What keeps me motivated?
It is so unlikely of me. Anyone who has known me from my engineering days and who happens to read this post of mine would say, "Sala is ko kya hua hai yaar. Ab kisko patane chal hai?" I don't blame them. All throughout my engineering career, I was known more for being involved in stuff like debate, seminar and etc etc... I was the last person you would find on the ground, playing any sport. You definitely had to pull a trick or two to convince me to 'sweat out' on the field. I dunno why I kept myself away from playing any kind of sport? It leaves me baffled when I look back at those 4 years of engineering. Gosh! I never played any sport.
I told myself, "Enough is enough! Bahut hogaya nautanki. I gotta do something about this." I really wanted to revamp my lifestyle. That was when I decided to get started. I needed to ensure that my stint wasn't ephemeral and I kept it alive for the rest of my life (I am optimist. That explains my claims!). So I spoke with a couple of my friends (G and V) and enquired if I could find a badminton court to play. Apparently G is also crazy about playing badminton. I finally managed to find a court near my room. You know badminton is relatively a costly hobby to pursue in bangalore. But since we found an outdoor court, problem khatam!
I also needed to get myself back in shape. Not that I had begun to look like a watermelon or something similar. But I needed to aquire what people often say, "You need to be fit in order to play badminton yaar!" So I decided to hit the gym. Fortunately there is this gym close to my room. It didn't take me long to make up my mind and I absolutely had no second thoughts about my new venture. It was in the first week of february I guess that I gave my first (ever) entry in to the gym. It takes a decent amount of determination to beat the laziness in you and drag yourself to the gym. It is a challenge of a sort when an idea such as this strikes you during winter! But I was not gonna give up. I also wanted to make sure that I wouldn't try any weights in the gym. I somehow can't come to terms with the guys who believe in 'pumping iron' really hard to become a macho-man! My focus was to reduce some unsaturated fats in my body and get back to shape at the earliest. You really got to be very clear as to what you wish to achieve by 'gymming'! A battle well begun is half won:)
My routine basically involves a few stretches, followed by a decent jog on the tread mill (or an occasional cycling) and then a few other fitness excercies. I have experminted more with the tread than any other equipment in the gym. I would like to share with you some of my typical routines that I have been following till date. They say that your workout on tread mill must roughly follow a pyramid shape when you represent it in terms of time slices/distances. The following two routines is what I have been following mostly. I have swapped them quite frequently, mostly on occasions when one seemed monotonous.
Routine 1:
Activity - jogging on the treadmill
Total time - 25-30 min approximately
Total distance covered - 3.4 km approx
Total calories burnt - 200 kcal
Speed - Distance
Routine 2:
Total calories burt - 250 Kcal
Activity 1- Cycling
Total time - 15-20 min approx
Total distance covered - 8 km
Total calories burnt - 100 kcal approx
Average speed - 25-27 km/hr
Activity2 - jogging on treadmill
Total time - 20-25 min approx
Total distance covered - 2.5 km approx
Total calories burnt - 150 kcal
Speed - Distance
You can also try out other combinations on the tread mill. I have chosen distance as the parameter of break up. You can chose time slots and work out at these speeds for selected time intervals.
You might have begun to think by now. Doesn't this routine get monotonous after sometime? My answer is yes! Wouldn't you feel bored eating the same food over and over again? When that happens what do you do? You would naturally opt for a change. That is exactly what I did too. When a routine gets mundane, change it!
A few things that might help you keep your motvation levels high.
~IT's My Life
I told myself, "Enough is enough! Bahut hogaya nautanki. I gotta do something about this." I really wanted to revamp my lifestyle. That was when I decided to get started. I needed to ensure that my stint wasn't ephemeral and I kept it alive for the rest of my life (I am optimist. That explains my claims!). So I spoke with a couple of my friends (G and V) and enquired if I could find a badminton court to play. Apparently G is also crazy about playing badminton. I finally managed to find a court near my room. You know badminton is relatively a costly hobby to pursue in bangalore. But since we found an outdoor court, problem khatam!
I also needed to get myself back in shape. Not that I had begun to look like a watermelon or something similar. But I needed to aquire what people often say, "You need to be fit in order to play badminton yaar!" So I decided to hit the gym. Fortunately there is this gym close to my room. It didn't take me long to make up my mind and I absolutely had no second thoughts about my new venture. It was in the first week of february I guess that I gave my first (ever) entry in to the gym. It takes a decent amount of determination to beat the laziness in you and drag yourself to the gym. It is a challenge of a sort when an idea such as this strikes you during winter! But I was not gonna give up. I also wanted to make sure that I wouldn't try any weights in the gym. I somehow can't come to terms with the guys who believe in 'pumping iron' really hard to become a macho-man! My focus was to reduce some unsaturated fats in my body and get back to shape at the earliest. You really got to be very clear as to what you wish to achieve by 'gymming'! A battle well begun is half won:)
My routine basically involves a few stretches, followed by a decent jog on the tread mill (or an occasional cycling) and then a few other fitness excercies. I have experminted more with the tread than any other equipment in the gym. I would like to share with you some of my typical routines that I have been following till date. They say that your workout on tread mill must roughly follow a pyramid shape when you represent it in terms of time slices/distances. The following two routines is what I have been following mostly. I have swapped them quite frequently, mostly on occasions when one seemed monotonous.
Routine 1:
Activity - jogging on the treadmill
Total time - 25-30 min approximately
Total distance covered - 3.4 km approx
Total calories burnt - 200 kcal
Speed - Distance
- 4km/hr - 100m
- 5km/hr - 500m
- 6km/hr - 600m
- 7km/hr - 300m
- 8km/hr - 500m
- 9km/hr - 500m
- 10km/hr - 300m
- 11km/hr - 150m
- 12 km/hr - 150m
- 6km/hr - 300km
Routine 2:
Total calories burt - 250 Kcal
Activity 1- Cycling
Total time - 15-20 min approx
Total distance covered - 8 km
Total calories burnt - 100 kcal approx
Average speed - 25-27 km/hr
Activity2 - jogging on treadmill
Total time - 20-25 min approx
Total distance covered - 2.5 km approx
Total calories burnt - 150 kcal
Speed - Distance
- 4km/hr - 100m
- 5km/hr - 500m
- 6km/hr - 600m
- 7km/hr - 300m
- 8km/hr - 500m
- 9km/hr - 250m
- 10km/hr - 150m
- 6km/hr - 100m
You can also try out other combinations on the tread mill. I have chosen distance as the parameter of break up. You can chose time slots and work out at these speeds for selected time intervals.
You might have begun to think by now. Doesn't this routine get monotonous after sometime? My answer is yes! Wouldn't you feel bored eating the same food over and over again? When that happens what do you do? You would naturally opt for a change. That is exactly what I did too. When a routine gets mundane, change it!
A few things that might help you keep your motvation levels high.
- Always have your expectations realistic. Don't rush in to things and hope that you will lose 20kgs in 20 days or so. Your body took sometime to add on weight. So it will defintely take some time to get rid of it as well.
- It is always good to give yourself a day or two off from your regular routine, just to ensure you escape that monotonicity. You might choose to go for a walk in the park or play you favorite sport like badminton or cricket during weekends.
- For heaven's sake don't make this 'going-to-gym' activity a pain in the a**. Trust me you will start to hate it after some time. Learn to make it more enjoyable venture such that you would look forward to hitting the gym in full spirits everyday.
- Last but not the least, stop comparing yourself with others in the gym. It is very easy to get carried away by somebody's routine. If you know what you want at the end of the day, I am sure you will have more 'satisfaction' and your 'energy levels' will never drop.
~IT's My Life
8 comments:
You are right about monotony yaar! It can kill a person , even if it is a healthy activity like going to the gym. I am sorry Suresh: I could not do the tag that you had wanted me to but I will get to it soon!
Vidya
@ Vidya,
I have been lucky till now, for not to have been a victim of this monotony! About the Tag; no issues yaar. Complete that whenever you find time. Chalo:)
Nice post... You've written well this time ;-)
BTW, who's G?
@ Harish,
Thanks for the comments. As usual.. It is hard to impress you sir:) I am fortunate i did it this time. BTW G is a colleague of mine @ MindTree.
Suri,
Pls get over ur habit of writing such long blogs..Takes me like an hour to read thru ;-)
Well, good to know u hit the gym..Me needs to do it badly..
Hey Adi,
I just can't seem to get over it. Dunno why:) Seriously. It has gotten in to my skin I guess!
I disagree with Aditi, I like the long blogs! :P
And glad you're still sticking to the gym.
In this fast paced world, you need to keep your mind and body healthy to compete in the rat race!
@Niveditha,
Thank god:) Someone really likes those lengthy posts of mine. Just kidding yaar. I love to hit the gym regularly. It has become part and parcel of my life.
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