Featured

Lets go on a Journey to a better, fitter life

A bit about me and this blog

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.

Hi everyone. Thanks for tuning in. This blog is all about creating a healthier body so you can live a better life. I don’t intend it to be for hardcore fitness fanatics who want the latest trend on building huge biceps. It’s basically my platform for reaching out to people who want to know how to get fitter and healthier but don’t know where to start, have motivation problems to work out etc. I want to share the knowledge and thought processes that I have gained over the years regarding this topic.

First a quick introduction. My name is Perminder. At the time of writing this, I’m 39 years of age and have been training since I was in high school doing basic workouts in my bedroom. When I left school, I took up karate which I still do today and currently have a 4th Dan in the martial art. I have done other martial arts too. I do weight training and callisthenics in the gym and have cardio days to build my stamina for my martial arts.

People often ask me for advice on how to get fitter but I have also noticed people losing their fitness and body shape as time goes on. I think people have this belief that it’s inevitable but I know from my own experience that it doesn’t have to be like that. It just requires some knowledge, good habits, healthy eating and exercise. Of course you have to want to be fit.

I could ramble on but I’m going to end this here as I want my posts to be easy to digest.

Stay tuned and subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

Why it is easier to stay slim when you already are (or why you are getting fat without realising it)

Have you ever looked down at your belly and noticed any extra fat compared to a few days ago? If the answer is yes, you probably already have a slim waist. You see, when you normally have only a small amount of belly fat, it’s more noticeable when you have gained or lost a bit of fat so you can quickly make adjustments in your diet or exercise routine to bring it back to how it usually is. This is especially true if you have visible abs. You can press your finger into your belly until you hit the ab muscle. If there is more fat than usual there, you can tell.

On the other end of the spectrum, if someone with a lot of body fat puts on a bit of extra fat, it can be hard to notice because the extra weight gain is small relative to the person’s body weight. For example, if a person who weighs 50kg gains 5kg of fat in a week, that is a 10% increase which will be noticeable. If a person who weighs 100kg gains 5kg of fat, that is only a 5% increase so less noticeable. If they then gain another 5kg a week later (currently weighing 105kg), that is a 4.8% increase so even less noticeable. Can you see how this can snowball out of control?

This is one of the main reasons why people get fat as they get older. It’s not really the age that is the problem but the accumulation of these unnoticeable increases in fat over time.

The point of this post is to emphasise the importance of being slim if you care about your weight. If you are already slim, make an effort to stay that way by regularly checking yourself and making adjustments if necessary. You are already at an advantage so as long as you make the effort, you will never become overweight. If you are already larger than your ideal size, you know what you need to do. 😉

Using fitness as your foundation for life so nobody can drag you down

I’ve probably said it before but life is a rollercoaster with ups and downs. The important thing is to not get completely derailed when you have one of your downs. In my opinion, the key to this is having a good fitness regime as a foundation for who you are.

We often look at our careers and relationships to define who we are. If you have a good job and are happily married with children, you feel like you have succeeded in life. And you should. But what happens when you lose your job or your marriage fails? Of course you will be devastated. Some people don’t recover from that but you have to remember you are not your job and you are not your marriage. You are you. Be proud of the person that you are.

One thing that will help with that is identifying the things about you that define you and which nobody can take away. Fitness should be one of them. Even if you lose everything, you should be able to fall back on your health and fitness and that is why it is so important to have a good fitness regime.

I have lost several jobs through redundancy. Last year I lost someone very close to me and just a few months ago I lost another close person in my life. When I say ‘lost’, I don’t mean through death thankfully. But still they are not a part of my life right now. It hurts a lot. But through all these events, I stuck to my daily training. It gave me something to focus on and help me build myself up. Without my training, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to cope as well as I have.

Unless I have a nasty accident or develop an illness, my health and fitness is something that nobody can take away from me and it makes me feel strong and powerful, not just physically but mentally. It keeps my self-esteem high. You can have this too. When life treats you bad, keep training everyday and ride it out. You might not feel like it when the wound is fresh but go through the motions of doing your workout even if your heart isn’t in it at first. Day by day your mind will gradually shift back to training with focus and you will quickly be back to your brilliant self.

That is the result of having fitness as a foundation for your life and who you are.

The importance of a training routine during self-isolation

At the time of writing this, there is a global pandemic causing most of the world’s population to stay at home to minimise spreading the COVID-19 virus. It has changed our normal daily routines of going to work, shopping, socialising etc. It has also challenged many people who normally workout at the gym as they can no longer go and aren’t used to training at home.

I have found that sticking to my normal training routine has enabled me to train everday during self-isolation with no motivation problems. Before this pandemic, my weekly training schedule looked like this:

Monday: gym

Tuesday: cardio

Wednesday: gym

Thursday: cardio

Friday: karate/taekwondo

Saturday: gym

Sunday: rest

Whilst self-isolating, my gym sessions have been at home where I mainly do bodyweight exercises. For cardio, I follow along to YouTube cardio videos or, if the weather is good, I go out for a run. Instead of going to my karate or taekwondo class on Fridays, I train outside.

So not much has changed for me as I am sticking to my normal weekly training schedule. You can do the same too. Have a set time that you will train and stick to it. I prefer to train in the afternoon at about 3pm or 4pm as by that time I am dying to get up and move after spending the whole day sitting down. You don’t have to do an hour long gym session at home if the thought of that demotivates you. Start off with a 20 or 30 minute session. It’s better than nothing and you can get a really good workout in if you use your time effectively. You will probably find that once you get going, you will want to keep going past the 20 or 30 minutes.