Gym 1.14

28th Oct 2011: Ben's aerobics class attended today. Came back home did yoga breathing exercises and Sun Salutation. :) It feels so good in class now and when Ben pushes really harrrrd, I have discovered that if I start imagining things in my head - it helps. Here are a few sample imaginations I use... quite often:

I imagine being chased down a dark alley by say 5 thugs and I have to protect myself - so kick kick kicccckkkkk assss!! :D

I also sometimes think say I am in some karate or judo competition and I am say kicking the hell out of my opponent - so push, kick, jump.... more more more,... again again again....

Another situation that helps in my head is say picturing a zen master champion of shaolin practicing harrrrrrrrrrrrrd all the time, every time... non-stop.... (try to think its you and not somebody else who is that expert).

The last situation that is seriously cool to imagine is say you are thrown in the sea and you have to swim hard to save your life. If you stop, you die :D....

I run new things in my head, all imagined ... but you see... I perhaps would be doing a few reps extra just coz of 'em, instead of stopping and huffing and puffing.

Gym 1.13 and Diwali!! :)

Yesterday was Diwali as I mentioned in my previous post, and here are a few pics of this lovely festival of lights!

Rangoli that I made at the entrance to my house

The decoration inside the house :)

So in celebration to a widely celebrated function in India, we feasted on loads of home made sweets by yours truly! :)  - Its just special to know that I can make most of the delicacies my mom does!!

Ok now Gym update:

No gym Tuesday or Wednesday ... that was bad, I did take the excuse of Diwali...

27th Oct 2011: Ok took up cardio today, ideally would have done Toning. So did 6 min stepper, 20 min biking, 5 min treadmill (and my knee started paining a tad) - so went to cross trainer did 15 minutes, then back to tread mill did roughly 10 minutes more. Hmm.. not a very planned gym routine today, guess its still better than nothing. Came back home, a tad too hungry to do yoga. So that's that for the day!

Gym skipped and a very Happy Diwali in advance!!!!

HAPPY DIWALI!! :)

O well, I missed Gym today ... but that's not what this post is about  :D 

I remember forever learning in school - Diwali , an Indian festival is a 'festival of lights'! And it is indeed, this year it is on the 26th of October i..e tomorrow! Indians wear new clothes, eats LOTS n LOTTTSSSS of sweets, decorate the whole house ( more or less the time to completely de-clutter and beautify the house in the run up to the festivities), lights lots of candles and especially diyas i.e. small earthen cups/ in which we put oil/ghee and with a small wick light some of the most precious looking things! They look bright and full of hope! We draw rangoli's i.e beautiful patterns at the front of the house - right in front of the doorstep and in front of the temple/prayer space inside the house as well.

There is a lot of mythology and cultural significance and prayers and rituals that go along with the festival of Diwali - but for me, being quite deliberately uneducated on the hyper ritualistic part (I am not proud of the fact that I don't know, but quite comfortably ignorant) - I am, all the same just happy doing the superficial part i.e. decorate the house and myself  :D, eat sweets, burst firecrackers (though its been many years' since I did that - It pollutes and is bloody expensive - and its heard that poor unprivileged kids make them and get dangerous diseases because of it etc. etc.). All in all, its good fun! 

I know, that Diwali is basically in honour of the return of Lord Rama (in the Ramayana - An Indian mythological text of great significance) from his exile in the forest back to his kingdom - read the Ramayana to know more, its an interesting story - fable or not, donno really! All I know is, I always loved being with family (It's an essential holiday in India) on such special days and even more immensely happy to eat all stuff mom made. 

Now, in South Africa obviously few Indians celebrate and some Indian cultural thing happens - but hmm.. I am not too keen in exploring (some noisy dhin-chak Punjabi jumpy music and staring at what other people are doing I am sure won't be as much fun)... BUT I do make some of the sweets just like my mom did/does. :) Murali ( my husband) loves it and that too makes the making enjoyable! If I do everything good, shall post in some pics!! Till then, think of things BRIGHT and make yourself some happy food and sweets!

Gym 1.12

22nd Oct 2011: Rest day... 6 days a week would be too much :P

23rd Oct 2011: Sunday....Shopping and sleeping day .. no gym... :D

24th Oct 2011: Ahhh Monday... Ok Cardio- day it was... 6 min stepper.. 20 min bike... 15 min tread mill... 15 min cross trainer... umm... walked back (maybe the 20 min walk back home I should discount). OK.. back home, did yoga as usual... breathing exercises and few sets of Sun Salutation.

Gym 1.11

Oct 21st 2011: Today was Ben's Aerobic class for 1 hour... which I enjoyed.... I like aerobics, though people do tend to think its just a sequence of jumping and limpy steps... I beg to differ, you go through a whole flow of motions and it looks enjoyable and non-rustic and its rhythmic, all those twists and turns burn fat. 

As usual after class, came back home and did Yoga - breathing exercises and Sun Salutation. The good this does to me is more about feeling very calm and after a couple of months people tend to mention  - that my face is bright and glowing. It takes time though for that 'glow' to reoccur, as now I restarted Yoga after almost an year. 

Today it felt as though my body is a little more strong than say Jan this year, when I started Gym in SA, though don't know why my weight scale doesn't say anything pleasing and neither do I look thinner. :/ I want those cosmetic gains of exercising as well :(.... 

BUT, I shall keep on (I decided that long ago) bcoz even if I end up looking like Rambo forever, I'd still be strong and would be able to kick butt (If ever required... hope not) :D!! anyways... TGIF!

Gym 1.10

20th Oct 2011: OK... another good workout day today :D... 5 min stepper... and day of toning exercises and machines like leg press, leg curl, triceps, abdominal exercises etc etc etc , interspersed with 5 to 10 min tread mill in between. Came home and did Yoga today as well... 20 min breathing exercises and a few sets of Sun Salutation... After all this, I got massively hungry and tried not stuffing myself with a lot of food. .. which i didn't .. thankfully.. :) Ate moderate after a small break.

Gym 1.9

19th Oct 2011: Went to gym... attended 'Katabox' after quite a few sessions missed... followed by Yoga at home... Breathing exercises and Sun Salutation... It feels immensely fresh if Yoga is done in serene setting and deep concentration and ... possibly a blank mind...which is tough for me...

"The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien

I am in the finishing stages of reading "The Hobbit" , introduced to me by my better half - as he is a mad fan of the 'Lord Of The Rings' trilogy and all... He has, it seems (for a change really) read something well and is in a position to recommend... So I started out reading in politeness ... even though my favorite reads nowadays are about drug cartels, mafias and stuff (its more realistic and I am fascinated with their business sense and ways of solving problems and dodging legal routes and police and what not... everybody is corrupt so it hardly matters where ones' sympathy lies - like it or not.) ... But in all seriousness I completely utterly enjoyed reading this very easy read! ... I am sure people already know the story of 'The Hobbit'... it is the prelude to the 'Lord of The Rings' and you are introduced to all the main characters - Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, the dwarves, the Gollum, Beorn, Smaug (the dragon) etc etc ... 

It tells you how the ring came into the picture and how does this whole adventure really start. Murali was/is quite jumpy about the movie which might release sometime in 2012 I presume (as a random google search told me)... and in all earnest now, I am eagerly waiting too!! :)  - A lovely fable always manages to take ones mind away from all issues - real or material! ..... If you are reading the same, Happy Reading!!

Gym 1.8

Oct 16th 2011: Declared it a lazy Sunday and stayed in ...coughed and coughed till I really did want to pull all of my throat out.

Oct 17th 2011: Coughing marginally reduced and hence decided to take it slow... skipped gym.

Oct 18th 2011: Tuesday i.e. Today... finally... back to gym... Stepper for 1 hour at Ben's class. :D

Gym 1.7

Oct 15th 2011: Even though now my throat has conked like mad and I sound like a frog who sneezes I went to the gym... Did stepper 5 min, bike 20 min, tread mill 20 min and cross trainer 15 min ... along with Mr. hubby.

In the evening we finally saw "Riverdance"  - traditional Irish tap-dancing. It was AWESOME and jaw-dropping stuff... and I was also quite glad that i didn't cough and sneeze in the Tiatro area ( theater area i.e.) of Montecasino here in Joburg!!!! A splendid Saturday ( minus of course my throat)... :D

Gym 1.6

Just when I was about to go on a self-righteous drive of "O see how many times I go to gym" n stuff... BAM God gives me right on my bum... I am so miserable in this bloody onslaught of cold and cough ...and I have so self-righteously stuffed myself up with garlic, that I stink to high heavens ( while my poor hubby makes polite haste in getting over routine hugs n kisses...) eh... :D.... I  mean, I don't wanna be near myself right now.. poor guy! hehe

And I cough all the time like an old hag and my nose looks red and there is toilet paper all around the house ( I finished a Whole Big stack of decent face tissues) so I have moved on to finishing up toilet paper rolls to save up more stacks of face tissues... :P 

O well, ACCCCHHHHHOOOOOOO to u too .. humph! ( No bloody gym 13th and 14th Oct :'( booohoooo) ....

Gym 1.5

No gym, bloody cold not gone yet completely and I hardly slept... still atleast 50% better than yesterday though...

Oct 12th 2011: Missed Ben's class 'Katabox' ... :/

Cold virus, Me and Garlic...

If there is a common disease I hate with a vengeance and a MASSIVE one at that is the common cold. My father forever believed that if I were in India and somebody in Antarctica caught cold, I would too... I mean I am so prone to it, its not funny! 

Medicines don't work on me anymore, and hence I have invented (along with my dad of course, who is a obsessive compulsive cook who likes inventing new dishes) many a remedy from natural ingredients rather than popping pills. 

I have caught cold again now and this reminded me of writing what I do to cure it. 

Spinach and garlic soup:

Ingredients:

1.) 1 bunch spinach

2.) 2 or 3 cloves garlic ( use 2 if u really can't stand garlic)

3.) 2-3 green chillies (reduce if you can't stand even little bit chillies)

4.) 1 inch garlic 

5.) 1/2 a normal sized onion.

6.) Salt 

7.) Pepper ( a fist-full, powdered or crushed)

8.) Vinegar

9.) Water 

Method:

1. Take the spinach bunch and remove the central thick white portion of the spinach leaves ( coz it is very fibrous and will ruin your soup).

2. Boil spinach leaves well in little bit water (I like to boil all leafy and green and most other veggies as well.. One cannot be sure of what is lurking in it... worms in mean) - also boiling softens it.

3. After it is well boiled, remove water and  put it in a blender or mixie and put in the chillies, garlic, ginger, 1/2 an onion cut in lumps for easy grinding and little bit water.

4. Grind it well... till it looks all soupy... add water if required , if its too thick i.e.

5. Pour out in a vessel that you can microwave or boil. Add salt to taste and pepper.... 

6. Heat the soup till it becomes warm and get it off the gas/microwave..... and in the end add vinegar ( little bit).

Hence, one of the MOST effective remedies for common cold is made!! :) I also do fermentation ( i.e steaming my face/nose) along with it and dunk myself under the layers in bed having rubbed vicks on my nose. So all in all, either in a few hours or the next day morning  - most of the cold ( the worst part of it atleast) is gone!! 

Hail garlic really, if i could I would frame a pic of it and pray it ... :D....

Gym 1.4

Again slight doubts of head ache and g's and 'lemme sleep' in the morning... and I imagined I am a robot and am programmed to Go To The Gymmmmmmmmm... mmmmm... dragged self + again complainin' hubby.. and reached our Tuesday class... :D

11th Oct 2011: Ahhh a 1 FULL hour of stepper , Ben's class...  ( sometimes I think he is mad... and really I am more than happy to be mad as well.... but FIT) :) hehe... a sleepy brain thinks such stuff I guess!

Gym update 1.2 and 1.3

Ahh... Sunday started with no electricity and a need to laze... so went out everywhere and explored 'China Town' in Joburg... and went hither and tither ... except gym... came back home 4 ish to find no electricity.. so went out again to check out "The help"... awesome movie! :) ... 

came home late and hence less sleep... and consequently no gym on Monday 10th Oct as well... :/... will compensate at home. Lets' see! ... Weirdly happy for a Monday, no reason at all! ..

Gym... errmm 1.1 :P

Oct 8th 2011: Yippee I got up and went, drag or no drag while getting up from bed.. :D... ok today I did 6 min stepper warm-up, 16 mins bike, 20 min on the tread mill ( cant run full-on, I have a pestering right knee), then I did cross-trainer for 15 mins roughly and finished by v v slow walking cool down on the tread mill again. 

Hubby also didn't complain getting up, the trick was a full good nights' sleep... early mornings' are a matter of sustained habit - still can get .. umm.. not tiring.. but yea, its a habit 'to be inculcated'. :) Happy Saturday everybody!

Laziness....Missed Gym

Today the battle to peel myself outta bed was unsuccessful .... The bed won, and after staring at my kitchen slab for 5-10 minutes ( I don't know why I walk upto kitchen and stare at stuff on days when I miss gym.. as though they are gonna encourage me to go eh...) I went back to bed. 

7th Oct 2011: Missed Ben's class ... :/

Will try compensating by doing something else later... hopefully...

5:50 pm and I managed to salvage non-gym day by doing 600 skips at home , along with plank exercises.... phew!

Gym - 2

I don't know how many g's getting up at 5:20 a.m. in the morning induces... today it felt like 4g's .... :P ... I had to peel myself out of the bed and wonder how'd I boast about going to gym if I don't go at all ... :D ... Hence, the need to show-off pushed me to go and exercise. 

I also religiously drag my husband, who in turn everyday religiously complains 'It's too cold out', 'I have a headache coz of lack of sleep', 'What if I faint in the gym coz of sleep' and more such .... :D And like a true-blue wifey I do some yodeling, sing out of tune songs, threaten, nudge and sometimes simply literally drag one of his legs out of the bed to get him going. :D ( Utter and pure torture I know .... hehe)  - my pleasure! 

6th October 2011: Did cardio ... 5-6 min stepper warm-up, 15 minutes bike, 10 min treadmill, 15 min cross-trainer and another 10 min of rowing.

Gym update...

What better to do with a blog than update certain routines that if listed out in public can be self-motivational to be persisted, hopefully everyday. 

So I will list what I did with my gym or exercise routine, in hope of some several billion years' down the line of losing some sort of weight.... as of now the picture is bleak.. after 9 months of umm regular (?!... 3-4 days avg in a week) gymming my weight has actually increased. I frantically searched the internet and some say its muscle increase  - hopefully it is converting some flab into muscles.. else I am in a state of alarm :/.... I don't have a very responsive or easily workable constitution... it takes time and I know that quite well.

So, I am randomly starting updates from TODAY.. I went to gym yesterday as well.. but the updates are gonna be today and henceforth kinds.. 

5th Oct 2011: Attended Ben's class 6- 7 am at Virgin Active: 1 hour of Katabox (its like kick-boxing but not exactly the same).

Why keeping ones mouth shut is sometimes the most intelligent thing to do... :D

Its best to shut up! ... I wish I could end this post at that... sadly I feel the need to blabber more than required, and sometimes the need is pretty persistent (and hence my blog?!).. :P.... Well the thought reiterated back into my head on a recent visit to a certain persons' house where the host refused to regale me (my hubby was stuck with the hosts' better/worse ...umm.. definitely worse...half being forced a hard drink down his throat) whatsoever. I was bored and wanted to kill myself, or at the least doze off with my mouth open. I wish I had! 

The Mrs. host was busy with her kids and didn't seem to know much about responding or conversation or subjects in vicinity of the same.. sigh... I don't blame her, she might just not be into talking.. :/ ... (not that my sympathy got any better, I still decided to go ahead and hate 'em instantly)...  And stayed sitting with a oh-so-visible fake smile for umm.. 4 hourssss!!!! .... The event is gone now, and hence, I shall stop ranting :D ( also coz I made a solemn promise to not enter their house even in the event of being pushed or dragged there ... thank god for my weight - that won't be easy any case!) :P ... And I also decided to let off steam randomly by giving off a massive scream (with the husband pre-warned mind you just in case he falls into shock under my vocal force) as soon as we got into our car and the window's were well pulled up tight ... though I am not sure people can hear someone scream standing out of a closed car, can they?! :P ... Well, if they were hanging around , they might have heard my instant feedback... .. pheww... not that I care now!

Oh and the title of this blog is also coz of more people in that gathering with whom my will to do sound conversation left me wanting to plaster my lips shut... like forever... I also don't care about that anymore :D... I will stop ranting on this topic.. NOW. 

-Polite smile :)