Workouts the military way… or is there a better way…???

The other day I was playing table tennis at the office and one of the boys, who apparently has a “notion” that everyone who goes to the gym and has a decent body is Hulk (mentally) and cannot think more than 2 words - “HULK SMASH”. Came over and said, “Dude, this a TT table and not a Bench Press”.

Apparently I beat the crap out of him on Table even though I just recently started playing, while he has been at it for quite some time now. Not bragging about it, but that’s another thing you get when you are involved in some for of workout for a long enough time. You get more athletic, which means, you can pick up any sport quickly and get pretty good at it. But I digress.

Working out doesn’t mean you have to think like General Lee. There are a hundred ways how you can stay fit. And your approach towards fitness really makes a big difference.

Do your own thing. So you hate the gym… so what…? Go swimming, play tennis, go for a run every morning, do push ups at home… There are a hundred options I tell you… but the best would be any sports. Trust me, although it looks glamorous going for a run every morning with some cool running gear and smart ear phones, it is not as glamorous when “you” do it. But if you pick up a sport, like tennis or even table tennis for that matter, you will like it because there is the spirit of competition there.

The competition factor. Humans have a natural predator instinct from the primitive times that doesn’t get used any more. Evolution couldn’t keep up pace with the technological explosion and here we are with large bellies, bald heads and bloated back sides.

You see everything that used to happen in the primitive times, chemically, inside our body is still happening. All the hormones are getting pumped into the blood whenever there is anxiety or fear, muscles contract and body gets into fight or flight. What’s not happening is the actual fight or flight. And that’s why we love a sport where there is a little bit of a fight. Your instinct wants you to fight or flight because you rarely get to use your physical capabilities these days. The body that used to walk miles and fight saber tooth’s now does nothing but sits in the back of the car reading.

Use this instinct of yours. I have seen some friends of mine, who, if I may, are ferociously lazy. They will protect their ease with a tenacity. But when you challenge them to some specific sport, I have seen them spring up to action too. But not every time. Vikas will fight back if it is Tennis or Table Tennis. Challenge him in swimming, he will just sit there laughing. Swimming, for him, is like being the crocodile. Laying around in the swimming pool doing nothing. Find your own sport and challenge yourself. It will add a different zing to your life, and the past will appear to be sedentary.

Reward yourself. Keep targets and reward yourself with “stuff” you want when you achieve them. A good thing would be to start with gear. That swim suit you have been wanting to wear, but didn’t buy because you thought you wouldn’t fit in, those Reebok / Adidas / Nike sneakers, that amazing new IPod Shuffle that has voice over and stores 4 GB of songs, even a new tee or a track.

Targets could be anything, like being disciplined in whatever you are doing for 1 whole month, or running x miles in y minutes, etc. Keep achievable targets in the beginning and reward yourself. Motivation is a major factor.

It doesn’t have to be the Military regime. You don’t have to do 1000 push ups a day and eat nails for breakfast. You can also choose to be creative, and do things that you love and get healthier. After all the target is not to be Hulk and smash things, you know.

Weight loss - Are we aiming right…?

My last post was about how to gain weight. And I promised that my next post would be about how to lose. Although we should look at how much we weigh, and try to keep the weight under control, we must understand one most important thing, that we almost all of the time, forget. Being under-weight / over-weight is not the disease. It is a side-effect. The real problem is that we are unfit. Fat is not bad. If you haven’t noticed until now, nature doesn’t give you anything that’s bad. It becomes bad when you accumulate too much of it. Wikipedia says, “Fats play a vital role in maintaining healthy skin and hair, insulating body organs against shock, maintaining body temperature, and promoting healthy cell function. They also serve as energy stores for the body. Fats are broken down in the body to release glycerol and free fatty acids. The glycerol can be converted to glucose by the liver and thus used as a source of energy.”

Wait… so what’s it that we are doing in the gym?

Question your motives. Do you want to get fit? What’s the definition of fitness…? Faster, stronger, more agile, more flexible, more resilient and last but not the least, a more long lasting body should be the true target. Not a specific body weight, or the size of a specific body part (waste, biceps, etc.). This doesn’t mean you don’t look at the size or weight at all. But that should not the only focus. Because there are a no. of ways, you can achieve your target and some of them may not be healthy viz. extensive dieting to lose weight.

Set Goals. In continuation to the above topic, we end up creating the wrong goals at times. Some of the goals that are not so advisable as primary goals are: Weight, size, no. of hours in the gym, etc. Some of the good goals would be distance covered in time on the treadmill / bicycle, poundage, flexibility, repetitions. things that prove your strength, stamina, agility, flexibility, etc. should be kept as primary goals. And then things like size / shape / definition can be kept as secondary goals. After all what’s the point in working out so hard if you don’t have something to show off.

Humble beginnings. One very important point about starting workouts is to start small. Of course you won’t be able to push 200 pounds or do 20 miles on the treadmill in the first week. There is no shame in accepting that this is a beginning. I am a software engineer and when work pressure is high, my gym discipline goes for a toss. But I never quit and when I start again after a month or even 2 months at times, my strength / stamina goes down. I feel ashamed, but I still keep reasonable targets. I will tell you what works. I have a line that I keep repeating in my head when I feel ashamed of my performance at the gym, “we’ll see about that”. And soon enough I am back to normal. So even though I am quite regular, I have my down times too. Nothing wrong in accepting that these are just the beginnings. If you keep too high a target, you might very well end up injuring yourself and then never see the gym again. As Lee Haney (Champion body builder) says it, “Stimulate, not Annihilate”.

Beat laziness. That’s a tough one. Scores of books have been written on the subject of Motivation and trust me, there is no panacea for this. This is pretty much the root of all problems. People may come up with any number / type / size of “reasons” for not being disciplined. But the root cause is generally this laziness. Human body evolved with this primal instinct to rest and save as much energy it can, while it can because primitive times were harsh. However, we do not live in the primitive times any more and sadly enough the evolution of the physiology is not as fast as the technological explosion. Hence we cannot rely on our primal laziness to push us into the gym every morning.

But again, you don’t have to be harsh with yourself. I will tell you my system and you can develop one of yours.

Monday: First day of the week. Full energy. Besides it is Shoulder and Triceps today, Let’s go to the gym.
Tuesday: Second day of the week. Lower body boring but biceps very interesting. And besides Building legs is very important. And this is just the second day. I can do it.
Wednesday: Cardio. Just Do It.
Thursday: Last 2 days and the week is gone. And Back and Triceps is very interesting.
Friday: Last day of the week. Chest and Biceps, Favorite body part. And then Saturday Sunday are rest days.

Essentially what I am trying to say is break it down into smaller targets and find excuses to workout everyday. As Michael Jordan once said, “16 points per game every game looks a formidable enemy, but 4 points a quarter looks quite achievable”.

Patience and persistence. There are multitudes of factors that affect the amount of time your body will take to achieve the goals. Diet, rest, genetics, mental pressure, profession, even friends and parties because they affect sleep. You may not see visible differences initially. But forget not that continuing something is as difficult as it is easy to start something. Lots of my friends have started gym, seeing gym-goers and getting excited. But the difficult part is to sustain that excitement until you see visible differences. Trust me once you start seeing the differences, you would be hooked. You may not be super disciplined but you will keep returning. And that’s good enough. And then there’s what I call the Endorphine syndrome. You feel a sort of an euphoria when your workouts are somewhere between moderate and high. This is said to be because of endorphine getting pumped into your blood. Once you get to the level where you start getting the euphoria, you will return and then it will become easy.

The trick is to get to the Endorphine syndrome before the laziness syndrome gets to you.

Gain weight cost effectively

My first post is going to be about gaining weight. I know there are more people out there who are trying to lose weight than gain. But I have faced the weight gain problem pretty much all my life, until recently, after I got married. My wife is a lovely lady, feeding me and spoiling me to fatnezz… :) Honestly, I would love to share my experience about weight gain with all those who are struggling.

People on the other side of the world, I will soon post another one on weight loss too. And I know your side of the problem. I will try to address everything from laziness to gluttony… But I digress.

Stuff to buy in BULK

When you hit the groceries store, look for Pasta and Oat meals. Oats are very good fillers before the workout sessions. Provide good dietary fiber and slow burning carbs. Buy stuff like this in bulk because you don’t want to run out of it every other day. This is stuff that you will be eating every day before the workout sessions.

Dates and nuts should be in your office drawer in your gym bag and at home, consumed a few every hour or 2.

Rice should be a staple diet

Milk Powder is for babies…???

Add some skim milk powder to your diet. With an average of 100 calories, 9 grams of protein and 13 grams of carbs per three tablespoons, it’s a simple way to boost the nutritional value of your shakes or oatmeal. And it tastes lovely. Most people find they actually prefer the taste of protein shakes when skim milk powder has been added, due to the fact that it makes for a creamier and thicker consistency.

Yolk is good

Eat the yolks if you have been sacrificing them all these years. Yes people will tell you that yolks have cholesterol, but don’t worry about it too much. In fact if you are trying real hard to gain weight, a little saturated fat will actually boost your testosterone. 60 calories per yolk is actually good for those super lean people trying to gain some extra kilos.

With eggs being one of the cheaper protein options out there, this definitely is a cost-effective way to meet your needs.

Peanut Butter

A fantastic source for high density carbohydrates that boost your calorie intake. Add it to your sandwiches or put into your shakes. This will definitely make them much tastier. Also if you are cutting down on sugar, this will provide some healthy sugar that is necessary for your health.

Stick to basic supplements

If you still think, after all this that’s already available in your regular diet, that a dietary supplement will boost your performance, stick to Creatine and Whey. Avoid using mass gainer combinations. They are expensive and addictive.