Getting Addicted

Posting after a long time because I was eye-deep in work for a bit. Also my work outs have been fairly irregular and inconsistent. May be that's a good thing.

Had a couple of interesting workouts in the last 4 weeks.

One was a parkour course - very beginner - that I went through at Zest Pondicherry. Btw, I highle recommend AGAINST Zest Pondicherry. There was a rat in my room - sitting in our suitcase actually - when we returned from the swimming pool that didnt have the filters running with about 50 people in the pool. Very miserable experience. I couldn't resist that plug because I was most disappointed by that resort and the way they handled the whole mess.

Back to parkour. (Parkour is free running - Akshay Khanna does that in one of the Thums Up ads).

Check out this video on Youtube


So they have this parkour course with about 19 odd stations. They have a path marked by display stones. Each stone shows an exercise and number of repetitions. You have to move (walk or run) from one station to the next completing each of the exercises. Exercises start with simple stretching and go on to more advanced one such as hanging from Roman Rings and twisting your body in circles. (Hard to describe - easier to do and show)

Some movements were tricky. For instance, there is a single horizontal bar set at about 2.5 feet at one end and rising to about 3.5 ft at the other end. You are required to hold the bar, jump over it with straight legs and twist underneath it to return to starting position. 15 reps. It was somewhat nasty.

Took me about 14 minutes to complete the course. Not sure if I did all the exercises correctly. But it couldn’t have been much harder. Over all it wasn’t a great experience but worth writing about.

Since then work again had been keeping me off the work out scene till last week. Ok, not just work. A few important parties - social obligations as they are called. Lots of liquor and unhealthy food. Very dark period of my life.

I've had about 3 sessions of intense circuits in the last couple of weeks. Mostly running 400m, 10 pullups, 10 shoulder presses, repeat 5 times kind of circuits.

Yesterday's WOD from www.crossfit.com was brutal.

21 Sumo Deadlift High pull
21 Dips
Repeat 5 times for time.

Took me 37 minutes and destroyed my upper back and deltoids. I'm sitting like an ugly insect while I type this. Fortunately today is a rest day. Going to be very aggressive in the gym tomorrow.

My diet has changed quite a bit. (Except for the 4 dark weeks)

0630 - Wake up - Protein drink - Sci-Mx Whey Protein.
0900 - Breakfast - 6 egg whites and two slices of toast with Jam
1230 - Lunch - Brown rice, Sambar/Rasam and vegetables. 1600hrs
1600 - Snack - Protein drink -
1800 - Dinner - Chicken or Fish Salad
2100 - Movie snack - large bowl of ice cream or a bucket of chocolate - my great regret in life

Much leaner now. But body fat percentage stubbornly stays at 16%. I will get my six-pack eventually - or die trying!

So will post again - hopeful soon.

Until next time.

Sore from crossfitting

The day before yesterday I didnt feel like a long work out. So I decided to do a bit of a crossfit/running combo.

My combo was :-
800m hard run
100 squats
5 pushups
75 squats
10 pushups
50 squats
15 pushups
25 squats
20 pushups

Took me 22 minutes to complete the entire circuit. Its todays later now and I feel like I've been hit by a bus. Fortunately, today is an easy run day.

Crossfitting for the last 3 weeks!

The last 3 weeks have been off-running for me. I've been working on crossfit (www.crossfit.com) for a while now.

Crossfit's promise is broad, general and inclusive fitness. What it means is that the program does not specialise in any one type of fitness and tries to keep the body guessing at all times.

There is a Work out of the Day every day that is brutal. Almost extreme (for me that is) work outs like 400m lunge walk with weights, 150 burpees for time, etc. All sessions are fast and benchmarked against your previous session.

This is also the same kind of workout that the cast of the movie 300 apparently did. Also check out www.gymjones.com. This is the website of the trainer for the "300" cast - Mark Twight. Very intense website - you do not want to mess with these guys whose membership is by invitation only.

After a long time I ran 54 minutes yesterday - and in the evening - here in Hyderabad where I am visitng for Christmas. Ran in the Hitech city area and ran through the campus of a place called Hitex which is a sort of exhibition centre. Dealt with the usual security guards who didnt know how to deal with runners and stray dogs that wanted to defend their territory. On whole however it was a great run - weather was of course superb. December in south India is getting to be great!

The run was medium hard and left me energised. I finished off the days workout with a ladder using the building's stairs. I am on the 5th floor. So the ladder was up one floor, down to the ground, up two floors, back down, up three, back down and so on until I finished all five. I completed the ladder in 4 min 15 secs. Recovery was also quick.

The only thing I am noticing is that I no longer have the patience for a run longer than 30 minutes. I think it is essential that I do atleast two runs that are 30 minutes and 60 minutes plus just to get my mind in sync.

Thats it for now.