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Mona:
Boss is `REAL FITNESS’ a text book?
Boss: No dear, REAL FITNESS is an EXERCISE book.
Two ads appeared in sequence in a leading city daily.
One said "lose 10 to 15 kgs. weight, no exercise, no
dieting.. only `pills & powders’."
The other said "scientific exercise program,
balanced diet and lifestyle modification... no pills or
powders, easy and permanent fat loss and fitness".
The `pill & powder’ ad attracted a flurry of
response. The `scientific’ ad had a call or two. The
first call was to express shock that one had to exercise
to lose weight!
The other call was to offer the following advice,
"If you want to stay in the fitness business, better
start giving pills & powders"!!
A lot of people live with fitness myths, having
their own concepts and theories of fitness and health.
When it comes to fitness, there are many that believe
strongly in the dictum `ignorance is bliss’. Most
people hate to exercise. Some hate even the thought of
it. Everybody wants a `medicine’ that would make him
or her fit. Then there are those who associate frank
obesity with `good health’. There are those who
swear by steam and sauna as the only ways of reducing
weight. A tummy vibrator is hailed as THE machine to
reduce the waistline.
Others shout from the rooftops: "AEROBICS IS
HARMFUL" --period. Still others argue that one
cannot match Yoga to reduce weight.
I have come across many of these characters in my career
as a sports medicine consultant. I meet them in my
clinics, during talks, audio-visual demos or corporate
sessions on fitness. The time is ripe for REAL FITNESS.
Time to spread correct information on fitness and dispel
a lot of existing myths on fitness.
Unfortunately many of the fitness programs and equipment
sellers have pampered the psychology of the consumer.
Do-nothing-and-get-fit kind of formulae. Most of the
people associate exercise with punishment. A mischievous
schoolboy is often punished for his misbehavior and asked
to run a couple of rounds of the playground. In keeping
with Freudian theory, his subconscious mind equates
running with suffering. On the other hand a good
performance is rewarded with a chocolate. So deep down it
is registered as "Exercise is very bad, very bad and
chocolate is very good, very good!!" Early in life,
when such associations are made, counseling exercise
often becomes an arduous task. It takes a great deal of
patient deconditioning.
Taking advantage of these human tendencies of exercise
hatred, programs like "Total Fitness in 30 minutes a
week" or "No diet, no exercise only herbal
medicines" hit the human soft spot. Then there are
equipment manufacturers who advertise " 7 minutes a
day to Fitness" and show a Tarzanish figure
modeling. Out comes the wallet--- forget the out come.
REAL FITNESS promises no such miracles. For REAL FITNESS
is very close to the truth. A patient, enjoyable way
towards better life. No room for quickies here.
REAL FITNESS is an attempt to create awareness about
fitness, clear the existing myths and provide a simple,
concise and practical formula for fitness. Of these,
clearing existing myths seems to be the most challenging
task.
Creating awareness about fitness in the community is very
important for people need to realise the value of
fitness. In REAL FITNESS we have highlighted most of the
benefits of fitness in an attempt to create awareness.
Here, rather than just emphasizing what would happen if
you are not fit, definite plus points of being fit are
provided.
If made interesting, people are willing to listen to
fitness facts. I have realised that after launching the Fit
India Movement in 1994. Fit India Movement is a grass
root level fitness awareness program. Launched amid
fanfare and media appeal with India’s greatest movie
idol Amitabh Bachchan, this movement has spread to
various cross sections of society trying to create
fitness awareness. The popularity of the talks and demos
and audience participation reveals that people want to
make a change in themselves-- a positive change.
After awareness comes introspection. In
introspection one needs to look within, to find out
individual strengths and weaknesses.
Am I really fit?
Where am I lacking?
What do I need to do?
Each one has to know where he stands on the fitness
scale. Having done that, one needs to embark on
the journey towards fitness, using the principles of
exercise and diet provided in REAL FITNESS.
Finally when it comes to maintenance of the fitness
programs, there are maximum dropouts. This is possibly
because many think about fitness as a target or an end to
be reached.
For example "I want a 30 inch waist line".
Once reached they get complacent and yo-yo back to
original levels. Fitness is more the means rather than an
end. The means to lead a healthy happy life, a continuous
process.
REAL FITNESS is devised to ensure a fitness maintenance
program. The aim is to help people form a niche in
the mind for fitness. Making a habit of fitness. Like we
have conditioned ourselves about food, bathing, brushing
teeth, sex etc. Fitness becomes a conditioned habit. If
you miss your workout, a bell rings somewhere in your
mind body axis, reminding you about it. And just like any
other habit you hate missing it, you could even get
withdrawal symptoms, if you stop! Fitness as a habit
should enter your biological clock. Then the job is done.
While on habits, I am reminded about a professor in
medical college who was talking about his tea drinking
habit and the difficulty of shedding habits.
"H.A.B.I.T. is so stubborn" he said in his
characteristic accent,
"You remove the H and A BIT remains.
Take away H and A and BIT remains.
Then remove H, A and B, IT remains.
You finally remove H, A, B and I, still T remains.
HABIT very, very stubborn."
Make fitness a habit.What is Real about REAL FITNESS ??
A REAL mnemonic.
As a medical student I found that an easy method of
remembering information was the use of
"mnemonics".
Mnemonics are
short-forms or abbreviations which help the brain to
recall facts quickly. In fact there was a book of
mnemonics in anatomy to make studying easy.
For example if you had to remember the names and the
sequence of the eight bones in the wrist joint all you
had to do was say:
"She Looks Too Pretty. Try To Catch Her."
She means --- S for Scaphoid.
Looks is --- L for Lunate and so on.
REAL is a word,
which apart from meaning the truth, has condensed a
formula for fitness and health. Easy to remember and
follow.
R stands for
Relaxation.
E for Exercise.
A for attitudes or posture...and
L for many things... Laughter being one of them.
Similarly I have tried to
give a mnemonic for basics of exercise and it is called
the S.W.A.N. formula. Everybody has heard of the fabled
duckling, which became a swan. Possibly she used the SWAN
formula.
S for stretching
W for weight training
A for aerobic exercise and
N for Nutrition.
S.W.A.N. will be dealt
with in the following chapters.
The beauty of mnemonics is
that, in the end after reading the book even if you
remember just 2 words R E A L and S W A N everything will
fall into place.
Apart form exercises and nutritional tips, topics like
relaxation, attitudes or posture and laughter are
included, as there is now confirmed evidence about the
efficacy of these methods for pursuing REAL FITNESS.
Come and taste REAL FITNESS.
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