Desperate To Look Gorgeous-A Reality Check
May 24, 2007
“Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder”, but what if those eyes don’t like what they see? Being average never bothered my self-image but when I saw Catherine Zeta Jones’s physique, her flexibility and perfect-toned body in the blockbuster movie ‘Entrapment’. It got me thinking. The billboards and magazines promoting the movie ‘Tomb Raider’ with agile beauty Angelina Jolie showing her taunt body got my attention.
My new goal in life was to get a toned, sculptured body with absolute flat stomach. A visit to the health club and aerobics studios of my neighborhood got me charged up and I signed up for a month’s membership. The next stop was at the sports boutique to buy workout attires, shoes, water bottle and a trendy bag. The gym that I selected was a state of the art establishment with high tech equipment, trainers and a nutrition team. A thorough investigation of my age, weight, height, diet led them to formulate my workout routine.
The day finally dawned and it was my first day to join the gym. My giant step to transform the image of an ordinary person into a glamorous traffic stopping beauty. The trainer showed me some basic warm up routines, stretching exercises and put me on the treadmill to run for twenty minutes.“That’s all for today, see you tomorrow Amanda,” said my beefy trainer, walking away from the exercise area to the juice bar. “If I workout at this rate, I will reach my goal when I am eighty,” I thought, frustrated.I left the cardiovascular section and quietly slipped to the weight training area.“Now, biceps curl with two pounds dumbbell,” said a young girl reading aloud from her workout chart.This was my chance to do some real exercise. I pretended to do some stretching and closely watched her in the mirror. Then picked up a set of dumbbells and followed exactly what she did. It felt good holding the dumbbells in my hand, curling my biceps and watching the muscles vibrate below the skin.The aftermath of this self-induced torture was that next morning I was sore. Every joint, bone and muscle ached. I felt I had aged overnight. My fatigued body sought comfort in a tub of hot water and salt.“No pain, no gain,” I kept repeating all day trying to revitalize my ego and dragged myself for another round of workout. Today’s routine was a combination of floor exercises with the use of free weights. While waiting for the trainer as he was going to take me through the assigned exercises, I heard two girls talking excitedly.“Wow! What happened to you?” said a chubby girl to her friend and whistlled.
“My thunder thighs have vanished. And do you know how? By just pushing hard at the maximum level of the cross-trainer. The calorie burning is immense and I didn’t need to diet. In two weeks, I turned from roly-poly girl to a sex goddess.”
They laughed.
“You look fantastic. I think I’m going to follow your league,” said the chubby girl.
There was a gleam in my eye. I felt powerful. I knew a secret that was sealed in my heart and would never leave my lips. Quickly I found out which equipment was called the cross-trainer and maximized the level to twenty and started pushing up the speed. It was strenuous and I could feel the veins in the calves surfacing on the skin. Just then the music in the gym floor changed to ‘Feel the beat’ by Darude.
The heart-pumping techno beat boosted my adrenaline and I started pedaling faster. Drenched in sweat, and looking like a ripened tomato I continued my quest. Soon I felt disorientated and gave up.
The next day, I was bedridden. My knees were inflamed, tender and I couldn’t stand without support. The doctor had pointed out that I had pulled a ligament and needed a month’s rest. My work suffered and I learnt my lesson the hard way. So all wannabe Catherine’s and Angelina’s, here are some pointers.
1) Selecting the right gym is important. Reputed fitness centers have trainers who are specialized in sports medicine or hold a degree/certification in physical fitness. Guidance and supervision of the trainer is needed initially to understand the stretching exercises/techniques for warm up and cool down. One also needs to learn the right posture when handling weights (dumbbell, elastic bands and barbell) and when working on equipments like treadmill, cross trainers, arc trainers, spinning bikes etc.
2) Taking pointers given by strangers in the gym is not advisable because what works for them, doesn’t necessarily work for you.
3) There are no short cuts to body sculpting and toning. One should also understand the body type that one belongs too. For example, some women have a pear-shaped body where their upper body is slim while the hips are broader. Some weigh more because of heavy bone structure. A fat analysis test helps to understand the general make-up of the body in terms of fat and lean body mass.
4) It takes determination, dedication anda well-balanced diet with the necessary minerals to enhance muscular development. Diet is an important factor that needs to be looked into by specialists so that they can guide you in the right kind of eating depending on your lifestyle. Many gyms have an in-house dietician/ consultant.
5) It is advisable to avoid diet pills and hunger suppressants. Advertisements of such products entice the consumer and make the whole effort seem very easy. Most of them have side-effects and can trigger various ailments connected to the renal system and metabolism.
6) The element of time varies from person to person depending on their lifestyle and genetic make up.
By keeping these simple guidelines in mind, with patience and perseverance it won’t be long before you stand in front of the mirror and see Angelina Jolie smiling right back at you.
©Nayna Chakrabarty, 2007. All Rights Reserved.
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