My Experiments With...err... Health

A great irony of my life; though a fitness freak, I have always struggled to stay fit. 

Every initiative to achieve that well toned body and radiant psyche has been hammered down deep into the earth for reasons that seem befitting to the circumstances.

Over the years I have tried many ways to stay fit and healthy; have always been willing to go out of the way to achieve that but no success. Every time I adopt a new technique some obstacle comes up such that I am left with no other choice than to quit.

I was an obese kid in school.  Though I enjoyed playing outdoors, those were very limited thanks to the timing restrictions imposed by dad. I finally lost that flab and gained good height after joining the N.C.C in 8^th grade. I turned me around completely. We had it for 2 yrs and it transformed me into a teenager with decent built. I have always had a low metabolism which means I tend to gain weight quickly. So I am always supposed to eat in control and exercise frequently. This has never happened. I am a voracious eater with a sweet tooth. ‘Khaane Peene Ka Shaukeen’. My parents have spoilt me too.

I once joined Karate classes when I was in 7^th grade. I was made to do splits, kicks, and jumps on the day one itself. Others had conditioned their body over the time to endure that level of flexes but mine was completely untrained. The result was a horrible body pain. I suffered from torn ligaments, and bruises. My elbow still bears the small patch gifted by the bruise. The worst part was that my thigh muscles were paining like hell. I could not walk straight for a week and had to quit the Karate dreams. Maybe I could have braved the pain and continued next week, but I was too immature to muster that will power at that time. My parents didn’t compel me too.

I used to go for walks frequently and the I.I.T Bombay Campus, where I was brought up, was an ideal place for that. I still enjoy walking a lot in the outskirts of my new locality, listening to some great tracks on the headphones, lost in my own world.  I am nuts about cycling. For me it is one of the finest vehicles invented by man. Unfortunately I don’t own one now, but used to cycle a lot in I.I.T campus. While others crave for bikes and cars, my dream to own a high end bicycle!

During college days I started working out at home, doing pushups, crunches, on spot jogging. Soon I started developing good contours. But it lasted only till a semester. Viral fever hit me. I was weak and rested all the time for a month and was soon back to the squishy bodied former self.

My next stint with fitness came when I finished graduation and was sitting idle at home without job (It was during the recession of 2008-09) and as expected started putting on weight. I and my college mate who stayed nearby decide to go for brisk walking. We used to wake up at around 5 in the morning and walk like our butt was on fire. It went on for a week after which we realized it won’t show substantial results when we could do something more strenuous. So we started jogging instead. We jogged around a circular track built inside a nearby garden so that we could measure the number of rounds we covered. I started getting back in shape, feeling rejuvenated and active. But the fun lasted only for a month. I started experiencing excruciating pain in my right knee. There was no pain when in first few rounds but it surfaced once I had finished two or three. I ignored it in the beginning, but showed it to the doc when the pain refused to subside. The x-ray showed an abused knee cap. I was running on a concrete surface and with canvas shoes.

Our knee caps bear humungous amount of shock while running as the entire body weight is burdened upon them. If we jog on a rigid surface instead of grass or clay, the pounding our knee cap takes is huge, let alone friction it endures. Wearing improper shoes adds to the damage. You need special flexible shoes for jogging.

I continued jogging wearing a knee band hoping it would absorb some of the pressure. But that did not help too. Finally after many days of painful mornings post jogging sessions, I finally quit; was back to square one. My partner continued for some time and he quit too after some days… due to laziness!

I learnt swimming In Hyderabad when I was on an assignment there. We had a small pool where I used to dive in after office with colleagues. I am not a very experienced swimmer but know just enough to survive if I happen to be drowning anywhere. Though I feared the deep end of the pool, I enjoyed swimming a lot. It is a complete exercise and is very enlivening after a stressful day in office.

Winters in Hyderabad are very severe and water turns chilly. Swimming in water so cold may invite troubles ranging from a common cold to a heart stroke! I tried to ignore cold in the beginning and swam in the evenings. The number of swimmers too had reduced to a handful by mid winter. I too finally decided to quit one day when the water became unbearable. I wasn’t even able to paddle my legs and had difficulty in timing the breathing.

I joined the Gym close to the pool thereafter. The trainer there advised me on the regimen to be followed. I gave more importance to cardio than body building. I hit the treadmill first and jogged for about 20 mins, then on twisters followed by crunches and finally did weight lifting for about 20 minutes. It was working well for me and as always I was getting in shape. But fate laughed at me once again as I my transfer request got sanctioned and I got posted in Mumbai, my home location.

I haven’t really dared to venture into any other means of fitness after that. Walking is the sole ally. I walk home from the railway station while coming back from office, listening to songs on the headphones and I enjoy it. I don’t miss it on weekends too. But that is not enough. To stay fit u must expel more calories than you consume. My mother makes sure I bombard my mouth with dry fruits, apple, and banana in the office. I’d rather gulp them down than arguing with her. I am seated before the computer all my day in the office, a symbolic life of an I.T professional. All these have added to my weight and I now look quite beefy.

I have started doing Suryanamaskars lately getting up early in the morning. I have been doing it since a week now and already feel quite light and active all day and must say it has been rewarding till now. I pay good attention to my eating habits too.

I have absolutely no idea how long this new experiment is going to sustain. Hope someday I am able to attain that proverbial Nirvana!