How I Planned my Transformation

         Hello and Welcome! Today I am going to tell you how I planned my transformation. A transformation is nothing but the urge to go forward and change what you do not like. That's what I did.

        The Begining

        Well in the beginning, I had no plans. I just joined a gym. I started out with cardio, as that's what my gym trainer said. At first I walked @6kmph for 10mins for about a week, then 10 minutes at the Elliptical Machine / Cross-trainer followed by 5-10 minutes cycling.  Then there were some stretches, kicks, step ups. But no weights. I was bored in the first 2-3 days. But I kept on.
          At the time, when I joined the gym I was smoking 2-3 packets of cigarettes in a day. And that was bad, I mean REAL BAD for exercise. I couldn't catch my breath for some time. Cigarettes had become my support for mental health. But it was to change soon.
        After somewhat about 1.5 - 2 weeks, my pants started to loosen a bit. I was enjoying this change but wasn't satisfied yet. I am not the kind of person who likes to wait for the changes to happen. I'd rather like to make the change happen.
        It was the peak season at the Gym as the +DurgaPuja  was knocking at the doors. The gym was always full and since I couldn't afford personal training, my gym trainer couldn't (read didn't) care. I had to take up matters in my own hands. I started of researching stuff. What exercises to do to get bigger biceps. Well that's what a guy thinks when he walks off to the gym!!  As I was going through the programs, I realized the inter-connection between the muscle groups and how the development of one was linked to the development of the other. I was using a fitness app named Jefit.com. I had used it before, but now it was my primary tracking tool  and my trainer as well. I had chosen the beginner's routine for myself and was following that rigorously.  But before I did, I made some modifications.

       The Modification

        At first, I found out the weaker parts of my body. That wasn't difficult. I studied my past training history and I found that my arm strength and shoulders were seriously lacking. And in order to have them strong, I'll need back muscles to support me and legs to support the whole body and posture. So I had 4 training days. Each day began with a half-an-hour cardio followed by a different muscle group everyday. The rest 3 days I'd repeat a muscle group or so some exercise for the abs. 

        You might question why did I leave out chest. Well, I had the problem of fatty chest always, and training chest would add volume to the chest. With slim arms, my chest would look as good as a boob. Now, NO ONE WANTS THAT! I had cardio to help me out in that department. 

        The Techniques

        While modifying the routine, I was careful to evenly space out the workout so that a muscle group being trained on a particular day is not used the following day or the day before. Just a preventive measure for over-training. I made it a point to include a new exercise / reschedule the routine every 3-4 weeks. Just to keep the body at a challenging positions. I'd also give myself this 3-4 weeks time to get accustomed to a specific weight increase or Progressive Overload. This method gave my body a constant nudge in the positive direction, as I could cope up with the increase in weight without the risk of being injured.

        But after another 2-3 weeks, I wanted to speed up things. So now it was important to take care of my diet. Which I did, but the discussion remains for another day.

        As I continued with these configurations, I started studying various techniques of weight lifting. Like the squeeze at the top of  a barbell-curl, different types of grips, and most importantly relying on bodyweight exercises like pull-ups, chin-ups, push ups, chest dips on a parallel bar and inverted rows. I started incorporating and experimenting and I got results within a few weeks time. 

        Soon it was my birthday in September, and a family trip was planned for the weekend. Me and my school-buddies and their families. It was a trip to the Digha sea beach. It was here that I first noticed my real progress and people began noticing my progress too. Courtesy a pic by my friend Kaustav!! Progress was visible from August, but now I looked hunky!

Here is the pic. Me at 76 kgs on 5th September, 2014

        This was my motivation. This was my kick start to proceed to a life of hard-work and awesomeness!!.

        P.S. - The best Advice I'd Had :

        One day as I was arranging weights for military press, one of my role models at the gym Indranil said to me how long are you going to lift the same 7.5 kgs. That's 7.5 kgs one side, total 15 kgs + bar weight. I said, I won't be able to go heavier. He said - Rubbish! Just take 10 kgs and try. I did and I did more reps than I ever tried with 7.5 kgs. That's when I took my oath:

Go Heavy or Go Home!

Thanks for visiting!