Comfort Food

Last week I had gone to Goa to spend some time with my friends. I had decided that I will not workout those days and nor am I gonna be on a diet. This was the time to relax and have fun. And so i did:) It was such a blessing not to think what I am eating, or is this too high in calories. I just ate..

After all that junk food, I was sure that I had gained weight and was skeptical to get on to the weighing machine once I got home. To my surprise I had not gained much weight at all. Maybe just a kilo or so, which I knew I would be able to burn it out soon. I remember talking to a friend of mine some time back(who is trainer) that the goal of working out should be that we remain fit and be able to enjoy the pleasures of life. I remember she had told me that, workout regularly and let your metabolic rate be high, so that even if I do tend to eat some high caloric food, it will be automatically burned.

I am glad that all the "sweet" pain of working out is finally paying off. Trust me it really hurts when you do all those squats and lunges and full push ups, but trust me its worth it :)

My Goal...Pull Ups...finally achieved:)

I know this might sound silly to a lot of people, but I have always wanted to be able to do full ups, without supporting weight.I have been working out for almost 6 years now. I never thought it wud take me that long to do it.Well I did have a shoulder injury in between which restricted me in doing a lot of upper body workouts. But I am  glad I am back on track :) 

I remember trying to do full pull ups once and I failed. And it kinda disappointed me.The reason being, at that point of time in my life I was at the peak of my workouts. My weight training was going really well and my upper body strength had increased too. This was prior to my shoulder injury. After my injury I had to work a lot on my mind. I would give up really soon, doubt my own strength or be easily demotivated.The injury happened while I was  working out, so the fear was even more as to what if i go wrong somewhere again.

This time when I decided to give a shot at pull ups, I was a lot stronger in my mind than my shoulders. I knew that i had been getting better at my upper body strength, post the injury and that I had given enough time for it to heal (2 years c'mon now that's  long enough;) Fortunately I could lift myself for a good 5 counts, the next three i needed some help from the trainer:) All in all I am very grateful to God to bring me back to my fitness level as before (in fact better than before:)

Variation in Workouts

When it comes to workouts our body tends to get used to familiarity really soon. So it is very essential to have a variation in your workout. Changing your workout every month or at least once in two months does benefit the body. Variation in your workout can be bought by making it either cardio, weight training or a mix of both.

For the past two months I was following a Drop set workout where the weights are lighter and there ain't any rest between the sets. I took two muscle groups a day and did my cardio routine on the other days. I alternated with cardio and weights during the week. I did see a significant change in my body as i was concentrating more on fat loss by an *aerobic workout.

For the coming month I will be concentrating more on strength training and muscle building. Will do complete upper body workout  on one day and lower body on the other day. So one week will have 2 days of complete upper body and one day of lower body  and the next week it will be vice versa. This is more of an *anaerobic workout where your body is burning the fat till the next 24 hrs after your workout. The weights taken are the maximum that you  can lift and rest between the sets is 1-2 mins. As there is wear and tear in the muscles it uses up the energy from the body for it repair.

Thus by constantly changing your workout you help your body not to go into the plateau stage and therefore you also enjoy the change.

*Aerobic exercise: 

Any physical exercise that requires additional effort by the heart and lungs to meet the striated muscles' increased demand for oxygen. Aerobic exercise increases the breathing rate and ultimately raises heart and lung efficiency. Prolonged aerobic exercise (at least 20 minutes three times a week) is recommended for the maintenance of a healthy cardiovascular system. Examples of aerobic exercise include running, jogging, swimming, and vigorous dancing or cycling. 

*Anaerobic Exercise:

Exercise of much higher intensity than aerobic work, which uses up oxygen more quickly than the body can replenish it in the working muscles. Anaerobic exercise eventually builds up a significant oxygen debt that forces an athlete to terminate the exercise session rather quickly. Anaerobic exercise (the kind of exercise to which bodybuilding training belongs) burns up glycogen (muscle sugar) to supply its energy needs. Fast sprinting is a typical anaerobic form of exercise.

BMR

BMR(Basal Metabolic Rate) in simple English means the amount of energy a body expends/uses at the state of rest to maintain normal bodily funtions.

Definition: Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories your body burns at rest to maintain normal body functions. It is the amount of calories per day your body burns, regardless of exercise.

So higher the BMR of your body, more is amount of calories it burns at the state of rest. The BMR of a person changes according to age, gender, diet and exercise. The BMR of a person is determined by various genetic and environmental factors. Some of them are:

• Genetics: Some people have a higher metabolic rate, while some have slower, and that is because of Genetics.
• Age: BMR reduces with Age. It drops 2% per decade after the age of 20.
• Gender : Men usually have a higher BMR as they have more muscle mass and less fat.
• Body fat percent: Your Body fat percent has to be low if you desire a higher metabolic rate.
• Physical Exercise: Physical exercise not only burns fat but also in turn increases your BMR. If you are doing weights and building muscle, you are burning calories even while sleeping.

How to increase your metabolic rate:

• Eat at regular intervals: Eating at regular intervals helps in increasing the BMR. Try and have 5-6 small meals in a day. Starving or eating very less food will only slow down your metabolism.
  
• Exercise: Regular exercise helps in speeding up the metabolism. So exercise daily.
  
• Weight Training: Weight training helps in boosting your BMR as it builds up muscle. 1 pound of muscle burns 50 calories a day.
  
• Drink 8-10 glasses of water.
  
• Avoid Alcohol, excessive sugar intake and starving.
  
• Consume food with High Nutrition Value.

Hope this post has given you a general idea of BMR. Stay fit and live well:)

Personal Training

Personal training was something that I've wanted to do for a very long time.. Its been over 4 years now that i have been working out and i never felt the need to take up personal training. On my 25th birthday i thought why not gift myself a few sessions of Personal Training. So i took up 3 months of it( i had stashed up some extra cash, so m glad i cud use that at the right time). My trainer was my good friend too, so enjoyed it even more. It is very important when taking Personal Training that you be comfortable with the person training you. Because he was my friend my sessions were always fun:)

It always helps to have a right view of training. People sometimes take it as drudgery. With that kind of mindset, it kinda ruins the whole mood. It definitely is difficult when you have a personal trainer, as they push you to your limits. That is very exhausting and sometimes frustrating, as many a times you feel you cant achieve the desired results (m telling out of my own wonderful experience he he). But trust me the trainer knows, they see your potential and will push you to how much they think you can achieve. Many a times you can feel that they are expecting a little too much, but sometimes that is good:) It helps us to widen our horizons.

For me the whole experience of Personal training was wonderful. At that point of time i needed something different. And for once it was good to have someone else think for you:)

In the end all i wanna say is THANK YOU GAUTAM. You really have been very patient with my craziness...All the best for your future...

Eat more to Burn more

People think that if you want to be fit or if you want to lose weight u should reduce the quantity of the food you are eating. Some people end up starving themselves. This will just make you gain weight instead. To see a change in your body there definitely has to be a change in the quality of your food. Anything deep fried, sweets and simple carbs should be avoided. Food groups like protein, complex carbs, fruits and vegetables should be included in one's diet. Instead of having 3 large meals, divide them into smaller 5-6 meals. This helps in increasing your BMR i.e the Basic Metabolic Rate*. It is the rate at which your body burns energy. The higher the BMR the better. Let your last meal of the day be the lightest and avoid any carbohydrates in the night.An early dinner is always a good option. Include oats in your daily diet as that helps reduce cholesterol and is a good from of fibre. Proteins can be derived from fish, chicken, pulses and eggs. Avoid bakery products as much as you can and especially anything made of refined flour. White bread can be replaced by whole wheat brown bread.

Let you diet plan be flexible and something that you can maintain. It should not be a tedious task to keep track of what you eat. It should be enjoyable. You can treat yourself once in a while with something that you really like, but do watch on the quantity and the time of the day you are eating. Incase you have to go out for dinner or lunch, be extra careful with your diet for the next few days, and put in a little more time in your exercise. Please do remember that exercise and diet go hand in hand and it helps in achieving your targets faster. Develop a mindset of healthy eating and living thus you can indulge in your favourite things once in a while. Remember one thing, that every person is different and every body's requirement is different too. So if one from of diet is good for Mr A it not necessary that it has to be good for Mr B too. So find out your body type and make your own diet plans that will suit you.

*Will write a seperate post on BMR.

ACE Examination

Its been so long since I’ve put a post on this blog… and I don’t blame anyone…I’ve just been very lazy…Have been doin a lot of thinking about fitness lately and I want to get myself educated in this field… just being passionate about fitness will not make me a professional… I planning to give the ACE examination… (American Council on Exercise) (www.acefitness.org) it is quite a difficult examination so I wanna start preparing right now it self…will probably give the exam in the yr 2010..So even if in the near future I don’t enter the fitness profession, at least I can help myself and will not have to entirely depend on the trainers in the gym for advice…