#fitness Archives

Posted on July 2, 2019 by Mycoffeeweather — 2 Comments

Everyday I’m (not) Hustling

If you don’t workout at all then this read is going to make you super happy to join the fitclub; If you’ve just started off, then maybe you can learn from my mistake; If you’re a crazy hardcore killer-of-workouts, breaker of PRs and mother of all flash diets then you definitely need to read this.

Every time I go on a holiday the first things I pack are my fitness gears. People think of vacation as a complete break but I was never able to go without workout 3 days in a row (unless I’m not well). I barely feel awake the days I stay in and don’t actively move around. There are times I question myself—Is it a craving and obsession? Am I being too compulsive about it? Or is it discipline and giving my body what it needs? There’s a thin line and I was on the wrong side of it for a few years of my life, but now I’m learning to ‘listen to my body’. (FYI I used to think people are crazed when they said that.)

Before listening to my body:
Most of my mornings would start like this “Common one more rep! You can beat the time! Go for it!! Don’t give up! Go Go Go! No pain no gain!!!! Show up everyday! Give your 100% or go home! Puke but don’t stop! Its all in the head! The body can do more than what your mind is telling you.”This and a million other fitness slogans, that are basically not worth hearing, not worth following and totally not worth living by. All about the Hustle life—over exerting my body more than its current need and capacity; going all-out crazy in every workout and gassing out, no recovery and drained of energy but still push hard, using workout to pound myself as an escape from life’s stress (BIG NO); running the mad race without a fixed goal.

Pointers on why not to hustle all the time—

High rate of injury
DOMS –Delayed onset of Muscle Soreness
Causes Hormonal Imbalance
The stress of your life has to be dealt with, an hour of escape everyday is not getting you out of the problem, it will just be an escape.
Without a Goal there cannot be any results, you’ll just be wasting a lot of energy.
To get freaked out read this – https://www.businessinsider.in/What-too-much-exercise-does-to-your-body-and-brain/articleshow/63821723.cms
Adrenal fatigue, Yo-yo dieting, Detox diets (links given at the end) are just a few which you have to know about even before you start the basics.

Now that I’m crazy too, telling myself to listen to my body:
There is absolutely no need to HUSTLE is what I realized! (That might be totally contrary to what you’ve almost heard everywhere.) I don’t put an alarm to start things off. I see how my body feels moving from my bed to the washroom; if I’m feeling energetic, lethargic, sleep-deprived, sore, too fit to care, or just a bundle of excuses. Then I take a call what I should do that day and just make sure I’m doing something- yoga, swimming, running, walking, weight training, group class at (The Outfit currently). Also when I have a super active day, unlike my normal desk-job hours, I make sure I’m not doing a taxing workout. Incase I have had a very lazy day I throw in an extra evening walk. Basically instead of using the tracker, fitbits and apple-watch to complete the red circle of activity, I just waste time in being aware of how my body is feeling …… (like how it’s supposed to be). Discovering the importance of rest, pacing myself and not letting the drive, drive me down to fatigue. Giving my body the time it needs to recover. Slow and consistent progress is always better than quick fixes.

So now there is going to be the famous problem of choice because this article is on the internet and so are 20 million other articles which are going to contradict this. If you google any nutrition/fitness related question on google you’re going to find both a ‘Yes’ and a ‘No’. We know about famous combos like Elixir Coconut oil vs Harvard Professor, Karin Michels and Keto fad diet vs Rujuta Diwekar, India’s leading nutrition and exercise science expert. If they all belong to the fitness industry and spring from one concept of good health, then why are facts not the same for everyone? No two trainers have the same idea on the ideal way to stay fit and no two nutritionists promote the same eating habits.

I guess no two bodies are the same and hence, it brings me to only one conclusive thought-— your body knows best. First decide what you want as a goal, or multiple goals. Then, speak to the right people, learn as much as you can, don’t be afraid to try new things and based on how you feel achieve them with a paced out and balanced approach. You don’t want to end up with any side effects. Its easy to fall prey to people pushing you and coaxing you, but it’s up to you to find your balance.

Note: You should read about LISS (that’s going to be the next ‘trend’).

Disclaimer: I’m not a Fitness GURU! I’m just sharing my personal experience on my personal blog about my not-so-personal-anymore life, so you can get some perspective!

MUST reads:

1. This article is very useful on understanding Adrenal fatigue and how you can avoid it and the concept of metabolic reserve:)

2. Please read this before someone misleads you!- about the YO YO effect!

3. DOMS

Posted on August 16, 2018August 16, 2018 by Mycoffeeweather — Leave a comment

Mental Rehab for Injury

This is my second time getting injured (I’m not proud of it), and I just felt like the referee telling me to sit out a match without even getting a red or yellow card, no warning. Just wait till the next match, or probably when I’m fit to play. Any injury while playing, working out and sports can cause a lot of physical pain. There is a lot on the internet on how to avoid an injury and all the dos and don’ts. This time though it was more of a mental challenge. Getting fit is a journey and you need to have an open mind.

Acceptance plays a huge role in the mental work post an injury. A lot of people just like to deny it. It’s a part of your journey- It happened, and now you need to accept it, so you can do something about it. The minute you deny it (to avoid the cost of recovery, the missing-out of workout ‘high’-endorphins) you will land yourself into trouble. It could even become chronic.

We want everything quick, right? Food can be heated quicker- microwave, message can be sent quicker- Internet, and you expect the human body to be at the same pace. Recovery isn’t magic and we haven’t invented anything that can get you out of an injury within minutes. Be smart with the time instead. I plan it -lots of reading, movie binging, catch up with friends, doing everything in that workout time I couldn’t do before. Make It fun! You may even forget the pain for a bit.

That lazy voice in my head tells me its okay if I don’t see the physiotherapist or doctor (orthopedic), and I’m glad now I don’t listen to it. Getting a professional opinion or two saves you the trouble of guess work and trial and error. You can be sure of your road to recovery and that boosts your confidence.

It’s easy, almost very easy to just blame your trainer or the place, the lack of people supporting you, yada yada. I have done it. All it does for you, is cloud the right perspective. Even if this was someone else’s fault, you don’t realize that it was up to you to not let it happen. You could have totally avoided it. What is it that you needed, to avoid it? Many people miss out on this question and keep falling for the same mistakes. Take it from me- Lack of stretching.

You need to discuss and talk about it. A lot of times I thought its something to be ashamed of. “How could you get an injury?” I don’t know whose voice rang in my head but, Hey! A lot of fit people I know didn’t get away with it either. Once I was more vocal about it, I got that its not “periods” which you can’t talk about in public (pun totally intended). Its normal. I’m learning and I’m allowed to fall as long as I’m learning from it.

Post recovery is another phase I totally suck at. I’m getting scared of this honestly. I have no idea if a lot of people do this but you just forget you have had an injury and recovered. Go all out and forget about those rehab movements you need to continue doing. Now you need to do some special movements which the group class won’t be doing with you. Lazy brain, time constraints, and the yada yada yada setting in. Its just a little extra stretching or strengthening. Just because its recovered we cannot conveniently forget about it.

On the other end I know of people who just quit workout all together, – “oh exercising causes injury”. No! (bubble popped for some). Wrong form causes injury, wrong posture causes injury, Inadequate knowledge about your body (e.g. flat foot) causes injury, lack of stretching causes injury, lack of proper warm up causes injury and may be lack of strength in a few tiny muscles could cause injury. If you have figured all of the above, you could have an amazing body and exercising would be the culprit. Don’t quit. Just take it slow.

So as I was trying to wave off all the clouds stopping this perspective, I just had an insight, that may be my injury just taught me something and I don’t need to feel all that bad about it. All you dying soldiers out there, with battle scars and broken limbs I feel you! (exaggerated much?). Join the club and let’s get educated and spread awareness so others don’t need to suffer! No worries, take all the help you can and smile!

This Ted talk will get you thinking though

Posted on February 18, 2017 by Mycoffeeweather — 1 Comment

Postura #januaryobsession

How often do we think about our posture on a daily basis? It was not a New Year resolution and I was just learning more about how to work on my fitness level. ‘Posture’ immediately takes me back to the picture in my school textbook of a boy balancing a notebook while he sits and stands.

I asked myself if I was missing out anything when it came to posture. I have had a bad neck on and off and I keep blaming it on my workout. I have a tendency to shrug my shoulders when I’m doing any workout, so may be I hadn’t really noticed how I sit and walk around. Which lead me to focus a bit on this topic.

I did some extensive reading and found out a few things about how I had constantly engaged my shoulders, walked with feet flopping out a little, didn’t stand enough compared to how many hours I sit and my postures on a daily life wasn’t the best. I happened to visit Dr. Prathap a Chiropractor at my gym who also gave me a few tips on how to sit when I’m at work and how sitting for 6 hours would nullify the effect of my 1 hours workout. All this and I knew some changes had to be made.

Not like the next morning I was up and about all fixed and aligned. I was catching myself slouching, straining my neck too while using my phone, lying on the bed and reading books, slowly melting on the couch while watching TV. The worst was I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, to get back to sitting, moving and doing things how we are naturally meant to do as humans. Mostly I saw a pattern with technology and external factors that were making my body tense up and accept an unusual posture as comfortable, my body got accustomed to such an extent that it almost felt normal to my body. Firstly I had to notice my movements and separate right from wrong as much as possible. So this was the painful stage.

Using too much of my phone and laptop were causing a bad posture most of the times, switching from facebook to instagram and then to whatsapp. I decided to delete all the apps on my phone for more than a month and I was able to notice myself and it became easier to correct myself. This was definitely a great experience and everyone should try a digital detox once in a while its totally worth it, at your own risk as your people really need to be understanding for you to do this.

I had a problem with my toes turning out when I stand and understood how I can improve it through one of these articles. (1,2)

How things affect you emotionally also influences your posture and this was news to me. Overtime whenever I came around an authoritative figure or I wasn’t feeling too buzzed I’d notice my shoulders were already drooping like whole body language was showing what I felt.

It’s been almost a month and it still doesn’t feel easy to maintain the right posture, and I’m catching myself every time I’m faltering. It is not permanent yet but my neck pain isn’t there anymore.

To make it come naturally and make it permanent I will have to change the furniture (chairs) and pillows I’m using. So instead of slouching on the bed I use the dining table if I have to read something for now.

If I can spread this message to all the young people out there who are learning to live with wrong postures, please correct yourselves before its too late and not so easy to unlearn and before it causes any injuries to your body. Good habits are easily lost and so hard to get back and this ones just one of those.

My take back from this January’s obsession turning into a lifestyle change is being active and half the problem is solved.

Note: Find more videos and information on the Facebook wall of @mycoffeeweather #january

Posted on August 5, 2016December 26, 2016 by Mycoffeeweather — 3 Comments

How to get started #getfit

How do you get started? Getting straight to the point:

Have a Goal

Ask yourself ‘why do you want to get fit?’ Make it as detailed as possible. List down all the reasons (even if it is peer pressure) that are forcing you to work towards fitness. Without a GOAL you will not have a purpose and you may lose the interest.

Join a fitness club or gym

If you’re enrolled in a gym or club, you know you’ve paid for it and you will mostly stick to going there. Seeing many people heading in the same direction will also motivate you to keep up with your goal. The environment will set the tone for your fitness goal. Talk to the instructors and get to know more about what you should be doing, ask questions to understand more.

See a Nutritionist

I used to always feel like I can read up and not visit a nutritionist but I feel if you’re starting up its best to meet a professional at least for a one time session to get an idea about the food you need and don’t for your body. It’s important to understand that a nutritionist can gauge your current situation and give you the exact information you need to get started.

Watch a few Movies, Videos and Read books

Watching a few sports related, fitness related and needn’t be all serious but just watch a few movies and videos to help you get an idea what your in for. There is so much information on the web so tap on it.

Review your GOAL

Time to have a real Goal. Once the above is in motion we know a little bit more about what we really want so if we review our goal we can make it much easier to fix on it. We may have met people at the gym who have many other goals and may have given us ideas, the nutritionist may have changed our minds about what we want, all of which needs to be considered. You can have short term and long-term goals based on everything learnt.

Gear up

Every workout is different and we need to understand the basic requirements- SHOES! It’s not really important to spend in every gear available and get it all, but as it goes we can invest a little every now and then, which also is a huge motivation to workout. So start of with a really good pair of shoes, without which you will face injuries.

Plan your day

Before you go to bed just take 10 minutes to think what you’re going to do tomorrow at the gym, how you’ll fit it in your schedule and if you need to prep and list any food, which meal you’ll need to have to take with you to work to avoid eating out. It’s a whole lot of things to think about but if you just give 10 minutes it will make a huge difference. Also a friend of mine suggested me to watch a lot of videos before you sleep so you can’t wait to get started the next day- totally worked for me!

Sleep

Probably work hours don’t allow you, other responsibilities come in the way, family time eats away sleep time, the TV plays a huge role in life post bed time, you need to catch up on some friends. Whatever the reason is please keep in mind a good 6-7 hours sleep is a priority for any human being. If you’re cutting corners on sleep you can forget about because physically your body isn’t designed to allow that kind of cheat. I put a ‘Go To Sleep’ alarm on my phone 7 and a half hours prior to my wake up time, so I know I have half an hour more to do what I have to- so finish whatever is priority.

Think of your goal as you wake up

As you wake up think of what your goal was and GO FOR IT!

I know all this seems like too much but once you get on with it, it’s like a part of the routine. If you fall back anytime due to any reason, get back, as long as you get back to the routine every time nothing will stop you from achieving whatever you have in mind.

Continue reading How to get started #getfit

Posted on July 26, 2016July 26, 2016 by Mycoffeeweather — Leave a comment

Fitspiration Much?

Do you find yourself in need of someone to tell you to be active, to stop giving-in to your cravings, remind you to have enough water, push you to workout and basically get fit?

To get FIT all you need to do is look around and take inspiration. Trust me I do it like a continuous process, doesn’t have to be your favourite movie start getting fit, just look out at your gym, at work, friends and people in your lives, there is “fitspiration” all around you. Just hunt them down and interrogate how they got fit! This is what I got: