Do You Have To Be A Narcissist To Be A Gymmer

nar·cis·sism - inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity

Of course, the word gymmer doesn't exist. I am just using it here loosely as a person who goes to the gym regularly. Since I have been going to the gym for what, close to 5 years I realise that my theory has been developing subconsciously all this time. I remember when I started going to the gym. I was in Bombay at that time and I really missed playing some kind of sport. Talwalkars was quite close-by and I decided to join and go regularly. It was not too big but the way they had arranged the layout and the huge mirrors that they had put up made me feel good. As usual, people were milling around in front of the mirror making grotesque faces while pumping iron or hitching up their clothes to study their arms, stomachs and other body parts. I quietly sniggered to myself and thought to myself "I would be different. No ogling myself in the mirrors, I would quietly work-out and leave asap." I remained my modest self for sometime because my routine became quite erratic after I moved to Chennai.

I had transferred my membership to the Chennai Talwalkars and I didn't like the place. After this, I moved to Fitness One which was quite close to my place. Lots of space with plenty of cardio machines and a separate weights training area - Wow. Even then, it took me sometime to get into a routine and then I was transferred again. History repeated itself, I was not happy with FOne and I moved to Talwalkars. I was lucky to get a good trainer here and I started working out pretty regularly. It was at this time my behaviour started changing. I caught myself looking more frequently in the mirror and saying - "Hmmm, my biceps are looking nice" or "Hey I do look muscular in this T-shirt". The amazing thing was nobody else was saying anything about these changes (damn, I was not getting my moneys' worth). On the good side, people had stopped saying that I was too thin and once in a blue moon someone would say - Hey have you put on weight?

Then I started spending more time in front of the mirror at home. I won't get into the details but a lot of flexing and tough looks were happening. I would also catch my sister or parents when they were around and subject them to questions like is my body looking better or ask them to hit me on my chest or biceps!! Being the youngest does have some privileges :) Anyway coming to the main point of the story, I caught myself checking out said self in the mirror. I felt a bit guilty and saddened by the fact that I had become one of Them. Then I was like - Why not, you know. Things have definitely improved over the last couple of years. And then BAM I was like if things keep improving, would I spend more and more time in front of the mirror? I looked around and realised that the people who were spending more time in front of the mirror were people who were more fit/toned/bulked. Don't get me wrong, when you do any kind of exercise, you need to have a mirror to ensure that your posture and movements are correct. However there is a certain kind of look which you can only make out only if you are a regular. Enough said - there is nothing like a 'better' body. As long as you are feeling healthy and are comfortable, everything is fine. It definitely justifies staring in the mirror. Just remember what happened in the legend of Narcissus and don't turn into a flower.

My First Run In Delhi @ runningandliving.com

After a 5 month hiatus, I finally went for a run in Delhi and it felt GOOD. Part of it was laziness but mostly it was because weekends have always been kinda busy with some domestic stuff happening.

I first heard of runningandliving.com when I went for the Bangalore Ultra Marathon. There was a paper insert with the stuff the organisers were handing out. Talk about timing - at work, talks were on about my move to Delhi. Within a few days of reaching here, very proactively I signed up as a member on their site and started getting updates on runs. In the initial days, most of the runs seemed to be in Noida and I was in the guest house at Westend. Since I didn't have my car yet and I didn't know the route (imagine trying to find Sector 61 early in the morning) and it was soooo cold, I had enough excuses to not go.

The run which was held on last Sunday - 9th May was at Gurgaon. As usual, there was a timely reminder sent out by Rahul Varghese who is the Chief Runner. He is an ex-MNC marketing head with 25 years of experience which he quit to explore his then new passion of running. As the days came closer, I started feeling nervous because a) I felt I haven't done enough training b) It had been a long time since my last run. On the eventful day, I got up at 4.30 am (blinking like an owl) and as usual took almost an hour getting ready. How I envy people who can get ready in a jiffy. I then drove like mad and reached the start point by 5.40 am which was the time most people also came in (the 10k run started at 6.00 am while the 5k was at 6.30 am). The start point was near Rose Park which is further down from Crowne Plaza Hotel, Gurgaon. The park has a huge parking lot and so have no worries of parking. After 5 minutes, Rahul came up carrying a small megaphone and took us through the run and the route. It was quite light hearted with him claiming credit for the good weather and comparing us to Olympic runners :) Post this, one of the sponsors - Elemention Gym had their trainers stationed who took us through a good warm up routine.

By this time around 40 runners had gathered and we started at sharp 6.00 am. The start point was the parking lot and the run was on the road. The distance one way was 2.5 kms and so we had to loop back and then do it all over again. Since it was so early in the morning, there was hardly any traffic. I had set my playlist to finish in exactly one hour because I wanted to better my previous time of 62 mins.  I started off and the first two kms went off smoothly. Then I started to feel the strain. As usual, my upper back started to pain. Then my breath started getting ragged and I was like - "Did I get up at 4.30 am to do this? Why am I going through this hell?" After what seemed like ages, we finally came back to the starting point and I started getting my second wind. I checked the time and saw that 28 minutes had passed by. Simple math meant that I would finish the run in 56 minutes :) but I had to factor in that I was slowing down. I wanted to speed up a bit then but tried to keep a steady pace till I reached 7.5 kms. All the while, I was wondering how much of time was left. I took the turn without stopping to drink water as I was scared of breaking my rhythm. I started stepping up the pace by focusing on overtaking the person immediately in front of me. Not as easy as it sounds because that person was in front by virtue of running faster than me in the first place. Still, I gritted my teeth and pushed on. You are not going to believe the next part - first there was a foreigner whom I would overtake and then he would catch up again. This happened 3 or 4 times till I decided enough is enough and sprinted ahead to put a few extra metres between us.My next target was a bald specy guy and the fun started all over again. By this time, the last km came up and the strain really began telling. My lower back and my legs started protesting big time and I slowed down. Just as the end was in sight, a couple of things happened - the songs ran out and that meant the hour was up. Also the foreigner overtook me at this time along with two others. Oh crap!! I finally crested the finish line and hurriedly pulled out my iPod to check the time. Hurrah, I had completed it in 1:01 hrs - one minute better that my earlier time. This combined with the euphoric feeling of completing a run successfully gave me an instant high. Course that was in my mind, my legs were still looking for a place to rest my bum. I sat down and waited for the world to steady. People were milling around chatting about their run, comparing, laughing or just cooling down. The organisers started handing out some packets and I was hoping it was completion certificates (like a Red Indian collects scalps, I collect paraphernalia ;). Unfortunately, it was only information leaflets. I quietly got up, did a few stretches and left the area remembering why it was that I came to these runs - for the happy ending.

p.s - do check out the video. It is not in exact sequence but done quite well.

5 Ways To Keep You Going Back To Your Gym

If you are expecting miracle cures for your laziness, stop right here. As you can see from the title, this is not about what you need to do in the gym but how to get yourself there. I discovered a few things that worked for me and I have been going to the gym from Oct 2006. I know so many people who have enrolled in a gym since that period and fallen by the wayside. Try these tips and I'm pretty sure it will help.

Join a well-known gym - The most important thing about the gym is the professionalism and attitude of the trainers. If they are sloppy and tend to hang around in a group, ignoring the customers, leave immediately. The first three months are the most painful so you need to be sure that once you are there you are getting enough care and attention. When I joined Talwalkars in Bombay, I noticed the difference from my earlier gym on the first day. They took me through the fitness tests, showed me how each machine worked and were rarely distracted. When I moved to Chennai and was on the lookout for a gym, I walked into FitnessOne and noticed the same attitude among the trainers. I signed up immediately and never regretted it.

Make friends - Be friendly to as many of your fellow sufferers as possible. This creates a kind of clubby atmosphere and you will always be warmly welcomed when you enter the gym. Also, chances are that your wife/parents/friends will get really tired of your gym stories. I mean who wants to know that you bench-pressed 10 kgs more today or did 25 sit-ups more. That's when your gym buddies will come in handy, with admiring expressions and inspirational stories (where they would be the central character). Do not ask your friends to join you as they will stop going and will drag you down too.

Be a big-time narcissist - Who knows every inch of your body best? You, that's who (unless you are really really lucky). Now any bit of workout will improve your body. Strangely the people around you will never admit that there is an improvement (trust me they are wrong). This is kind of ego-bruising so take your clothes off and spend a lot of time in front of the mirror admiring your parts which are looking more toned or less flabby. DO NOT TRY THIS IN PUBLIC.

Celebrity Spotting - This kinda links to the first point. If you are in a good gym, rest assured you will spot some celebrity or page 3 persona. This makes you happy and keeps you going (no logic to it). You can also casually mention it during a conversation and then sit back and watch the fun.

Go regularly - This is like the old joke about Moses. He comes down from Mt Sinai and says "Folks the good news is there are only 10 commandments. The bad news is Adultery is still in the list." This point is the one that makes the others work. Go as regularly as you can. Take an Ipod with your fav music, accessorise yourself with cool stuff, hang out at the juice bar - whatever it takes to make a pleasant experience but JUST GO. The results will make you wanna go more and believe me it's worth it.