Category Archives: Fitness

Fitness, Wellness

Magical Moments that inspire movement

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The curse of comfort zones

Our race is innately insecure. Our lack of surety due to the procrastinational overload, propels us into a state of perfect stagnation. The stagnation which urges us to snooze are alarms in the morning, the stagnation stopping us from going beyond a speed of 6 on the treadmill, the stagnation stopping us from leaving the comfort zones of social media and build real relationships, the stagnation refraining us from going the extra mile in friendship, the stagnation which make us forego the lucrative business offers which we are bound to rue in retrospection, the stagnation hindering us from taking the first step in earnestness to turn or dreams into reality.

A disease that fights back

No one is immune to this stagnation. Even seasoned professionals with well conditioned brains and motivators with decades of experience accept to be victims of this stagnation after years of practice to countering it. Hence there is no guaranteed therapy or magic potion to rid ourselves of this problem completely. It is like a disease which fights back and requires constant combating. It is incurable but with an ounce full of regular effort we can learn to live with it.

Where else to look for the solution than within the problem?

We face enumerable situations in our daily lives wherein we have to make a decision which will alter the rest of the day for us. In normal circumstances we seem to take the most comfortable alternative so as to avoid the consequences, the unknown withholds. Soon this becomes a habit and we start believing that the comfortable choice is the right one.

But just before we take any decision there comes a moment, brief as it maybe when we are weighing up the options. Wake up now or take another 10 minutes, get ready for the gym or check whatsapp with the virtual world, make an oatmeal shake or just grab some bananas are some of the situations that I face. Obviously as my realm of thought is more governed by the gym so my choices are based upon that. But think about your own routine and you shall find a number of situations where you have a choice between whats comfortable and what demands an extra ounce of effort. This period of decision-making is most important to build a habit to counter procrastination. You can let it slide with the routine choice, feel ashamed that you did but slide nonetheless. Or you can make an honest attempt to counter the normal flow and get inspired to pierce the bubble of comfort and push yourself to excellence.

I face the same fight everyday but then all it takes for me to get inspired is a moment. The moment which demands action contrary to comfort. A simple example comes in the form of what you eat. You can choose to eat for the taste buds all your life and complain about the bulge preventing you from seeing your toes or you can eat something less tasteful but more resourceful. It again takes a moment to pop in some french fries or to decide against it.

Juice for thought

Try to hit the gym occasionally. The lessons are more subliminal than visual/muscular. If you manage to sustain yourself for more than a couple of weeks without quitting you will understand the secrets to unshackling yourself from the bondage of comfort zones. Once you learn this art all you have to superimpose it into any sphere of life that you want to. Business, relationships, talent or any ordinary objective you have planned for yourself, all are built on the same fabric. You can either let it slide or chose to get inspired when it matters and have the life that you have envisioned for yourself. Make the ticking clock count.

 

 

 

 

Fitness

The Subliminal Workout- Learning how to resist

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You are enveloped by urges all the time. These ubiquitous urges make most of our decisions. They compel you to sleep a little extra in the mornings, to check your smartphone before embracing the day, to eat for your taste buds, to become a puffing chimney, to give up on your workout, to resist change because of evanescent comforts and to give up prematurely.

These urges often have a butterfly effect like impact on your lives. It might appear to be a petty urge but the implications of sliding with the urge, echo across eternity. Succumbing to these ‘tests of faiths’, deforms mentalities and limits progress. The ones who overcome or control these petty urges might not become billionaires overnight but find a billionaire and he’ll tell you the importance of sustained mindfulness.

Gym workouts aren’t limited to muscle building, they teach you a lot about resisting urges.Anyone who has ever gone to a gym would understand the significance of resisting the urge. Resistance is the basis of all workouts, you can only progress if you resist the urge wanting you to give up too soon.

Most people overlook the subliminal benefits of going to a gym. It is not all about bazooka biceps, greek god abs and thunder thighs. On the contrary, these are the consequences of the hard work that goes into your workout, most of which is mental.

The urge to give up is amplified when you are starting off but you learn to control it if you don’t give up prematurely. And once you do, you reinvent your disposition and approach towards training your mind and consequently your body. So along with the well toned body what you carry out of the gym is a well toned mind.

Disco of Distractions

The wild eruption of technology has augmented distractions. The platter of diversions come as obstacles to our innately receptive brains. As a result, working efficiency have plummeted worldwide. The digital delirium has taken us into its grips and as we gradually succumb to the enumerable urges around us, the importance of a well toned mind cannot be overlooked. The well toned mind will help you uncover urges in your quotidian experiences. It will help you realize the consequences of sliding with these urges. It will be conditioned to consciously attempt to avoid these urges.After a while it will empower you to learn to smile at these urges when they shows up.

In a very interesting article Leo Babauta compares our urges to itches dictating us to scratch when we know we can do without scratching. Do have a look at Don’t Scratch the Itch and you will learn some more about the hoodwinking urges.

Cure before all you would do is endure

Dont forget to work these urges out before they work you out. If you enjoy your workouts initially and sustain your efforts, you will soon you realize the intangible benefits of the hard work you put in. Once this enlightenment is reached, you wouldn’t have to care about the urge restricting you from going to the gym on a daily basis. Regular subliminal workouts will not only help you at becoming more aware of your urges but also equip you well so as to control them.

 

Dehradun- Views from the valley, Fitness

Himalayan highs-The healthy habit of hiking

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Doorways to the next dimension

Its hard to express the unparalleled euphoria of exploring a pristine dimension to unearth the ultimate sanctum in words. Although it has no door but the doorway into the infinite abyss of uncertainties can only be unlocked by a key of guts and passed by a spirit full of adventure.

Anyone dwelling in a valley would testify that the surrounding mountains allure you sooner than later. Dehradun is one such valley, ideally located at the lower Himalayas. The 10-25 km trails to surrounding peaks are a perfect platform for novice hikers.

Hiking or simply running up a mountain (without spraining your ankle or bruising your knee) is one of the best cardiovascular exercises. Moving up a mountain is an absolute physical and mental workout, specifically challenging the pillars of your frame( your lower body) and the resilience of ure brain. It also makes your lungs suck in more oxygen and your heart pump more blood, thus making both these vital organs function more efficiently.
Anyone looking to overcome health concerns this new year, can take up hiking. Although the health benefits are only a bit part of the overall package that hiking offers. The interaction with nature, typical to the specific terrain, infuses calmness and serenity to the hikers paradigm. Simple things teach you much more than elaborate researches and Byzantine texts.

Hiking

Hiking up a mountain can be quite debilitating by itself. But it will test the resolve of the toughest men if it follows their lower body workout day. My spirit for adventure overruled my lower body’s plea for recovery when an acquaintance made a spontaneous plan to backpack up the 18 km long path to Mussoorie, the queen of the Himalayan hill stations.

What to carry in your backpack?

I have made around 6 backpacking trips to Mussoorie and each time the backpack has gotten a little heavier. Our latest journey was much more organised as compared to the first one. So for anyone starting off with hiking here is what you can carry for your short trips:

1. Water Bottles- The elixir of life is the ultimate essentiality,.

2. Something to Eat- Carrots, Bananas, Chocolates, Chick peas and protein.

3. Army knife- Just in case.

4. Camera- So that you can share better photos than I am.

5. Footwear- How can I forget footwear, I slipped so much the first time. Footwear with good gripping is a must.

These might not include everything but they are definitely enough for simpler terrains.
Hiker1

You might get tired and want to turn around and go home where all the comforts of the world await, but then the feeling of reaching the peak,even of a hillock, cannot be mirrored by any luxury that your house beholds.

hiker2

 

Fitness

Breaking the Plateau

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Re-invention and improvisation are the offspring’s of instincts and spontaneity. the social contagions of fear and insecurity prevent this union from taking place. Instinctive freedom assists you in approaching previously arduous tasks with creativity and innovation and getting more efficient results due to your impulsive decision making. I try to super impose this pattern at the gym as well. Before diving into how, I shall discuss a line or two about the gym.

The show-offs groan louder, the indolent overdose on protein powder,

The sluggish keep waiting for the spark, baby elephants enjoying protein bars on their walk in the park.

Beauty queens smothered in make up, others sleepwalking the treadmill, trying to wake up.

Some asking questions like a detective, others flirting around dejected.

Midst these, the dedicated who inspire don’t have no swag or style,

They are the ones drenched in sweat and tears, still affording a smile.

True fitness demands sacrifice and patience there is no way that you can bilk,

Fight major wars later, begin with having your coffee without the sugar and milk.

The modern day fitness fad replicates the same craze as drugs from the hippy era. Everyone wants to make themselves extra fit, may it be by pulverizing a Tyre with a sledge hammer, dancing on a pole, enrolling in Spartan like combat classes,taking part in endless marathons or simply by going to the gym.

The gym of course is the focal point for all fitness enthusiasts, Everyone doesn’t come to the gym for the same reason. Whoever has cared to read this post till here will knows the different categories of “gym” people from the comfortably corpulent to the desperate housewives, from the despondent souls after a break up to the skinny predators trying to get a glimpse of some yoga pants, from the ones who were bully-ed to the ones hunting for the next prospect. Their purpose defines their commitment. On the other hand some of us just go to the gym to be in the habit of staying fit, some others to prevent others addictions by compulsively having a good one. Others still, have seen their loved ones suffer from unexpected health issues and believe in the “prevention is better than cure” adage.

The ones who think they belong to the second category of gym freaks might just benefit from this post. Anyone who follows any schedule in the gym reaches a point of time when he doesn’t perceive any muscle or strength gains, he reaches a self perceived plateau where the willingness to slog is about to be overtaken by the lack of belief as a consequence of less visible results. An improvisation helped me overcome this plateau and gain more strength in the process. The method involves following your normal exercise but approaching the sets of particular exercise in different ways. This is specifically for weight training.

  1. Warming Up– Take weights you’re comfortable with and do as many repetitions as you want to get warmed up.
  2. One rep max– This is where strength comes in. A one rep max helps you measure and improve your progress.
  3. The Drop Exhaustion– This helps in really tiring those muscles beyond limits. once you have measured your strength you try to exhaust your muscle for growth. This is done through a simple set wherein you do sets of 1,3,6 and 12 repetitions while dropping your maximum weight at these intervals.

This technique can be applied to any weight exercise you do. It will assist you in breaking all the physical and psychological plateaus as you would have a better measure of your performances. I don’t even need to be a gym geek and turn to my phone or diary after every set to keep account of my performances.

Other than this little pattern of working out, you should always keep all your sense open. Any new concept involves interlinking and representation of older concepts in a newer pattern. Hence by noticing all the exercises that you see around you, you can come up with exercises which suit you better. Although there are no shortcuts to fitness, the journey involves a lot of pain, sweat and patience but still you can make it a little pleasurable by improvising on your exercises. The improvisation is not limited to your exercise but expands to your eating habits too, which will require a blog or two.

Fitness

Dancing to the tunes of the muse

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Don’t walk around with an empty bucket when you have a fountain inside.

Feeling useless cause you are museless, when the muse herself is a creation of thought. The motivation of living to create put in the hands of an external force, is like waiting for the steak to come to your plate. A muse cant fill your empty bucket, its just the fountain inside which replenishes the creative force, if you manage to keep it uninhibited from external muses.

Muses at the Gym

More often than not the muse serves as an excuse to delay action. The multiple forms that this external force takes serve more as excuses than to empower. The gym can be a good example for this. I couldn’t lift as much today cause I dint have my pre-workout, Museless! I don’t feel like working out cause they dont play good music, Museless! The gym doesn’t have any energy, its too empty,Museless! These among others which include I forgot my headphones, I dint have enough proteins, I don’t feel comfortable in the new shoes are all Museless excuses, which were initially meant to be supports and turn out to be self imposed prisons.

Muses while writing

A writers prime job of piercing the mundane to find the marvelous gets blunted if the source of inspiration is primarily external. The muse might appear as the initial injection of inspiration but in time divulges its true colors. As the creator gets used to the muse, he loses his ability to think independently and wastes time waiting for the muse to turn up.One is better off at making persistence his muse,throwing himself into the never ending loop of creation. This will keep you focused at the task at hand and prevent you to be led astray in search of the Muse.

Does the muse impair spontaneity?

If an external force is required to foster thoughts and ideas, will you think about the muse or the situation at hand, as it occurs. Yet again depending on the misleading muse not only wastes your time but eats off your spontaneity,  which in all honesty is the source for all innovation and creativity. Defeating your habit, of pursuing the muse for ideas,by spontaneous originality helps you overcome the ill habit of always having to look up to an external force for solutions.   

We are bound to get dependent when we seek external inspiration to seek the truth,

The muse is meant to dance for us, but most often we end up dancing to the tunes of the muse.