Let’s just say that today was an important landmark in my personal fitness journey. Deadlifting 100 kgs! Nothing great for all you strength champs out there, but think of a 47 year old Carnatic musician, totally unfit and overweight for the better part of 15 years. Think of the singer who had to move his feet around 45 minutes into the concert because of constant knee pain. Think of this obese dad who had to carry his sleeping 6 month old in one hand and the tambura in the other as his wife pulled along with the sleeping 5 year old up 3 flights of stairs after an exhausting concert. Think of the ever hungry, always raiding the refrigerator, couch potato watching cricket matches or browsing the internet in his spare time.
The weight start growing slowly around 1989-90 and suddenly before I knew I was creeping up to 75 kgs by the time I was 25 years old. The fitness journey had a series of beginnings back then. Failed attempts to go ‘jogging’ in the beach. Joining a nearby gym but hardly stepping into it. Then all this was heavy stuff. All you need to do was just brisk walking for about 45 minutes right? Fast forward to 2003 and there I was 90+ kilos and knee pain starting to hit at crucial moments in a concert.
First serious attempt at fitness began with Yoga. Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram was my destination and I kept at it for a few years off and on. What was missing was discipline and continuity. Then around 2007 having reaching a peak weight of 102 kilos I finally mustered the courage to join one of these new age gyms with all those cardio machines, weight training, dumb bells, personal trainers etc etc. Things worked. One lost weight, was looking better definitely and things improved overall. Then came the “Great Half Marathon trap” that I fell headlong into. Haruki Murakami runs marathons you know. Road runs began in right earnest. 5k, 7k, 9k and then one day 13K! WOW! Wasn’t that something! It had taken 2 hours 10 minutes but still was something right!
By this time one had crossed 40. Not much strength training done. Constant running and cardio was having its strain on the muscles. Knee pain, groin pain, ankle pain! Name it and it started hitting me soon. Rehab time! That was when I had my first interactions with Primal patterns and their physio Navneet who slowly started me on a rehab program. 2013 and things were not looking good at all. 45 years old, weight was creeping up again, knee pain appears again and finally we had that fantastic meeting with the Boss himself, Shanker Basu of Primal Patterns.
First piece of advice “Stop running till I tell you”. Secondly, “Read these books” – Dark Side of Fat Loss, Wheat Belly, Obesity Epidemic etc etc. Slowly cut out the carbs bit by bit, add protein. Forget about workouts for the moment. Get you bio chemistry in order. Hunger craving has to come down. A couple of months and things started getting better. Lost a few kilos and things were looking better. Then began the slow path of getting stronger. That was the basic philosophy. Get strong! Get strong! Strength is important for everything. Here was a “bhagavatar” who had never held a dumb bell in his hand till the age of 37 and I was slowly doing Front squats, back squats, Dead Lifts, Bulgarian split squats.
The last 6 months has been a fantastic journey for me with my trainer Arun. I was too eager, he was patient. I wanted to workout twice a day, he restricted me to thrice a week! But then progress was slowly being made. Small goals were set and achieved. Form was being corrected. Volume was being accumulated. It was all quite familiar now. Concentrate on the basics. Get your talam in order. Sing the classical compositions. Sing a lot of concerts. Don’t worry about the audience. Get more miles under your belt. Senthil (the Tamizh actor, comedian, in ‘Boys’ was it?) said ‘Information is wealth” didn’t he? When you were a music student listening to concerts was most important. You need to know what to sing, you need to know what NOT to sing.
Today an important target has been achieved! Thanks Basu! Thanks Arun! Thanks to every member of the Primal Patterns team who has encouraged em along the way! The journey continues!