08 May 2019
While often termed differently, muffin top, belly fat and spare tire are all essentially the same thing – excess abdominal fat. No matter what it’s called, it can be a frustration for many men. One of the most difficult areas to slim, the abdomen contains two types of fat which each require different tactics to tone the area. We asked Brent Wilson, a registered dietitian at INTEGRIS, Health to share his advice on how the spare tire affects men and what can be done to get rid of it once and for all.
Fat around the stomach and waist can be caused by a variety of factors. “The spare tire is excess body fat stored around the midsection when our calorie balance is off,” Wilson explains. Caused by an imbalance between calorie intake and output, poor diet and insufficient activity are the main culprits of belly fat.
Inactivity during the day, worsened by sitting at a desk or in front of the television for long periods of time, is also a large contributor to one’s spare tire. Even stress can be a factor as it can impact the hormones that create fat.
Visceral Fat “Subcutaneous fat hibernates just beneath your skin and you can grasp it with your fingers,” Wilson says. “Visceral fat stows away deep in your abdomen around your organs.” These organs can include your intestines and stomach. Visceral fat is more dangerous than its subcutaneous counterpart as it can produce cytokines, or inflammation, that can damage those organs.
Health risks commonly go hand-in-hand with the spare tire. “Excess belly fat increases your risk for high blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and metabolic syndrome,” Wilson explains. The chemicals created by excess visceral fat can increase the risk for heart disease or diabetes. As men age, it becomes more important to exercise regularly as their bodies tend to lose muscle mass more easily.
When it comes to shedding the spare tire, lifestyle changes must be made. “Ultimately, it comes down to the decisions we have to make on a daily basis,” Wilson says.
He explains these decisions become increasingly more difficult to make due to the convenience of highly processed foods that include substantial amounts of fat, sugar and calories. Combined with the typical low level of activity required by many jobs, it becomes more important to make conscious decisions to be physically active.
The first step toward eliminating the spare tire is to set healthy and reasonable goals. Shedding abdominal fat takes time and should not be treated as a race. So, how do you track your progress? The number on the scale doesn’t always represent the amount of fat and muscle mass a person carries, making it a less than optimal choice for measurement. Many people prefer to track their Body Mass Index (BMI), although Wilson advises against this. Instead, he opts for a more specific source of measurement.
“The BMI will ultimately give you a general idea of where your weight should be; however, it can be misleading as it doesn’t take muscle mass into account,” he says.
“The best thing would be to have your body fat percentage tested and retested after a few months of implementing physical activity and healthy eating.” The INTEGRIS Health Weight Loss Center provides several options for both surgical and non-surgical weight loss services, including seminars and assistance with nutrition.
It is also important to set a healthy daily calorie goal. “Ultimately, we need to lower our calorie intake,” Wilson says. “I would encourage keeping a food log to identify where the most calories are coming from in your diet. Then, try replacing high calorie food and beverages with lower calorie options.” He suggests the app MyFitnessPal as a way to track your dietary choices.
When exercising to burn belly fat, it’s important to create a healthy mix of cardio and strength training. When targeting the spare tire, especially if you don’t go to the gym on a regular basis, you should start slowly. Wilson suggests beginning by walking or cycling and slowly increasing the duration and intensity of cardio.
Make sure to include stretches in your routine to keep your muscles limber and limit soreness. He advises setting a goal of 150 minutes of physical activity per week.
When it comes to choosing between cardio and weights, he says “both can be effective if used properly. The key is to get your heart pumping, so you can start burning the fat stored around the belly. Cardio is great at this. Weights can also work well, as long as you are keeping your heart rate elevated. Rather than resting in between sets of weight lifting, try using your rest time to keep your heart rate up with things like rowing, walking, or cycling.”
Stay committed to your exercise goals by creating a workout calendar or setting a joint fitness goal with your friends or family. For those who need to set a specific time to work out or thrive on extroverted activities, try joining a group fitness or boot camp style workout.
A healthy diet is the perfect complement to your new exercise regime.
It can also be the most difficult part of the process. Essentially, it’s important to choose lower calorie options, skip processed foods, limit sugar and practice portion control.
“Choose lean protein sources such as eggs, nuts, fish and chicken,” Wilson recommends. “Increase your intake of fruit and vegetables, which contain fewer calories per cup than most other foods. The fiber in them will keep you feeling full for longer so you take in fewer calories throughout the day.”
It is vital that men strive to achieve a healthy lifestyle as they age. Eliminating the spare tire is a crucial factor in the process of lowering health risks and staying in good physical shape. Contact an INTEGRIS Health physician today to assess your health needs.
Share this page
One of the most frustrating areas where the body stores fat is in the belly, aka the "spare tire.
" If you want to burn belly fat, you need to focus on nailing the basics on a regular basis: eating a healthy diet high in protein while at a calorie deficit, strength training regularly, and getting in conditioning work. Although steady-state cardio is good and necessary as part of a well-rounded fitness program, you also need to be doing it at a higher intensity to lose spare tire fat fast.
I recommend adding high-intensity interval training (HIIT) into your routine—especially since it burns more calories than other types of physical activity and enhances your metabolism post-workout. Just a heads up, HIIT can be very challenging and demanding on the body, so I recommend easing your way into it and starting off with just 2 to 3 sessions per week, either as a standalone workout or at the end of your strength training sessions. Get ready to torch those calories and lose spare tire fat real quick.
Here are the best three cardio exercises for you to do which will help you lose spare tire fat fast.
Check them out below, and next, be sure to read The 6 Best Exercises for Strong and Toned Arms in 2022, Trainer Says.
Hop on an air bike at your gym (AssaultBike, Rogue Echo, Schwinn Airdyne, etc.), and grab the handles. You can start with a simple interval workout by sprinting for 10 to 15 seconds, then cruising at a lower intensity for 30 to 40 seconds, and repeating for a total of 10 to 15 minutes.
Related: The Worst Exercise Mistakes When You're Trying To Burn Belly Fat, Trainer Says
Tim Liu, C.S.C.S.Hop on a rower, and warm up for a minute or two. Once you're warmed up, sprint hard for 60 seconds, and see how many meters you can row in that timeframe. Rest for 3 to 5 minutes afterward, then do another 60-second round, trying to match the same distance as your first sprint. Rinse and repeat for 5 rounds total.
Related: 5 Best Strength Training Exercises To Get Rid Of Jiggly Thighs, Trainer Says
Tim Liu, C.S.C.S.Start this exercise by standing with your legs outside of the belt and setting your treadmill to a 10% incline and the speed a little higher than your typical jog pace.
Once the incline and speed are set, hop on, and sprint hard for 30 seconds.
Once you've sprinted for 30 seconds, grab the handles on the side, and carefully jump back onto the stable non-moving part of the treadmill. Rest for 30 seconds, and then repeat this workout for 10 rounds.
ShutterstockFor more fitness inspiration, check out The 3 Best Floor Exercises To Shrink Belly Fat Fast, Trainer Says and The Best Cardio Exercises To Get A Lean Body Fast—Without Equipment. 6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e
Tim Liu, C.S.C.S.
Tim Liu, CSCS, is an online fitness and nutrition coach based in Los Angeles Read more about Tim
Mark
Model
Leave your contact details:
By phone
By mail
Specify a convenient time to call:
Day/Date
Clock
Minutes
By submitting an application, I give my consent to the collection and processing of personal personal data provided by me in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On the Protection of Personal Data"
Leave your contact details:
Specify a convenient time to call:
Day/Date
Clock
Minutes
Right now
By submitting an application, I give my consent to the collection and processing of personal personal data provided by me in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On the Protection of Personal Data"
Leave your contact details:
Select machine:
Make
Model
By submitting an application, I give my consent to the collection and processing of personal personal data provided by me in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On the Protection of Personal Data"
Sample Text
Leave your contact details:
Select machine:
Brand
Model
Specify a convenient time for a test drive:
Day/Date
Clock
Minutes
By submitting an application, I give my consent to the collection and processing of personal personal data provided by me in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On the Protection of Personal Data"
X
Return the current version of the site.
Behind the locks, autocentre.ua looks like a Ukrainian language.
Glory to Ukraine! Glory to heroes!
You will be redirected to the Ukrainian version of the site in 10 seconds
Mountains of Kyrgyzstan
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
We have already told the story of Vyacheslav Kovalev, an IT specialist from Irkutsk, who, after the start of a special operation, left Russia for Turkey because of work. Over the past year, Vyacheslav drove more than 30 thousand kilometers by car and visited more than 5 countries. The programmer told our colleagues from IrCity about how his life has changed this year, his trips around Central Asia and his adventures along the way.
— First of all, tell us how much time did you spend in Turkey in total and why did you end up returning to Russia? Has the employer changed his principled position and stopped insisting that his employees not be on the territory of the Russian Federation?
— I lived in Turkey just long enough to understand that living in Antalya is damn boring and hot.
The life and movement of Istanbul is much more to my liking. I also realized that Turkey is a very underestimated country for travel in the mass consciousness. It is not about all-inclusive hotels, Turkey is different. You need to go there for tourism, and not lie on the beach. Turkey is mountains, hot air balloons, ruins of Greek culture, boat and quad bike rides, entire cities carved into the rocks. There are a lot of interesting things there, I didn’t see everything and I will definitely go there again or twice.
Turkey. Istanbul
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
I realized that the Turks love their country very much and are open to new contacts. But I had to return for family reasons. They were more important than my desire to keep my job.
A year later, the Russian labor market began to change for the better. On the one hand, the panic subsided and some certainty appeared.
On the other hand, many effective specialists left. The picture is completed by the sanctions, due to which the applications of the sanctioned banks were removed from the global application stores.
Turkey. Istanbul
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
All this has led to the fact that now professionals are urgently needed both to support and develop existing projects, and to launch new ones. For example, the Russian app store for Android smartphones. It is now being actively developed, after which deleted applications will return there and new ones will appear. In addition, many new specialists in information security are required, and so on.
— Do I understand correctly that the fear of losing your job in a few months has become not very relevant, because now there are enough offers in Russia? That is, you knew that, in which case, you would not be left without a job?
— Yes, not everything is so bad in Russia now.
The situation is different on the world market. Major companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix and Twitter are laying off thousands of employees. Personally, I still do not understand whether this is a crisis or just a market correction. In any case, the competition abroad is getting stronger. We have to compete not only with developers from India and Europe, but also with tens of thousands of former employees of the largest corporations.
Turkey. Istanbul
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
But, despite this, it is quite possible to find a job abroad. A specialist from Russia is often perceived without political overtones. This is just a good specialist who can do everything except business communication. The world has long been accustomed to the fact that Russians perform their tasks well, quickly and efficiently, but they do not know how to communicate well. This is not so much about the English language, but about the very culture of business communication, which we do not have as a class.
In general, it has become more difficult to find a job, but it can be found both in Russia and abroad.
Turkish cafe in Istanbul
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
— You spent more time in Turkey than the average tourist. So you discovered its non-tourist side. If you think about it and analyze it, what traits or features would you single out because of which you would not live there permanently?
- During the last interview, I cursed unprintable words for an hour and a half, waved my arms and did everything to express my indignation. The food turned out to be inedible (kebabs are good while you are a tourist). But the hardest thing was to come to terms with the unhurried rhythm of life, with constant delays, with indifference in everything ... Yes, this is generally unimportant. If you take this rhythm of life for granted, then everything becomes much easier.
You allocate more time for some business, you control the quality of execution better - and the problems, if they do not disappear, then become much less significant. There is no need to shift the Russian rhythm of life to other countries, otherwise you will never be satisfied. It doesn't matter if we are talking about Belgium or Turkey. 9Ol000 Okay, you're back, and then? How did it happen that you took and drove to discover new countries? And not some pop among tourists, but you suddenly decided to see Central Asia?
- First I solved my problems, because of which I had to return from Turkey. And then, due to the lack of a permanent job, I freed up a fairly large amount of free time that could be spent interestingly.
Landscapes of Kyrgyzstan
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Road from the Arabel Plateau in Kyrgyzstan
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Arabel Plateau
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Now I will try to tell you briefly about the countries that were of interest to me as a tourist and at the same time a large number of Russians moved to these countries. A detailed story will turn our conversation into a meeting of the travel club. Little is known about Central Asia in Russia, more precisely, maybe they know, but they rarely go there. In fact, this is a great place for those who love active tourism, non-banal, fascinating.
Toguz-Bulak village in Kyrgyzstan
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Inspired by Leonid Parfyonov's film "The Color of the Nation", which tells about the founder of Russian color photography Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky, I loaded into my "Barbie Car" (Mini Cooper.
- Note ed. ) the essentials and went from St. Petersburg ... No, not to Moscow. To Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. I wanted to see with my own eyes the azure domes of the Registan in Samarkand, to visit the Issyk-Kul lake in Kyrgyzstan, to feel the infinity of the steppes of Kazakhstan. And then I decided to take a trip to Belarus to stare at the heavy Stalinist architecture of Minsk and the island of Europe in Grodno. It was the second best decision of the year.
The official residence of the President and Parliament of Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
— Surely one could easily write a book about all these adventures. But we have no such goal right now. So tell us about the most important impressions from each country.
— Then let's start with Kyrgyzstan. I am one of those people who sincerely likes Soviet modernism.
In my opinion, the best building in St. Petersburg is the Institute of Robotics, and not the expensive, rich Singer House. And the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, is an exemplary Soviet, planned city, as it was rebuilt almost from scratch. City with mosaics on the houses. City of concrete modernism. And in this regard, Bishkek aroused my childish delight. But there is a very large private sector around the Soviet city, which contrasts strongly with the city architecture.
Soviet architecture in Bishkek. Post office and Kyrgyztelecom
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
The leisurely life in the city is very noticeable on the roads. The city has extremely short traffic lights and a complete lack of synchronization, as a result of which everyone moves monstrously slowly. The speed of 40 kilometers per hour is something supernatural, such a speed is almost unattainable. Usually the speedometer needle flounders around the number 30.
Post office building in Bishkek
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
— Which sights of this country would you like to highlight?
— Of course, people go to the Issyk-Kul lake and the Tien Shan mountains. I chose the standard route around Issyk-Kul: along the southern part through the village of Tamga, monuments to Yuri Gagarin and the city of Karakol, and back along the northern part of the lake. But when did I strictly adhere to the route? I saw the road to the mountains - it means that you must definitely turn onto it. While traveling in Kyrgyzstan, one such road led me to a checkpoint with a barrier. The question immediately arose: what is there? Can you drive there? It turned out that yes.
The road to the gold mine
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Signed up in a notebook at the checkpoint, rushed off.
The usual primer was replaced by a long dirt serpentine. At its end I was met by a sign "3819 Barskoon Ashuusu". This is the Arabel plateau in the central part of the Teskey Ala mountain of the Tien Shan mountain system. A huge snow-covered plain at an altitude of almost 4 kilometers above sea level.
The mine is located in the mountains at an altitude of almost 4 thousand meters
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Alpine lakes, small mountain peaks that look like miniature models of the giant below me. A few tens of kilometers along the only road in a car choking from a lack of oxygen - and we get to the Kumtor gold mine. Kumtor is the second high-altitude mine after Yanacocha in Peru. The mine belonged to the Canadian company Centerra Gold Inc., but was nationalized during the next change of power.
I did not drive up to the mine itself, because it is guarded by stern men with machine guns.
But overall it was an interesting adventure: beautiful, cold and cool air. But not enough.
The road to the Ala-Archa National Park
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
I will also say that everyone who travels around Kyrgyzstan will definitely see the Semenovskoye and Kyrchyn gorges, where, in addition to the gorges themselves, it is worth visiting Lake Suttyubulak. I advise you to see the rainbow canyons Konorchak and Skazka, where clay with various impurities plays with all the colors of the rainbow.
One of the numerous monuments to Yuri Gagarin in the vicinity of Issyk-Kul
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
— Are the people there friendly? How do they treat Russians?
— Residents of Kyrgyzstan are very open people. They can easily invite you to a picnic where you can try kuurdak - a national dish of lamb and potatoes with fresh onions.
You will be deliciously fed there and local stories will be told. You can accidentally get to a local wedding, as happened to me, for example.
Kuurdak is served in such establishments in Kyrgyzstan
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
After I was fined for car hooliganism, although I did not violate anything and drove like everyone else in Russia, I went to work in a local bar. And then the company comes in: “Oh-oh-oh, you are from Russia, right? And we have a wedding! Come with us? No? How not? Here, take boorsoks (local equivalent of donuts. - Ed.) . My brother is getting married, you can’t refuse!” And here I am at a Kyrgyz wedding.
Typical bar in Kyrgyzstan
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Kyrgyz wedding
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
I didn’t have time to get to know the local wedding customs, because I already got to the banquet part. But here's what's interesting: they walk the wedding right in their house, at a large table. All the relatives are invited to the celebration, so the guests are just dofiga. Lots of alcohol, national cuisine. I got so drunk there.
Dzhety-Oguz Gorge
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
I am a man of few words by nature, but I like to listen. I'm wondering who and what lives. That is why I accepted the invitation to the wedding, although, to be honest, from the outside it looks strange. But the locals are really very hospitable and welcoming, so I felt comfortable. I asked them about their life, they asked me about how I ended up here. I also became a great object for hugs.
Jety-Oguz Gorge
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Here, in general, Russians are treated well, even despite the growing influence of other Central Asian countries and China. In Kyrgyzstan, the memory of the Soviet Union is fresh, in which they really lived better. Then everything was actively developing here, sanatoriums were being built and there were training bases for astronauts. They still remember it fondly.
Landscapes of Kyrgyzstan. There is a gold mine in these mountains
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
— After Kyrgyzstan you went to…
— To hot Uzbekistan. If Tashkent seemed to me a very green city and the temperatures unusual for a Siberian were not so strongly felt, then the most interesting, historical part of Samarkand, Registan Square, seemed like a hot frying pan. Hot, but extraordinarily beautiful.
Samarkand
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
The Registan is the most recognizable landmark of Samarkand. Here you can see a six-hundred-year-old madrasah (Muslim religious, educational and educational institution. – Approx. ed.) Ulugbek and the Sherdor madrasah almost mirroring him. In the center of the square is the Tillya-Kari madrasah, which can often be found on postcards and in movies.
Samarkand
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Samarkand
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Samarkand
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
share the imagination . The decoration of this masterpiece of Persian architecture has incorporated all kinds of applied art known at the time of construction.
These are murals, stained-glass windows, stone carving, relief patterns from gilded papier-mâché and so on.
Mausoleum of Tamerlane
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Samarkand must be visited if you want to feel the ancient history of Central Asia. After all, it is one of the oldest cities on the planet. According to archaeologists, it was founded in the middle of the 8th century BC.
Samarkand
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Samarkand
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Samarkand
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Samarkand
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
The Russian language is quite common in Uzbekistan, but it is often necessary to communicate in English. For example, to order pilaf. By the way, there are more than a hundred types of it here. Although in most establishments there is a person who will take an order in Russian.
Uzbek pilaf
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
— Now tell us a little about Kazakhstan? What do you think about the legendary Kazakh roads?
— Kazakhstan is a very large country, which means it is a country of roads. My acquaintance with her began with two interesting moments. At night, at the moment of crossing the border, I met a fox, which seemed gray in the surrounding darkness and headlights. The second point was a curious observation, which can be called very revealing. Almost all passenger cars and minibuses with Kazakh numbers on the roofs passing along the highway had at least one spare tire.
More often, two. And that's not counting the spare wheel in the trunk.
Steppes of Kazakhstan
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Pretty soon I understood why. Or rather, I felt it. There was a road near the city of Aktobe ... It's like collecting all the pits on the streets of your beloved Irkutsk, adding pits in Biysk and Volgograd to them, and then evenly scatter them along the highway. This is the only way to roughly describe the road situation in Kazakhstan. Deep pits with sharp edges in which you can easily leave the wheels.
In fairness, I would like to note that in Kazakhstan there are also toll roads of good quality with a speed limit of 110 kilometers per hour. The cost of the trip is low, there are no barriers at the entrances. You can pay both in special machines and via the Internet. Maybe before the trip, maybe after.
Local flora in the form of tumbleweeds and fauna constantly move along the route: foxes, horses, camels, cattle (and not so) cattle.
All this is warned by signs along the road. In addition to signs, along the route you can meet life-size cardboard representatives of the local fauna: cows, horses, and traffic police cars.
You can even meet camels along the routes in Kazakhstan
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
The main attraction of Kazakhstan for Russian tourism is the Baikonur cosmodrome. The checkpoint is located a few kilometers from the highway, and tens of kilometers to the launch pad. Multi-day excursions are held here, during which you can even see a rocket launch. To do this, you need to sign up no later than a month before the launch, draw up all the documents. I've been unlucky here. There were no launches during my trip to Kazakhstan.
Baikonur Cosmodrome
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
— What else do you recommend visiting and seeing?
— Not far from Almaty is the city of Turkestan.
Its main attraction is the Azret-Sultan museum complex, in which the mausoleum of the poet and thinker Khoja Ahmed Yasawi occupies a central place. It was built in the canons of Timurid architecture, with azure domes. If you fail to visit Samarkand, its architectural traditions can be seen in Turkestan.
To the east of Almaty is the Altyn-Emel National Park. It is so big that you can get lost in it for several days. To the south of it is the Charyn State National Park, where there is an analogue of the famous American Grand Canyon - the Charyn Canyon.
I can say about the cities that they seemed to me quite alive, there is a constant movement. In Almaty, I found my own Harat's Pub. The Russian language is understood almost everywhere, by the way, and you can exchange rubles for tenge without any problems.
Harat's Pub
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Oh, and I also had a funny case - in Kazakhstan, I accidentally became a smuggler.
Before leaving the country, I figured that I would not be able to find AI-100 gasoline for a long time, so I filled a full tank of Barbie Car in Kazakhstan and also filled all the available canisters. At the border, of course, I was stopped and charged with smuggling. But I did not know then that more than 20 liters cannot be taken out of the country. I told the border guards for a long time how I needed the hundredth benz, filled the tank with everything that was possible, but the advantage was still there. A protocol was drawn up, the surplus was confiscated. It’s good that they didn’t take me to the police department, so they let me go, otherwise I would have been stuck there for three days with papers. But the court will still be, as well as a fine for smuggling gasoline.
Law enforcement officers in Kazakhstan, by the way, are a separate issue altogether. Especially the traffic police. They beg for bribes right out of the blue. The last time they stopped me, I already told them: “Dudes, there is no money.
I can give you two Snickers." And-and-and ... They took them and let me go. For two Snickers.
Mir Castle in Belarus
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
City of Grodno
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
— You also mentioned that Belarus was on your personal itinerary. How did she get on this list?
— I decided to go to the Republic of Belarus as the country closest to us in spirit. Russia and Belarus have a lot in common: a long history of relations, once they were part of one big country, we went through the Second World War side by side. If it almost did not affect Asian territories, then it went through Belarus like a skating rink. This is noticeable in Minsk: instead of the old city, heavy Stalinist architecture dominates. The city was supposed to be a gateway to the Soviet Union, and therefore exemplary.
Upper city of Minsk
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Monument to the first Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, Metropolitan Filaret in Minsk
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share on the streets and in museums - constant reminders of the Grand Party and Presidential Party and Constant Party and Constant Mosts of Great Party feat of the people. Restoration of the main attractions is still ongoing. Some medieval fortresses have been completely lost; such fortifications were targets for artillery during the war. The most famous fortress in school textbooks, Brestskaya, has now become a memorial complex.
Freedom Square in Minsk and the Cathedral of the Descent of the Holy Spirit
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Fortunately, the Lida Fortress, Nesvizh Castle and the Old Castle in Grodno have been restored, which means it won’t be boring.
Cathedral of the Descent of the Holy Spirit
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
Museum of Folk Architecture and Life near Minsk
Photo: Vyacheslav Kovalev
Share
— You probably need a lot of money for such an autotrip. A reasonable question arises: what about your work now? How did returning to Russia affect your income?
— I don’t have a regular five-day week now. It wouldn't fit with the way I live now. There are separate projects that I support. Income, of course, has gone down, but the decrease is proportional to the time spent on work. Long trips do not mean a complete rejection of work.
— Are you thinking about leaving Russia again and moving somewhere else permanently? Maybe there are already some specific options?
- I'm not sure about permanent, but to live for some time in different countries - why not? The world is too big and interesting to sit in one place, and two weeks of vacation twice a year is hardly enough to explore, for example, Istanbul alone.
