THE GYM IN THE B HOSTEL OF NIT REC CALICUT

Somewhere in the year 1983 I met  Dr.Nirmala Menon the doctor of REC NIT Calicut  with some complaint of Fever and she made a comment that would temporarily alter my priorities for good or bad at REC Calicut. She told me I was very weak and underweight and a poorly formed chest.She admonished me for not taking proper care of my health.  Let me reiterate that I used to have severe bouts of Asthma as a young lad and did nothing about my health during my Pre-University I was more focussed about gaining entry into an Engineering College. She was not amused and advised me to exercise and have more stronger food. It was indeed a tough call but I decided to do something about it rightaway.

I was in a quandary for many weeks and did not know how to go about things. Some suggested Running...others suggested Gym...few suggested Yoga...some suggested Bull Worker.....At the end of the day I landed up doing all of them.

Out of spite I started visiting the Gym in the B hostel not knowing fully what it was largely doing push-ups and bench-pressing and not to mention leg weights and dumbells etc. Sunil Chillar, Vinayak Prabhakar More...Nityananda Kamath could be seen in the gym most times. I started doing bench-Press with 5kg on both sides rightaway which was not the right thing to do. I think after few months I left gym for bull worker getting one for myself and doing the German technique of  Isotonic compression exercises with some results. Alongside I started doing Yoga almost all the Yogic exercises imaginable.ONE MUST NOT DO BULL WORKER AND YOGA SIMULTANEOUSLY  THEY SAY...MAYBE YOGA IN THE MORNING  AND BULLWORKER IN THE EVENING AND NEVER THE OTHER WAY ROUND. All these things were slowly giving me results of some kind. I happened to meet Dr. Nirmala Menon almost an year after my first rendezvous and she told me you look better now and just maintain this. Thus was my tryst with all these body building activities.

At my hey day I developed my stamina so much that I could run up to ten rounds around the REC football court .

Why did I write this ? One of the reasons is that I see many adolescents trying these tricks that i did and I have few words of input. Note that that during the period of adoloscence the body releases various kinds of  harmonies stimulating physical activity...this is not unusual. Let me advise boys and girls who are on such endeavours how to go about such activities.

Always do warm up before gym...a mild run for some 100 meters or more. Do push-ups properly how much ever you can...use dumbbells..then do leg push ups and when you do bench pressing start with low weights to start with and increase it slowly up to some reasonable level..not to use very high weights at all as done by professional body builders. If done continuously it will take eight to nine months of almost daily work. You can take a two day break per week. The most important part of such activities is diet. Drink milk almost every day with half boiled eggs and chicken.This must supplement your existing diet. A forty five minute stint at the Gym is ideal.

Bull Worker also helps in body building and it changes Body structure sometimes for a long time to come..like increase in height...and longer arms and legs and some times irreversible body structure for good.Choose few of the exercises mentioned in the manual and do them every day.There is a circulation exercise to be done at the outset. Do breathing properly and inhale and exhale more strongly than normal.

Yoga may not build muscles per se  but is the best exercise to tone health and keep onself lively and high spirited. Ihave done most Yogic exercises.Choose a few of them and practise them everyday. If one needs a hassle free body toning and building program Yoga comes handy.

Last but not the least..the joyful way to improve some of the muscle and health parameters is some kind of sport taken to almost every day. Basket Ball..Volleyball..Shuttle..Squash..Table Tennis..lawn tennis etc.