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Free exercise plan available here ;)

I had my second (and final) session with the trainer (that is all that I can afford for now) and she has done an awesome job of making a customized workout schedule for me. So if you are about 5 feet four inches tall and around 145 (cough cough 150) with most of your weight sitting firmly on your bum, you can copycat this plan :) As usual all the dire disclaimers as are present on medicines and any activities you sign up for - blah blah, I take no responsibility for sprained necks, increased weight blah blah...

So ready....
* Alternate strength training and aerobic exercises *.

Aerobic - I am going to run/walk on the treadmill for atleast half an hour everyday slowly increasing time and distance and speed as I get fitter.

Strength training is a whole list of things to do which made me sooooo sore all day the next day :( Advil Zindabad or your choice of painkiller druggies..

1) Single leg balance - hamstring curls - supposedly great for burning off the fat on the butt. Becoz I am not so blogsavvy and short on time to post great pictures, I am doing the next best thing - see the link for the machine/technique http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/standing-hamstring-curl

Whatever exercise you do, dont move/sway the whole body, wrong wrong wrong....follow the instructions precisely on the machine or ask someone at your gym on observing if you are employing the correct technique. If you are in poor physical fitness condition like me, you will realise that you can only do about 10% of the action which they depict on the machine. When the trainer would show me an exercise, it would seem so simple until I would actually try it out myself :((

Do 12-15 times 3 repetitions

2) Leg drop - strengthening the glut - 12-15 times 2 reps. I couldnt find an image for this but its that thingy where you push back with one leg on the weight while lying down on your tummy or rest your chest on the other thingy standing up - have I confused you thoroughly? :)

3) Squats http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRnGI3c5Jjs Awesome video - only thing that my trainer made me do was start the squat with my arms raised then lower the arms as you squat and then jump and hold the position and then do it over and over....As many as you want.

4) Pushups - I do standing pushups - make sure to keep your body straight and bend in the elbows and try to reach with your chest as far as you can go down..kinda like this http://www.divinecaroline.com/22176/74349-exercise-tip-standing-push-ups but I use a weights machine danda instead of the wall.

Remember Salman Khan from Maine pyaar kiya doing push ups...Mmmm....I should ask P to get started on his - sigh... Do as many push ups as you like - its hard!

5) Tricep press down - with a band - its really putting the resistance band on something a little bit high up and then slowly pulling it past your body.
15-20 times 4 reps

6) Lunges - 6 each way http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ95qwNaD78 I love this guy!

Do sideways http://www.sivamdesign.com/home/fitness/exe_pgs1/side_lun.html and this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VaMfaxaJ34 No, dont get carried away and hold weights in your hands...

7) Modified plank hold - as long as you can.
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/exercises.asp?exercise=7 This is one of the awful exercises which looks oh so easy when the fit trainer drops down and does and is impossible to imitate when you try to do it :(

8) Star for back - lie on your tummy, suck in your core (Oh will tell you all about it, wait up) and lift one stretched hand and opposite leg and hold. Alternate. Do not let your hip lift up from the ground.

9) Bicep curls http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1B4WK_6oH0 this lady is doing both hands at the same time, my trainer told me to do alternate using 5 lbs weight and 12-15 times.

10) There is one more exercise for the shoulders using resistance bands, this time the band is hooked on to something lower than your body right next to the ground and instead of pulling it down, you pull it up diagonal to your body and high up out -take care you keep your elbows soft and not make your hand straight and rigid when doing the action. 12-15 times 2 reps

11) Hip abductors - these are commonly available at all gyms. Do 25-30 2 reps starting out with very low weight. If you want to lose weight on hips, do not use more weights, you will have humongous muscly hips then and will be trying to track me down to hit me over the head with them :(

12) Stomach crunches - Lie on your back, suck in your gut, make sure your lower back touches the ground and raise your legs and make a table top kinda thing with your legs bent in the knees - google it please "table top stomach crunch" and do 15-20 reps.

Thats all! Phew, I am exhausted from typing these up too :( Oh yeah, anything and I mean anything you do in the gym (and she says even outside) always suck in your gut and hold. Thats strengthening your core and where is your gut, you say, its an inch or two below your belly button. So ignore the flab hanging out over and around the belly button but focus on sucking in and holding the core.

And in other great news, you will slowly start to lose weight first in your boobs and then overall slimming effect and then slowly your back etc - all insignificant places and in the end your butt :( So when you have been working out diligently and crazily, you will still look awkward and like shit for a few months and then I expect one day it will be like Boom - ooh I fit in size six jeans and look so very hot kinda deal hehehe...I think....let me find out.

So I have decided that I will do the run/walk on treadmill and 8,9 and 12 on one day and the rest on the next day and rinse and repeat. Ready to join me people??

Happy Working Out !!

Hi Ho Hi Ho Off to gym we go...

Today is day two of project Hit fit Ms.Sonia. Yesterday was my first ever in my life experience of working out with a dedicated personal trainer. Her name is Pam, she is 42 and I look way older and fatter than her. She has this amazing body and I kept my mouth shut to stop from blurting out - did you get a boob job and liposuction or is this all mehenat ki body and if so, help me get one!!

Anyways she was being very nice and all, but a while into our session, I could feel the "I am working with an uncoordinated idiot" vibes flow through her :(( I was trying but my brain and my limbs have some sort of a communication issue plus the warm up moves which she was showing me was akin to playing Twister and she had to finally yank on my leg and arrange my body to get me in the right positions :(

I was exhausted from the warm up and wanted to go home but half of my paid session was still pending so I reluctantly followed her and did some zillion painful squats and push ups. Sigh!

Today I went back to work out on my own to not stop my gym routine, now that its finally started....I ran/walked on the treadmill for thirty minutes and was determined to work out on the machines etc but at the end of my run/walk, I was so lightheaded when I got off the treadmill, that my legs just carried me into the parking lot and the car and home. I told you my limbs and brain are uncoordinated!

P said "What a waste of good money, have you forgotten we have a treadmill at home". What do husbands know! Remind me never to share my exercise routine with overambitious overachiever people like him.

Anyways I wear my cool gym pants and my cool gym t shirt and my expensive worn out running shoes but I still feel shy and awkward and clumsy when I walk into this swanky gym :( I walk upstairs on the side of the stairs where you should really walk downstairs and realise it half way when people are neatly filing past me saying "Excuse me". I walk into the treadmill area and hide in a corner spot and then am horrified to find myself right next to the mirrors and I cant stop checking myself out - Omg, my butt looks huge and what are those limp things on my tummy, oh they are my boobs and other self deprecating realizations :( I walk into the bathroom and there are all these insanely fit females with awesome figures walking around in towels. So there I am peeking at these models and making mental lists of "Oh, I should really buy some fancy underwear like that etc".

There was one class in progress - I am terrified of attending any of these team training/group classes because of my uncoordinated limbs and body and everyone in that class was so fit and kicked and punched in the air in unison/perfect coordination. How come there are no fat, saggy, flabby, out of breath, out of shape women/men in these classes? Where are the classes for these people? And where do I sign up?

Anyways I am off to research and make a super exercise plan for myself - work the butt on one day, legs on other blah blah and soon I will be a yummy mummy and people will be like "Omg, did she get a boob job and lipo done" :)

Whats new?

I have a new job this year, exciting and challenging. And I spend time daydreaming - I think I am going slightly crazy because I find myself constantly daydreaming, daydreaming while I work, while I drive and when I reach home, I am mentally exhausted from my brain being overworked. I blame it all on 3 idiots, Wake up Sid - all these movies that I saw. I was reminded of my college/school days and I yearn to be back there - I love being married and having my baby girl but I want to feel carefree, single, with lots and lots of friends around me. Maybe thats what I need, need to get out and meet people apart from my usual circle of office, relatives and local friends. I dont want to grow up and I am going to turn 33 this year. It scares me, how did I get to 33, I want to be 22 again :)

Anyways I think what I miss most about being older is the lack of being surrounded by friends non stop. We always went everywhere in this huge group, hung out at college festivals, studied together in the library, I miss that companionship. Is it lonely as you grow old?

The bitter cold here makes it difficult to shake off the inertia and do something productive. There is this Zumba class in my local park district which I was thinking of taking, its so dark and cold outside, I have to pick up my daughter and go home, I have to fight off the inertia and go....I have thousand excuses for myself - I have two left feet, am nervous of joining any group exercise activity, its too cold outside, maybe I should spend more quality time with my husband and daughter but I should go, put my workout clothes on and go dance to Latin music. Maybe that will shake my boredom out :)

What do you do?

Couch to 5K

Struggling to beat a horrible sore throat, I had to see my doctor twice last week. And get weighed on scientifically correct weighing scales. I am still in denial over my weight - it varied from 141 to 145 pounds. When I was full term pregnant, ready to deliver with baby R, I had weighed 146!! How is it that, 3 years since, I weigh the same !! And no baccha in my tummy at that :(

I kept telling myself its all that muscle I gained from running in the summer, but one look at R's birthday video where I viewed my enormous butt, which my salwar kameez which should generally mask everything and anything failed to hide, I have accepted the truth ! I am fat !! And I will turn into a fat 32 year old auntie if I dont do anything about it...

Then read this post of Broom on time about the Couch to 5K bloggers challenge :) and decided to join !! Yay!! This should give me the motivation required to work out daily!! Plus it helps, that I am taking days off till the end of the year starting Xmas eve....

So I have dutifully bookmarked the program's link and plan to run day one on the 24th :)

In other news, I have a new job - my coasting days are done, now I am flung in this big bad river where I am struggling to keep afloat, I actually think about my job in my dreams and at random moments at home. Thats a long forgotten feeling but its also a good feeling, it makes me want to wake up in the morning and put on my zillion layers of clothing and go to work....

Merry Christmas to all!

Self realisation

For all of you out there who think they are in hit and fit condition, please humor me and jog naked for 5 seconds in front of your bathroom mirror, then note the ripples and jiggles and tell me if you dont feel like someone just burst your happy bubble!

I tried it today, the resulting image was like my aunt shooting with a camcorder, everything shaking, my whole body was just this sheet of ripples - EVERY thing jiggled !!!! It was cellulite gone crazy !! Sigh......I need to recruit the lilliputs from Gulliver's travels to stretch and tie back all of my sagging, flabby, jiggling fat and create a smooth lean look :)

(Ok will stop here as my mind wanders into - but what should be done of the extra fat hanging at the back etc etc.....)