Fitness is a journey not a destination...

“What hurts today makes you stronger tomorrow”

— Jay Cutler

Hola Amigos!! I am back again with yet another blog in this quarantine period after so long. While the world is facing a tough situation and people are getting strangled due to the pandemic, I thought to share some positive stories of my life with all of you, that might be a help to a few in this terrible atmosphere around. 

As the title suggests, you might have guessed it already. Yes, it's about the fitness journey that I am gonna be covering today. Before diving into it, let me brief you that this article will be primarily about my motivation for getting fit, all my before stories, the mindset while getting into fitness at the start and the consequences I observed in my mental and physical health afterwards.

Health is one of the most important factors that one needs to take care of, amongst all the other things when it comes to an individual. When a person decides to take the path of getting fit, then s/he should just limit it to looking good, but also to take care of their health and body as well.

The above quotes started to get meaningful for me when the child in me finally became an engineering graduate from my college campus. The journey and motivation to improve my own health started with that little push which shall be elaborated further in this article.

A disclaimer: I was a complete lean and thin guy who never ever thought in his lifetime of getting into shape a couple of years back. 

That was only before the JEE period (during intermediate studies), the so-called "Ghar ka Khana" was an ideal meal and diet for me that at least made me consistent to maintain my weight to a decent 75 kgs and never look that thin and lean as I was transformed into during my college period. The college time was a disaster for me in terms of maintaining my physique and having enough confidence upon myself for any possible task. During my complete campus life, few thoughts certainly engrossed across my mind to dedicate some time to the gym lifting weights, but as I said those were left only to my thoughts. I wasn't able to materialize any of those either.

As soon as I entered the first year of my college, I was a healthy kid of 75 kgs as I mentioned above already. During the initial times of my academics, I was following a steady and consistent routine of eating and sleeping cycle, although I never thought of getting into shape or maintaining any physique at that time. But being in an engineering college, one could never control his/her emotions to deviate from the usual ideal self, he/she is used to and so was I. I couldn't escape that engineering atmosphere either. Slowly and steadily, I started skipping my meals, especially breakfasts and even dinner at times. I started getting awake late nights, owing to various activities and as a result of which started skipping most of my morning lectures thus, compromising my whole sleep cycle. The eating and sleeping cycle were completely at a toss with a tint of laziness and goofiness in my whole schedule.

As soon as I stepped into my sophomore period and then to the penultimate year of college, I started getting involved in various extra-curricular activities. And, being in IIT you need to manage your sleep, academics and extra academics. There's a complete linked triangle between the three which says you can manage two at a time and have to compromise with one of the three. So, I chose my sleep again. There were times when I didn't sleep for 72 hours at a stretch may be owing to my exams or when the college fest is round the corner. All the hard work was only to prepare such an efficient and versatile CV that would leave an impact for sure on the companies that used to come in the placement process. I remember I had missed my breakfast meal for straight 1 month at a stretch and used to complement it with all the outside eatables, packaged food and whatever sugar and oily food possible. As a result, my weight was reduced to a meagre 62 kgs in the initial 3 years of my campus life. And to no one's surprise, the final year was also no different, thanks to the peer pressure revolving around me for preparing enough for the placements. I started neglecting my hostel meals again and made myself engrossed into academics completely. My hostel room was also a mess thus resulting in a deeper frustration and a lack of confidence within myself all due to disturbed sleep patterns, unhygienic conditions of the room and lack of a balanced diet. Somehow, I cleared my college with a decent job and grades and sooner and later I shifted to Bangalore for my Job.

My Bangalore job life was a complete turnaround for me in terms of leading a better lifestyle than my college all because of the financial independence I got that time. As a result, my weight certainly increased, but not in a healthy way. As I was majorly involved in eating junk food that used to come during office lunch and dinner hours, I gained significant unwanted fats as I was not involved in any physical activity. My whole life revolved around stagnant office work and a night of good sleep afterwards that continued for a straight 3 months. You can't really think of to do anything else apart from your corporate work schedule when you are working at an average of 12-14 hours/day. That really killed any of my wishes to even have any fitness regime for those 3 months altogether.

Soon after 3-4 months, I got my job changed and specifically built an aim in my mind to rework all the great work I had already done on my body since then. The horrible diet and a lack of hydration had led me to this far and I can't let it get worse. I figured that if I wanna get healthy for my whole life, then I have to work for it which started my fitness journey I will be sharing down below. Thankfully, due to a bunch of great friends, I didn't face any troubles in materialising my thoughts into actions.

So, here goes a detailed action plan on how I started to aim towards a better me after some gruelling pain and hard work

After switching on my job and settling down with all my utilities in my home, I joined a gym nearby after comparing a couple of gyms in my locality and started to go there with my friends.

The first day in the gym was a tough nut to crack for me. The unwanted fats and calories had started to show its effect finally on my first day itself. I changed my shoes and shorts in the changing room and after that, the trainer called me and advised me to go for the basic PT exercises we used to do in our schooling days and immediate cardio exercises after that. PT exercises lasted for about 4-5 minutes and soon after that I tried doing simple ground pushups and not owing to any surprises, I was able to last 8 repetitions only in my first set. So, you may have guessed already what would have been my state in the second and third sets respectively. But, not losing hope, I tried the cardio exercises which included my 10/12 minutes treadmill running, cross trainer exercises and bicycling at last. The total gym session lasted for 50 minutes approximately on my first day and I was already having a tough time controlling my heavy breathing and heart rate respectively. It seemed like this was gonna be my first and last day here at this place. After 5-10 minutes of cooling time, I changed my shoes and went back home with a bowed head. That night was an unforgettable night for me as I was undergoing through an unbearable pain owing to the great gym session I had earlier that day. This ought to happen to me all because of the gala time I had during all those past days. But, somehow I went to sleep as my trainer already asked me to have a good and sound sleep after so much of hard work.

The next day was a complete slothful day for me. I was totally unwilling to go gym that day, but my friends being so nice and faithful to me couldn't leave me behind. Somehow, by hook and crook, they convinced me to go to that dreadful place yet again along with them and I was repeating the same exercise with slightly increased repetitions and time. This practice went along for 20-25 days at a stretch and me being a lethargic teen from so long finally started to gain some confidence and energy. There was a sudden increase in dynamism and vibrancy within my body in that one month. I was just hoping to get rid of those cardio exercises soon as I have repeated the same exercises for a month. To be honest, I was eyeing for those intimidating yet exciting weight lifting machines and dumbbells from the start of my gym sessions as they sounded really exciting when I got to hear it from my friends.

The initial one month of my gym was a roller coaster ride for me. The next month brought up a change in my schedule of workouts. I started lifting weights (yes, you heard it right), the dumbbells and machines which I was eyeing in my first month itself were finally in my control. I started with initial weights of 2.5 and 5 kgs respectively. The initial days were the days of the complete circuit. Whosoever has a limited idea of what a complete circuit is, it's actually the exercises involving all your body parts starting from the chest, back, biceps-triceps, shoulders and legs.

After having a decent knowledge of all the machines and the kind of exercises I need to continue, I prepared a 5 day/week schedule as per the suggestions of my trainer in which each day will be devoted to each body part. I also started watching YouTube channels of some famous fitness influencing people that included BeerBiceps, GuruMaan, flying beast, Sahil khan etc. These were the kind of people who have had enough experience in the field of fitness and bodybuilding. Although my aim was only to get into shape and maintain a decent level of fitness, I gained enough knowledge from their videos and articles. They also made amazing videos on having a balanced diet during the training days. One of their quotes which caught my attention was "Fitness is a journey, not a destination" that's also the title heading which implies that this practice has to be continued not for a day, month or year, but this should be a part of our life as a regular routine like bathing, eating and other daily chores which made me really motivated and encouraged on having all the green veggies in my diet and leaving all the junks, packaged food and sugar. It was a slow and gradual process for me. We can't leave everything at once because the taste buds on our tongue will obviously want us to have all those junk and unhealthy food so I started one at a time. I started to cut out sugar from my meals, then all the packaged and outside eatables and at least used minimal food oil for my food. The green veggies were abundant in my every meal and the quantity of non-vegetarian food also increased simultaneously. This was all about my diet which as I mentioned above was a complete gradual process for me. It took me a couple of months to get a balanced diet in proper. My training and gym sessions were in full swing.

Time flew by, and half the year passed away like a gust. I started to see myself getting transformed. I gained about 8 kgs and reached 75 kgs. This was one of the most satisfying moments of my life seeing myself so fit and lively in front of the mirror. My confidence and motivation just skyrocketed and I couldn't stay idle for a day without having some body movements in the form of sports or exercise be it in the gym or simply home workouts (in the form of resistance and bodyweight training). I started to go for minimum supplements after 7 months of my time in the gym. The decision was taken owing to proper consultation and knowledge from various experienced personnel which led me to go for bare minimum supplements in the form of whey proteins.

Gradually, a year passed by and I was completely a changed human being in terms of appearance, positivity and confidence level. I gained some more pounds and reached 78 kgs with a decent amount of muscle mass and fat % also due to some cheat days I had in between. Being consistent was the key in the whole process and I am proud that I was able to achieve it and maintain the same for a large part of the time I devoted towards my body. The diet was a difficult thing to manage being a bachelor and to have a job alongside it, but I was able to follow most of the things planned.

The journey was tough at the start. My motivation and energy levels had been already down, but the passion to never give up in any circumstance allowed me to be in that journey for long and after a decent amount of time, it never matters actually because we all start to enjoy the process. The process becomes our routine and the routine turns into a habit for the lifetime. This one year journey will always be close to my heart and it really boosts me up whenever I feel low for any situation and increases my hunger for positivity and belief to leap and bounds.

Now at present when I am writing this article and sharing it with all of you, it's been 1.5 years of me being on this journey with consistent efforts. Fitness and food have become my two biggest passions. I just wanted to say that, if I can pursue these things and become fit after being so lethargic and sluggish a couple of years before, then anyone can be fit and you can also have whatever you want in a calculated way and still be ripped and toned thus, enjoying your life at the same time. Basically, this was all about me and why I started lifting. I promised myself that I wouldn't be putting my body in that position ever again. The lifestyle I was following, it was way too many excesses as I already briefed above. But things have changed now. I still can have my favourite cheesy pan pizzas and be healthy at the same time, we just need to have a correct plan and knowledge of the same. Weight training has given me things that I didn't imagine ever before.

Fitness isn't just looking good or looking ripped, but fitness is all about being a healthier person eventually in life. When you are old, you don't need arthritis, you don't wanna have diabetes or you don't wanna die of a heart attack. You wanna be able to lift bags or you wanna be able to run with your grandkids. You wanna be still as strong as you were when you were in your 20s and 30s. This article might leave a positive impact for a few who are just like me and want to see a better version of themselves when they grow in their adulthood and eventually get old. I believe that one thing that got me out of that depth of unhealthiness was the gym and eating right and therefore, I wanted to spread this knowledge to help you all because just like most of the people, I am also an average guy with very, very average genetics, but after training for a year and a half, I am able to do things I couldn't even imagine (I am able to deadlift about 100-120 kgs, able to front squat 60 kgs, able to bench press about 50 pounds in each hand). If I could do it, anyone can. You just got to stay dedicated and above all, you got to be very, very well informed. You got to know, who to listen to, which is the other issue. I feel like honestly, not to demean anyone but India has got an abundance of really shitty trainers with really bad and wrong knowledge and people in India don't know who they listen to when comes to fitness. Therefore, I have given a piece of clean and clear fitness advice from my own experiences and the people whom I have been following since the start of my fitness journey. Your body is meant to run, your body is meant to walk, your body is meant to lift heavy things. You wanna do that and you don't wanna sit idle in your home all day just in front of your TV or in front of your books and I promise you if you stay dedicated and follow at least some part of the advice from any sources I mentioned above, you can achieve crazy things in this field.

As I already mentioned at the start that whatever will hurt you today will make you even stronger tomorrow and it's gonna be a fruitful and enjoyable journey with an improved lifestyle. That's my promise for sure.

P.S. If anybody's knowledge is somewhat different from what I shared above, then please note, it's completely my personal choice and what I chose to follow. Things might differ slightly at others end

P.P.S: I am gonna share some of my pictures below on how I used to be before I started working out, the pictures during my workouts and what I am now after a year and a half.

My overall transformation in a nutshell goes as under:

Before JEE

This was me having a decent shape and weight before JEE

During 1st year of my college

This was me when I entered college in first year during 2nd semester and was still decent.

During 2nd year of my college

The wardrobe disaster of my collection where the things started deteriorating

During 3rd year of my college

Things went worse

During final year of my college

And I lost major of my weight and reached an all-time low of 63 kgs at this point

During joining Ola at Bangalore

The joining time at Bangalore was no different as I was the same lean and thin guy

First day at the gym

With a pretty large tummy and a little bit of gained weight I joined the gym when I switched my job

After 3 months

The Goa trip which happened just 3 months after I joined gym. Although not great but little improvements did motivate me

After 4 months

After 6 months

Things started getting interesting now

After 9 months

At this point, I was really proud of myself but the journey had just begun at this point of time

After 1 year (The transformation)

Clicking Shirtless photos became an addiction :P

Comparison

I had observed such things in fiction and movies. Started to see it for real on me

Some of my Gym session pictures 

Athletics event (December 2019)

Won quite a few medals in running and discus throw due to improved stamina and strength

After 1 year (Feb/March 2020)

 Cutting after bulking: Losing about 7-8 kgs in the last couple of months brought me the shredded form of myself

Me at the present day (April 2020)

At the current best form of my life till now

Thanks for reading my article with so much of diligent patience. Hope some of you might be benefitted out of it which was the sole purpose of this article.