What is Fitness exactly? And post Diwali round up.
In my previous post I said I’d let you know how the festivities went, whether I indulged, and whether I felt guilty or not. But before that, I want to talk about what my definition of fitness is, or what fitness means to me.
I’m tackling this today because I went for a run last evening – a Sunday, just to end the week well, and thought about how much my running has improved just on the basis of being fitter and stronger. Like I’ve said before, I’m no runner, and don’t intend to be one. I despise treadmills and marathons, and I find I get easily bored. But yesterday, just in conversation with my husband I ran 5 kilometers without noticing and not so long ago, I remember being unable to run even half a kilometer at a stretch.
How did this happen without training for it?
I’m not training to run, but by doing what I’ve been doing, gaining strength and agility, sprinting, and working on core strength (strength being the key word here) I’m able to just up and run whenever I want to without planning for it or thinking twice.
In this post I’m going to talk about how inculcating true strength and fitness into my life, has helped me in three important areas. I will discuss how I got here in a subsequent post.
Here are some examples of how being ‘fit’ has benefitted me in daily life. When I say being fit here, I’m talking about real strength and not just artificial muscles that cannot handle much real work.
Example #1 – I’ve travelled with friends and on recent travels I had a buddy who exercises regularly – read alot – (lift weights and loves the treadmill), but was unable to lift her own bags from busses, carousels, or even down a flight of stairs. While I use my body weight to heave heavy bags, up and down stairs or anywhere for that matter, this friend of mine struggled. For me, fitness is being able to effortlessly do physical tasks anywhere. What’s the point of being ‘fit’ if I can’t lift basic things?
Example #2 – The other day, my husband and I spent an hour shifting around heavy pots in our terrace. Both of us huffed and puffed, lifted, pulled shoved, got muddy and sweaty and eventually managed to get our terraces in exactly the way we wanted, instead of waiting for help and barking out orders, and then getting upset because they weren’t arranged exactly how we wanted them to be arranged.
So fitness is about not being dependent on others for things that you can do by yourself and derive greater pleasure from doing it yourself.
So fitness is about not being dependent on others for things that you can do by yourself and derive greater pleasure from doing it yourself.
Example #3 – Self defense: While I don’t have a colourful example (though I day dream about this often) of how I used a powerful roundhouse to knock an attacker out cold, the strength gained in my core and strength gained on the whole makes me feel more and more powerful during my taikwondo class. For what good is being fit and strong if you’re unable to put these techniques to good use when the need arises? I for one refuse be a nice looking woman – with muscles that have been weakened by years on a treadmill – who is unable to do physical work. I would much prefer to be a nice looking woman who can fight, haul, push, run, kick, lift, throw and can put my apparent fitness to good use.
Practical strength and fitness is as important if not more important for women than it is for men.
Practical strength and fitness is as important if not more important for women than it is for men.
In a subsequent post I’l write more about how I include ‘real’ fitness and strength into my routine. The do’s and don’ts so to speak of inculcating strength and fitness. If you focus on gaining real strength, and not those artificial bulging biceps, trust me, the results show. You won’t be sacrificing one for another, your body will not only look fit and strong, but you’l feel happier, healthier and stronger too.
Post Diwali high.
Diwali is over and yes, I over indulged, ate all sorts of banned substances and still managed to get 6 workouts in last week. Last week was a planned week of indulgence, and it felt great. But today is the day where I get back to schedule and my mini break to indulge in sloth is over. I indulged in food yes, but no I did not indulge in guilt.
The outcome? I feel just as good as I did two weeks ago, and I know a couple of good primal days is all it’s going to take for me to get back in shape. So starting today I’m going to be 100% primal for the next 3 days. No grains, no sugar, no vegetable oils, no processed foods, no lethargy.
Thanks for reading everyone! Do let me know what you think and do you exercise for apparent results or for internal ones?
Until next time!
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Love the article and agree about fitness
thank you !!
Nice!