for you to guess.

Topic Focus

Rich: So, Jack and I are going to do two roleplays. We want you to answer three questions while you listen. 1. Is the roleplay about diet or fitness? 2. What do I need to do? 3. Do you think I will do it?

Roleplay 1 

Jack: What’s that you’re eating there?

Rich: It’s my lunch. Fish and chips with peas.

Jack: I wouldn’t eat that if I were you. Aren’t you supposed to be on a diet?

Rich: Yeah. I don’t think it’s that bad. It’s got a bit of green in it.

Jack: Mushy peas. Disgusting. And they’re full of sugar and salt. 

Rich: One of my five a day?

Jack: One of your five a day! No, I don’t think so. They were vegetables once but now they’re just processed rubbish. 

Rich: So, what do you think I should be eating?

Jack: Fresh green, leafy vegetables are best. What about some steamed broccoli instead?

Rich: I could do that.

Jack: The fish is OK, fish oils are good for your brain, but steamed or baked fish would be much better than the fried fish you’ve got. There are loads of calories in it when you fry it.

Rich: Mmm, OK. And the chips?

Jack: I think you know what I’m going to say. I’d go for a jacket potato maybe. That’ll fill you up.

Rich: The coke?

Jack: Get rid of it! Soft drinks are full of sugar. Those sugar-free ones are full of all kinds of stuff, too. Water is what you need. I have it when I go to the gym and with all meals. They say you should have at least two litres a day.

Rich: Steamed fish, jacket potato, broccoli and water. That should help me lose a bit of weight.

Jack: Roleplay 2. We want you to answer three questions while you listen. 1. Is the roleplay about diet or fitness? 2. What does Rich need to do? 3. Do you think he will do it?

Rich: Have you been out for a run?

Jack: Yeah. It was a good one but I’m knackered. Beep, beep

Rich: What’s that?

Jack: It’s my new fitness tracker. It’s really useful. Look, it tells me how far I ran.

Rich: Just over four kilometres. Pretty good.

Jack: And this tells me how many calories I’ve burned and the speed I was going. It even tells me my heart rate too. 

Rich: Looks good. I think I should get one, it might encourage me to do a bit more exercise. 

Jack: They’re great. If you start running, take it easy at first and don’t forget to stretch.

Rich: Stretch?

Jack: You need to warm up before you start running, like with any exercise. You should do warming up exercises before you run and you should cool down when you finish. You don’t want to pull a muscle.

Rich: Yeah, OK.

Jack: Are you serious?

Rich: About what?

Jack: About taking up running?

Rich: Yes, I think so.

Jack: Well, we can go for the first run together. I’ll make sure you don’t go too fast at first.

Rich: Great idea. But, I don’t think they’ll be too much of a problem of me going too fast!

Language Focus 

Jack: We’ve just used lots of useful language for talking about diet and fitness.

Rich We’re going to look at some phrases about diet and some phrases about fitness.

Jack: If you have registered for our activity week, you will see that lesson two is all about sports injuries, lesson four is all about the language of diet and lesson five is all about the language of fitness.

Rich: If you want to learn more vocabulary related to these topics take a look at these lessons when you have finished this podcast or register for the activity week on the Premier Skills English homepage if you haven’t done that yet. Just click the live tab and you will find activity-week - health and fitness waiting for you.

Jack: But, for now, let’s look at some of the language from the two roleplays we’ve just done. 

Rich: Roleplay one was all about diet so let’s look at three of the phrases we used in a bit more detail.

Jack: The first phrase is full of. In the roleplay, I told Rich that mushy peas are full of sugar and salt and that soft drinks are full of sugar too.

Rich: We hear this phrase a lot when talking about food. Chocolate is full of fat, crisps are full of salt, butter is full of calories. 

Jack: It’s not only negative though. You also hear this phrase being used when we say fruit and vegetables are full of the vitamins and minerals our body needs.

Rich: So, full means to have as much as possible of something in something else. For example, when a football stadium is full it means that all the tickets have been sold and no one else can enter the stadium.

Jack: The stadium is full of fans. We often use the preposition ‘of’ with full. Something is full of something. A stadium is full of fans. An orange is full of vitamin C. Chocolate is full of calories.

Rich: We use ‘of’ but you might not hear it because we don’t say it strongly. Listen again. A stadium is full of fans. We often just use a schwa. An orange is full of vitamin c.

Jack: Here is an activity for you. We want you to complete some sentences using full of. What can you say about these foods? 

Processed food …

Rich: Processed food is full of salt.

Jack: Very good Rich. Now let’s see if our listeners can complete some sentences.

Jack: Cake is ...

Rich: Cake is full of sugar. Is that what you said?

Jack: The next phrase we want you to look at is good for and bad for.

Rich: When we are talking about food this is easy. We can say sugar is bad for you and fruit is good for you.

Jack: Too much sugar.

Rich: Yes, OK. A little sugar is OK, too much sugar is bad for you. In the roleplay, Jack said fish oils are good for your brain.

Jack: We use the phrase good for or bad for a lot when speaking about diet. We can say sugar is bad for your teeth and milk is good for your bones. 

Rich: We’re going to give you three more items of food. Can you tell us what they are good for or bad for?

Jack: Number one: green, leafy vegetables; number two: fizzy drinks; number three; wholemeal bread.

Rich: Right, the third phrase we want to look at about diet is it’ll fill you up.

Jack: To fill someone up is a phrasal verb that describes food that you have eaten that has made you feel full; that makes you feel that you don’t want to eat any more.

Rich: In the roleplay, Jack said that I should eat a jacket potato because it would fill me up.

Jack: Can you tell us a dish or food from your country that would fill me up?

Rich: Write your answers in the comments section at the bottom of the page. Now, let’s look at three phrases from the second roleplay that was all about fitness.

Jack: The first phrase is don’t forget to stretch.

Rich: I’ve always hated doing this. I remember my teachers and coaches at school saying it’s time to stretch.

Jack: But it’s important to warm up your muscles.

Rich: Yes, I know. But nowadays it’s my wife who tells me. Whenever I go and do some exercise. She often shouts don’t forget to stretch!

Jack: It is important to stretch especially for … older people.

Rich: Thanks! This phrase don’t forget to is often used to remind people to do things. Don’t forget to lock the door, don’t forget to turn off the lights, don’t forget to bring your homework. 

Jack: Yes, it’s a useful phrase. The second phrase is I really need to get into shape. This is an idiom or informal expression that means to do some exercise and become physically fit.

Rich: Other similar phrases that you might hear are: I need to get fit, I need to stay fit and trim, I’m as fit as a fiddle or I really need to lose a few kilos.

Jack: The third useful phrase from the second roleplay is to warm up. This is another phrasal verb. To warm up means to do some easy exercises before you do the sport or activity you plan to do.

Rich: In the second roleplay, Jack told me that it was important to warm up before going for a run and then after going for a run that it was important to cool down.

Jack: Cool down is another phrasal verb and it means the same as warm up but you do the easy exercise after you’ve finished your activity rather than before. 

Rich: Tatkanatka from Russia was asking about this on the website last week so we hope we’ve answered your question there.

Jack: If you want to learn more language about either diet or fitness you can register for our activity week on health and fitness which starts on Monday.

Rich: If you are already on the activity week then you will find the next lesson focuses on the language of diet and lesson five will be the language of fitness. 

Football Phrase

Rich: Have you got a football phrase for us this week? 

Jack: Yes, I have, but first, last week’s football phrase. The phrase was to put the ball out of play.  It means to accidentally, or on purpose, if another player is injured, kick the ball off the pitch.

Rich: Quite a few of you got it right and we had some people guessing the football phrase for the first time. Well done to Liubomyr and Violinka from Ukraine, Kwesimanifest from Ghana, Nikotin from Bulgaria, Lynnhtetmyo from Myanmar, Lakerwang from China, Toha_23 from Ukraine and Milos from Serbia. What’s this week’s phrase, Jack?

Jack: This week’s football phrase is to **** * ******. This is a phrase that can happen to anybody doing sport or exercise, not just footballers. This is the general phrase we use when someone hurts or strains some part of your body. It’s very common for footballers to **** ******** in their legs for example.

Rich: Right, that’s all we have time for this week! Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below.

Jack: Don’t forget to sign up for our Premier Skills English Live Lessons on the Premier Skills English homepage. Just hit the live tab .

Rich: If you have enjoyed this podcast or found it useful, leave us a rating  or review and that will help other people find us. Bye for now and enjoy your football!