Learning from Arsenal

Well it has been good progress so far in life. Been hitting the gym regularly. Got myself Nike Free Version 4 (trying out the minimalist trend!) to rotate with my Nike Structure 16s. And yesterday was particularly a good day because I ran over an hour and my left leg felt pretty okay. Not perfect though. Cause at around the 47th minute mark, the outside of the left knee felt uncomfortable. I stretched a bit and honestly I was pain free. Woke up this morning and was again pain free (THANK YOU LORD). But had the same discomfort in my left knee. So I stretched thoroughly and religiously and am happy to report that the discomfort has left me!

Man, that is progress in my head. Two weeks ago 4kms would have left my knee feeling destroyed. During the Hyd Marathon, I practically wept at the 15k mark. Honestly I know I have a long way to go but am getting results for working hard, so there is no cheat sheet here. You work and you get results. So I have to work.

Anyway, things have been going swimmingly well for my football team as well. Despite being bogged down with injuries themselves (just like me!), Arsenal have shown such resilience in the face of so many naysayers that I can't help but feel inspired by them. So, am going to dedicate my first official half marathon (and the reason I even started this blog) to my team. Every time on October 6th when I am running in Coimbatore and I feel like giving up, I will think of Arsenal. Every time the sides of my stomach feel like they are about to be knackered, I will think of Ramsey's broken leg and how he came back from that injury and has now become a goal scoring machine. Every moment I think this is simply not worth it, I will think of the boys in the Arsenal jersey. Everyone critic, journalist doubted Arsenal could compete with the big guys but now they have been silenced. Not because the lads are better than the rest, but because they just don't give up. They have that spirit. The Gooner spirit. The one that says that they will not back down to any opposition. Win or lose, they show up suited for war. And I am a Gooner. I have that spirit too.

Happy running! And if you're an Arsenal fan, happy EPL season! 

Why I HATE Turbo Fire and still try it sometimes

I have no qualms in admitting that in my journey to finding a fit and healthy lifestyle, I have always sought the help of workout videos. While I am a fan of workout videos by Jillian Michaels (who isn't?), I regret the day I tried out TurboFire by Chalene Johnson. It's one of the most annoying and irritating programmes ever and if you are not careful, you will like me throw out your back!

I was very excited when I first got hold of the series and thought it would be great. Chalene Johnson is a smart and very peppy instructor and you instantly like her. But the problem is that she is not a very good instructor. I made one of the biggest mistakes when I tried out one of her videos called Fire 45. It's supposed to be a straight up cardio workout where you end up burning a ton of calories. But I found it plain annoying and it ended up seriously hurting my back that months later am still struggling.



Cons:

Johnson's instructions are just not good enough and while she is very upbeat, what's good about a great attitude when your cues are terrible? There were just times when she would just start a whole new routine and I would have no way of knowing how to do it. Why is this a problem? Because when you don't know how to position yourself and how to properly execute a routine, you end up hurting your body. Simple.

There were just times when I was really bored with the workout. I mean sure you spend a lot of time continuously on your feet and you are active but most of the time I was gaping around wondering what in the hell's name I was doing and how that could possibly help me.

The worst is how there are SO MANY exercises that have you hitting the ground. It's annoying and it's how I ended up hurting my back.

But if it works out for someone, I am happy for them but honestly I don't see any good reason why anyone would want to spend two to three months following a programme where the instructor does not take the time to instruct.

But even though I hate the Fire programmes, there are a few videos I really like about this workout and which is why I have not deleted it from my hard-drive forever.

What I like:
It has an amazing 10 minute stretch routine and an even better 40 minute stretch routine. So if you are in the mood to do long and soothing yoga poses and stretches, then this is heaven. But you must take time to review the video much before you attempt it, so you know what you are getting into.

Another set of videos I quite like are the HIIT videos (High Intensity Interval Training).
You get to choose from 15 minute HIIT video, 20 minutes, 25 and 30 minute HIIT videos. These are fun, heart pumping, cardio exercises. What I like about them apart from the fact you are done in no time is the fact you spend one minute learning the routine. Then you blast that routine in high speed and high intensity for a minute or more. Then you take a break for 45 seconds to one minute. So you are constantly getting breaks, getting good cues and you are still burning calories. I still would much rather do an Insanity video rather than TurboFire but if you have to do it, then I recommend just sticking to stretching and the HIIT videos. They are fun.

Happy running (btw no workout is ever going to be as fun for me as a good healthy run).