The gymming experience: reconstructing the halcyon days
Resurrecting a supposedly ideal past is a nostalgic yearning, long cherished by the subconscious mind, which refuses to believe what's gone wasn't the epitome of perfection.
The gym experience from the halcyon days of late 80s was a key element in reversing the weighty cycle, turning my body into the likable figure that was the pride of my living existence in those idyllic days.
Flash forward to over a decade and half, and we find the scouting for a peice of the modern gymming experience. Finally, zeroing on to an ideal setting in the corner of the road facing the corniche, we find a reasonable type of gym, nestled on the first floor of this corner building with ample parking space in the front and side.
I walked into this area, fronted by a burly looking coach who showed me around the gymnasium.Apart from the free weights, treadmill, elliptical rides and multigym machines, the space also had shower, steam bath and sauna facilities that my university gym lacked.
I thought I cannot go wrong...Wooo! This is the perfect setting to get myself quickly back into the dream shape of that bygone era. Well, not exactly, I have to go out for the hunt now to feed myself and the family. I am the HUNTER today, whereas my dad brought the kill, allowing me to concentrate on academics and paraphernalia of student activities at that time. Yet, life was neither a bed of roses nor was I born into stinking wealth. I still had to eke out my career path and mark out a living.
So, coming back to our gymming scenario, it appeared a splendid game, set and match. I donned my track pant, sweat shirt, sports shoes and a hand towel for that odd sweat, sneaking on my excited face. I plugged on my car and swoosh...towards the gym building.
Parking was the easy bit, got inside the lift and pushed open the glass door of the gym. The coach greeted me with 'Ahlan wa Sehlan' ( welcome in Arabic). All pumped up with long, woolly tuft of hairs on his crown, the chap was from Iraq whose country figured prominently in the global headline news. He appeared to be friendly and relaxed.
However, he chalked out an exercise plan that was seemingly a routine fare. Treadmill 20 minutes from walk to sprinting speed, bench press, flying dumbells and all that rudimentary stuff. I felt bored sinking into this oft-repeated track, but kept on thinking about the V-shaped torso like an overhanging carrot, dangling from an overarching stick. Imagine, what fantasising can do to keep your body moving even when the mind space dulls out.
Honestly, I hate speeding up my legs on the treadmill, as if someone is pushing them forcefully hard against my express will. I prefer the calming effect of walking or ramping up the flight of stairs, where I am in complete control and in my will.
However, I have to walk the walk, even as I can't talk the talk. I went through the whole weight training shebang, and it turned out to be a daily grind, yet the peice de resistance came in the end..steam room, sauna and shower...I was totally fagged out! Gathered my senses, dressed up and raring to reach my home for that much yearned snooze.
Switched off my mobile, and went briefly into the dreamworld. Woke up to a sumptuous breakfast prepared by my everloving half. Nice and fibrous, all breakfast stuffings like sweetcorn pellets, mushrooms, sprouts etc rolled in a khubz (or Arabic unleavened bread). Washed down with tea and juices ( packaged nonsense).
Days rolled away into months, and I began to experience the first glint of weightlessness. Indeed, some weight shed off my thickened torso ( months of abuse don't go away this easily), though didn't get on any weighing scale for counting the kilos.
Pumping iron became a weekly chore, barbells and dumbbells being pushed up and down to work against resistance, encumbering muscle buildup and fat shredding. Didn't count the kilos on a weighing scale, but could feel some shapely surge beneath the thickened torso ( stubborn fat is the most embedded enveloping).
I took Tuesday off in the working week that started from Sunday to Thursday, as is the norm in the Gulf countries with Friday and Saturday being the weekend.
Somehow, a sense of deja vu began to develop, as inching up fatigue and a seemingly unsustainability of the whole rigmarole, proving too high a price to pay for the spillover on my business.
Another big blow came in form of the closure of the viatical and life settlement company in US, and where I gradually had built up an agent network. I decided to refocus on the known business, and stick back to international savings plans.
In the meanwhile, there came a new coach who wasn't much help. I missed the openess and guidance of the Iraqi fella, while this chap emitted boorish vibes. Maybe, I may not be his type. Subsequently, my interest started waning, as fatigue toll for the entire day increasingly became unforgiving. Come'on, I am no professional bodybuilder, I have a family to keep and feed.
Gradually, those suppressed pounds/kilos began to reclaim their former place, much like a creeping forest undergrowth envelops a long lost city.
Research findings also suggest that the gymming experience including sauna in isolation for weight loss is a frustrating and time losing exercise in futility.
Carla E.Cox in Diabetes Spectrum, August 2017, concludes the finding on an exercise group as:
The evidence that exercise contributes significantly to weight loss and weight maintenance is not firmly established. It is important to recognize the challenge of monitoring dietary intake and exercise intensity and duration over the long term. Overreporting of actual exercise and underreporting of food intake by individuals could be a contributing factor to the mixed results found to date. In addition, individual differences may play a role (responders vs. nonresponders).
Another conclusive findings by Danielle M.Ostendorf et al, The Obesity Society (Silver Spring), March 2019:
The high levels of Physical Activity Energy Expenditure and Tota Daily Energy Expenditure observed in individuals maintaining a substantial weight loss (-26.2 ± 9.8 kg maintained for 9.0 ± 10.2 years) suggest that this group relies on high levels of energy expended in physical activity to remain in energy balance (and avoid weight regain) at a reduced body weight.
More too the point article by T.Ondieki in Theca Physiotherapy (Dec'12, 2022) Why going to gym for reducing weight could be a waste of time and money or not., argues against following the gym fad in losing weight, while ignoring calorie consumption and intake, risk of injuries under untrained supervision and proceeding without specific medical advice on individual medical conditions is a recipe for disaster.
Coming to research findings on losing weight by sweating in gym sauna or steam bath: Does sweating help you to lose more weight by Jane Chertoff and medically reviewed by Daniel Bubnis, 18th September 2018 draws the following inference:
Sweating out water weight may help you temporarily drop a few pounds quickly.If you’re trying to lose weight, going gradually is the healthiest way. Adopt a healthy diet of whole foods and exercise regularly. Your doctor can also help create a plan that works best for your lifestyle.
Still, the year ended on a sweet note when I pulled one of the biggest policies of my career in a completely newer vertical: the After event or impaired life insurance i.e.someone who already has suffered a major life event, and has turned uninsurable.I secured a life insurance cover for a doctor who had already undergone an open heart surgery. More then the large split commission, I indeed was able to benefit someone who arrived at an extremely critical juncture in his life. So, it became a double joy in the penultimate month of the year and my monthly, average earnings reached a shade short of five figures.
The year had its share of hopes, despair and disappointments, but not despondency. The flame of yearning for that shapely former self kept burning brighter. Steering through an air pocket that we were about to hit, reveals an interesting saga of the neverending life struggles of wins, defeats and comebacks. Check on for more.
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References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5556592/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30801984/
https://www.healthline.com/health/does-sweating-burn-calories
https://thecaphysiotherapy.co.ke/why-going-to-the-gym-to-reduce-weight-could-be-a-waste-of-time-and-money-or-not/
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