What it takes for a 100 day WorkOut Streak !

 Those who know me know that I am a great believer of consistency. I strongly believe that with consistency anything under the sun can be achieved. It was on June 19th I was a bit low because I wasn't able to work out regularly due to circumstances at home. My pregnant sister was covid infected and the chaos around isolation and recovery is not a healthy space to be in for anybody. Adding to the agonies were lockdowns and crazier WFH meetings. Despite all the challenges and circumstances, life threw at me after June 19th, I am very happy to post that I completed a streak of 100 days of workout.

On a fine day when I was aimlessly browsing IG, I saw a picture of an actor writing something during the workouts. That picture intrigued me a lot. I have always been a fan of journaling and writing gives a special kind of high. A high voltage idea passed through me which said 'Jot Down Your Exercise Movements !' This may sound very ordinary to people. But believe me, this made the whole difference. I started writing down my Workouts, Formats, and Most Importantly what day is it since I started this ritual! Day1, Day2 ................. Day 100 

The best part of this ritual for me was I had no goals or ambitions tied to my workouts. Neither was I weighing worst nor looking out of shape when I started this. It makes me just feel good if I work out. To be honest it really didn't matter what format of Workout I did. Deep down I knew that I was craving for Adrenaline rush the workout gives and the dopamine it releases after the workouts. Contrary to many workout challenges tied to specific goals like "Weight loss/Fat Loss/6 Pack" my workout ritual was simple and was heavily best effort-based.

Day1 was a very good dance fitness class of cult. fit live I attended at home. During these last 100 days, I never went to a cult center because of kids at home and it was too risky for me to put my family at risk after going through a great deal. Day after day when I did increment the count of the days, I knew that i was just going stronger. To avoid monotony in my ritual I tried different forms of workout like

1. Strength and Conditioning
2. HRX
3. Dance Fitness
4. Yoga
5. Pilates
6. Boxing
7. Animal Flow
8. Weight Training
9. Running
10. Walking
11. Stretches
12. Walk Fitness
13. Mobility Training
14. Country Cycling

Obviously, 100 days is a too long period for anyone to be blessed with no obstacles to work out. I did have quite a fair share of obstacles like traveling, functions to visit, hospitals to visit, guests showing up, and most importantly heap of office work to finish. The only thing which pushed me every day was the fear that I might have to restart if break this. "You didn't come this far to only come this far" was constantly running in my head. I think if one does anything with their best effort, they are surely going to achieve leaps and bounds. Able to move forward relentlessly is the key to progress.

I really want to record how I managed workouts during my busy[crazy and chaotic] days. I picked up workouts that did not demand too much of mind on to the workout mat. The simplest thing was to just get out for a walk for a good 30 to 40 mins. If walk was still too much to ask for from me, I picked up simpler 15 mins of cult live Walk Fitness workouts or Simple Mobility Training from Youtube Vloggers. Believe me, you are never in a dearth of workout videos on youtube if you don't want to have a paid subscription. But I wouldn't undermine the need of working out in groups and in the gyms/centers. Pandemic just forced or demanded me to work out at home which I only wanted to make good use of and feel good.

Workouts at home are greatly challenging if you have toddlers at home. My nephew did hop onto me every time I was doing a plank or slipped under me when I was doing a downward dog !!

 

Honestly, I enjoyed it. You might have a billion reasons for not working out. For me, it was only a feel-good factor which was the reason for consistent workouts. I also picked up a couple of other very good rituals during my last 100 days and which I am gonna blog about in a few days to come. I should also thank my folks at home for being very supportive of my workouts  Please feel free to reach out to me in case if you want me to be your fitness buddy which I will be more than happy to be. 

A RoadTrip to TamilNadu

I have always had a very strong pull towards temples in Tamil Nadu from my childhood. Having taken to school trips two times to the temples over there and that trip being one of the reasons to learn Tamil and also read and write constitutes my fantasy about the temples. Let me jot down the experiences of my trip.

Day 1: On the 19th of Feb 2021, we started from Bangalore straight to Madurai. We started at 7 am and we reached Madurai by 3pm. Distance from Bangalore to Madurai is 440 Kms. The roads being top-notch, I enjoyed driving to the fullest. I could hit 140Kmph in my Ritz car without much of a hassle. We had our Breakfast at A2B and Lunch at some highway hotel near Madurai.

We booked a hotel close to the temple(1Km) and took a walk to the temple. The roads were dug up due to the smart city project in Madurai. Darshan was good with a 50 rupees ticket. A couple of things to watch out for is the holographic painting of ShivaLinga on the ceiling. The specialty of this painting is, it points towards you from wherever you look at it. There is also a Sundareshwar temple on the premises to who Meenakshi Amman is married.

Day 2: We wanted to visit the temple again to get the blessings of the Goddess Madurai Meenakshi Amman. We did watch a couple of documentaries about the temple to get more curious about the temples. We reached the temple by 730 am and getting a car parking space near the temple is a herculean task. Since the surroundings of the temple are like Avenue Road in Bangalore. This time darshan was very good since the temple wasn't crowded much. We checked out from the hotel of Madurai and started to our next destination which is the Holiest place for ShriVaishnavas i.e Shrirangam aka Trichy.

We stayed at Scarlet Shrirangam a hotel close to the temple(2.5 km). I could not stay at the hotel without seeing my dearest God Shriranga. The Tower of the temple is the tallest in India, this temple is also the biggest functioning temple(Nitya Pooja) in the world. The temple timings are slot-based. You need to check the timings before you visit the temple. Prasadams of the temple are very yummy and you could buy as many to actually fill in your tummy. 50 rupees ticket can get you faster access to the divine Darshan. 

Day 3: Since we had already driven 600 kilometers and were tired we decided to stay over at Shrirangam for a day more. Not just driving was taking a toll, it was also walking in the premises of temple aka prangana was weakening my legs. So we just rested well. There is also a very famous Shiva Lingam Temple in Srirangam called Jambukeshwara Temple.

The specialty of the temple is Linga represents the element of water (One of Panchabhoota). 

Day 4: We wanted to have another Darshan of Shri RanganathaSwamy. We reached the temple at 545 am and we were surprised to see a lot of people in the queue already. Took 50 rupees Darshan ticket and we had a beautiful darshan. I got greedy and took another 50 rupees ticket after I got out of the first darshan. I was so elated to see my dearest Shri Ranganatha Perumal Twice.  Our breakfasts were the prasadams at the temple. We checked out and started our next destination to Kumbakonam. On the way was one of my favorite temples all-time in Tanjore waiting for me :)

Brihadeeshwara temple is an architectural wonder and engineering marvel India has ever seen. Had a quick stop by to visit the wonder. We reached Kumbakonam by evening after visiting a couple of other temples on the way. I was taken aback by going through the booklet given by hotel staff which had the list of temples to visit in Kumbakonam. Kumbakonam city is built between the temple premises :) The city is flocked by the temples. This city has temples for every objective of your life. To get promoted, To get a good spouse, To be good with the spouse, For getting a child, For Fetus protection, For family unity, For real estate growth ...... The list goes on. Sarangapani temple was one of the best here.

Day 5: I managed to visit some temples(Ramaswamy Perumal, Chakrapani Temple, Adi Kumbakeshwara, Brahman, Karuvlarcheri) matching my objectives and proximity. We started to our next destination which was Chidambaram. The road wasn't great. We had to wait for 2 hours before the temple could open in the evening.

Chidambaram temple has the Nataraja Swamy aka a dancing form of Lord Shiva. My perspective towards Lord Shiva changed entirely in the trip since I was a hardcore ShriVaishnavite. I realized that it is not any more acceptable in my life to detest Lord Shiva. Thanks to the temples in here. We started to our destination Pondicherry. The roads were pathetic and it was a bad drive experience. We could only just hit the bed after we reached there.

Day 6: This was our first Pondicherry visit and we had quite a list of places to visit from family and friends.

We managed to visit the Indian Cofee House, A2B, Auroville, Tanto, Serenity Beach, Rock Beach, White Town, and Aurobindo Ashram for Meditation. Auroville visit was Outstanding and I cursed myself for not knowing about this all the while. 

Day 7: We wanted to witness sunrise at rock beach and we reached the seashore by 545 am. It was a bit cloudy and it took around 45 mins to get a glimpse of Sun. Yet it was a fantastic experience to be at the beach in the dawn. We started to Kanchipuram and the drive was decent. Had a blissful Darshan of Kanchi Kamakshi Amman. Again my first visit. I drove 204 kilometers in the next 3 hours to reach Kolar to end my trip. 

This trip was very special to me since it gave me the opportunity to visit my favorite temples and amazing darshans. We also ensured that we watched enough documentaries before we visit any temple so that we could appreciate more. This trip also opened up a new perspective towards spirituality which took a long pause in my life. 

MS Dhoni : A man who represented vast majority of us.

 In my opinion, Indians are never neutral. We love to identify ourselves with teams, religion, caste, parties, sects, actors and the list goes on. Cricket has never been an exclusion. After all the most favorite sport in India, how could we stay neutral and enjoy the game without being biased? Dhoni came into Indian cricket when the cricketers of the 90s were reaching their retirement time. Also, that was the time when Yuvraj and Kaif were already into the system as successful recent additions. Keeping wickets was never a sought after thing in Indian cricket. How many of us love to keep wickets in our gully cricket. Gully cricket to me is a very sacred part of Indian cricket. I would say a POC[ Proof of Concept] of BCCI in large numbers that people love to use. 

Dhoni was a very very interesting player to watch out in the squad because of his vibrant batting style and his long hair look when we only had idolized Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly sporting such gentlemanly looks. Unorthodox shots attracted a lot of cricket fans. He was a new sensation. I still remember his explosive batting style. Of course, that also came as a youth package. 

Dhoni was a great representation of the Indian middle class, humble beginnings,tier2 cities, and a bag full of struggles. We love to celebrate such players and actors. Its often confused that leadership comes with seniority. But its a myth. Leadership needs a different set of nerves. Sachin was a great example to quit captaincy and to show that he wasn't meant to lead and he was only meant to score runs for himself :) It was an easy win for Dhoni to get captaincy than for Yuvraj. Yuvraj never had that composure even though he was a perfect blend of method and talent. Staying calm or rather Flaunting his composure and having an aggressive game strategy is one thing that Dhoni did in style and very very rare to find.

T20 world cup and 50 over world cup winning didn't make a difference to him as a captain and player. One of the finest qualities Dhoni possessed is to nurture young boys to come to limelight. Many cricketers like Raina, Jadeja who played along with him both in Indian Jersey and CSK's yellow jersey rose to this peak of fame because of Dhoni. Their careers to a great share is a tribute to MS Dhoni. The only time when I felt Dhoni's tactics should go wrong was in IPLs which was again very rare. The kind of adoration that CSK fans and people from Tamil Nadu have on Dhoni is unparalleled and never heard of. I am sure of one thing, people cant connect to Kohli like Dhoni for the reason that Kohli has been elite from Day1, and Kohli cant represents the vast majority of us. Having said everything I had on top of my mind I want to conclude by saying that I am just looking forward to that day when MSD gets back to the team as a coach. 

                                                            Miss you MSD.

ABCW : Anybody can Walk

Amidst lockdown, I was happily working out at home following cult.fit live sessions. By the end of April, I had noticed one thing apart from a good 1-hour workout, I wasn't moving much throughout the day and the obvious reason was clinging on to office work. Inspired by a couple of people in cult fraternity, I too wanted to cover 10K steps a day. I did a trial in the last week of April with my regular routine and I was surprised to find that my steps weren't crossing 2K steps a day unless I did a good dance session which was equivalent to 3K steps. But the story when we actually go to the office is different. Office spaces encourage us to move around. Cafeterias, Chai Breaks, Washrooms, Gossip Walks, Mobile 1 on 1s can keep us active the entire day. With the enforced Work From Home, I felt it was the need of the hour to keep myself active throughout the day else I was damn sure lethargy would hop onto me. That is when I set a goal of 300K/3Lakh steps to cover this entire month of May. So today on the 31st of May, I crossed 300K mark and I feel extremely happy.

I categorized my walks into the following categories
1. Retrospective Walks: These sessions of walks helped me understand where I stand in my life and how I could have handled my previous situations better. After all, what is life if you don't look back and learn.

2. Gossip Walks: I am no free from Gossiping! Walk sessions with school friends, neighbors, or phone calls with besties and talking about everything under the sun was super fun.

3. Knowledge Packed Walks: Yes at home after clearing my walkway, I used to take my kindle and keep reading and moving around which contributed to my walkathons.

4. Podcast Walks: For a couple of my walk sessions, I started listening to python podcast which also enhanced my perspective about my love for Python Programming language.

5. Bhagavad Geeta Walks: I started this in the last week of May. I found an amazing series of Gita on youtube which helped me walk with a calmer mind.  Sree Krishnarpana Masthu.

6. Office Meeting Walks: This was my favorite. For the office calls which didn't require my full attention or my laptops like AllHands or a certain type of meetings you don't present, I started taking the calls from my phone and cruised out to catch some walk.

7. Family Walks: Lockdown also helped me spend quality time together with my folks. Definitely, these walk sessions helped us unwind and helped us understand each other better.

8. Farm Walks: The Mango farm which is still in its nascent stages demands us(me and my dad) to visit at least twice a week. In a 4 acre farm, walking around monitoring and doing my bit to help my dad also helped me achieve my target in a super-duper healthy way.

My walking sessions were not limited to any one particular time of the day. These different types of walks were spread across the day. Weekdays with meetings were different and without meetings were different. Walks definitely helped me unwind, bust stress, and also burn some stubborn calories. Most importantly it kept me active which is what I wanted. I should also thank my sister for giving me Fastrack Reflex band which helped me track my steps.

ABCW: Anybody can Walk !! 

5 Things this lockdown has taught me

Here are the top 5 things this lockdown has taught me.

1. Family is everything: 
In my last few years, I had never stayed with my family for this long. It was due to my studies, my work I had to stay away from my parents. My parents stay in Kolar and I stay in Bangalore even though it's just a matter of 1.5 hours to commute between two places. Staying with the family has brought me a lot of happiness. Sometimes presence makes a huge difference. My parents have been very happy since all of us are under one roof.

2. Beware what you wish for:
I have seen a couple of people complaining about the boredom during this lockdown time. Those were the same people who used to love work from homes hated coming to offices. Now that God has given the opportunity to work from homes for as long as 2 to 3 months(hopefully) people should be grateful. But they are not. So I really feel people should be careful in wishing what they want. Do they really have it in them to have what they wish for?

3. You can live with basic needs. 
Needs and wants are two different aspects of life we have been entangled with. A lot of times wants have become needs. Like I want to watch a movie in the theater had become a need for me to unwind myself. But now that all such luxurious things are not there is the lockdown, I am pretty much satisfied with movies that Netflix/prime offers me. Many other wants like eating out in a fancy restaurant, road trips, cafes, etc are good to have but not necessary is what lockdown taught me.

4. You can learn pretty much anything on your own.
I have come to an understanding that as long as are having a good internet connection, there is nothing that you can't learn. Learning is super fun for me. In fact, I really look forward to learning new things. That is my high. Vedic mantras, Exercises, Coding, Technologies, Gardening, Cooking, Hacking and you name it you have everything at your fingertips. So I strongly recommend making use of this time to learn and upskill yourselves.

5. You can't really control what happens to you. 
I hate to say that I am a control freak. I always feel things and people around me should be in my control. That is one quality in me I am really fighting hard to get rid of. Probably this lockdown is teaching me that that lesson in a hard way. There are things happening in the world and society around me which I have no control over. I can't choose to go to the office because I want to. These sorts of lessons have surely calmed me down instead of driving me crazy.

Please share things that lockdown has taught you.

5 Things I have been doing in Lockdown

5 Things I have been doing to make use of this lockdown of the Corona pandemic.

1. Learn a Language:
They say learning language makes your brain active. I have been learning Spanish from a month and a half and I am using lockdown time to hone my skills. Not just I am learning, I have also made my wife, sister, neighbor kids to also learn. So I drop by them and happily say "Hola! Como Estas?"

2. Workout:
Since there are no more excuses like fighting traffic, sweaty gyms, uncomfortable trainers, one has to work out. In my earlier posts, I have mentioned the motivation factors for my workout. I am very motivated to come out of the lockdown period being very fit.

3. Chant VishnuSahasranama:
It takes around 25 mins to chant complete VishnuSahasranama. I started this recently and I am feeling very very good after chanting. After all, what are we without the divine power of God. So dedicating half hour in a day to the devotion of God is making me feel very good.

4. Automate:
In a year and a half, I have become very passionate about coding in python. The richness of libraries and easier syntax has made me love Python. I was always a C and C++ guy. But ever since I started coding in python, I can't think of any other better language. I have been automating my regular work with python so that I can carry out my work efficiently.

5. Gratitude:
I reinstalled my habit of expressing gratitude in the lockdown time. Expressing gratitude makes us feel good about people and things and reduce the negative feelings of people and things. Gratitude attracts more positivity in life. Being grateful is a great attitude to develop.
Example: "I am so thankful to God for waking me up alive and all my loved ones alive."

Let me know how you have been making use of the lockdown time.

5 Reasons to Watch Money Heist.

5 reasons why I love Money Heist:

1. Very Gripping:
I don't usually binge-watch any TV series. I always professed that its a sign of indiscipline. I had to binge-watch first 2 parts(seasons). There was no way out without watching for me, my wife and my sister. Such a very well written script. Not fair to compare with other serials but writers have done such a fabulous job.

2. Love of Spanish:
From the time I saw Narcos, I fell in love with the language. The fact that Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world made me love the language even more. The Puta, Mierda, Khabron were like Vedic chants for me. So that kept me going.

3. Emotional:
The very first episode of the first part(season) hints that this is going to be one hell of a crime thriller. They have brought in a lot of emotions like revenge, love, hatred, and situations indicating frustration, helplessness, a vulnerability in a beautiful way.

4. Twists:
What is a crime thriller without twists? Kudos to the screenplay. The way the series goes forward and backward in time without making people go bored is the key highlight. Just sufficient to keep up us hooked onto the couches is something Money Heist offers.

5. Calm and Composed Protagonist.
I have always fallen in love with movies or tv-series having a composed protagonist. I really look up to such characters in my life because I am not so composed. I really love the meticulous planning of the characters, the fallback plans, and the resiliency of the team.