The Hindu Business Line : Exercise, dear executive

This is not to say that working-out is more important than working. One complements the other. The human spirit inherently desires to develop, create, expand, get empowered, increase in vigour, joy and comfort, and work is an important avenue for such self-growth.

But spirit without mind and body cannot achieve this growth and the splendour it deserves. So, as you nourish your spirit’s aspirations and mind’s abilities by taking on greater challenges, so must you nourish the body’s strength and endurance to perform by continuing to exercise.

How do you go about it?

Don’t shun the thought of exercise. Being sedentary is injurious to health, so don’t put exercise in the cold storage where you stop thinking about it. It weakens your motivation to workout. Say to yourself, “I will exercise. I must exercise!” Keep your determination high.

Set a deadline. Give yourself a week to settle in, to acclimatise to the new environment, to familiarise yourself with timings, processes of the company, to know the time you spend to commute.

To rid yourself of any nervousness, do relaxation breathing. While on your chair, allow your body to become still.

Breathe deeply and evenly. When you inhale, push your abdominal muscles out; as you exhale, draw them in.

Due to a hectic lifestyle, the diaphragm does not move freely. Breathing evenly with the help of the abdominal muscles frees the diaphragm and restores your natural calmness.

Get into the right frame of mind. If on the eighth day, you find yourself procrastinating, pencil ‘Exercise’ in your day’s schedule so that it becomes an appointment that you must honour.

Ask your secretary/colleague to remind you. If you haven’t packed your exercise gear, shop for some during lunch.

By acting purposefully, you lead the power of the mind into following a particular process so that reluctance changes to consent. Play on your mobile the music you used to exercise to. Stick a note on your personal notice-board: “I’m never too busy to exercise.” Cues chase away inertia.

Make a small beginning. The morning has rushed by. Now, you’re in a meeting. However packed your day may be, decide to start. During lunch break, take a 15-minute walk or a five-minute jog or a quick dip in the pool. This gets you on track.

The next day, it gets easier. This small, simple discipline is the first step to radiant energy for the rest of your day and the rest of your life.

To persist with the exercise habit, praise it. Talk to friends, family, colleagues about the joys of exercising. About feeling good, reserves of energy increasing, working more without feeling strained. About flaccid forgotten muscles filling out and firming up, and about getting fire instead of fat in the belly. When you stoke your appetite for exercise, you want to grab a bite at the first opportunity.

Do this quick 10-minute session. You can do these exercises in your cabin or the conference room.

Cardio-training

Do this endurance hop: Hop twice on your left foot, hop twice on your right foot, then jump twice on both the feet. Repeat for five minutes. You can jog on the spot if you miss a step. Do it to the catchy rhythm of ‘Havana Gilla’. Now, you’re pumped up for some stretching…

Stretch-training

Lock hands together and stretch as high as you can towards the ceiling for 15 seconds.

Twist your torso from left to right 15 times.

Turn your head over your left shoulder, then over your right shoulder smoothly 15 times.

Ab crunches

Lie on the floor, knees bent, feet flat. With your hands supporting your head and neck, raise your shoulders slightly, then lower. Repeat 30 times. Next, repeat the same on to hips and legs.

Leg-raises

Lie on one side, and raise and lower the top leg 30 times. Repeat with the other side. End on a relaxed note.

The light meditation

Lie relaxed, arms and legs straight out, head on a pillow, eyes closed. Take three deep breaths. Imagine healing light entering from your crown, encircling your brain, moving to your face, back of head, neck, shoulders, arms, torso, legs and feet. Hold this luminous image for a few seconds. Now, open your eyes with a wide smile.

Eat right

You can feel low and de-motivated if you overeat or under-eat.

Breakfast on poha and milk. Lunch on rice, dal, salad, curd. Dine on rotis, sabzi and fruits. Have tea or coffee as pep-ups, but in moderation. Drink 10 glasses of water a day. Pre-exercise, have a B-complex capsule. Post-exercise, have a banana or a nourishing soup. Don’t eat mechanically, and you should know when to stop.

Start an activity piggybank

You may not always be able to formally ‘exercise’. Create an activity piggybank in which you deposit at least one activity daily. Pack in a round of squash, tennis or table tennis with your colleague. Climb up and down the stairway as if the elevator is out of order. At the end of the day, you should dwell in a glow of achievement that you did at least one satisfying activity. It beats the guilt of being inactive.

As Pascal stated, “Our nature lies in movement.” It does.

The writer is co-author of the book ‘Fitness for Life’.

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