Ignorance is (not) Bliss!

Ignorance might normally mean bliss but when it comes to your body injuries or pain, it’s not. Ignoring an injury or a muscular pain is the worst thing one can do. Only to show up for a gym class because we have paid for it makes us ignore our body signals. We ignore the signs of muscular pain, tiredness, and further push ourselves to workout only to make things worse, further muscular damage, wear and tear, underperformance, no rest and therefore no recovery. When I ask my clients the reason for their below potential performance or dizziness the only reason I get to hear is “I am just a little tired today” and this I hear a little more than often. We all need a break from our daily routines and gym being a part of it can also be given a break. Yes, I say this in spite of being an instructor because I do not encourage Muscular damage or fatigue.

An injury or pain can be muscle related and that may restrict muscular mobility, movement, performance or flexibility. It can be related to the neck, the upper back, lower back, legs or even shoulders. A wrongly executed exercise, lack of or improper stretching routine post exercise, improper sleeping patterns, wrong footwear, stress, improper posture or even long working hours on the desk. Various such reasons can cause muscular strain and ignoring it and going for yet another strenuous workout further weakens the muscle and makes it injury prone. You rather take rest or make a trip to the doc than to the gym.

It’s completely ok and allowed to miss gym class, take a day off if you’re suffering from any such pain or tiredness. We miss gym class for a movie plan, dinner plan, for the sake of friends, then why not for your own body sake. You are no way being brave by showing up at the gym with pain or soreness. It’s only being foolish to ignore such signals because if not taken care in the initial stage it becomes even more difficult for it to heal and get rid of completely. Muscular stiffness / pain whatever you may call it, takes quite some time to heal but on the other side if not looked after it can very easily deteriorate further. It can lead to a tear which complicates conditions leading to no exercise at all. It’s always better to take a couple of days off from the gym, pamper yourself, go get a massage, rest, recover, and get back to routine rather than going on a total bed rest for a couple of months and return completely weak and out of shape. It’s just unfortunate as the process from here is lengthy and painful.

Apart from the muscular pain part there is one more factor that plays a very essential role in causing the body discomfort and fatigue, and that is Food. Improper eating habits can also lead to underperformance and weakness. Food is fuel to the body. Just like your car cannot run without fuel, your body cannot function without food. Dieting is one thing, starving is another. Eating right is extremely important not only after the workout but even BEFORE. We generally don’t give our pre-workout meals as much importance as it deserves and so most of the time we conveniently skip them. When you exercise you end up using most of your body fuel and so it is very important to refill rather, refuel. But none the less the body in the first place needs enough fuel to utilise and workout only then can it perform and make place for refill.

Look for the signs, recognise them and take it easy. No benefit is achieved by working out with a tired, painful, injured body as compared to a healthy, pain-free one. The "No pain, No gain" phrase does not apply here. So the next time you feel tired to go to the gym, give it a second thought.

Strike a Balance

Weight loss – check

Maintain weight lost – skipped

And so, weight gained –check

What does strike a balance tell you? What do the above mentioned stages suggest? We are all just busy trying out stunts to lose weight, achieve it and be happy. But have we thought of the next step? Have we given maintenance a thought? How hard can it be to maintain weight loss? Or rather how exactly can it be maintained?

Maintenance might really sound as a no big deal to most of you’ll and that’s why mostly skipped but actually it’s the second most difficult thing to achieve after weight loss. This in fact is one of the most frequently asked questions by my clients on the very first day of their workout routine.

Each time a client comes to me and has just begun to exercise, has the most expected question to ask. Will I put on weight if I stop gymming? Will aerobics make me put on weight if I discontinue it? And the answer to both the questions is NO. You cannot gain the weight lost because of a certain exercise type but yes you can if you omit the next step which is “maintenance”. The one important step each of us conveniently manages to leave out.

Weight gain cannot be activity specific. Just because you have put on weight after leaving a particular class whether aerobics or dance does not mean that that particular form is the culprit. The culprit is YOU! Weight gain is actually due to the sudden inactivity in your schedule, the sudden drop of BMR due to the inactive state. The logic is simple. We end up gaining weight when there is an imbalance in what we eat and how we burn it out, when the calorie consumption is greater than the calorie expenditure it leads to weight gain. It has nothing to do with any exercise routine or form. Let us see how.

Take for instance walking. Walking is considered to be the safest and simplest form of exercise. If you have been walking religiously for one hour everyday and one fine day decide to quit as you have reached your target weight and are feeling fit, or feeling bored and monotonous. The benefits and results of walking are not going to last for a lifetime. Your body from an active level has suddenly reached inactivity whereas your food consumption and your lifestyle remains the same. Your body will eventually stop burning calories as fast as it used to due to the drop in the metabolic rate, resulting into am imbalance which results into slow yet steady weight gain. Even the simplest form of exercise can lead to weight gain if not correctly managed. Then why blame the gym or any other form of exercise for that matter.

On the other hand weight loss cannot be maintained by plainly dieting or eating less. This in fact adversely affects the body. You need to strike a balance somehow. If you’re bored of the gym try another form of exercise, change your routine and do what you like doing or what you do best. If you’ve reached your ideal weight and want to go off the gym routine for a while don’t end up doing nothing at all. What needs to be avoided is complete inactivity which naturally happens as we are too proud and happy admiring the hard earned weight loss and dream figure. This is where maintenance comes into picture and trust me it is easy to achieve.

So, strike a balance, a balance between food and activity and you would have mastered maintenance. The amount of calories consumed need to be equal to the amount of calories expended. Eat right and burn it out correctly as well. It can’t get any simpler than this.

Fitness Resolutions – Make and Keep!

Towards the end of every single year we all make strong, promising Resolutions, specially the ones relating to “health and wellbeing”. To join a gym, exercise, correct our eating habits, wake up early go for a walk, take promises of not to touch or even look at sweets, fried, alcohol and what not. Just as we women cannot find anything sexy to wear for new years, nothing nice fits us is when we suddenly wish we had been working out for at least the last two months. All round the year we don’t give our health as much importance as we do during the year end. Only for that one evening.

But the question is, do resolutions really work? And the answer is No, not always.

It isn’t about being negative, just a harsh truth. For a “fitness” resolution to work out or be successful it requires goal setting. It cannot be a one day or a once in a year thing, it needs to be a habit, a lifestyle. Most of us treat a resolution as if it possesses some kind of magical powers. Just by making one, it will work. We are more interested in making a resolution than working on keeping it. That’s because it’s cool to have a resolution. That is what matters at the end of the day.

What is most surprising is that all those resolutions are fitness related and unfortunately also those which fail by February or March. We all make ambitious phone calls to the gyms and get ourselves enrolled; after all it’s a resolution. But what happens after that? One month, two months, three months maximum and we are back to normal just like the previous year. The gymming stops, eating habits change, discipline goes out of the window and our routine work takes over every promise ever made. Now, wait for next year. Wait for another resolution.

Sometimes people do stick to the promise made and do start a regime but just end up setting such a great goal that they feel overwhelmed by its size and complexity. I feel it’s better to break things down and make small manageable goals to keep up the motivation and the challenge.

So how exactly do we bring success to a resolution?

To keep up to any kind of fitness resolution it’s very important to list it down and make it visible to you on an everyday basis. This way you can keep reminding yourself about your target. Go and buy that dress which did not fit you this year and work on fitting into it next year. Ask your personal trainer to keep a track on you, your progress and keep reminding you of how badly you want to reach your dream weight, don’t go overboard with the resolution at first which might only results in pain and de-motivate you to go any further. Set small manageable goals, achieve them and set new ones. Share your goals and targets with your friends and family, this way you will get help and encouragement to achieve them and sometimes when you already have made it so loud you will end up sticking to it out of ego and proving yourself which will work in your favour and show you results. Choose activities that make you happy, no need to always opt and go for the stereotype.

So, like you see there is no such science involved in keeping a resolution or even making it work. It’s about setting a goal, making up your mind, being dedicated and committed to it. Don’t wait for an entire year to make a fitness related change or resolution. It can be made, followed and achieved at any given point.

So, Good Luck and a very Happy New Year!

Guarantee (Still) Sells

Even after writing many articles on healthy weight loss and also continuously educating a good number of people on the same I still come across so many who are only willing to get into a gym or a program which ensures “Guarantee”. Guarantee for weight loss and more specifically guarantee on the time it would take to reach their set target. If there was a FAQ in fitness then this particular question would top the list. The same question is more than often thrown at me too and all I have to say is yes I guarantee weight loss but one thing I will never commit on is the time. An answer I do not have and will never have.

This word guarantee has been so severely overrated and has shifted focus from the real concept of a healthy weight loss. People all across have changed their attitude and have succumbed to the guaranteed weight loss packages thanks to the various slimming centres and the so called “celebrity” dieticians. Nobody wants to work hard anymore, give it a try or even want to learn of the repercussions their quick weight loss packages are to bring along.

The only thing one ends up losing with a “guaranteed” program is their mind and lots of money. Of course there is something to gain. A result that is temporary and eventually all and double the weight once lost. While on the other hand weight lost in the correct, healthy and balanced way has nothing to lose except for your excess weight, excess fat and in return so much more to gain. Things like self confidence, healthy mind, healthy body, healthy heart, an impressive body tone, a wardrobe makeover and a happier and fitter YOU!

Each of us has a body which is special and distinct in its own way. You cannot compare yourself or your body to anybody else’s leave alone the celebrities. There is much more than you can imagine that goes into making a celebrity and their 10 on 10 body. Just concentrate on yourself. Just because your friend lost 10kgs in 2 months does not mean you will lose yours in the same time at the same speed. You might take more time or even less depending on how your body reacts to the exercise and diet program your put on. We all have something special about our body but it’s on us to recognise it, respect it and turn it into its best!

I am not discouraging any kind of dream or possibility here but only asking you to be a little realistic. How about me asking you the same questions in return. You guys keep asking how much time? Do you have enough of it to spare? Are you guys ready to discipline yourselves? Are you’ll up for giving me a guarantee of your commitment towards exercise? A guarantee of not falling for any kind of cheap unhealthy weight loss tricks? And lastly, a guarantee of NEVER asking me how long it will take?

If, for all the above questions your answer is yes then YES I can give you your target weight and all the other gains that come with it.

So, what do you say? Deal?

Weight Loss v/s Fat Loss

To most of us both these terms might sound exactly the same. How can they be different and how much difference could it really make to the body?

Weight loss and fat loss are surely inter related but are certainly NOT the same thing. When you lose weight it does not mean you have lost fat and likewise when you lose fat it need not mean you have lost weight. Achieving weight loss is way simpler than achieving fat loss. You reduce your calorie consumption, eat less and what you will see on the weighing scale is weight loss not fat loss. Many unsuccessful weight loss programs result in reduction of lean body mass, which is essentially muscle. Loss of lean body mass drives your metabolism down and reduces your capacity of physical work and calorie burn. A successful fat loss program will concentrate on fat loss without any disruption to your metabolic rate or energy levels and thus healthy fat loss along with weight loss.

When someone comes to me to lose weight what they actually mean is they want to lose the excess flab and fat they have to achieve an attractive figure. But unfortunately during a course of time they tend to forget it and only concentrate on the weighing scale. Patience is the first thing that flies out of the window. All they end up asking is how much more time to reach my goal.

I’ve come across a lot of unhealthy weight loss programs which do not concentrate on your existing or target fat percentage. Clients don’t know what their current fat levels are and what they should actually be. All they worry about is showing results on the weighing scale which makes the client happy. Who has that much time to spare on healthy and permanent weight loss? Who cares about the fat percentage when you are getting the shape and figure you want? And all this starts with one unhealthy, unrealistic goal, a deadline to meet either for a wedding or a party which directly reflects on the exercise or diet program. Suddenly the weight loss program shifts from slow, steady and permanent to fast, unhealthy and temporary. So many times I have come across people bragging about their weight loss, inch loss, but as I ask them about their fat percentage. They are clueless and show no interest.

Losing weight is good, inch loss is great but losing fat is equally important. And losing all of that correctly is most important. You have achieved your ideal weight on the scale but have you really lost the excess FAT? So the next time you visit your dietician or your gym, make sure you demand on learning about your current and target fat levels and work on those lines too.

Trust me; it’s as easy as it sounds.

Staying Active at Work

The most common excuse I get from my members is that they don’t get the time to exercise due to their erratic work timings. Also due to their desk job and continuous sitting in front of the computer gives them a lot of stiffness in the neck and back. Well here you go; there is a way to avoid the stiffness and to remain active even at work. Of course this is no alternative to the routine regular workouts but it is for sure a solution to the complaint. It just needs a little creativity and inspiration to squeeze time for some movement during the day.

Use the stairs

The first and the most important step to begin with is by taking the steps to your office instead of the elevator. We only talk about this idea but never implement it.

Keep getting up from your desk as and when you get a chance

Avoid sitting stationary for a long time. Try getting up at every excuse. If you’ve got a call, try walking while you talk, if you need to give a message to a colleague try going over to his/her desk if you have the time instead of calling or mailing.

Shoulder Shrugs

Perform shoulder shrugs on your chair. Shoulder shrugs are nothing but keeping your hands by your side and lifting your shoulder blades up and down like you’re refusing something. This will lower the tension on your upper back and neck.

Shoulder Stretches

Hold your shoulder and make small circles with your elbow clockwise and anticlockwise 10 repetitions each.

Next, interlock your fingers at the back of your head and bring your elbows together in front of you and open them. Do not unlock the hands at the back. Again bring the elbows together and open them. At least 10 repetitions. This will help release upper back tension.

Neck Rotations

Perform neck rotations every couple of hours if you’re continuously working on the computer. Drop your neck on each side from one shoulder to the other. Rotate it right and left like you are saying “no”, look up at the ceiling and down. At least 10 repetitions of each rotation. This will help prevent stiffness in the neck.

Leg Extensions

While sitting on your chair you can perform leg extensions about 10 to 15 repetitions each leg. Just lift your leg in the bent knee position, extend the knee and bend it again bringing it back to the starting position. Do not put your foot down on the floor for an entire set.

Replace your chair

Try replacing your chair with a Swiss ball/exercise ball. This is an excellent way to relieve tension in the spinal cord, also helps to strengthen the back and abdomen and helps in improving your posture without you even noticing.

Stretch the back

Stand straight. Lift your arms over the head as if reaching up to the ceiling and stretch the entire body. Slowly tilt on to either sides stretching the oblique’s. Return to the straight position. Place your hands on the arch of your back/lower back and slowly hyperextend your back chin lifted up to the ceiling and release. Inhale as u extend, exhale as you release.

Just say “No”

Lunch time at work can sometimes be a lot of pressure from the colleagues to go grab a bite at the nearby mall or to just call for a pizza. All you need to do is say “NO”. There is no harm in saying so. Carry a healthy meal from home if possible or then call for something healthy and light which will be easy on the stomach as your going to be seated all day long. This will keep you away from the unwanted calories. Avoid the unconscious snacking on unhealthy stuff at the desk. Instead carry some fruit or drink green tea during breaks. Drink enough water. Do not eat only because you have nothing to do. Eat only when hungry and at the right time. Instead take some time out to properly eat your food which will avoid any further snacking.

Try these simple tricks at work to keep yourself active, away from stiffness and also a heavy stomach.

It’s OKAY to CHEAT ***

Here comes another dedication of mine, this time not to the ones who prefer short cuts but strictly to all my “fitness obsessed” lot. Yes, it may seem strange that all this while I had things to say to the unfit to motivate them to get started but now also to people who already are hooked on to fitness but that’s the point they are so badly hooked on they have no idea where to stop. Like all other things there is a flip side to fitness too and the flip side is Fitness Addiction, Obsession, thinking about your weight 24x7, setting targets your body can possibly never achieve, treating exercise as your only priority.

Fitness is good, exercising is good, following a “healthy” diet is good, being disciplined when it comes to your health is good but when all of this becomes an obsession its Dangerous. Having a realistic goal of becoming fit is good, having being able to do the household chores without aches and pains is good, increasing your stamina and strength is good but when the size zero and the hour glass figure becomes your goal, when the crash dieting sets in, when the sight of food starts haunting you, when you start spending insane number of hours in the gym, its Dangerous.

This is what I have seen happening to not only teenagers but also to a lot of women in their 30’s even 40’s. The teens have only one mantra to chant 36, 24, 36 and all the young mothers want their bodies to look like a celebrity mother. How about getting trained from them coz only they know what they actually have done to achieve what they have. Like I have always said each one of us is different in our own way and so is our body and all we can do or rather should do is recognise our own strengths and limitations, accept them and figure out our own individual goal unless u practically plan on walking the ramp. Well, actually even then.

The point I am trying to make here is relax, rest, take it easy. Don’t get obsessed by your workouts or by the way your body looks, don’t keep criticizing your weak areas, don’t keep complaining about not loosing the half inch you always wanted to loose from your waist. Stop counting calories every time you see food and please stop carrying your healthy food box everywhere you go. It’s just going to make you sound and look like a complete psycho. Instead appreciate the very difference your workouts have made on your body, be happy for the clothes you never thought you would fit into, its okay if the weighing scale did not show a weight loss this month or the measuring tape had the same measurements to show. What matters is you kept up to your levels and know where to work on. I am not saying switch to unhealthy but yes definitely loosen up a little.

That’s why I say it’s OKAY to CHEAT***. It’s all good if done once in a while. Of course you can have what you like once in a while in one meal. It’s okay to treat yourself with a cup of ice cream or a muffin once in a while. It’s okay if you happened to miss your workout that one day of the month. You’re not going to loose any weight in that one single day or in that case even gain any. Don’t let fitness become an obsession. This can only lead to an always unhappy body, lot of physical and emotional stress and therefore no positive result. Don’t treat your body like a machine. Love it, Respect it and satisfy your palette once in a while.

*** Only for the Fit.

Take the following test; if you answer YES for any one or more of the following questions, you may be obsessed and may want to start taking it easy.

1. Do you feel guilty when you eat?
2. You think you are fat always, no matter how thin you are?
3. Do you criticize your body?
4. Does working out justify your eating?
5. Do you avoid food when you haven’t done your workout?
6. Do you exercise even when you aren’t feeling well, have an injury or are exhausted?
7. Do you constantly compare yourself with others in the gym or magazines?