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Half The Year Is Behind Us, Any Fitness Related Observations?

Discussion in 'Keep Fit & Maintain Shape' started by Laks09, Jul 4, 2021.

  1. Laks09

    Laks09 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    @nuss - It’s so good to see your post! I love all your posts and often wonder where you get the energy from.


    Love it! It’s the best thing we can do for our mind and body! 10k’s and orange belt already? Whoa. You are on a roll!!.
    We should all plan a virtual race together soon!

    Gauri is the best! I did do the 75 hard challenge last year with a friend to get in half marathon shape. We did it! The challenge was hard though and didn’t have built in flex days. I burned out by the end of it. I love how Gauri is making it flexible for it to work for everyone! Focusing on staying positive through the challenge and having some grace days for everyone is so important.

    I love your neighbor! Traveling light is a phrase I’m going to borrow.

    The perfect kind of india trips. I can’t wait for the country to open up.

    Isn’t it good to call whenever just to say hello!

    Idyllic! Kids tend to remember these things and talk about it years later!

    I was just talking about this the other day. How did you pick the language? DH and DD are very good at picking up new languages but I don’t have that skill. Im really wanting to try though.

    I admire anyone who take the time to work with foster teens. Im sure it’s fulfilling. How many hours do you put into it? How do you efficiently manage your full time job, kids and volunteering? Do share tips. Im eager to learn.

    The effectiveness of running! It’s like turning the pressure release valve! I believe this is often referred to as the runners high leaking into our daily lives.


    Good luck for the second half of the year! I need help saying focused as well. Maybe I’ll start a thread at the end of the year to keep the momentum from the year going!
     
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  2. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    @Laks09,

    You have already started your nomination with a wonderful poem and I can see how your role as a moderator is going to unfold so successfully. You will do very well making both Vijiakka and me to be on our toes.

    Weight loss - I start the day with cinamon and cumin powder mixed in hot water which I believe kills all the fat. Rice has become a habit from the child and I am unable to remove it from diet despite advice from my son. However, we are all using handpounded rice which appear to be the healthiest. We also eat Millet and other alternatives from time to time. My MIL, my wife and I are in this journey together. My son is a fitness freak and he knows how to bring it to the right level in a short time with his run, physical fitness exercises, etc.

    My son wanted to take J & J as it is a single shot regime. When it was temporarily taken off from the market, I somehow convinced him to go for Pfizer and as an incentive I registered him and took him to the vaccination facility myself. It worked. :)

    My parents property got sold in April 2019 after my mother passed away in 2018. I had to reinvest the proceeds into another house to not have capital gains tax. However, I am being a US citizen, TDS was deducted in 2019 itself (roughly 25%). The balance of the funds were deposited into Capital Gains Designated Account in a nationalized bank as per IT guidelines. When I was about to buy land in 2020, the pandemic started. I got hold of a lawyer in Chennai who was top lawyer for real estate transaction and I happened to know him through my friend and he represented the seller as well when we sold our parents' property. He told that he does a lot of in absentia acquisition for many of foreign clients. My friend (for 40 years) found a land and send the photographs through WhatsApp and I gave the assignment to buy this land to my lawyer. He got a power of attorney for one of his staff to register the land in my name and I gave my friend the power of attorney to withdraw money from the bank. The registration was done in September 2020. The biggest challenge was getting the land registered in my name in the government records and withdrawing funds from a nationalized bank. My friend helped me withdraw funds while the seller (developer of the land) helped me get it registered in the government records as he was doing it for his sister in the US as well which land is adjacent to our land. Now I am working with an architect firm to design the house and planning to construct the house after getting approval for the building from the government. If everything is alright to travel, I may take a trip. Otherwise, I need to ask the architect to appoint a builder and monitor the construction. My friend has already agreed to help me withdraw funds from the nationalized bank.

    Regarding 75 Days hard challenges, I have to say whatever @Gauri03 touches turn gold. I see how many ILites are actively participating in this mission. 3 times I almost joined this group. But felt I may lack the enthusiasm shown by @Anusha2917 and many others. I thought I may have challenges some day to miss non stop effort. But now I understand, that gap is provided for in the plan and I need to build courage to join and do it sincerely to post. I am already doing a lot of those challenges in absentia already.

    Regarding my wife's recovery, I am not doing anything special. I definitely take her for all the visits to the surgeon post surgery. I have taken a lot of load off her shoulder domestically by cooking and cleaning as much as possible leaving her to do it whenever she is fine and able to do so. I was initially taking care of all grocery trips since pandemic started. Now Shoba is ordering most through Amazon and Instacart.

    I am in Tampa, Florida where I guide the children from age 13-17 on moral values. The classes are on Thursday of every week and the children are now in summer break. It is so heartening to know that all the children participate in the class actively and never miss my classes. This class and the Hospice volunteering are two reaching out to the community effort by me. But @nuss has set up a very high standard and I am doing nothing when compared to what she does. I carried an impression earlier that her educational qualification made her so successful in life and in her profession. Now I understand the energy to do well comes from her soul which is manifested in so many of her actions.
     
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  3. EverydayBloom

    EverydayBloom Gold IL'ite

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    Great post @Laks09, agree with so many pointers you already jotted down.

    This is year, I am focussing more on "self-care" without bothering much on getting outsourced the validations to the external sources. It all started with valuing simple things like sipping morning coffee in peace to spending more family time!!

    Once we(Me and DH) got fully vaccinated, I went to back to my favorite routine of gym 3 times/week and eating healthy starting this year has been going great so far.

    Our summer vacations are ending starting first week of August and kids can't wait to go back to in person school.

    With the unpredictable financial times last year, we started more saving and living with in means mantra at home and on path of securing our future is giving immense satisfaction and freedom at peace.

    I am connecting with parents/siblings and first circle family more often this year, thats giving happiness on both sides though the situations feels scary with all the news.

    We are half way through and I can look at the "purpose" set at the beginning of the year is going good so far!!

    Regards
     
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  4. nuss

    nuss Platinum IL'ite

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    How do you efficiently manage your full time job, kids and volunteering? Do share tips. Im eager to learn.

    Some people will say that I am bragging but really I think I just love my job. To me, it's like getting paid for following my passion. The way I manage things is pretty simple- I divide the labor. My husband and I split work at home and I don't micromanage people at work. They know what they need to do and only come to me when they can't figure things out which frees up my time.

    Now during summer, I wake up at 4:30 or 5, run for an hour or 1.5, get back by 6 AM, shower, pack kids lunches, and leave for work by 7:15 AM. I work from 7:30- 3:45. DH drops the kids at summer camp at 8 AM and I pick them up at 4 PM. It takes us 10 min. to get home, we eat some fruits/ snacks or dinner (depending on how hungry the kids are), and go to Martial arts at 5 PM (MW), finish my son's class at 5:45 and go home for our lessons from 6-7 PM. DH gets home at 6:30 and cooks meals for the next day or dinner if we haven't eaten yet.
    Sometimes, I go out for lunch with friends or DH and I have a date lunch while kids are at school/camp. I do go for coffee every other week with my friends around 10-11 and it's usually on my calendar so I don't schedule meetings. Sam with volunteering, I keep my meetings as "work" and won't schedule anything else during that time.

    On T, R- our martial arts classes are 5:15-6 for my son and 6-7 for me. No tutoring on these days. Kids stay at the studio and read, do arts and stuff while I am in the class, or just play. Friday is no activity for kids, just camp so DH comes home early and I go for my Martial arts class. Saturday is my coffee run and Sunday we go for hike as a family.

    My kids go to bed at 8:15. We usually have dinner at 4:30 and a snack at 7:30, a bath, and then bedtime. If we eat after classes, it's dinner at 7, a bath, and bedtime. One of us reads to each child and by 9 PM they are asleep. I catch up with DH or have a zoom call with my friends in India after kids' go to bed and sleep by 10:30 PM.

    My schedules are made in advance. I put call mom, call friends in the USA, call friends in India, coffee with friends, etc, on my calendar so it is final and I won't try to wiggle out of it. If I am thinking about a friend/ family, I will call them as soon as I park my car at work and walking to my building so I don't miss calling once the workday starts.


    Rinse, repeat...
     
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  5. nuss

    nuss Platinum IL'ite

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    @Viswamitra ji what you are doing is so meaningful! Bringing smiles to the faces of children and old people in a hospice is the best way to spend time! Thank you for the kind words! I have been practicing gratitude and it has changed my outlook. I am sure tenure has helped a bit too. I don't have to stress about it anymore and I keep doing what I love with job security.
     
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  6. Gauri03

    Gauri03 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    @Laks09 First of all thank you! Your post woke me up from my summer reverie with the reminder that a new academic year is upon us! Finally stopped procrastinating on my midyear bullet journal review and migrations. I’m feeling less muddle-headed now that I have a clearer picture of everybody’s calendars for the second half of the year. In terms of a fitness retrospective, there were many wins and a few, hopefully temporary, setbacks.

    1. I have put more miles on my hiking boots in the last 1.5 years than ever before. Where I live, we are spoiled for choice when it comes to hiking trails — cliffs and beaches, mountains and ridges, waterfalls and creeks, wild flower meadows and redwood forests. It’s a hiker’s paradise. Some of these are mere minutes away from home but it took a pandemic for me to truly open my eyes to them. If I had to pick one fitness win of the last 6 months it would be hiking. I hike at least once a week, sometimes multiple times a week, and in the process have become intimately acquainted with the landscape around me. The physical benefits though significant have been secondary to the improvement in my emotional and mental wellbeing.
    2. My yoga practice had been fairly irregular until this year. Getting to the mat used to feel like a chore. It took conscientious effort to go from that to practicing nearly every other day. These days I look forward to my time on the mat. Until May I was minimally engaged, coasting along with easier Vinyasa flow sequences. There was no deliberate effort to learn or improve. It got quite monotonous and I felt like I was stagnating in my practice. Over the last month I have switched to ashtanga yoga videos; Reading up on yoga theory and working on learning the primary series for now. At some point in the future I would like to find a teacher but right now the goal is to take it asana by asana, focusing on improving form and flexibility.
    3. Running has been in limbo since late last year. My knee injuries predate my running by a decade and there is only so much physiotherapy can achieve there. I damaged the soft tissues around my right knee (among other things) in a freeway pile up when I was fresh off the boat. The crutches came off eventually but the knee never quite got back to full strength. The pain flares up and subsides cyclically. Got done with 12 weeks of physio in January but haven’t found my way back to the black top in a consistent manner. I do run once in a long while but nothing like I used to. I’m scared of triggering another pain cycle. I’m hoping yoga and weight training will strengthen the relevant muscles enough to make running a viable option by the end of the year.
    4. Swimming and biking are both part of my fitness regimen but frankly the barrier to entry is often difficult to overcome and I tend to take the easy way out. I can pull on my hiking pants and walk into the wilderness in full cave-woman glory, and feel at one with my surroundings. Can’t go to the pool looking like a yeti. I loved wearing masks. Didn’t have to thread my mustache for a whole year! : ) Same with biking. The associated paraphernalia is a major put off. Bike racks, helmets, padded shorts and squeezy water bottles, there is simply too much gear! Hiking has spoiled me. I ride my bike a) when the kids beg me to b) when my friend arm twists me to. I really should make more of an effort with it.
    5. This year I finally started serious weight training. I’m still a newbie trying to create a routine that works for me and learn proper form and build endurance. The goal is to incorporate lifting into a lifelong fitness regimen.
    6. Meditation has been one of the unqualified successes of the year thus far. I have been consistent and keyed in to my practice. I can sit for fairly long periods without agitation. I have far fewer emotional ups and downs, and when I do I can bring myself back to ground state with relatively less wrangling. I think I have become pretty good at being the observer both in my mind and in situations that unfold around me. I’m calmer with everyone and more so with myself. My son is a budding adolescent and I’m learning to be the calm within the chaos. : ) When his emotions are escalated I consciously regulate mine. I’m holding out hope that this is the key to navigating life with a teenager. My husband isn’t doing so well on that front. I keep telling him you can’t deescalate an escalated adolescent by reflecting his energy back at him. You have to absorb the anger and reflect your calm. I truly believe that the easiest way to achieve this is via mindfulness mediation.
    My biggest takeaway from my 6-year fitness journey has been that accomplishing difficult things in life, fitness-related or otherwise, is not too different from taking a long knee-busting, ankle-twisting, toe-crunching hike. You don’t start by looking at the summit and sweating about making it there. You keep your head down, find the first foothold and put one foot in front of the other. Repeat enough times and eventually you get there. When you feel like turning back you pause, catch your breath, take a sip of water and keep going. Often the big picture looks frightening but if you focus on the next incline or the next bend and keep moving the miles add up. Before you notice the landscape starts looking very different from where you started. But first you have to start, wherever you are, with whatever you know. Start and don’t stop.
     
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2021
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  7. Gauri03

    Gauri03 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Only a Sith deals in absolutes Viswa! : ) We take an extremely flexible view of our goals on that thread. I believe in the adage that the perfect is the enemy of the good. If a weekly break is necessary for you to be at your optimum and reach your 75 day target, then by all means add it to your goals. Let the fourth time be the charm. Hope to see you there! Same goes for you @Laks09 !
     
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  8. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    The above words of wisdom will reverberate in my mind many times in future. I am volunteering in the Hospice now and I will nominate your post for the best of the month so that many ILites can read it.
     
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  9. Laks09

    Laks09 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    @Gauri03 - Thank you for stopping by.

    Congratulations! Staying committed to hiking every week is such an awesome accomplishment. Isn’t it heartwarming to see everyone around us finding and rekindling passions thanks to the pandemic?
    I’m so jealous G! Just the description of your beautiful vale of paradise has me mesmerized.
    I wonder why all these people are migrating to my neck of the woods when all of that would have kept me hooked!

    So awesome! Bringing in mindfulness to any activity we do for our fitness, truly enhances the experience. It’s also the antidote of lethargy. Yoga, it calls out to us. If we put a lot of load on our bodies, it’s right for us. If we spend a lot of time on a chair, it’s still right for us. I’ve been drilling down on a few favorite asanas as well. I was thinking of enrolling for a proper class rather than the hot yoga studio. Hopefully sooner than later!

    With consistency you will get there! Strength training is the best way to prepare for running. We already know how much yoga helps! I wish I had started with both sooner. I’m going to have to hit the weights myself. I’ve put it off long enough! I found some stuff on YouTube but haven’t started it yet.

    I’ve been wearing those hiking pants as a uniform all year round. It’s either those or PJs. Gosh I hated transitioning to running shorts this year. It’s more humid hereabouts so I had to get into shorts. Not fun that first grooming session.
    I liked my masks. I’ve found out it’s so much better than makeup! I also found out my allergies were non existent last year! I think masks should become a thing like it is in some Asian countries. It’ll help lazy me!

    When you start something, I know you will persist. Your nick name is persistence! Any tips for those of us wanting to start out? Any videos you liked? I found a few on YouTube but haven’t started yet.

    This is awesome! Right now, I’m nowhere near this but I can feel the self love your practice is imbibing into your life. This is such an important step. Congrats for doing it everyday!


    I wish all parents read this and internalize this! I wish I had done this when my daughter was in the throes of her teenache! Awesome job figuring this out Gauri! What is within our control is our calm and we should be able to help our kids with it.

    I’ve learned this from you based off of your posts on IL, Gauri. You take things up and work your way towards your goals. You do it slowly but surely. You’ve taught me to not give up when the going gets tough. I really admire this quality and I’m trying to emulate this. I’m the person who loses interest once I’ve achieved that goal. When I finish that half marathon, I’m not running at all until the next one is on the horizon. This boring drudgery of doing the same thing over and over doesn’t entice me at all. I learned from you to take it one day at a time and to continue doing it even if it isn’t glitzy everyday. The end result we all want is happier, healthier selves. The only way to achieve that is through consistency. I’ve realized from you that motivation isn’t the key factor, it’s mostly discipline to show up everyday!

    Thank you Gauri!
     
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  10. Laks09

    Laks09 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    So true. It ought to be on the fridge!

    You beat me to it sir! Yes, everyone needs to read this post!
     
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