Please Sing : (In Chorus) It's another Birthday, Just Another Birthday. Now Rap : I am, What I am, What I'll always be, A worker bee....
But seriously that's the limit of my poetical talents. Let the verses cease - the rest of the post shall be in normal engelese.....
I just completed another chronological year of my existence and as I now stand here and look back over the last year or so - I find quite a few changes I have willingly made. To confess a few :
1) A trip alone to Goa - vacationed alone last year for the first time and it turned out to be not a bad experience at all. I kept my own timings, went to wherever my fancy took me and was eternally vigilant throughout the trip to avoid being ripped off in strange places/by strangers who prey on lone travellers. Result - I realized that travelling alone through life reuires the same courage and foresight and I'm upto it (though its damn hard- you only play with the cards you have been dealt with by life).
2) Ran a Marathon (Chennai Marathon)- Again I ran my first marathon last year- alone, unprepared and out of sheer bloody-minded will-power. Running kilometer after kilometer with nobody but your thoughts to accompany you forces you to take a good hard look at yourself and all your misgivings and shortcomings. You measure up yourself as a man and pass judgement on yourself - so that if you collapse on the end of the run with a cardiac arrest (a posssibilty - if you are not fit enough) you atleast have the satisfaction of knowing that you are a Man (In Rajnikant's diaogue- Ambala!!!)
3) Went Swimming - This is another of the foolhardy things i did last year - I went to the pool at a time when there would be no one around to watch my exposed body (which I'm still ashamed to exhibit in public) and jumped in to try and learn swimming (all by myself)- and fortunately am still around to tell the tale. luckinly for me - the depth of the pol wasn't much - just comes upto my nose - so i could breathe with my face tilted up. And Oh, I now go swimming regularly every sunday and I've progressed enuough to do both breaststoke, backstroke and simply lying on my back in the water - floating calmly - no more panic at the sight of water. And achieved all by my self.
4) A few minor things like - going to dance class, learning kick-boxing etc were also attempted over last year with minor success.
MY Failures - The one major regret I have for the past year was when I abandoned my quest for that elusive "Six Pack Abs" halfway. It really took too much effort and time and halfway through I despaired of ever achieving it given all my professional and personal commitments -when time became a constraint and I felt I really could not do my normal/routine work half-starved daily.
A few other less noteworthy incidents like trying to chat up a few girls and getting snubbed too happened - not worth talking about.
And Finally - The Resolution for this year - THAT DAMN NOVEL- always on the tip of my tongue/touch of my fingers - this year I am definitely going to write it and complete it - its been waiting too long. Bye Cheeerio.............
Showing posts with label Boxing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boxing. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
How to lose weight on a diet of Pizza's & Samosa's....My Fitness woes...
Ok, Here is the Good News First... Those Thirty Kilo's I lost over the better part of last year are still not back.. They are keeping their distance staring like hungry wolves itching to get back at me.. But I have not lost anything in recent times- maybe because I am finally indulging my craving for all my self-denial last year?... I must have hit a "Plateau" the size of Tibet as the Weighing Scales resolutely refuse to go down any further - and every little bit of my fat is hanging onto me like needy blood relatives - which in a sense they probably are..
To start from the beginning - for those who came in late and missed the first half:- The hospital where I report for work (occasionally) had bought a new machine - to check whats called the cardio-vascular status - and when I had gone to chat with my friend who was in charge of the ward - he playfully suggested that I inaugrate the machine by getting hooked-up to it first- unofficially, of course. In a rare unguarded moment of weakness I assented and when the results showed on the monitor - I (and my friend), had a nasty shock- my insides were labouring under overloading conditions. Before my friend could offer his expert analysis (and unwanted advice) - I tactfully escaped and went away to brood over it alone like a modern Hamlet - To Do or not to Do?. The conclusions were inescapable - I needed more exercise - my weekly quota of self adminstered hand jobs -did not suffice.
So, over the next few days I started a crash- diet program and went & joined a Gym - Fitness One in Kilpauk - to which I made the customary weekly visit - to console my conscience (still losing sleep over the steep membership fee) that I was in fact exercising... But the semi- starvation diet - water, water and more water - whenever I felt hungry (with occasional gorging on Pizza or Samosa - whenever I relapsed)- seemed to have worked wonders - I was losing the equivalent of 3-4 kilos a month without any heavy physical activity (except using the TV remote). After a few months my gym trainer who attributed all my rapid weight loss to his exceptional training methods - entered my name (without consulting me) into a Triathlon race- involving 3 different events -running, cycling, and cross-trainer - to be done continously on the same day....What? Do I look like a fool?- was my first reaction - but on being assured that I could drop out anytime-I agreed to grace the event with my presence.....
Oh!, If only I had known - the extreme fatigue and pain involved - I wouldnt have gone near the gym even if they had arranged naked cheer-girls for the event. But unfortunately I presented myself for the event - and I was put on a treadmill and told to run. After 3 minutes I was just about ready to give up and go home and take rest for a week - when on the treadmill beside me an old man (40? 45)?) started his run and he gave me a look full of pity at my panting. Now - if there is one thing I hate - it is being patronized - and my blood boiling with rage- I decided to finish the triathlon if it killed me - and it very nearly did too - for in the last event when I felt a twinge near my chest - I imagined having a heart -attack and very nearly fell of the machine. Suffice it to say - that by the time I had finished all three events - I was in a zone of my own - it was like taking half a dozen shots of vodka in one swig. The thing that i had always fantazised about -whenever I read about it - no, not the big "O"- The "Endorphin" thing - thats what had hit me - my brain felt clearer than in years - there were multicoloured lights floating in front of my eyes and I felt like - I was 12 feet tall..
So, like every addict - I kept trying to re-experience that incredible first effect again and again. I ran and ran - joined aerobics classes, then joined dance classes, then did both classes continuosly till I was a walking cripple on my way back home from the gym - to try and experience that endorphin high again. But sorry to say - except for that near-death experience my first time - I have not experienced that Agony & Exstasy again. Meanwhile - my weight kept dropping down until - on New Years Day this Year - I was 30 Kilos lighter compared to last year. And now starts part Two - The Tragedy.
The current rage being " Fab Abs" - I reasoned - now that I was back looking like a member of the human race - why not go the whole hog? and get a, what they call, "A Body to Die For?" So for the past 3 months I have being slogging my butt out in the Gym - lifting big and bigger (impossibly looking) weights- trying to get well proportioned muscles and a chiseled body . I have even joined a kick boxing class to try and lose all my aggro in a non-injurious way - but to no avail. The muscles have not developed - my weight is stubbornly clinging on at current levels- and kicking others in the face is not exactly my idea of fun - I am more the sarcastic remark type. So - I figure my body has at last called a halt to the whole fitness issue and taken a break - maybe I should do so too.......
To start from the beginning - for those who came in late and missed the first half:- The hospital where I report for work (occasionally) had bought a new machine - to check whats called the cardio-vascular status - and when I had gone to chat with my friend who was in charge of the ward - he playfully suggested that I inaugrate the machine by getting hooked-up to it first- unofficially, of course. In a rare unguarded moment of weakness I assented and when the results showed on the monitor - I (and my friend), had a nasty shock- my insides were labouring under overloading conditions. Before my friend could offer his expert analysis (and unwanted advice) - I tactfully escaped and went away to brood over it alone like a modern Hamlet - To Do or not to Do?. The conclusions were inescapable - I needed more exercise - my weekly quota of self adminstered hand jobs -did not suffice.
So, over the next few days I started a crash- diet program and went & joined a Gym - Fitness One in Kilpauk - to which I made the customary weekly visit - to console my conscience (still losing sleep over the steep membership fee) that I was in fact exercising... But the semi- starvation diet - water, water and more water - whenever I felt hungry (with occasional gorging on Pizza or Samosa - whenever I relapsed)- seemed to have worked wonders - I was losing the equivalent of 3-4 kilos a month without any heavy physical activity (except using the TV remote). After a few months my gym trainer who attributed all my rapid weight loss to his exceptional training methods - entered my name (without consulting me) into a Triathlon race- involving 3 different events -running, cycling, and cross-trainer - to be done continously on the same day....What? Do I look like a fool?- was my first reaction - but on being assured that I could drop out anytime-I agreed to grace the event with my presence.....
Oh!, If only I had known - the extreme fatigue and pain involved - I wouldnt have gone near the gym even if they had arranged naked cheer-girls for the event. But unfortunately I presented myself for the event - and I was put on a treadmill and told to run. After 3 minutes I was just about ready to give up and go home and take rest for a week - when on the treadmill beside me an old man (40? 45)?) started his run and he gave me a look full of pity at my panting. Now - if there is one thing I hate - it is being patronized - and my blood boiling with rage- I decided to finish the triathlon if it killed me - and it very nearly did too - for in the last event when I felt a twinge near my chest - I imagined having a heart -attack and very nearly fell of the machine. Suffice it to say - that by the time I had finished all three events - I was in a zone of my own - it was like taking half a dozen shots of vodka in one swig. The thing that i had always fantazised about -whenever I read about it - no, not the big "O"- The "Endorphin" thing - thats what had hit me - my brain felt clearer than in years - there were multicoloured lights floating in front of my eyes and I felt like - I was 12 feet tall..
So, like every addict - I kept trying to re-experience that incredible first effect again and again. I ran and ran - joined aerobics classes, then joined dance classes, then did both classes continuosly till I was a walking cripple on my way back home from the gym - to try and experience that endorphin high again. But sorry to say - except for that near-death experience my first time - I have not experienced that Agony & Exstasy again. Meanwhile - my weight kept dropping down until - on New Years Day this Year - I was 30 Kilos lighter compared to last year. And now starts part Two - The Tragedy.
The current rage being " Fab Abs" - I reasoned - now that I was back looking like a member of the human race - why not go the whole hog? and get a, what they call, "A Body to Die For?" So for the past 3 months I have being slogging my butt out in the Gym - lifting big and bigger (impossibly looking) weights- trying to get well proportioned muscles and a chiseled body . I have even joined a kick boxing class to try and lose all my aggro in a non-injurious way - but to no avail. The muscles have not developed - my weight is stubbornly clinging on at current levels- and kicking others in the face is not exactly my idea of fun - I am more the sarcastic remark type. So - I figure my body has at last called a halt to the whole fitness issue and taken a break - maybe I should do so too.......
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