The last month been truly unique and highly memorable in more ways than one and I’m sure that is true for most of us. For the first time in my adult life, have I spent so many hours indoors with no access to the outdoor world. As an entrepreneur, there are definitely concerns about the impact of the pandemic on our business but this post is meant to talk about something else.
One of the things which concerned me the most about staying indoors during lockdown was about missing going to the gym. While I am not the fittest of guys around but I do exercise religiously 5-6 days a week at my clubhouse and I have hardly missed my daily gym session over the last few years barring a few injury days. I tend to put on weight quite easily and till date I always held this strong belief that I needed to burn enough calories in the gym to maintain my weight.
And now even running was no more an option since we were not allowed to go down. So I was dreading putting on weight during this period. No gym, no running and the thought of being home all the time and eating all meals, was for me the perfect recipe for weight gain.
However a month down the line I can happily share that I have not just maintain but managed to lose 1.2 kgs. I am down to 69.8 as I write this blog and I was at 71.0 the day of lockdown (I calculate my weight each morning and hence so precise)
This was a big revelation. And the point of the blog is not to boast about this fact, but more to share the insight that what we fear in our minds sometimes is just that – ‘fear inside our mind’. Its not real, cause we never tried real hard at finding alternate and maybe better solutions.
The fear and belief that if i don’t go to gym I will gain weight was shattered during this lockdown. However to be fair I had to try hard, but it was possible. And this learning will stay for a lifetime beyond exercise.
How did i manage this.
During Day 1-3 of lockdown, I studied all possible home exercises online. And then developed a routine to focus on only 2 sets of exercise from available content. Its very easy to get confused with so many options online. I spent 15 minutes in the morning for full body workout all days and 10 minutes HIIT exercise before dinner on few days.
Most importantly, I followed this routine diligently. Also not to forget I did not overeat at home especially at nights. Once a week was a cheat day.
For your reference these were the two sets i did . Highly recommend these two routines.
However the blog is not about how to lose weight during lockdown but more to share the deeper learning that we all carry certain beliefs based on our past learning and we subconsciously act on these. Our action are driven by these beliefs and we think them to be true. Through this episode, there is proof to suggest that sometime we need to question those beliefs and challenge our fears and ask the right question. Maybe there is a better and most efficient way of reaching the end goal. And till we dont question our beliefs we shall never be able to overcome our fear or to discover a better and efficient solution.
So this is the time to question our inherent beliefs and challenge them with a new solution.
