Hello hello!
A couple of weeks into the new year and by now, we should be in our fitness and nutrition groove. Before we get into today’s post, I wanted to ask a question - How can I best help you now?
Let’s get to the 3 topics for today.
when we fall, what choice but to get back up and have a go again? This is a story about a student of mine who went from knowing nothing about fitness or health to transform his life and then went back to square one. The crucial difference - didn’t stay there.
Quotes from Derek Sivers, Joseph Campbell and Somerset Maugham.
are creaky joints and being in pain a natural state of growing older? Do the elders in our household have no choice? Do we have no choice? Of course, they do and we do. Find the solution!
a student story on conquering, falling, and starting again
This is a story about JK, a student of mine who joined NGS around the time we launched our centre. He joined at the insistence of a friend of his and together they'd show up at 5 am.
He could barely do a basic squat. He had not done any physical activity in at least a decade. Like most of us, he had slowly piled on the kilos. He struggled with almost all basic movements, barely able to hold a plank past 30 seconds. A few minutes of work and he'd need to stop or slow down.
show up 3 days a week and we got the rest covered
That's our mantra at The Quad. Of course one can train more than 3 days of the week but when we are starting at zero, 3 is ample. And once you know what you are doing, well, that's a different story.
JK showed up 3 days a week. He did not let his poor movements perturb him or rather, he did not let that stop him. He committed. He went all in. Never did anything outside of what was asked of him. And slowly, together, we built him up.
He also focused on nutrition and lifestyle. He started eating like an adult, according to The Quad's nutrition framework. He ensured he got at least 6 hours of sleep.
And he did this for close to 2 years!
transformation
JK went through the transformation that all of us dream of - the before and after. But more than losing weight and getting thin or whatever, he underwent a complete transformation. One of identity.He was part of a tribe that was in love with fitness. He was strong and getting stronger. He no longer faced annoying niggles and aches and pains. He no longer got gassed for the trivial tasks we encounter daily.
He was a poster-child for our community but kept himself sane and humble. He never forgot his starting point.
His buddy with whom he joined had left a while back. That did not deter JK. He kept at it, as he realised all he needed to do was show up and do the work.
Work happened. Life happened.
Slowly, JK took his eyes off the ball. Work started to get more hectic and he started to skip classes here and there. It happens and we all need a bit of slack built into our system. And he had done enough work for enough time to manage it.
And then he started to miss more classes. And sleep started to suffer.
In spite of himself, JK could not correct things. He disappeared for a couple of years. And then he woke up.
I am sure a lot of beating himself up and self-loathing happened. It took enormous courage to come back and start all over again. But he did.
He started again at the bottom. Back at square one.
But the great thing is, once you learn how to ride a bike, you never forget. Likewise, once you have enough skill and technique drilled into you, it comes back.
The hardest part is starting again. The hardest part is being patient and putting in the work. It is about doing what got you out of the hole last time around.
JK came back to the basics. He started showing up 3 days a week. He realised he needed to ensure work-life was managed from the start, and together we came up with a backup plan on what to do when things got crazy there. We built alarm bells and slack into the system.
What I learned from JK
fundamentals trump everything else. Putting in the work is all there is.
A failure is an event, not a personality trait. It happens.
And when you fail, you learn what not to do next time around.
And you have a go at it again, and come out on top.
I've seen a lot of students transform themselves like what JK did and then fall off the wagon as he did. Very few have the courage and intent to come back.
That's the key. Having the courage to start all over again, if that's what is needed.
3 quotes for this week
How do you grade yourself?
It's important to know in advance, to make sure you're staying focused on what's honestly important to you, instead of doing what others think you should.
– Derek Sivers
Knowing what to measure is the core of strength and conditioning. While there are quantitative aspects, like how many reps you did or how much weight you lifted, the harder part is the qualitative stuff. If those can be made clear, most of us would be able to focus on the effort.
The cave you most fear to enter contains the greatest treasure.
-- Joseph Campbell
Steven Pressfield talks about this as well - if you are really scared about doing something, it is a great signal because that is absolutely what you should be doing. Your inner Resistance is clearly indicating that to you by producing this fear.
We can all produce magic if we can only step out of our comfort zones.
I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.
– Somerset Maugham
Habits rule. Effort matters. Consistency above all else. In my own small way, I used to think I would be able to write only when I had a profound idea. Unfortunately, it looked like all ideas are already taken. So, I ended up writing zilch. Until I just started writing every evening.
getting old, creaky joints and being in pain
As we get older, our joints hurt and simple things like sitting and standing become clunky. Is this how it is? Or is there an alternative?
how does it get here?
Well, it doesn't happen overnight. Just like we don't put on weight overnight, or lose it in the same time span, not using our bodies the way we are meant to cause us to age faster than we should.
We are meant to move. But we don't move as much any longer.
Even those of us who go to the gym, well, that's a 3-6 hours a week. But for about 15 hours a day or 100 hours a week, we are not moving. We are chained to our desks or our couches. We sit with extremely poor posture.
And we don't move enough.
but pain gets in the way
We are meant to move.
But once we get to a place where things aren't working well, the inertia is even harder to overcome. Pain is an unfortunate blocker which simply does not allow us to get past.
Most times, the pain is there because of weak and tight muscles. But to be on the safe side, go see a physical therapist and ensure that there are no larger/deeper underlying issues.
Once you get pain-free, then the movement is the key.
It does not need to be anything strenuous or seemingly difficult like strength training - it is simply what scratches my itch and so I do it. There are reasons why strength work is a great idea and "better" than other modalities but there's a lot of simpler options available too.
adding in 20 minutes of dedicated stretching a day can be a game-changer.
Once you are pain-free, you can add in some activity.
For any age, I think the following works - walking and surya namaskaram.
Walk. With a good posture - open chest, be tall, breathe into your belly - and allow your arms to swing as straight as possible. Don't worry about distance or speed or anything. Just walk for a specific amount of time. Once you get the habit going, aim for an hour a day or an hour every other day.
Pair that with the surya namaskaram. There are a lot of benefits to this series of movements and primarily it allows us to gently work on joint mobility by working our hips and mid-back to go into good positions, as well as allowing a gentle stretch of a bunch of our muscles as well. You might be stiff and unable to do any of them gracefully at the start but a few months in, you will be so much better. Here's Divya Rolla walking you through the postures and to do them with breath awareness.
Just set out a timer, 15 minutes or 30 minutes or an hour. And just do it at your pace. Don't be distracted or check your phone or watch TV or that kinda nonsense. Rest as much as you want to. When the beeper goes, you are done.
a few months later
You will feel different. With this humble beginning, you can look at taking things up a notch.
Maybe you can start taking some yoga lessons and do more complicated asanas.
Maybe you'll be inspired to take up strength training.
Or maybe you will just continue with this habit of moving an hour daily, alternating between walking and the surya namaskaram.
Movement is key. While folks like me like to complicate things, as long as you are moving, you are good.
If you are in your 30s or 40s and want to get started with things - a few months of a slow and steady start will get you to start feeling different about yourself. And once you start to feel different, things open up.
If you are older i.e. the 50s or 60s, then this might be all the activity you need.
Movement is the cure. Get pain-free and start moving.
Note/disclaimer: Do consult your doctor or physical therapist before trying out anything - this is not meant to be a fix-all for everyone but more about the underlying concept.
Share this post with one person for whom it might be relevant. I truly appreciate it.
As always, thank you for reading. I’ll see you next week.
And do shoot me an email about "How can I best help you now?”.
