Heart of Champions
Ohh..!!! Today is weekend, may you be just leaping over your couch, thinking about today’s meal, or movie, some of you may be thinking about money or success, or at the last but not the least some of you may be just brainstorming about getting in shape.
So, let I share a small yet extremely exhilarating story of a person who proves that “Age is just a Number” Sorry, I had forgotten, the introduction of our Champion, here I am going to tell you about one of our idolized member Mr. Natarajan Puliyurudian (Chartered Accountant, Mumbai).
I and Mr. Natarajan had met fortunately inside the lift, and as the people who know me personally that I never miss a chance to say hello to anybody whoever just stand beside me even for a fraction of a minute (believe me it is one of the finest qualities of an entrepreneur, and it becomes crucial if you have fewer dollars inside your pocket ) and the journey from the ground floor to seventeen floor I had got his name but I had handover him all my accomplishment of 25 years, just wait, before you use your mind and end up with word “CV”, let me tell you that I had given him my visiting card only with remembering inside my heart about my life mission to transform 1 MILLION lives.
As most of the time the coincidences mean you're on the right path, thus after few days I received a call from Natarajan sir, showing he's willingness to join Physique Engineer, and he wants a meeting to discuss his health issues and fitness goals, usually, my business is purely online based thus I tends to avoid the meetings & off-line discussion to save time but that day I were in a very happy mood as that day I had few successful sales conversions, so I agreed to meet. In that short meeting of thirty minutes Natarajan sir, (presently to whom I call a young boy of 52 years) had told me about his health issues that he had slipped disc problem (It is kind of Injury of vertebral column which causes the inner portion of the disc, a cushion between your vertebrae to protrude through the outer ring of your vertebral column. And believe me, it is one of the worst-case to happen with the body because it gives you constant pain and discomfort throughout your life). In life, you can’t go back, Ever. You can’t change the past. It just happens, some mishap, some suffering, this is our destiny but make sure we have to build the positive attitude and search for the top drawer solution instead of just worrying about circumstances.
Maybe we are in the queue of the probable solution he is looking forward, waiting for our chance to serve, as I have done my special population certification and already cured few slipped disc sufferers, I was very confident that I will resolve his problem but the most compelling part for me was his age, 52 years. Honestly speaking before Natarajan sir, I never had any member who is crossed 50 years. As physique engineer is fitness startup from IIT, initially we always target students as they have more physique aspiration then elder ones, but now we focus on everyone who is willing to take up the total control of his health despite any circumstances i.e time, money, age, stress, etc. As per the famous saying from Gautama Buddha that “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”Most of the patients used to relate the slipped disc with the biological thing but I always consider it is a mechanical damage, as we go with basic background of slipped disc, it happens when we apply or get a sudden force with the wrong alignment of body which tends to move your vertebral column in its unnatural path, thus our human body, which is also the smartest machine, tends to adjust itself according to the force applied, but if the external force exceeds or if your muscle surrounding your vertebral column like spinalis, longissimus, iliocostalis, etc is weak and you pushing something heavy than it increases the probability that the inner portion of the intervertebral disc to protrude through the outer ring. This is known as a slipped, herniated, or prolapsed disc. (Your vertebral bones are cushioned by these intervertebral discs. The discs protect the bones by absorbing the shocks from daily activities like walking, lifting, and twisting, each disc consist of a soft, gelatinous inner portion and a tough outer ring)This causes extreme pain and discomfort. If the slipped disc compresses one of your spinal nerves, you may also experience numbness and pain along the affected nerve. In severe cases, you may require surgery to remove or repair the slipped disc.
Natarajan sir, has already done the number of rounds to the clinic of doctors and physiotherapists but the cure he wants is still missing, the calming effect is still missing. There is always something which is destined to be, it just takes us a couple of tries to get there. Now, he thought to try us to dulcify his back pain. Sometimes you are not the victim of the world, but rather the master of your own destiny. It is your choices and decisions that determine your destiny. So, finally, Natarajan sir, had joined us, and we started working on resolving his health issues, our first goal was rehabilitation, bringing Natarajan sir to the level of optimum health, free from his all slip disc pain. As a person starts his fitness journey, exercising, dieting, time management more preciously priorities management all comes after the positive attitude, thriving mindset, and making I can bigger than I can’t. We human always crave for the comfort, every individual does, similar with Natarajan sir too, he also has lots of psychological or self-imposed barriers like he always says I can’t wake up early in morning, I can’t do this, I can’t do that but I truly believe that within us a champion lives, we all have the heart of champion, we can achieve whatever we want to achieve, we can do whatever we think we can do, we can move the mountains but firstly we have to think that we are capable of moving the mountain, God has placed a tremendous amount of will power, strength, and stamina to fuel up your system to move every mountain, every obstacle which comes across your journey either to be healthy or to be wealthy.
Natarajan sir had started waking up early too, and gradually each and every month the waking time-shifted backward for 15 minutes, now he wake up sharp at 4:00 am and most of the time he is the first member to enter inside the Gym, we have started the 1st-month training as a home workout where we have proceeded with strengthening of all the muscles which are next to the vertebral column like the group of erector spinae muscle, like most of the isometric hold exercise, for example, five different degree variations of back extension ranging from easy to tough, the stretching is being the crucial part too to relaxing the tighten muscle, mainly focused on static and active back stretching. And of course, any rehabilitation program is just a waste without essential nutritions thus sir has to follow a customized diet which matches up their schedule & priorities, here we have to take care of body’s demand of adequate clean diet protein, low carbohydrates, right amount of dietary fats, essential minerals & electrolyte to boost up the recovery & need of a rehabilitation program.
Now it comes the second month, here we have to strengthen the muscles as well as building some muscular & cardiovascular endurance to cope up with the upcoming next month's rehabilitation training. Here we had done gym training sessions which involves three days of strength training two days of endurance training (both cardiovascular and muscular endurance) and one-day core training in a week. Most of our training in the initial 2 weeks is only a body weighted training, here we had not used any external weights and then the rest 2 weeks of the month is mostly a supported movement training where we have utilized the machinery available inside the gymnasium.
These last two months training has imparted enough confidence to Natarajan sir, he now becomes very positive towards training, he tries his level best to understands every fraction of the exercise execution techniques, I can figure out the enthusiasm over his face while performing any physical activities, the rush to conquer every set. He now, felt that the cure from his slipped disc is very near, he had now started feeling the satisfactory results of his last two months training & diet, less discomfort, less pain, all things are moving right with pace as we had planned. But now, the real weight training, the real challenge is going to start, we had introduced proper weight training, here we tend to utilize the external weights in every exercise thus to strengthen his body to the optimum fitness level. The challenges of change are always hard. It is important that we begin to unpack those challenges that confront our body’s limit and realize that we each have a will & courage to change and become more responsible for shaping our own health.
The weight training is something which gives us the feeling of substantial work, we feel proud as soon as we challenge our limits, the rush of adrenaline hormone which is a kind of fight or flight hormone, it gives us an amusement, a sense of pride and the rush of dopamine hormone will make us radiant and cheerful after every intense training. Natarajan sir had started the weight training and in each and every workout session there is a gradual increase either in weights or in the number of repetitions performed with the same weights. As per saying a journey of thousand miles begins from a single step. Your every step even it is a baby step matters a lot in your progress especially in terms of health, if you are not providing progressive loading in weight training you are eventually missing the phenomenal and addictive results. His hard work & absolute dedication has taken his health & fitness to totally up to the next level, whenever he enters inside the gym, people regard him as the symbol of inspiration, even some times a young kids (he always say kids to the person who is less than 40 years) felt jealous too by viewing his upliftings. He thoroughly enjoys his weight training, he never missed a single session, even if he travels to another city he make sure to find the gym and pumped up his guns.
As I always say to people that only results matter, no buddy is going to appreciate your efforts, whatever you are doing always take it to the level where you can see the visible results, just don’t say that I am trying, there is nothing like trying, it Is always either “I will do” or I can’t, as per famous saying there is nothing like partial pregnancy, either you are going to have a baby or you won’t. Let me tell you some eyeopening lifting and personal records of this 52-year-old “young fitness enthusiast”, he can do 100+ push-ups in a row, 90 kg squats of 10 reps, 70 kg of deadlift 10 repetition, 25 steps walking lunges with 17 kg dumbbell in each hand, and there is tons of his personal record, sometimes it is incredulous to people that how a slipped disc sufferer & a person who is 50 + can even imagine to lift an empty barbell. Sometimes my few friends who are doctors and bodybuilders too can’t believe, but as said “we can move mountains” , some people like Natarajan sir are proving them.
I think you have got enough inspiration with this inspiring fitness journey of Natarajan sir. I request you to take some serious decision which will transform your physique, your health, and your overall destiny. Take some actions which will impact your health & happiness. Your actions have the trapped potential to add on a feeling of satisfaction to your life. Nothing happens until you take the action, as beautifully said by Jonathan Winters that “if your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to meet it”. Have you ever figured out that the last six letters in the world satisfaction are a-c-t-i-o-n? In Latin, the word satis means enough. What the ancient Romans understood clearly was that enough action ultimately produces satisfaction.
So, take some actions, and enjoy your fitness journey. Give a touch of life to your days, join us. May one day, just by your one right decision, someone sitting in next corner of the world will read your transformation story and soak up the inspiration…!!!