Sundar Sasta Tikau – new mantra

Ruelha 
There was a time up until three years ago.
The gym was my happy place meadow.
I started that craze almost eight years back.
To keep my health and body on track.

Counting calories was a daily thing.
To return to the gym, forever longing.
There was one in my apartment complex.
Every day I'd attempt to get my muscles to flex.

I was the only faithful one in the whole building.
So the gym keys were with me, so thrilling.
Almost like my own personal space.
My happy and sacred place.

I've done it all, protein, whey and cassein.
At that time, I was eating so damn clean.
Ratio of macros and strength training.
Mixing it up with resistance in between.

VO2 max and fat synthesis.
Anaerobic, aerobic, thermogenesis.
Leptin, ghrelin, adrenaline, dopamine...guessing and counting.
Micro-managing and figuring out my body's state of being.

Ketosis, HIIT and intermittent fasting.
Sensitive to my glycogen reserves and routine.
Head stands for increased circulation.
Even injuries could not counter my determination.

I really was all in.
Focused my mind on the gym.
That became my happy place.
A sense of purpose and challenges to face.

I've had more than a three year break.
Begun to make healthier choices for my own sake.
Those three years, I desecrated my body.
Now I'm back, but I feel like a rookie.

This time, I have a different approach and plan.
I'm going raw and natural and what's available at hand.
No protein shakes or macros.
And definitely, no treadmill for cardio.

I'm feeling my body and responding to what it's telling me.
We have a better relationship, with healthy communication, you see.
सुन्दर, सस्ता, टिकाऊ(Sundar, sasta, tikau) literally means...
Beautiful, cheap, sustainable - that's the motto of my new regime.

I do cardio purely for increased lung capacity.
And I don't intend to workout daily or even regularly.
I barely do fifteen minutes of a running-kind of HIIT.
It's just the beginning, so my body is fighting me.

It wants to go back to snacking all night.
To chocolates, truffle cakes and all things deep fried.
No treadmill or gym or fancy equipment.
Just on the road, I pretend to be indifferent.

Since I don't have weights, I'm down to resistance training.
Just body weight and more reps, but I ain't complaining.
Come on cyber friends, please cheer me on.
I want to go back to feeling healthy and strong.

Sundar, sasta, tikau... this time I'm doing it differently.
I'm desperately seeking that thing called muscle memory.
It's only been a few days and I feel like my body wants to give up.
I've been dreaming of tiramisu, truffle cakes and cream-of-custard apple in a cup.

-RUELHA
www.ruelha.com
© Copyright Protected. All Rights Reserved
Pics from 2016 😉

32 Comments

  1. You have great form on the pushups/plank position. I hadn’t thought abut V02 max in years. When I was racing bicycles, we would get our V02 max checked when we were in peak condition. I trained with riders who were national champions and held world records, so while I never had the V02 max anywhere near those champion racers, mine was way above the normal person. It would be abysmal today, however. I’ve never been able to get near the strength or cardio levels I had with just normal exercise after all the chemo I’ve had.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

        1. Absolutely. It did feel nice and cozy. Just that I kept staring at all the equipment to figure out what they were….and in all honesty….I was never really sure lol. I did some things in that gym…but I don’t know what exactly I was doing lol.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

          2. I just remembered a story you might enjoy. Years ago my boss and I and another architect would go to the gym at lunchtime. This was a serious body building gym. My boss and his friend were into lifting heavy weights and gawking at the women. I had similar strength to most of the women body builders, which means these women were seriously strong. I would abandoned my boss and his friend and work in with the women since we used the same amounts of weights. Besides, the women were much more pleasant company to workout with than most men.

            My boss and his friend had names from all the “hot” women who worked out at noon, which I thought was really silly of them. One day we were heading back to the office and they said they hadn’t seen one of the hot women at the gym. I said she was there. They said “Really? You saw her?” I said, “Of course, I saw her, she and I worked out together the whole time.” They where astonished. and said “We were wondering where you were!” I answered “She’s much better company than you two.”

            I think a lot of men are intimidated by strong women. This particular woman, who competed was amazingly strong. When we did pull-ups, which most women have a hard time doing, she would put on the pull-up belt and add a 15 or 20 pound plate and do 20 pull-ups with the extra weight. I could match her on most exercises, but I couldn’t do pull-ups with extra weight. She was amazing.

            Like

            Reply

    2. Wow, you really are an all rounded Tim. Ace photographer, writer, musician, cyclist….what can’t you do, man? You truly are an inspiration. Sorry to hear about all that chemo. I hope all is well now. Stay blessed. 🙏🏼🎀🌺🙏🏼

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

        1. Wow, Tim you really know how to live. I forgot to mention how you are such a loving parent to so manyyyyy wonderful pets and a great dad with awesome kids who are linguists. Is there anything you cannot do?

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

          1. One kid who is a linguist and a spouse who is a linguist. There are lots of things I can’t do or don’t do well, but I do have a lot of things to keep me busy.

            Like

            Reply

  9. all the disciplines take work at the time and getting started is the hardest step, but they are soooooo worth while and bring such gratitude and joy! Keep on keeping on. x

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you Dawn. Now I feel better that the hardest is behind me…. Yes, absolutely….gratitude and joy I shall feel when I get some semblance of a blat belly, better lung capacity, a toned body and if I feel more energetic ….. love and hugs Dawn 🙂

      Like

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s