Embark on this mother-of-all anti-ageing, fitness programmes and watch the fat melt away magically. This year, transform yourself into your fittest, hottest, strongest, supplest, sexiest best with time-tested workout, diet, strength-training, and stamina-building tips from Shalan Savur
I'm an unabashed exercise addict. Even after 25 years of working out, the fascination, the romance and even the euphoric feeling hasn’t ebbed. Plus, it’s great to have joints that swivel effortlessly and to glide rather than walk. Not to mention the anti-ageing effect you become 35 going on 16, 46 going on 22, 52 going on 28… Now, here’s a secret: to defy age, to fend off fat, you need to pay attention to just FIVE aspects. Here’s how to take care of them:
PICK A PERFECT POSTURE
How to stand: Don’t slump. It exaggerates the curve of your spine, puts a load on parts that aren’t meant to carry that load your lower back and makes you look frumpy. Stand comfortably, spine straight. Keep shifting your weight from foot to foot to distribute it evenly.
How to sit: No sitting rigid and ramrod straight like Jane Eyre and other such women of the Victorian times. Be natural, shoulders relaxed. A small soft pillow at the base of your spine does wonders. If possible, elevate your feet on a low seat or cushioned footstool.
How to walk: Straighten your lower spine. Lift and stick out your chest that squares the shoulders and keeps them in the right place. Now, when you walk, you’ll find it much easier and so right.
Exercises:
Ramp walk: Place a book on your head and walk slowly from one end of the room to the other without dropping the book or letting it slide. This not only gives you the carriage of a queen, but it also enhances blood circulation to all cells in your head and neck, reduces tension and improves breathing and thinking.
Stomach strut: Stand sideways in front of the mirror and look at your tummy. Now, tighten the tummy. Probe it with your fingers to make sure it’s hard. Next, walk with this tight belly to the other end of the room. Return and let the mirror tell you how you look. Do this every day for three minutes until it becomes a habit. I believe an American TV actor walks with a tight tummy for an hour every day. Yes, it also beats the bulge besides giving your posture an air of confidence.
GET EXQUISITE BALANCE
We live in a world of opposites heat and cold, love and hatred, joy and sorrow. We need to keep a balanced head on a balanced body. For example, if you’re prone to bad moods, it’s because you use your head (think) too much without correspondingly using your lower body your legs. When you walk briskly, you blow away the moody cobwebs in your brain. That is, you balance the energy in your body by distributing it more evenly by using your legs. Nature keeps us in balance too. On the left side of the spine is the upward movement of the solar energy and on the right is the downward movement of the lunar energy. By doing a few exercises, we can keep our physical and mental balance and feel very harmonious!
Exercises:
Shiva pose: Stand straight. Raise right leg sideways, bend knee with knee pointing up, foot pointing down. Bend and place right elbow lightly if possible on bent right knee with right hand raised in a blessing pose. Keep left leg straight. Raise left arm sideways and keep it straight with palm outward in a blessing pose. Breathe normally as you hold this graceful dancing Shiva pose for one minute. Repeat with left leg. What happens: Your left and right brain hemispheres balance and you feel all there balanced in body, balanced in mind.
V pose: Lie on your back, arms straight at sides, legs straight. Raise upper body and legs simultaneously to form a ‘V’. With elbows straight, place your hands on knees. Let your entire weight be on your butt. Inhale as you come up; exhale as you return to supine position. Hold the V for 10-15 seconds. Do it three times. What happens: It develops your sense of balance with both your physical ends coming up simultaneously. You become centred as the energy meets at the bottom of the V and disperses gracefully.
BUILD YOUR STRENGTH
Strength-training is every woman’s gift to herself because for every ounce of muscle you strengthen, you burn more calories per week.
You can be thin and strong or plump and strong. But to feel like a powerhouse is wow! Women need weight-training to ward off osteoporosis as well. And there’s some indication that lax, unexercised muscles above the knees, for example, stop doing their job of holding up the knee. And the burdened knee turns stiff and ‘twingey’. You can be 34 years old but have the flabby muscle-tone of an unexercised 64-year-old! So, get yourself a pair of 2.5 pound (1 kg approximately) dumbbells and half-kg ankle weights. If you can’t get a trainer to train you, first do all the exercises smoothly and evenly without using weights. Once you’ve mastered the movements, pick up the weights.
Exercises:
A. Strap ankle weights
Thigh toners: Lie face up on the floor-mat. Raise legs together towards ceiling. Open legs as wide as possible. Close legs. Repeat 20 times.
Knee tougheners: Sit on a chair/stool, legs together, feet flat on floor, back straight. Raise left leg, straightening knee, as high as you can 10 times. Repeat with right leg.
Hip tighteners: Lie on right side, head resting on extended right arm. Place left palm on floor in front of you for stability. Raise your left leg to a 90 degree angle. Lower without touching right leg. Raise-lower 20 times. Repeat with other side.
B. Hold dumbbells
Shoulder strengtheners: Stand, feet apart.
Shrug shoulders up and down smoothly 20 times.
Bicep toners: Stand, feet apart, back straight. Keeping upper arms glued to your sides, lift dumbbells
to chest, bending your elbows, then lower to starting position 20 times.
Tricep trimmers: Stand. Hold one dumbbell overhead with both hands, arms extended toward ceiling, elbows straight. Bend elbows to lower dumbbells behind head, then straighten elbows to raise it again. Lower-raise 20 times.
Chest firm-ups: Lie on floor mat. Extend arms outwards sideways so your body forms a ‘T’. With slightly bent elbows, bring arms and dumbbells together above you, then lower to starting position. Raise and lower for 20 times.
Breast lifters and tummy flatteners: Lie on floor mat, legs folded, arms extended straight back over your head. Keeping elbows straight, lift arms forward in an arc over your chest and lower until arms are at your sides. Raise arms back again. Do this back to front arc and front to back arc 20 times.
INCREASE YOUR FLEXIBILITY
I’ve gleaned these simple exercises from various docs over the years sports medicine specialists, preventive medicine medicos, physiologists, cardiovascular assessors et al. And…they…work! The trick is to do them smoothly, gently and absolutely without straining yourself.
Exercises:
Lower leg and heel stretch. Stand about three feet from wall. Keeping feet flat on floor, extend arms forward to touch wall and slowly lean forward, holding stretched position for five seconds. Do 10 times.
Lower back and butt stretch. Lie on back with legs straight out. Now, bring right knee up to chest, pulling knee with hands as high as possible. Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat with opposite leg. Do each leg 10 times.
Hips and back stretch. Stand, hands on hips, feet apart. Bend at waist and rotate trunk to the right, forward, left and return five times. Repeat in other direction.
Neck stretch. Stand, feet apart, hands on hips. Rotate head clockwise in full circle five times. Then in reverse direction five times.
Hamstrings and lower back stretch. Sit, legs extended forward, back of knees pressed on floor. Grasp behind knees and bend trunk towards knees as far as possible without strain. Hold for five seconds. Repeat 10 times.
Neck and upper back stretch. Lie on back, knees bent, feet flat on floor, hands behind head and neck. Curl the head and shoulders up and forward. Hold for five seconds. Repeat 15 times.
INTENSIFY YOUR ENDURANCE
Endurance is about living with your boots on. Most people eat and drink too much, don’t exercise at all, don’t sleep well and, hence, have low stamina. If you don’t exercise, you risk becoming dependent on others, and then tetchy if what you want done is not done your way. You age prematurely. But when you do any endurance exercise, any cardiovascular exercise, you become a dynamic version of your original self! Get this: without exercise, you function on the top level of your low capacity and thus overwork to get the job done, get strained and burn out. Exercise increases your reserves and you can do the same amount of work within the lower half of your capacity. You can work twice as much without reaching the straining limit. If you do feel a little pooped, a tiny spot of rest or a bit of fresh air picks you up pronto. Your self-confidence increases with your stamina.
