My journey in the last one year has been to be find me. I was seeing that I was loosing my connection with me, with all the new roles and responsibilities that I am into. It was time to think and it was time to change.

During the technology training that has happened last week, I happened to walk over to where Chandran, my team mate was sitting and suddenly a window popped up. It said - "Thanks for using Autolock remover - Copy left 2009) The minute I saw the word 'copy left' I was intrigued. I remembered this was the window from the utility that stopped the computer to 'lock' itself( then you will have to type your windows credentials to unlock) if remained idle for more than 5 minutes.
Chandran told me that he was using this utility for a very long time, and has been very useful while watching movies, or attending trainings like these. He thanked me for introducing him to this utilty, without realizing that I had coded the same and distributed it to all my team mates a few years back. I never knew I was changing someone's life even in a very subtle way, using my talents. .. . ..

This episode made me think to think over all the talents that are sleeping within me, waiting to be awakened. When I was watching the video below, this is exactly what it came to my mind. May be the video was doctored, but it definitely had something to teach me. To look at myself, connect and become the 100 % more you are supposed to be.

P90X Results - MARINE JAKE's Awesome Transformation

Labels: fitness, health, inspirational

Ask any body builder and most of them would vow on one thing which is about thier food intake. There is an old saying in the computer world. Garbage in, garbage out. That is, the computer is only as good as the input you give to it. Similarly your body is only as good as the food you give it.
[For everyone else, who is on steroids and performance enhancements drugs, you shouldn't be reading this ! and should be chilling out with your new found strength]

As part of this idea, my chief resolution for year 2012 was to 'Cook healthy food myself' Now the 'myself' part is very important, because I was one person who found all types of excuse to keep myself away from cooking including common excuses such as lack of time, lack of knowledge and so on.

As part of realizing this goal, today I bought potato and some onion and also checked my stock of chilly power, salt and oil. Everything looks oil and this should give me all the propulsion I need, to take me to the cooking orbit. I also plan to keep a record of what I have done, what I plan to do that week, make sure I have everything required for that menu or make a purchase list of things I need to buy ( Not having things required was another 'genuine' excuse I used to make many a times)

Lately I have been doing with eggs, sausages, making juice myself - rather than buying canned juice with preservatives and also buying fresh fruits(which I was do before) and so on

Wish me all the best

Labels: fitness, health

Every goal that you set for yourself, is like a relationship. This means that just like any other relationship, the relationship with your goals, needs constant nurturing and evaluation. Now this may seem a little out of the way. Lets take some real life examples

Relationship with your spouse
Your relationship with your spouse is a multi dimensional exchange. Here are a few points you obviously take care on a regular basis

1. Giving your personal best
You have to work on your relationship and provide regular nurturing in terms of love, care and support

2. Feedback
You have to constantly seek for feedback, sometimes it could be direct whereas sometimes, it could be intuition, either way, you have to gain feedback from your partner and modify your actions accordingly

3. Gratitude
Always be grateful for whatever the other person does for you and thank in whatever ways possible

Let's now see how these can be applied to your goals as well


Relationship with your goal

If your goal is to be fit and build a great healthy body, again that becomes a relationship for you. Note that this can be applied to any type of goal, that you set for yourself. Lets see how the points above should be applied to your goals as well


1. Giving your personal best
You regularly work on your goal, spending your time, money and energy.

For example, I am heading to the sports shop now to get a pair of dumbbell rods, so that I can put my 5 Kg plates on that and start my biceps routines again. Now I have been reasoning myself to be content with 4 Kgs one that I already have, so that I don't have to spend this additional money. But guess what, its not helping me.
Although one might question the benefit that 1 additional kg could make, I believe its worth the money I am about to spend, considering the results I will get.

2. Feedback
Here the feedback comes from my body itself. I get to see what works, and what does not. What pains and what tares and so on. If I keep a regular note of all these ( how much did i gain? etc) and act on it, it can bring tremendous results.

3. Gratitude
I should always thank God ( Universal power/ force / Life giver or whatever you may name) for giving me this great body and also the opportunity to work with( and not towards) my goal to achieve what I want. Also being thankful for the support system that you have, and in my case that would be websites, forums, Facebook friends, twitter friends, fitness videos, and books

I am sorry if this sounded too philosophical, but this is what I had in my mind. God bless you.

Labels: acs, fitness, health, inspirational

Among all the things I want to set right with myself in this special year, one would be of making the right choices. Sometimes not making a choice is also a choice. For example, today I got up at 7:00 AM and I wanted to go for jogging and I had 2 choices:

1. Get my back up, head for brushing and the daily routine, with the water still being cold and head for jogging ( Explicit choice)
2. Stay at the comfort of the warm, soft bed and continue to sleep and have the excuse that I struggled for the entire week and I have got the 'right' to relax on a cool Sunday morning ( Implicit choice)

Now by not opting for choice #1, we wrongly assume that we have not taken any choice, which is not the case. We have implicitly chosen choice # 2 and all the results that come up with that, including:

• Guilty feeling that I did not achieve the goals I set to myself
• Tummy size, would remain the same and I have the genetics, food to blame to
• Miss the great fresh air of the park and chance to add a few more years to my life

Remember, every type of inacation is also a form of action. I learned it the hard way, in the last few weeks. Hope this helps you in taking a close look at all the 'Inaction' items in your list.

Me and facebook
If you are interested in finding me at facebook, and subscribe to my updates, please bookmark my www.facebook.com/fitnessjustin. I am sure you will find it interesting if you are into health and fitness.

Back at office
Our EMC traning would commence tomorrow and would last for two weeks. They intend to cover topics such as xDesign, xAdmin and xPresso. Although we are proficient in these tools and have more than 2 years experience in working with these, we are going to be introduced to the new feautes of this tool as part of the 4.1 release which came a few months back. Training would be between 4:00 PM and 1:00 AM.

Last week, had some really interesting conversation with Seena, Anuroop and Ameer( Hadn't talked to them in years, probably a year or more).

So that's all for today, have a great productive and interesting week ahead.

Labels: fitness, health, job

Not even a gram less or more !! This was the number shown on the electronic weight scale today at one of the restaurants where I check my weight on a weekly basis. I was so over joyed that I could not believe what I saw. This would not have been possible without the great books, fitness videos, blogs, my hall of fame photos of people whom I want to become, and definitely motivating words/ tweets by hundreds of health/fitness lovers on twitter. And best of all nutritious and healthy food by my fiancee that just goes along with my daily exercise routine. Thank you all and a BIG thanks to you Jesus :)

Weight gain badge from livestrong

Labels: dream, fitness, health

This is in continuation with my previous post 25 weeks to Arnoldation, which tracks my fitness goals and areas that I am proud and the things I should improve upon.

Weeks 5 - 10

1. Made it a point to hit park on weekends and other holidays and make atleast 5 - 8 rounds of jogging coupled with 10-12 rounds of fast paced walking.
2. Weight shot upto 69.5 KG, Yehaaaaaa, I am so closed to reach my first milestone, which is 70 KG(154.3 pounds)
   
3. 'Push up' count reached 50 for the first time, and that too in proper form
4. Reps for flys, and raises have crossed 15(earlier less than 6)
5. More crunches that ever before, to take care of the tummy
6. I can see visible changes in my forearms, biceps, tricpes, rib cage, thighs; Small but significant and motivating me to push harder
7. Included meditation as a daily routine
8. Have become more conscious even while doing day to day tasks like, lifting a bucket, sitting while traveling, make sure to walk with the correct posture(ear, shoulder, hips on the same straight line)
   
9. Two rounds around ITPL(for about 20 mins) in the evening, on most days
   
10. Learned more about ab excercises from the book The Complete Guide To Abdominal Training by Christopherm Norris
    

Plan for the next 4 weeks

1. Include more variety in food intake to accommodate duck eggs, protein shakes, salads, cheese, butter etc
2. 60 mins of strict workout and 20 mins of rounds inside the park, prior to that
3. 'Presses' using barbell with 4 kg( 2 kg plate + weight of barbell)
4. Learn more about exercises, food, nutrition and physiology
   
5. Incorporate ALL the main moves that I learned in KungFu prior to the work out or during that
6. Make sleep and rise times fixed and do not fluctuate a lot
7. Increase 'Curls' and 'Fly's dumbell weights to 7 KG (5 + 2 kg plates)
   

Labels: fitness, health

Hi folks, I am an inch away in the weight tracking graph(see above) to reach my first milestone, that is 70 Kgs of lean mass, with as little fat, as possible. I have started to accumulate a bit fat in my mid-section(core) that I need to take care of. That means, more crunches, running and skipping( jump rope) It gives me so much happiness and confidence that I am going in the right direction, and would love to have all of these shared with the entire world. I want to do some before and after photos soon, again I would love to share that as well.

Currently my food table looks like this:

When ?	Food item (Primary)	Food item (Alternative)
Breakfast	Milk with Protein powder, Bread Sandwich	Milk with oats
Lunch	Rice	Chapathi
Post mid-day	Light snacks	Fruits
Dinner	Rice with curry. 2 boiled egg whites	N/A

Influence of Twitter
I must admit that twitter has to be one place I turn up for inspiration on a daily basis. Right now, I follow about 385 + people, most of them being body builders, fitness experts, nutritionists, athletes, models, fitness figures. Its a great inspiration to be going through their thoughts and aspirations and believing that you too be like them one day. Below is a brief list of people I follow in twitter

Twitter ID	Name
BikiniStaci	Staci A.
missleisl	Leisl
marissaroxks	Marissa Iuculano
DonnaBlase	Donna Blase
Tiff_Crystal	Tiffany Crystal
Laura_Superhero	Laura_Superhero
TiffanyGaughan	Tiffany Gaughan
TiffanyyUpshaw	Tiffany Upshaw
sha_sha_fierce	sharon phillips
theextrarep	Sheri Gaskins
desertMike	Mike McCollom
MzKameka	Kerry
Melanie_Collins	Melanie Collins
MissNadiaE	Nadia El
HotAtHome	Jackie B
karenkwilliam	Health &
Heather632	Heather Chavez
FranciscaDennis	Francisca Dennis
EJM3577	Ask Me!
MissSnoogie	lauren barthman
JillianJones1	Baybgirl811
ACE_Motivates	Alicia Rachelle
Bxtreme_Tanya	Tanya Martinez
ChristineGus	Christine Jenkin
TonyXXL	Antonio Mosely
DustinPoirier	The Diamond
ryanbader	Ryan Bader

In other news..

I was happy to find Melvin's email today morning, telling me that he finds my recents posts as inspirational. Love you buddy.

Labels: fitness, health, hobbies

I was going through my facebook page, and was amazed at the number of trash talk that turns up, which made no sense at all to me. I was shocked to find the amount of time, I spend each day in going through pages that had no relation to what I was doing and where I wanted to go ( my goals)

As a first step, I decided to read more about lives of body builders and people who are into health and fitness. Since it hard to 'friend' someone in facebook, I decided to find their blogs/ twitter and follow them there. As a first step, here are some of the links that I found today.

People I am planning to follow

1. http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2009/05/tom-venutos-directory-of-bodybuilders-on-twitter.php
2. http://twitter.com/FitnessbyBarb
3. http://twitter.com/futureoffigure

Another fitness site was recommended by Nandu today, and it contains a pretty good number of interviews too.
www.muscleandstrength.com

Labels: finance, health, looks

Hello everyone, just checked weight today ( as I do on all Tuesdays),and I was so happy to see the numbers on the display. I was at a cool 66.5 KG (146.71 lb) and the gain has been going on, in a steady rate. The target is to reach 75 Kg ( mostly with muscle and bone mass) at the end of 6 months. The chart posted above depicts my weight gain in the past 6 months, tracked using Live Strong website.

I just had a box full of green vegetables (primarily consisting of carrots, cucumber, tomato etc) prepared with the magic hands of my fiancee, and it tasted so good. I am beginning to love this food style and I hope to continue this for a really long time. Veg pulao is waiting for me, in the bag. My cubicle mate Venkatesh just told me I look a lot different and he was happy to see that I have food at regular intervals. God bless him :) and all those fine people who are standing by me.

As a side note, I am also sporting a french beard. ;)

Labels: fitness, health, looks

Started my workout approximately 25 working days after my 25^th birthday. Probably on Jul 5/ 6^th. Prior to that, my physical activities included heavy cycling, covering upto 6 -10 kms everyday when I was around 11 to 14 years of age, martial arts (Kung Fu) between ages 20 –23 and I had joined gym back in 2010. Each time, the experience and the results were much different. And now when I consider body building as a serious hobby, to be perfected at home, I bet all my previous experience could help me a lot, which I would love to share with you all.

Short term goals

1. Weight gain. Reach 70 KG
2. Have a great physique
   
3. Look and feel Healthy(S*xy)

Long term goals

1. Weight gain. Reach 80 KG of pure muscle and bone mass
   
2. Well built proportionate body
   
3. Look and feel Really really Healthy(S*xy) and Strong
   

Here is a short summary of the progress I made in the past 5 weeks

Week – 1

1. Started working out with my dumbelss (2 x 4 KGs), some basic exercises, that I had learnt while I was in Gym
2. Jogging ( On spot)
3. Medium stretches
4. Dumbell Flys, curls and Dead lift

Week -2

1. Started food tracking by amazing free site - LiveStrong
2. Got myself ‘Arnold’s Modern Encyclopaedia of Body building’ from FlipKart
3. Also got myself ‘Dumbbell Training For Strength And Fitness by Matt Brzycki, Fred Fornicola’

Week – 3

1. Good news from Doctor. She said, I had the best cholesterol levels she had seen in any patient
2. Consulted doctor and as per her recommendation, got myself Protein powder ( 18 g/ scoop)
3. Got myself a barbell ( 5” , 3 Kgs approx)
4. Shocked to see my weight shot up to 65.4 KG
5. Took a couple of ‘before’ photos :)

Week – 4

1. Received the book ‘Men’s health big book of excercises’ home delivered by FlipKart
2. Shocked to see my weight shot up to 66.6 KG
3. Took more ‘Before’ photos
4. Posted about my new found interest in this blog

Week – 5

1. Bought myself two 5 Kg plates and a skip rope. Tried and found that it’ not that easy, I definitely need more practice and also a place to do skipping
2. Prepared a list of things I would eat each day
3. Steadily been tracking my food intake for the past 3 weeks, and it’s hovering around a cool 1800 + calories a day. Target is 2000+ so that I could have a steady 1/2 kg weight increase each week

Labels: body building, fitness, health, hobbies

I have become very comfortable with skipping now (Jump rope) The only issue is that, its a very tiring cardio workout and you really need some stamina to keep going. Big cheers to all you guys who do a 100 + each day.

In other news, most of my size 32" trousers just don't fit anymore. I guess I have graduated to 34" now, after the 4 Kg + weight gain that I had in the last 4 months. I guess I might need to maintain my waistlines and tummy in this shape or convert more fat to muscles.

Labels: fitness, food, health

The title of this post is taken from Scooby's work out site, and it had a profound impact on me. I had thought that if you stop working out, in a few days/months time all your muscles are gonna get melted out or something. But it doesn't, it would be really really slow gradual process and I am sure when you start seeing it (I am sure it won't happen to you, if you do regular workouts - atleast 30 - 40 mins for two days, a week) just make sure you stick to your fitness regime.

And moreover once you start enjoying the benefits of good health and strength, I am sure there is no way you are gonna slow this down.

Labels: body building, fitness, health, hobbies