One day 'not' at the Gym

...And then there was this unstructured, badly shaped body figure who wanted to look glamorous, cool and sexy. He thought a wide chest, thick biceps would give him the macho look and added to it his charm and good looks, he would be a super kewl hero! And thus began the exercise - the exercise to look great, the exercise to woo girls, the exercise to be a dude, the exercise to just exercise!

Day #1
Well, nothing big this day. Just a bit of warm up, stretching the body, consulting the trainer for diet and other regulations. It was a nice start, feeling energetic, good and positive about it. The trainer was kinda boring, uncommunicative and with his tamilian slang, each word he spoke sounded like the cry of a dark green frog. It wasn't too late, we finished going through the entire gym looking at so many bodies working out pretty hard. I felt as if a sheepish cat had just entered the kennel of a variety of breeds of hard dogs. Some had great, damn thick, biceps (probably 10 cm diameters) and some had great chest, some people looked completely from an alien world and some were simply so heavy, the very sight from the corner of the eye made a chill run down my spine. And lo! the entire gym was decorated with posters of men flexing and exhibiting their muscles just like this one ----->

Gosh! It wasn't as easy as I thought it to be. The very first day was so 'mentally' terrifying, i don't know what would happen if i started the actual physical workouts. I realized why people go so crazy and mad when stars like SRK, Allu Arjun and others come up with six packs. After all, dividing your upper half body into six parts wasn't that simple!

Day #2
My habit of reading books was good enough, it helped me motivate myself and gain that confidence to achieve what i wished to. There was a much confident cat in the gym the next day with it's head held high, yelling internally to each other dog that one day i would be better than you, just watch out! And the trainer came in with the dumbles. The very sight of the two lean cylinders with a head and bottom constituting to most of the weight, made one happy. This was the start of a short trip (I couldn't use the word journey) to a more glamorous and sexy man.

The moment i took the dumbles into my hand with too much of enthusiasm and bubbling enormous energy, my excitement doubled around. The trainer showed a demonstration of the workout and left. It was damn easy, nothing hard. I had to just life the dumble one by one, left and right hand alternatively, for 20 times. And this entire act had to be repeated thrice. Great! I did it with a smile. At first, i felt as though the cat was made to carry the heaviest bones of Spike. (Remember? Spike is the jumbo dog you always see in Tom & Jerry cartoons, who helps jerry and always is fighting around with Tom) But, since i read good books and i had learnt the art of self motivation, i went ahead with a sparkling smile.(Thanks to the new Meswak toothpaste)
Even before i could continue the workout ahead, Spike came and asked me:

"Entanna ademchestunnav?"(His face expression meant that, you 10 year old boy, don't you know even how to use the feeder?)
"Adenti ala adigaru" (My face was soaked in innocence and embarrassment as if i had committed a crime by using the bones in an inappropriate way)

The whole gym looked at me as though i was a clown in the circus using some tools in the wrong way to create silly humor. But, this wasn't silly, I was serious about it, I wanted to build a good body for myself. I continued my bone workout the way the trainer had instructed me not caring of what others thought of me. And when i saw my workout's reflection in the mirror, I couldn't stop laughing. It was as though a skeleton was trying to be salman khan. My laugh made me forget everything but within no time, the trainer was in front of me staring at me and wishing if i had not joined his gym. My embarrassment squared itself. There was no way I could square root it. I just tried to do the workout how others did but in vain.

Day #3
The day 'not' at the gym. I could not push myself to the gym, i hated the very thought of it, I started hating the very word 'gym'. The hatred tripled when i read the definition of gym from wikipedia and it says:

The Greek word gymnasium means "place to be naked" and was used in ancient Greece to designate a locality for the education of young men, including physical education (gymnastics, i.e. exercise) which was customarily performed naked, as well as bathing, and studies. For the Greeks, physical education was considered as important as cognitive learning. Most Greek gymnasia had libraries that could be utilized after relaxing in the baths.

I stayed at home trying to forget about those dream looks i wished to have, trying to divert my mind from the super kewl macho body i wished. I did many activities, listening to Radio, reading books and lotsa other stuff. But, the pain of not going to gym was far more than the pain of going to the gym. My shoulders and arms went red in pain. I couldn't bend, I couldn't turn around, I couldn't do things which i would do perfectly earlier. My muscles went hard and rigid. Everything was painful. Hell lot of pain!

I was in a fix now. If i had to go the gym, there was both mental and physical stress and if I had not to go the gym, there was double the physical pain and frustration due to it. But, hey as i said, my good habit of reading good books by good authors and their good motivational quotes always helped me to do which i thought I couldn't do. Robin Sharma says in his book 'The Saint, The Surfer and The CEO' that when the student is ready, the teacher automatically appears, all you need is an empty cup state of the mind. When you have the appetite to learn and the aptitude to apply it, then you would definitely learn it.

Day #4
I knew i was doing everything wrong, but i had faith in what i read. I would definitely learn what i wanted to. I observed every other individual and tried to copy him. Ctrl+C is infact a great command in the PC, but in real life, it's not applicable. I don't remember properly what happened later. Maybe my face expression revealed my learning appetite or something like that but believe it or not, almost 5 different people came forward to help me and teach me different exercises and the right way of doing them. (Except the bloody trainer) I was happy that there were so many unknown people also in this world who came forward to help me. If I could get 5 strangers to teach me in the gym itself, imagine how many i could get in this whole vast world. Imagine the whole lot of strangers in this universe, they could all be my friends. After all, we all are the same and come from the same source irrespective of cast,creed,nation,color,time etc etc.


Eh! Err.... enough of the complicated philosophy. I am back at body building, going to the gym everyday, trying hard to do different set of workouts, from butterfly to lifts, from chest to abs. I still did not turn into that heavy dog, still a cat, but much better and a fit one!