REAL Fitness by Dr Dilip Nadkarni
Introspection

After awareness comes introspection. In introspection one needs to look within, to find out individual strengths and weaknesses.
Am I really fit?
Where am I lacking?
What is my goal?
What do I need to do?
Embarkation

Each one has to know where he stands on the fitness scale. Having done that, one needs to embark on the journey towards fitness, using the principles of exercise and diet provided in REAL FITNESS
Maintenance

Finally when it comes to maintenance of the fitness programs, there are maximum dropouts. This is possibly because many think about fitness as a target or an end to be reached.
For example a person sets a target: "I want a 30 inch waist line".
Once the 30-inch waistline is reached the person gets complacent and yo-yos back to original levels.

Fitness is more the means rather than an end. The means to lead a healthy happy life, a continuous process.

REAL FITNESS is devised to ensure a fitness maintenance program. The aim is to help people form a niche in the mind for fitness. Making a habit of fitness. Like we have conditioned ourselves about food, bathing, brushing teeth, sex etc. Fitness becomes a conditioned habit. If you miss your workout, a bell rings somewhere in your mind body axis, reminding you about it. And just like any other habit you hate missing it, you could even get withdrawal symptoms, if you stop! Fitness as a habit should enter your biological clock. Then the job is done.

While on habits, I am reminded about a professor in medical college who was talking about his tea drinking habit and the difficulty of shedding habits.
"H.A.B.I.T. is so stubborn" he said in his characteristic accent,
"You remove the H and A BIT remains.
Take away H and A and BIT remains.
Then remove H, A and B, IT remains.
You finally remove H, A, B and I, still T remains.
HABIT very, very stubborn."
Make fitness a habit.

What is Real about REAL FITNESS ??

A REAL mnemonic.

As a medical student I found that an easy method of remembering information was the use of "mnemonics".

Mnemonics are short-forms or abbreviations which help the brain to recall facts quickly. In fact there was a book of mnemonics in anatomy to make studying easy.
For example if you had to remember the names and the sequence of the eight bones in the wrist joint all you had to do was say:
"She Looks Too Pretty. Try To Catch Her."
She means --- S for Scaphoid.
Looks is --- L for Lunate and so on.

REAL is a word, which apart from meaning the truth, has condensed a formula for fitness and health. Easy to remember and follow.

R stands for Relaxation.
E for Exercise.
A for attitudes or posture...and
L for many things... Laughter being one of them.

Similarly I have tried to give a mnemonic for basics of exercise and it is called the S.W.A.N. formula. Everybody has heard of the fabled duckling, which became a swan. Possibly she used the SWAN formula.

S for stretching
W for weight training
A for aerobic exercise and
N for Nutrition.

S.W.A.N. will be dealt with in the following chapters.

The beauty of mnemonics is that, in the end after reading the book even if you remember just 2 words R E A L and S W A N everything will fall into place.
Apart form exercises and nutritional tips, topics like relaxation, attitudes or posture and laughter are included, as there is now confirmed evidence about the efficacy of these methods for pursuing REAL FITNESS.

Come and taste REAL FITNESS.

For book contact:

Nadkarni Clinic, 3/1 Saraswat colony, Santa Cruz west,

Mumbai 400 054, India.
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