Rajesh Arya: Achieving All the Fitness Goals

Do you want the strength of Thor and speed of Usain Bolt? Almost every fitness enthusiast runs into this dilemma. Well, Rajesh Arya has a solution for you.

Rajesh’s journey started in 2016 after a casual discussion about Decathlon’s 5 km marathon. At the time Rajesh weighed 89 kgs and on the doctor’s advice was looking to lose weight.

On the day of the run, he realised that after some 600 m itself, he started huffing and puffing. For Rajesh, this was a reality check. He decided to improve his fitness and since then there has been no looking back.

With dedication, he reduced 25-26 kgs but he still didn’t get what he had been looking for. Cult, the gym helped him experiment with his fitness routine. Where he ran 10kms in 85 minutes earlier, now does so in 48 minutes. With years of experience, he has figured out a few fitness rules that he wishes he knew earlier. He shares them with SocialBoat.

1. Do not cut down your diet suddenly.

Narrating his weight-loss experience, Rajesh Arya recalls how he had cut down on most of his food consumption initially. This acted against him and he lost strength along with losing weight. It took a while for him to regain his strength but he wishes he had known better at that time.

“This is one of the most common mistakes that people make. They cut down on food consumption for weight loss and then their body suffers adversely.”

Rajesh's advice is to stop eating only those foods that cause harm and to make sure that the nutritional value that you have cut down on, must be made up for.

"Science explains that when people leave everything suddenly, the craving increases. When they resume, they eat much more and put on more weight than they lost."

2. Mix and match workouts.

When Rajesh started running, he succeeded in reducing his weight but this didn't build his strength as he thought it would. He soon joined the gym and with strength training and HIIT, regained the strength but his body wasn’t as flexible. For flexibility, he started with yoga but sensed a lack of muscle power for which he took up boxing and swimming. After all these experiments he has found his fitness routine wherein he dedicates his morning hours to strength training and evening hours to meditation, yoga, and dance. In Cult, the gym that he goes to, Rajesh takes three classes every day.

“The fitness mantra has to be found through mix and match. You should not expect perfect results within a month of taking up one workout.”

Moreover, with just one kind of workout only selective muscles develop. This is the reason why most weightlifters can't run and most runners can't lift weights. But Rajesh’s advice is to focus on the overall development of the body and the mind.

3. Listen to your body.

Rajesh believes that your body speaks to you and you have to understand what it's saying. Oftentimes people are too harsh on themselves and do excess workouts in order to compete with others.  Do not do excess in order to compete.

"Allowing your body the time to recover and adapt is also as equally important as working out."

4. Consistency is essential.

From the day Rajesh joined the gym, there has hardly been a day he hasn’t missed his workout. “For the last 785 days, I haven't missed a single day of activity.” On days that he doesn’t feel like working out, he spends his day meditating because developing the mind also counts as working out. The case of a rest day is different and they are equally important but missing workouts at a stretch can be a huge loss. Missing a week of workout can lose months of hard work.

We hope that the tips shared in this blog will help you achieve all your fitness goals. But remember, experiment requires patience, and patience bears fruit.

For more such insights, visit SocialBoat.