The new routine:
4:55AM – I wake
up (groggy) to the “Morning Flower” alarm tone. I set this up around mid-night,
as I crawl into the other room, so that the alarm doesn’t wake up the kids.
5:25AM –
Cycle 2k to the gym
5:35AM – 100
jumping jacks, 30 squats, 30 push ups, 10 pull ups, parallel bars and other
looseners for warm up
5:45AM to
6:20AM – 6 exercises for specific muscle groups, 3 sets each (1st
set to fatigue, 2nd about 8 reps, 3rd about 4 counts or
so).
6:30AM – My Cinderella
hour comes to an end. Time to put on the baby-sitting hat, just enough time to
squeeze in some bridges, toe-touches and crunches.
My last detox experiment, Panchakarma
virechana, left me quite emaciated and reached never before lows on the
weighing scale. I gave in to the “oh, you look weak” rants from family and
decided to put on some weight. I was done with running for a few months, and
decided to hit the gym to gain some muscle.
I scouted around for a local gym. I checked “A Hip Gym” out –
the ones that send out flyers with models with ripped abs and other assets;
Air-conditioned, biometric access, fancy equipment and costing an arm and my
bony leg. My mom suggested a gym that her student (from primary school tuition
days) had started. NAK’s gym
was perfect – high asbestos roof, with plenty of windows for light and
ventilation, enough dumbbells, barbells, a multi-gym, squats & leg press
stands, etc. A place where you leave your footwear outside, make a silent
prayer as you enter and sweat it out. My kinda place.
Kumar, the instructor, immediately noticed my muscle (or the
lack of it), he immediately set me a target of gaining 2kgs per week, with a
calorie surplus diet, loaded with as much protein as my eggetarian diet would
permit.
I took to it
like duck to water, the next 12 weeks, I hardly missed a workout. I followed a
4 day cycle:
Day1 – Chest
+ Biceps
Day2 – Upper
Back / lats + Forearms
Day3 –
Shoulders + Triceps
Day4 –
Thighs + dead lifts
In six weeks
I was up nearly 5% of my body weight, my biceps had put on nearly 1 inch. I was
up to 4 eggs/ day, sprouts, spirulina powder, nuts and general binging on
reasonably good food (not to mention the protein-farts that came with it).
In the next
six weeks, I continued to add protein, 6 eggs a day, and was still on the
getting-big trajectory. I pumped 50kgs on the bench press, squatted 40kgs, leg
pressed a 100, and dead lifted about 130kgs towards the end of this 12 weeks journey.
10 Jan
|
16 Feb
|
30 Mar
|
||||
Weight (kgs)
|
61
|
64.5
|
66
|
|||
Chest (in)
|
37
|
37.2
|
37.9
|
|||
Waist (in)
|
28.2
|
30
|
31
|
|||
Biceps (Left-Right) (in)
|
12.1
|
12.3
|
12.9
|
13.2
|
13.2
|
13.5
|
Forearm (Left-Right) (in)
|
9.9
|
10
|
10.5
|
10.5
|
10.8
|
10.9
|
Thigh (Left-Right) (in)
|
17.5
|
18
|
20.9
|
21.2
|
21
|
21.5
|
Muscle memory is an amazing thing, my strength training
routines came back to me instantly, wiping out the 13yrs since I had stopped
gymming. It was pleasantly surprised to see how the body responded to a
completely different load & regimen, the testosterone were at new highs.
(don't miss the insert in the picture from 2005)
While I was on my weight gain mode, my cousin S, attacked
the curve from the other side. In 10 weeks, he burnt 10kgs, working out 2hrs a
day, starting his workout with repeats of running a flight of 20 steps, up and
down, 100 times. Yes, one hundred! He went on a 1400 cal/day diet with no room
for junk.
For me, weight training seemed like an excuse to goad up my eating.
As I write this, I am ramping up mileage, back to eating from the kitchen scale
and letting the running-high take over…
But is strength training really going to help my running –
only time will tell, research seems to think otherwise- https://www.outsideonline.com/2270846/how-build-strength-and-endurance-simultaneously
Come back to find out.
Thanks for reading and leaving a comment! Cheers!
