By the time you are finally stable in your life (and stable is as unstable a word as there is) you will find yourself out of shape. If not physiologically then surely psychologically. Yes, by then, you will have made yourself stubborn enough to accept the deformed form you are in. You would have excuses and excuses to cover those excuses. You will spend your days around coherent slaves and evenings, alone or with partners(even virtual ones)equally as disillusioned as you are. And together you will find someone to look down upon while ignoring the thousands who are better,
The mad rush for stability blinds you to many a beautiful things,including yourself. Soon you are engulfed by the system which makes you programmed and monotonous. Your motivation is green in color and that’s the basis of your daily struggle. You go through the day cursing everyone and do the same the next day, never failing to show up. The system has the great quality of making you believe that you are a dependent loser with no other option but to struggle perpetually. The frustration manipulates your mind and you turn into a loser, who rather than accepting his own follies only sees follies all around him. You somehow manage to find a demeaning quality in every single thing around you. Just because you don’t see the best in yourself doesn’t mean you have the right to see and glorify the worst in others.

Snap out of it

I would grab both your shoulders and shake and make you snap out of it but you wont let me. Although snapping out of it is far easier than your inflated ego makes it to be but it is true that our worst enemy lies between our two ears. Your condescending self is stable, and it will never believe that it has a problem, so realization would be a solitary pursuit, and if you are lucky you will realize.
Here is a list of things you can do get back in shape if you are able to overcome the realizing bit.

1. Appreciation– Learn to appreciate even the simplest of things and gestures that someones makes. We are not as mechanical as our computers, and even they have been programmed to welcome you and ensure you don’t get bored through a number of interactive programs. Appreciate the infinite energies that you are surrounded with, which are too easily ignored in pursuits if stability.
2. Compromise– It is a bitter pill to swallow but you cant have everything you want. You have to let go of the perfect life that you envisaged and accept the struggle as it is. Only when you come to terms with your reality will you garner the strength to fight your demons and improve.
3. Empathize– The sole reason that you were born where you were and not on some deserted island in Papua New Guinea is because you are a significant part of the social fabric around you. You play a major role towards the betterment of the people around you. But if you don’t communicate with them you would neither help yourself or them. By empathizing with the people around you would find out other genuine problems which will make your self imposed struggles look like fruit flies. You might not feel like the guardian of this galaxy, but “We Are Groot”.
4. Exercise– Both mindfulness and a physical workout are essential for all residents of the milkyway galaxy. If done correctly you would be pushing the first dynamo towards a wholesome personality. Just like everything bad everything good is addictive too. You just have to give yourself long enough to get addicted.
5. Galvanize-Galvanize yourself into action. Lift your stable derrière off that seat and follow something you are passionate about, without wanting to be appreciated for it.Galvanize yourself into a better you everyday.
6. Improvise– You cant plan everything. The cosmos is to random to allow you to plan for everything. You will have to improvise along the way. The only way to learn how to improvise is to consciously practice it.

The shapelessness of stability

Stability hoodwinks you. It is a form of resistance which prevents you from fulfilling your actual potential. You study, then study some more and then study further in order to become a slave to the trade and then become used to your situation. Thinking that you are stable. Stability is like that mirage in the desert, it gives you hope but actually does not exist. Our universe is far too chaotic to allow permanence in stability. Rather than wasting your valuable life in trying to protect yourself from the depths of worldly troubles, one should learn to flow with the tide. As sooner or later the ocean will get to you.

Live like maverick lions, they are better off than mechanical apes,

What life do you lead, if its only about getting food on your plate.

Believe in destiny, let life take its own shape,

If you manage to kill fear, you would be blessed with the golden grapes.

If you aim at being stable, you would be like amoeba which replicates,

Expand your obvious paradigm  beyond your own resistance, dont hesitate.

Be in unison with the cosmos, let your soul resonate,

Its easy to be stable, try to get back into shape.

Minds full of violence, you can hear the subliminal sirens, In our pursuit for blissful silence, Its time to kill those irons.

The 6 years of freedom

My relationship with fitness and the peripherals involved is 6 years to the day. It was 6 years back that I first entered a gym. Though I was always a sports enthusiast, but it was on this day 6 years back that I started ironing out my life. Humble beginnings supplemented by a reckless attitude dint make it an ideal start. But with time it dawned on me that this was an institution, a discipline in itself. Embracing the pain, smiling to the struggles, relentless fortitude, daily self betterment, assisting fellow mates, learning from everyone around, adhering to self discipline at all times, resisting temptation, all real life values, which your relationship with Iron teaches you, Values which can be directly incorporated in real life.

On top of the physiological phenomenon that your relationship with iron molds you into, the underlying psychological virtues are priceless.  Psychological values help people fight over those times when they don’t see massive result and help them in sustaining their efforts. These also render a sense of freedom to the people who make the effort of devoting time to this discipline. Freedom from competition and judgement. As the only person you are competing with is yourself and there is no judge only an exclusively fulfilling feeling at the end of a workout where you have given it all.

So as I celebrate 6 years of freedom from being influenced by what they say, I share some of my beliefs which have helped me sustain as an Iron predator over the last six years.

What they say…

Don’t let feeble minds convince you that your dreams are too big

I am grateful for the abundance that came my way over the last six years. I had the privilege of training with beasts who ooze inspiration and watch transformations of toads to Mutant turtles. I also had an opportunity to learn from the experience of seeing people literally kill iron, they were like individual institutions of knowledge. And then there was the group of doubters. The ones who paid emphasis on schemes, plans and reviews. These mediums of doubt thrived on spreading doubt. Right from the number of reps and sets, to their nutritional plans, to the supplementation, all they did was question. Without realizing the more important, iron pulverizing objectives.

What you believe…

Doubt is like a contagious poison which not only impairs progress but also blinds people to all hope. When in doubt iron it out.

Over a period of time what you believe transforms into what you achieve. If you believe that you aren’t losing weight in-spite of your best efforts, you wont even if you sweat your gloves off. If you believe that your protein isn’t effective, you can have 15 scoops a day and you still wont see the gains. If you think that the food or supplements you consume has detrimental effects, then you will soon have a wall in your kidneys and a fat pillow in your heart.

If you can manage to believe that whatsoever you do, the food you eat, the exercises you do, the reps and sets, the protein,creatine you consume is pushing you towards a better self, then you will be pushed towards a better self.

At the end it is about using all internal and external resources for Kaizen. I have seen people waste thousands on supplementation and still questioning the results. Their inability to believe deters them from the prime focus of killing iron and blinds them to improvement.

At the same time I have seen content people who eat bananas wholly with the peal. Unable to expend on supplements they make the best of the little they get. But they believe that whatever they are ingesting will do them good, hence they get better results(or rather notice the results from a better perceptions) and benefit in the long run.

Living inside out

Its not about how huge you are or how much weight you lost. Its a lifestyle.

I have seen many evolutionised apes wasting their talents trying to impress people or copy others. Although taking references and getting inspired is justified but copying without question and scoping to be or look like someone else is not.

The ones who work towards a target, specially in the fitness regime, people who base all their efforts to attain a certain body type or impress another person wont last long. They will give up on achieving their aim or when they get enough appraisals. The ones who don’t compete with themselves and challenge their limits on a daily basis will give up sooner than later. Their motives of visiting the gym aren’t genuine and everyone who enters the gym without a genuine purpose, filters out.

Here are some signs which indicate that your motives of working out aren’t genuine. If you find yourself abusing the weights in the gym, expect helpers to clear off weights which you use, not assist people when they need it, preach without practicing, fight for machines/equipment, then you are distancing yourself from the psychological benefits of the gym, the ones that will help you in the long run.

One can only expect genuine results once they start treating the fitness center as an extension of their own body. Otherwise you are just fooling yourself to impress people. And if your life is governed by what others think then sooner or later, someone would come and spoil your mood.

I am grateful for the sense of individuality that this lifestyle has rendered and look forward to killing iron till the iron kills me.

Woke up with demons clinging through states, consciousness rubs them and sleep off,  a new day dawns but as the day breaks, bigger monsters await.

Taming the monsters within

Changes are essential, to grow, to learn, to adapt, to lead. Changes lead to progression, but changes can only be initiated and followed through by overcoming monsters, the intangible ones.

Never in history has man seen a monsterless time, Straight from the Jurassic era to the monsters unleashed by Xerxes and Artemesia against the Greeks. From the horrifying Kraken to the duel monsters released on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Monsters have always made their presence felt in one way or the other. But a visible enemy can be fought against. The most dangerous monsters are intangible. The ones which dwell in your mind. These dont let you unshackle yourself from the mundane-ness of the routine progression of life, persuade you to take the easier and more comfortable route. This invisible monster poisons you with ills like indecision and self doubt. It saps you off confidence, breaking you, till you give up.  The monster justifies your state of comfortable normality, retarding every attempt that you might make to change.

Overcoming the inertia of comfort?

The first step in earnestness, towards any objective is as consequential as it is exigent. Overcoming the inertia of comfort and deciding to change, in any form or way, requires mega joules of energy.

The change can be as simple as waking up early, going to the gym, eating healthy or learning a new skill. The decision to alter your comfortable reality, and put an extra effort towards an endeavor, takes some making sense to oneself, at first. This is why the first dive is the most difficult when you decide to learn how to swim. If you keep wondering how warm or cold the water is you will never give yourself the opportunity to find out in actuality. So don’t go close to a pool till you’re sure about yourself. And when you are, dive in.

It’s always friends who teach…

We were unaware of what we were up against, when some friends and I decided to pursue our haleness objectives 5 years back. We were ignorant to the intangible monsters. And as it is, how difficult would it be for us to do something that we all knew would be beneficial to us in the long run?

As time revealed, some of us didn’t find the time others didn’t find the right fitness studio, a few had other important things to take care off. Well the excuses run in the millions. In short very few of them could leverage their energy resources to overcome the inertia of comfort. The demons that they ignored or were unaware of prevented them from changing for the good. Now 5 years forward I see them over worked, over stressed and overweight.

Among the ones who did find their way to the fitness studio, there were quite a few who made it through the first few weeks but almost none of them made it through the first 2 months. These people had overcome the initial inertia of comfort but they wanted to achieve too much too soon. Pushing themselves beyond the threshold too early led to their downfall. They became disinterested when they saw no physical results for their disorganized hard work. The change that they initiated wasn’t followed through with enough dedication. Their lack of faith incinerated the little inspiration they had managed to accumulate. Over time, they too succumbed to their monsters.

Some monsters cannot be tamed, just treated  

In actuality it is impossible to terminate the intangible monsters inside you. You can only change to adapt to their existence through a pocket full of will, an ounce of self-belief and relentless perseverance. Your strength of purpose should guide you through phases when you feel like quitting most.

Observing my friends, I realized the mantra for initiating any health oriented change is not one which bears immediate results. The superficial results take care of themselves once you develop the right mentality and approach. This doesn’t happen overnight, it’s a work in progress which has to be reinstated to oneself over a period of time. So for the ones who look forward to initiate any sort of a chance in their lives, here are some tips which would put you in good stead:

1. Believe in yourself and your purpose- These will be your ulties when the monsters start pulling you back.
2. Learn to walk before you run- The ones who give up early are the ones who expend a lot of energy. The art of progressive overload requires patience but it is better than getting frustrated and quitting too soon. You are bound to follow through more often when you make small changes at the onset, and extend these over a period of time.
3. Seek inspiration from multiple muses- By anchoring many muses you give yourself the opportunity get inspired from many sources.
4. Seek guidance- This is really important. Everyone who has managed to fight of the inner monsters didn’t do it alone. If he says he did, he is lying. He was guided by someone or the other, hence it is his moral duty to guide others seeking a similar help. Anyone who knows anything about your sphere of change won’t mind helping you out because someone helped him once upon a time.
5. Once you have adapted to the change help others to the same. This will lead to an endless loop of inspiration.

Evolution pays testimony to the fact that the ones who managed to initiate and sustain change, adapted and survived. The ones who fail to change have only themselves to blame. They haven’t been able to combat the inner monsters, which prevent them from overcoming the inertia of comfort.

Relentless perseverance 

Your wandering minds and ephemeral spans of attention get sucked in by the infinite distractions all around you, leaving you no scope to persevere a single task to your full potential hence making super fitness an inconceivable concept for the normal mind.

The digital evolution has filled your plate with so much information so quickly.It is impossible to digest the platter of data completely without allowing your mind to wander. With such a wide spectrum in the offing. Your minds have been conditioned to partially digest bits of information before automatically moving on to the next bit. This dissonance has superimposed on all spheres of your being. As a result, you get bored too easily, you feel out of place too soon, you give up too early, you stop reading articles after the first paragraph.

Although it is impossible to dissociate from this set pattern of thought but there are ways to diminish its effect. The next time you decide on pursuing an objective, take it up with the intention of persevering it relentlessly until you achieve what you sought for. The task can be as small as cleaning your room, reading an article or sleeping/waking up early. Set yourself a target and don’t quit till you achieve it. Earnest endeavors are self fulfilling.The joy of completing a task COMPLETELY, however small it might be, will help you to push yourself towards achieving higher objectives.

Relentless perseverance has helped me mold my mentality and physiology. An earnest decision taken 5 years back led me to the gym. I was at best a feather weight, the blowing wind made me levitate 🙂  After relentlessly persevering for 5 years I find myself in a situation where I can help others trying to achieve a better state of mental and physical health. I could have chosen to squander my talent and hardwork in cheap exhibitionism. But the joy of sowing a seed, nurturing it and seeing it grow and bear fruits is the most enchanting experience ever. Hence I chose to sow seeds in the most fertile of soils, the human conscience, so as to help people help themselves.

Deciphering The Dragon Scroll 

Now that I have written proof of my intentions we come down to Master Oogway and deciphering mantras to super fitness. The legendary dragon scroll, brain child of Master Oogway from the Kungfu panda, reflects upon the mantra to super fitness. I would help translate this legendary scroll which was actually blank.

As the plot in the movie unfolds, the pudgy panda dreams of becoming the dragon warrior(the greatest warrior ever). He faces stiff competition from a host of other competitors. His master(Shifu) tells him he can only become thee dragon warrior if he learns the secret of the dragon scroll(which enriches the one who reads it with limitless power). After fighting his fat bum off trying to procure the scroll the panda finds that the scroll is in fact, blank.

Now what does an animated movie about a pudgy panda fighting for a blank scroll created by a turtle, teach us about super fitness. Most people think I am tripping on pre workout when I share the parable. But the unseen message that the scroll carries is that “earnest endeavors are self fulfilling and the ultimate reward ïs what you learn along the journey, a part of which is the ability to believe in oneself”.

Even the panda on his quest for the scroll transformed from a wanton serving wuss to an objective driven, self believing lightning fast reflexes having panda. The commonality was that he failed, was ridiculed and laughed at, battered to a pulp by people far more stronger than he was, but he never quit believing in himself. His relentless perseverance paid off. Leading him to glory and also teaching him invaluable lessons along the way. The most important being”Believing in oneself.”

The Secret Mantra to Super Fitness 

Hold an idea, a thought, a dream, howmuchsoever ludicrous it might appear. Persevere, you will be ridiculed at the onset. You will feel purposelessness. You will be at the brink of giving up more times than not. Keep going. Remember the lessons learnt and obstacles overcome through the journey are rewards in themselves. These supplement the ultimate reward of fulling your goals. With an ounce of self belief and a pair of headphones you can achieve things that at present seem unbelievable.

Fitness means different things to different people. For me it is beyond the obvious python biceps and wash board abs. Its my attempt at practicing relentless perseverance to go one better every single day. Once you overcome the subliminal battles the physiological part takes care of itself. These subliminal battles include, battling the crowd, battling pain, battling the urge to quit, battling the taste buds, battling weak genes. Overcoming these unlocks the gateway to super fitness of mind, body and soul. I will elaborate on them later as, being a part of the evolutionised gene pool, I cant focus on the article anymore. Have a good day!