10 Relaxation Techniques To Reduce Stress

Positive Thinking

Reduce Workplace Stress

Change Expectations

Foods That Help Fight Stress

Cope With Stress By Focusing On Small Things

Set A Goal

Smile And Laughter Keep Stress Away

Spending Time With Pets Relieves Stress

If you know other creative ways to reduce stress please share in the comments below.

~Dharmesh~

What if your family’s survival depended on you?

One day me and my wife came home from work. We have this daily routine of having our evenings tea together after we get home. Chat about how our day was. Some days we laugh at the funny things that happened during the day, on other days we lighten our burden by sharing it with each other. It’s all good. Life is flavorful.

Then, on some challenging days we get philosophical. We talk about how our life is mechanical. Generally people who have jobs have a set schedule. 8-5 work. Come home. Decompress. Have some quality time with our family. Dinner. Sleep. Wake up next day. Life goes on.. :)

Even when things are going great we don’t change the routine because we feel we are happy and hence the routine life is working for us. On cloudy days we don’t have the energy to take a new turn.

Recently, I finished my first ever book called “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. In one of the chapters Steven talks about how a person, when diagnosed with terminal cancer suddenly puts everything into a new perspective to identify what is really meaningful to him. Don’t all of us do this? Example, we may be putting off seeing our family but all of a sudden make time out of our “busy schedule” to travel miles to meet them.

Why does it have to be a life threatening event to make you realize what is really important to you?

Steven asked this question and I felt he was asking me. I paused at that moment. Started pondering over the thought. I imagined a roll of paper unwinding from my hand falling on the floor with a long list of to-do’s that I want to accomplish just because.. which I have been putting off for a while.. well years.. thinking one day I will.. When will that day come?

Life serves you new platter everyday, every morning. Routine continues.

I feel like we are entwined in a web of routine-ness. Yep, I invented that word.. We struggle and fight to free ourselves from this trap but are exhausted doing that.

That evening I asked my wife.. what would you do if you had no job, no one wants to give you a job, and your family’s survival is depended on you. What is that one thing inside you that you will do, you will try so that you may light the candle of hope for your family..

She said I will teach dance.. :)

I asked her so what’s stopping you now?

She paused. Looked at me. I knew I have got the juggernaut to move an inch. She smiled :)

Then, in a moment, I could see that her routine took over.. once again.. and she continued saying.. but..

Like her.. there may not be anything significant that is stopping us from doing what we want to do, even when we are stuck in our routine..

The only thing that is stopping us is.. US

Fight it.

So, what would you do if you had no job, no one was willing to hire you, and what if your family’s survival depended on you? What is stopping you from not doing what you want to do?
 

~Dharmesh~

I watched tennis..

because I enjoyed watching Steffi Graf, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, and Martina Hingis (Steffi Graf is the inspiration for this post :) )

I love photography..

because it allows me to be part of someone else’s moments and capture their colorful expressions

I love watching movies (mainly Action, Comedy)..

because movies take me away from the routine, excite me, make me laugh, and I feel great after watching a good movie

I love horses and dogs..

because I was fascinated by their “good behavior” in the movies since I was a kid

I enjoy video games (mainly car racing, fighting)..

because they energize and refresh me

I love summer..

because bright sun makes me feel alive

I have fun with cars and sports bikes..

because the speed gives me thrill (A sports bike and a sports car are on my wishlist ;) )

I love.. love.. being near the ocean..

because I have grown up close to the ocean. Taking long walks and listening to the waves is fantabulous (although I am hydrophobic about being in the middle of an ocean)

I like traveling (short road trips, or fly to new places)..

because new places bring change.. and change is something I thrive on. Different states, different countries, allow you to open yourself to the world and experience it in a unique way

I like experimenting with various cuisines..

because I get bored with food soon. Eating is a chore for me and I like to make it fun by being little adventurous. Vegetarian options are growing fast in different restaurants. Local food places are unique and offer a special experience

Please comment to share what are some fun things you do and why? Feel free to invite others to chime in.

~Dharmesh~

The first 8 weeks were all about watching what I eat as well as doing strength training thrice a week. Yes, I finally found the motivation to go to the gym :) While I was training regularly, I was losing fat around my body. I could feel the difference. My knee pain and back pain reduced considerably. However, my weight was decreasing slowly.. very slowwwwly. I was a little disappointed. So, I decided to try and modify my diet. I was talking to a co-worker who was on a weight loss. He introduced me to Tim Ferriss’s book called “4 hour body“.

Now, before I go further let me tell you that I am a vegetarian, not vegan, that would be too difficult :) Being a vegetarian and having a good source of protein is the BIGGEST challenge. I decided to give a shot to Tim’s way. For a week I was eating Black, spinach, eggs (I dread eggs.. :s), and frozen boiled veggies. I was not counting calories…yet. I ate just enough to feel full. At the start of the week I was weighing 168.6 pounds. By the end of the week of eating my greens I was at 1..6..6.4 pounds. To me.. that was jaw dropping.. My wife can tell how excited I was when I told her this :)) BUT, that 1 week was TOUGH.

LESSON 1 : Eating the right food AND the right portion is critical to weight loss. 80-90% of weight-loss success depends on this.

Weight loss: Better to cut calories or exercise more?

Diet, not exercise, plays key role in weight loss

Discussion: HOW Important is the Diet for losing weight?

I switched back to my homemade delicious India food, but this time I was watching my portions and was eating black beans with it. Trying to include the best of both worlds :) I tried this for another 8 weeks. All this while I never stopped exercising. I even touched my PR (personal record) of machine squatting 200lbs. Woooohoooo!!

LESSON 2: Compound exercises are excellent to build your overall strength

 Compound vs Isolated Exercises: Making An Effective Training Program

Compound vs Isolation Exercises- What is Better?

Discussion: Why Is Compound Better Than Isolation

I found by practicing myself that the compound exercises of squats, bench press, deadlifts, barbell rows, and overhead press are very effective in gaining strength, which in turn helped to burn fat, and reduce time in the gym.

As I have mentioned before, my wife is a HUGE support in me being successful. She tries all the ways to keep me motivated. Sometimes she will point out the changes she sees, at times she will tell me that I will never be able to lose weight, and at time she will challenge me to reach a goal. In my last 4 weeks she challenged me to lose 5lbs. This motivated me and I started to track my calories, which I had never done before.. at least not more than 3 days haha.. I used the app called “MyFitnessPal” from Android market (now Google Play Store) to track my calories. They also have a website if you are not an app fan. Best thing about this app/website is that it has a lot of Indian food items with nutritional information, which I was not able to find anywhere else.. Another best thing about it is that it’s FREE :) Who doesn’t love free..

LESSON 3: Track your CALORIES. Don’t need to track every single calorie, but make sure you watch the main ones

Don’t sweat too much if you can’t track every single thing you eat, but make sure you are tracking 90-90% of what you eat. Even though I had cut quite a bit on fatty foods and switched to low-fat or fat-free foods, I was still consuming at least 200 more than my daily needs. I found this out after tracking my calories.

LESSON 4: Drink water and get enough sleep

I LOVE my SLEEP.. enough said.. Drink at least 6-8 glasses of water daily.. it will help digestion and keep you from eating too much junk.

LESSON 5: Enjoy your diet and your exercise… or else you will FAIL

I tried a lot of things and different ways to eat healthy and exercise. I have found the foods that I enjoy without sacrificing my SWEET devil :) and I have found exercises that will keep me STRONG and FIT without being in the gym for hours and hours. I am all for efficiency.

Please share this post with your social network. What tips do you have for weight-loss? I would love to hear your thoughts and comments. 

~Dharmesh~

With that in mind I looked around and came across compound exercises. These exercises affect multiple body parts at once. Next question was “What are these compound exercises and which ones are most effective?”.. I got on the web and started exploring for my answers. I came across StrongLifts5x5 by Mehdi, which had squats, bench press, overhead press, barbell rows, and deadlifts. To prove to myself that I am on the right path I researched the benefits of every exercise that is mentioned in the StrongLifts5x5 program. To my satisfaction the benefits were what I was looking for. So, I decided to give it an honest try last year and was impressed with the results. Exercises are short, effective and I started feeling stronger.

However, after 6-8 weeks I started hitting my max capacity, which was not a lot. I figured I did not have the base strength. Not that the program was not working, but I felt I was weaker to start with. No worries… I sat down and clarified few things for myself. I started laying down clear goals like do I need to gain strength, lose weight, or lose fat.. or even work on increasing my endurance. Here’s what I came up with

- Strength and Muscle gain

- Strong Back

- Strong Core

- Strong legs (especially knees)

- Fat loss

Lesson Learned: Having clear health goals will help to define your path

I was not overly concerned about the weight, which was almost 170lbs. A little on the higher side, but I thought if I could bring down the fat around my abs, which was quite a bit, I should be able to bring down the weight too. Even though muscle gain could have offset that because muscles weigh more than the fat.

I did not want to get too bulky like Wolverine or Thor :) (wish I had the height haha) but I wanted to gain some muscle and strength. Clearing my focus surely helped in embracing the StrongLifts program. You can read the StrongLifts5x5 Guide, which is a free download where Mehdi explains the after effects in plain simple words. **No I am NOT affiliated to StrongLifts or a close friend of Mehdi**.

Ok, I cheated a bit with the StrongLifts program this year. I added some cardio between the gym days. I also used machines instead of olympic bars. Agreed, I may not have gained as much strength but there were limitations on my side too. They were

- Not enough base strength

- No gym near me that had squat rack or power rack

Lesson Learned: Acknowledge your constraints/limitations

So I modified the StrongLifts5x5 program to suit me by finding similar machine exercises. However, I religiously exercised every week, 6 days a week for 12 weeks, 3 days of strength training, and 3 days of cardio. Details on the training regimen will be in my next post.

5×5 means 5 sets of 5 repetitions each

Starting numbers
Workout I

Squats – 50lbs

Chest Press – 50lbs

Lat Pulldown – 50lbs

Workout II

Leg Press – 70lbs

Machine Rows – 50lbs

Shoulder Press – 30lbs

Lesson Learned: KISS – Keep It Sweet & Simple

I went to the gym before coming up with my starting weights because I did not want to start too light or too heavy. As long as I could do 5×5 comfortably without feeling too much stress on my body I was good. You will have to be your own judge. Don’t feel discouraged if you cannot start at 50lbs. For example, I had to start my shoulder press at 30lbs because 50lbs was way too heavy. Shoulders were my weakest link and I knew that.

Guess what??? :) After 12 weeks I surprised even myself :) :)

Workout I

Squats – 130lbs

Chest Press – 125lbs

Lat Pulldown – 120lbs

Workout II

Leg Press – 155lbs

Machine Rows – 150lbs

Shoulder Press – 90lbs

I will be switching back to StrongLifts5x5 exercises starting next week. I hope to get better and better. I am also working on changing my diet, which I will share with you too. So hang on… while this journey continues..

Lesson Learned: Being healthy is a journey… not a destination

Please share this post with your social network. What did you do when you started your exercise? I would love to hear your thoughts and comments. 

 
Enjoy,

~ Dharmesh ~

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