How To Start Working Out (For People Who Have NEVER Worked Out Before) - w/ Abhay

I think the main goal here is to move and working out is just one of the many ways in which you can move. I became a very fat version of myself, super and healthy. My face was like this big. I'm Lam Pandy and in this episode featured not expert is A Malda. For over the past 5 years, Abay has been consistently working out first at home and then later in the gym. The question that Abay and myself have tried to answer here today is why should someone that has never worked out start working out and how can they start to do so? I also created a site with a foundational workout plan that you can start to use today free of

that you can start to use today free of cost. It's in the description box below the like button. I'm not sure I know anyone who espies a gym session and goes to McDonald's to have that goal. My work output suffered. I was less productive. Stuff that used to take me 2 hours to do would now take me like four. If I was at 0. Now I have to again start. How would I do it? Why would I never ever feel the need to snack ever because all of my meals are optimized for protein first and anything else comes in. You don't need to live diet and if you want to or if you don't want that is your call. I'm not going to ask

that is your call. I'm not going to ask you to do that. But I think everyone should try it out at least and see what it does to your body. Then you will understand the magic. I'm sure you've heard that working out is good for your mental and physical wellbeing. But by the end of this episode, you will have a fresh perspective on how true guys that have never cared about working out were able to unlock so many tangible and intangible benefits from this simple habit. Indeed, I think mindful movement is the purest form of self- loveve. And you'll be shocked to find out how quickly it can rewire your mental as well as physical performance. You can get in touch with us, we can also help

get in touch with us, we can also help you. In line with our theme of learning from somebody just two steps ahead instead of an expert, my goal with this episode is to highlight how consistent physical exercise can change your life for the better and how one can do so. This is the Ready Set Do podcast and subscribe on YouTube and your favorite podcast apps for weekly episodes featuring not experts. And now without any further ado, here's Ab. Welcome to the Ready Set Do podcast where we learn from journeys of not experts who are just two steps ahead of us. AB welcome. Hi. How are you doing?

us. AB welcome. Hi. How are you doing? Very well and it's so good to be talking to you finally. So um let's jump in with if you could say something to everybody what is something that you would want everybody to know irrespective of where they stand in terms of their you know fitness expertise. Something I think a lot of information is available online and everything but something that I want to press on is a term that somehow I just came up with was health SIP. All of us are uh aware of the financial SIP thing that uh you know invest a certain amount at a certain uh point of time in a month and over the time it will grow

a month and over the time it will grow to a certain level and you can use that money to do whatever you want to do right something that I came up with while talking to my colleague was like invest a certain amount of money every month on your health just can be as a small as a gym membership or something that you want to like have like a better food choice prices like it's funny like we have to pay a premium for other people to ask them not to put uh stuff in our food so that we get good quality food. So investing those small things it's an investment it's not an expense.

it's an investment it's not an expense. I would suggest people can start by investing their time in it but not not financially they can invest their time in it and it is simple as like if you invest that time right now it gives you intangible results going forward and it's only a compounding matter right compounding it it plays here as well. So it's on that note like people should invest some amount of time as well as some amount of their finances towards their health. I mean health insurance I think it's a it's it does not work.

think it's a it's it does not work. Yeah. Like it only works when you have an issue. So why not spend time and money on things to prevent that issue? Why let it happen in the first place? Absolutely. No more like pension better than Yeah. And I really like that call out that you said um that makes this unique which is that you don't have to invest money like there is such a thing about health SIP that actually involves no money. You can just do that with your habits. You can just uh you know choose and pick what you're eating on a daily basis and that can even make such a huge difference especially as you said compounded. um that can go a long way in terms of making sure that you are able

terms of making sure that you are able to enjoy life even when you're older and you know you don't have you don't slip and fall and are not able to get up and also die as a consequence. So yeah that's a big issue there. Yeah. So then uh wonderful call out there. Yeah, I think that makes so much sense. And then moving on from there, I think which is, you know, the whole premise of this video, which is that if you're a person or if one of our listeners here is, you know, obviously a person that I'm assuming if they're listening to this, I'm sure they know about the benefits of working out, right? Like most people if you like randomly quiz them, they will be like, "Yeah, I am aware working out is good for you. This is like widely

is good for you. This is like widely known and accepted. It's hardly up for debate." And yet, um, there are so many people out there. In fact, I was such a person up until a few years ago that just never cared for it. I was just like, you know, I looked okay. I wasn't overweight or anything. And I was like, why bother? You know, like I'm just happy sitting at home all day, doing whatever. There's so many things to do that don't involve exerting effort, going to the gym, sweating it out. It's like so annoying. Like, who wants to do that? So for people like that that have never worked out in their lives, what is something that you would want to say to them in terms of like why should they do it? Why should one care about working

it? Why should one care about working out? Uh so a simple answer for this would be like how the humans have evolved. We have always moved around from point A to point B in search of food in search of survival everything right. So that is ingrained in our DNA to movement. Not working out is a different thing but I am talking about movement. movement. So, so right now what has happened is because of this uh easy accessibility and 9 to5 jobs and everything the lifestyle have become very more static like we are just like traveling from our home to office sitting there for 10 hours uh then coming back and then lying down watching Netflix and anything it could be anything scrolling we storing the phone we everything can be it's all that old is just one click away people

that old is just one click away people will come and deliver it to you in 10 15 minutes store Everything is convenience right now. But the point is the time that we are saving with this convenience, we are putting it into things which are not going to help us in the long run like uh you know like rolling deals example like a lot of people score one to you for one and two hours like that. So if you can just take 15 20 minutes out of your life and just engage in some kind of movement that is again it will grow into things and it will grow into habits which will be beneficial to in the long term. So it's mostly on like how we have evolved as

mostly on like how we have evolved as humans and secondly on how the lifestyle that we are in right now like you know sedentary lifestyle it's more than that a lot of people having lower back issues like young people like I know young people having lower back issues I'm like it should not be like that like there is something wrong we need to change it and it is going to be an issue going and it big issue going forward like like in 25 if you're having lower back issue then imagine what will happen in 35 45 55.

imagine what will happen in 35 45 55. So going forward yeah so that is like the two main things that I wanted to highlight you why someone should work out and also when you understand like any why do it why does it feel good after having a walk like obviously people say that go for a walk it will be fear of mind like why does it happen it just happens because you were meant to move like in a free space in nature and that is that is like the primal instinct I come yeah we have our brains have evolved for that specific purpose.

evolved for that specific purpose. Exactly. And it has just gone away. And I really like that call out where you differentiated working out from movement because a lot of times people confuse the two, but you're 100% right in that you don't have to go to the gym and lift heavy things, right? You can literally just walk and, you know, instead of sitting after lunch immediately at your work, just go for a 20-minute walk downstairs, you know. Yeah, I think the main goal here is to move and working out is just one of the many ways in which you can move. you know you can play sports, you can as we said obviously you can walk, you can run, you can do all of those things. ultimately what matters is that movement that's like the most important thing which I

like the most important thing which I think is a wonderful call out and um also adding to the stuff that you said for me at least for me personally what led me to really you know get motivated uh towards working out in the first place was just that I was really skinny growing up you know this and yeah and then really I just you know I was just one day randomly looking at you know myself in the mirror and I was like how good would it be if I actually looked nice, which I know like there's many ways to interpret that and this doesn't come from like a weird place of body negativity or something. I was just trying to look or be my best version.

trying to look or be my best version. And then I was like, the best potential. What is your best? Exactly. Yeah. And which in my head at the time happened to be a version of me that looks good in clothes. As simple as that, right? And then I was like, okay, well, I know what to do here. It's like um I know the path. Obviously, it's not easy, but I remember that being my personal motivation and I just want to share that because you don't have to be, you know, John Cena or somebody or you don't have to be the strongest man on earth if you're wanting to work out. You can have whatever motivation that you want like as you said, you want to not have injury, right? I think you had shared

injury, right? I think you had shared that um in your soccer playing days. Yeah. So, like we talked about movement, but it is important, right? So, during the school days, you know, you used to play together a lot like every day. You were much better than I was. But that's fine. But it's okay. The end of the day, we just wanted to play, right? We had no idea of stint and conditioning. We had zero idea of that, right? Yeah. Don't even stretch before playing. Yeah. That was so weirdly just go there, do some laps around the round and just start playing. That was the basic uh information that we had. We did not have anything. So, uh yeah, like you know that I uh broke my ankle when I was in

that I uh broke my ankle when I was in class 12. So that that that part was one of the triggers. It was not the it came much later like when I again tore my end another 3 four years back. So yeah that was like these are the few triggers which made me understand and covid was the specific one like so what happened was uh I broke my ankle in class well while playing. I used to run a lot. I was fit enough to run 2 hours I've been non-stop. I was that way but I still I broke my ankle still I go I tore my

broke my ankle still I go I tore my ligament and during what happened was uh so I was pursuing CA and during my article ship days I had to travel a lot out house out house out house out stations and everything and the eating timeies were not up to the mark and we were just uh you know able to have anything and everything that we want whatever was available there so it was mostly outside food hotel food obviously I'm not going to order normal food there. I was ordering anything and everything that I wanted to have. So it yeah I the timings were also not like I'm having lunch at one or two week. It could be anything. It was like that. So what happened was I bloated up like anything and I became a fat version of

anything and I became a fat version of very fat version of myself. Super unhealthy. My face was like this big. My thighs went this big. I'm not able to even imagine that. But yeah, I think I know you sent me one of those pictures and with your permission I'm happy to put that up but I would be surprised if you would allow me to because that picture is people should Okay. Yeah. It's just unrecognizable from you know your face currently. So yeah that's crazy. People should see how they can do with small amounts of efforts over period of time. But yeah coming back to it uh so yeah uh I was extremely unhealthy and uh in during February 2020 we went to play football with a usual group like uh we were going and I was not able to run more than 10 minutes. It

not able to run more than 10 minutes. It was more like yeah I'm going to die on this pitch. I'm not able to run. I'm not able to move. I had cramps. I had pulled a muscle or something. I don't even remember. It was like 10 minutes into it. I'm like I am going to die. So it so it was I came back home somehow. So survived that day continued to play because in didn't want to give up or something. Uh then 2 3 weeks into it. Uh it took me two weeks to recover from that by the way like all those things that we 10 minute thing it took me two weeks to recover. So that was a that was

weeks to recover. So that was a wakeup call for me to understand boss this is this is not you like you were a very different version of that was 5 10 years ago. So what what happened and then somehow on I think around 20 third week of March I decided that I want to change myself and I started basically there was a small ground near my house where we used to play. So I went there for a run I just went there for a run did 10 push-ups did 10 squats and just came back this continued for 3 days and then uh Modi came on the television and just announced that we are going for a lockdown for next 21 days.

lockdown for next 21 days. So yeah and I was like oh what to do now like you can't go outside you you just and luckily I have a house of myself so I had the whole house to somehow what happened I don't know it just that I just kept getting up and getting to the terrace and just standing there running there did 10 push-ups into three that did just some squats did some kind of uh calf raises or something like that by the way just to mention everyone I had done gym before like when I was in college. Uh when I was in and that was a basic rookie college thing like just going there lifting weights without any whatever. Yeah. Just doing bicep curls right you just do the most number of

right you just do the most number of curls that you possibly can and then you come back home. That is how Yeah. So I had like so when I started at home and I was part and everything and I just started with the basics. I did not have any gym. I did not have any equipments. It was just a open terrace that I had and sometimes even that not even not that because it was raining so I had my just I had my room. So I had the staircases I had my room. So somehow by doing the basics over a period of time I just tried to change what kind of environment I was in like I we were not

environment I was in like I we were not ordering from outside. So that was a big bonus for me. It just help things things just started to align one thing after the other. So you could on the terrace I had no one to interfere with. So it was just me. So I did not care what kind of uh what kind of workout I was doing. I just wanted to move. So that was it. So similar to you, I had also had some experience during you know college of doing gym or going to the gym. But I honestly don't even like to really count that just because I was Yeah. I had no

that just because I was Yeah. I had no idea what I was doing. I remember just Yeah. And also I went Yeah. Yeah. And I went once every week and then I skipped three weeks and then I went three more times another week. So I mean but and actually the crazy part though is that despite my like worst horrible habits, I still was able to somehow put on I mean not a lot but at least some muscle and you know somehow that didn't even motivate me to you know stick to it. But later when I was um once I moved to America and then I graduated and when I finally was like a working adult and not in college anymore, that's when I was

in college anymore, that's when I was like okay now I have a day to plan a routine in and I was like maybe it isn't the worst if I could fit in gym somewhere. And as I shared earlier, I was, you know, just trying to be bigger, just trying to be stronger, I guess. And then I went and my biggest personal reason for sticking with that honestly is, as you said, because of our lifestyles, there's soy. I genuinely used to have trouble falling asleep at night. Like I just could not go to sleep. But then I realized that the days that I went to the gym and worked out, I was able to sleep just fine. And I don't know if you've ever heard this or maybe somebody that has gone through this can

somebody that has gone through this can comment here below but clearly I cannot be the only one but generally that was my biggest reason for sticking to the gym because I was like I want to not be an in some not even just good sleep. I just used to stay awake like an owl for an hour before sleeping and it just used to drive me crazy and I was like what am I doing like come on let's go let's go and then you like keep imagining random scenarios from 10 years ago stuff you should have should have said in a fight you know but then yeah so that was my reason for sticking with it because I

reason for sticking with it because I realized that if when I went to the gym I was able to fall asleep on time which meant I woke up nice and fresh which meant my entire next day's routine was also automatically sorted And I was like, "This is good. I like that. That is such a big bonus for me." Just, you know, if I show up and really just tire myself. That was my goal. Actually, I didn't even really care about getting bigger or anything that much. Yeah. I was just like, "Let's just get tired.

was just like, "Let's just get tired. Please, I need to get tired." So, something I wanted to add here was like you said, uh, if you go to gym or if you exhaust or do any kind of movement, you are tired by the end of the day, you sleep on time, you then wake up on time the next day. So it's like a domino effect but in a better way like you it's like if you are using good if you're making good choices if you are having a moment in your day and then getting to sleep by a certain you know certain time and then waking up at a certain time you will automatically not want to have junk food or those cravies then you won't know that I have put in

then you won't know that I have put in the hard work why will I now go and destroy Not sure I know anyone who rushes a gym session and goes to McDonald's to have that go. Yep. One habit dictates the other and it goes full circle because when you wake up and you're like, "Okay, now it's time for lunch." Instead of eating some garbage, you'll be like, "Okay, I know I'm going to the gym. So, let's eat something that will help me, which ideally has a lot of protein."

which ideally has a lot of protein." Now, once you do that, of course, now you have to go to the gym. And then, now once you go to the gym, then for dinner, you're like, "Okay, I've done everything right today. Why would I go and spoil the last meal? So of course you eat healthy again and just like that all of your habits are you know fulfilled. And lastly just I want to touch on the cognitive benefits also like I find some of my best brain work in the mornings is done at the end of a nice night night of sleep. Now you can say that they're not exactly related to working out. Even if you can get a really good night's worth of sleep just by walking you know for an

of sleep just by walking you know for an hour that's still fine. Like none of this has anything to do with lifting iridon you know that's what I want to focus on but yeah and I was just like I just feel like a different human than I did before when I was just you know going to bed at 1 struggling to sleep waking up at 9:00 full of brain fog and you know my work output suffered I was less less productive stuff that used to take me 2 hours to do would now take me like four you know and then I was like what am I doing so um shifting gears from there a little bit I know we covered this somewhat but Um before we jump into the how to workout with or without a gym, um I did want to ask you

without a gym, um I did want to ask you what tips or you know what insights can you share um with people that are not ready to take that step yet? Like they don't really want to work out outside of movement like we talked about, but that are willing to learn how their eating habits can be improved um just to get in better shape, maybe lose some body fat, you know, just to be a little bit leaner. So any uh helpful tips around that? So one thing before we get into that uh for people who don't want to work out or you know just uh get any kind of movement just one thing I wanted to say like like I said I just I broke my ankle and everything. I had zero idea of strength and conditioning. So your

of strength and conditioning. So your muscles are weak movement is required for you to move around and everything. It is a part of it but strength and conditioning is equally important for your joints and your muscles to grow stronger to help you sustain that movement. So yeah coming to the food part suppose if I was at zero now I have to again start at zero and then continue how would I do it for the food part I would start drinking more water first why would I say that is because it keeps you hydrated first of all secondly you would not snack you would eliminate 80% of your snacking if you just start to drink enough water freshly in this that is a very easy it's

freshly in this that is a very easy it's a very easy h which people although water is good for you. So you also have that. that. So it's like you don't have to spend anything. You don't have to do any other effort. You don't have to boil it or brew it or anything. You just have to drink water. Just keep a glass of or a bottle of water in front of you and have it like try to compete it three four times a day depending on your body type and so yeah it's like that. So first is drinking enough water. Secondly, I would say be conscious of what you eat. Be a bit mindful of what you eat. You don't have to eat everything right all the

have to eat everything right all the time. So an easy easier way. So how I divide it is basically there was a time when I was having three meals a day. Right now I'm having six meals a day. Interesting. Okay. If you use any sort of tracking device for your sleep, there have been zero times where I have eaten right before bed and I've gotten a good sleep score. Your body is not at rest because you have to understand and digestion is a very big part layout like the biggest organ system, right? I could be wrong. This is yeah one of the biggest organ system of your body and it takes a lot of time to process and digest whatever you have. On top of that if you eat junk and then it is going to take another extra few hours digest and more energy. Yeah it won't be at rest. Exactly. It's like 2 a.m. food

at rest. Exactly. It's like 2 a.m. food should not be having. People don't know about this will know. Right now I'm having six meals a day. That is like 42 meals a week approx. 40 42 meals a week. So one thing you should everyone should understand you don't have to be right every time. You have to be right on most of the times. So consistency over intensity is something which I prefer and even if I'm having 75 to 80% of my meals right I'm okay to digress for like next 20%. Yeah that makes sense. So that is how I try to plan my meal I don't stress over a lot of thing what I'm going to eat. Yeah. Obviously in my daily uh in my daily routine I am I am

daily uh in my daily routine I am I am kind of particular of what I'm eating. I have been having the same breakfast for last one and a half years almost the what that breakfast actually. Oh um shout out to Ankhan uh Ankan introduced me to this. So it's like uh uh oats which you soak overnight and you can add milk to it in the morning and then some fruits and any kind of dry food that you want to add. Yep. Yep. Got it. So that's like so I improvised on that. I'm not I'm a lactose intolerant guy. I don't eat one which so I had to improvise on that. So what I did was I took yogurt. I

that. So what I did was I took yogurt. I took um oats. I soaked it overnight in water. I took yogurt in the morning. I take 150 grams of yogurt and then I put a scoop of protein in it. Protein and if you don't want to, you can you are like okay to go without a dis. Yeah, for sure. That's that's true. Yeah. So, just take yogurt. Take fruits. Don't take banana. Banana is a very high sugar food. So, don't let that happen early in your morning. Interesting. First don't eat uh that thing first thing in the morning like daddy was that thing it but not the first thing in the morning. So take oats, take yogurt, take fruits and mix it well. Take some dry foods if you

mix it well. Take some dry foods if you can. If you're not taking protein powder like I using a protein powder. So if you are not using that you can take one scoop of cocoa just to give it a flavor back. Right. So so I have been having that for last one one and a half month. So that is like my go-to meal and I love it. I try to improvise on it. I try to post on it. So I post also sometimes whenever berries are available. So I use berries. That is one breakfast that I was having for last one and a half years. So keeping that thing constant in my life helped me and my body to know

my life helped me and my body to know what is going first thing in my morning. Yeah. No, that for sure. Exactly. And it it's not expecting new things and um you know it knows what to expect. And also I did want to ask um you mentioned you you're vegetarian. So how do you usually meet your protein requirement with a vegetarian diet? I feel like that's a lot of people would be interested in knowing that like you mentioned whey protein but outside of whey protein what do you rely on commonly? Yeah I mentioned that I'm lactose intolerant so I don't take whey protein I take protein% I'm I can't have milk. So tell me when you have like whey protein isolate is that is that still dairy like is that would that not work for la?

is that would that not work for la? Might work for someone but it didn't. Makes sense. Makes sense. So you do for like in terms of your protein supplement you rely on plant protein but just in terms of meals. Yeah. What is your what are your go-to you know fallback options that you rely on for your protein purposes? So three things a major component of my meals. It's mostly paneer or china like what do you call it? I don't know. Yeah, I'll find somebody will comment. I'm sure paneer and china that major component because we make that from my home like I'm not sight. We back it at home and so that is like one of the sauces and then it is satu roasted ground roasted chana g what what do you call it

roasted chana g what what do you call it grams just grams so roasted gram powder there and I take uh one scoop of plant protein every day half scoop with my uh breakfast and one scoop after so it's one and a half scoop scoop And uh then what do I do? I eat uh I take a protein bar. So it's dense in calories but it fits in my macros. I'm noting anyone else. So it's a good call out. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. Fits in like I am able to have it and everything. I need that thing. So the a lot of protein bars out there but please read the ingredients before you buy it because a lot of it is filled with sugar and other substitutes. But this one brand that I use is the Whole Truth brand. So they provide the lab test and

brand. So they provide the lab test and everything and the ingredients also are listed there and you can check the ingredients for yourself and see if it fits and then you can buy it and try it. Yeah. I just want to call out on that. Another super simple resource to do this is there's this app. It's called Yuka. Y u K A. Yeah. If you if you just scan any barcode of any FMCG product, doesn't even have to be food. You can do it with your shampoo or something and it will tell you it'll give you give it a score and it'll tell you if it's healthy and basically I rely on it a lot. It's been

basically I rely on it a lot. It's been a game changer for me. So many things and products that I thought I could trust blindly. Um for instance actually case in point Cadbury Bonita got a grand total of three out of 100 on Yuka and it's marketed as some that's what I'm saying and it's marketed as some you know magical supplement for kids. And then I was like surely Holix has to be better and it was cuz it got 14 out of 100. So I was like you didn't hold up.

100. So I was like you didn't hold up. It's just Yeah. And so that was very heartbreaking for me personally because I liked both of those things growing up. So but yeah, no that I love that call out and I just want to share that. Um it's funny because I kind of I feel like I come at this from the opposite of of end of the spectrum because compared to your six meals, I usually most days just have two. So okay. Yeah. And then so pretty much I won't have breakfast at all. Breakfast is usually just you know a cup of milk. Thankfully I am not lactose intolerant. I don't know what I would do. Yeah. Yeah. So I just have a

would do. Yeah. Yeah. So I just have a simple cup of milk and maybe like a few dry fruits in the morning just cuz then I feel like snacking. But I will skip that also a decent amount of time. Lunch is really huge. It's easily my biggest meal of the day and it will usually be structured around some protein always. That's just how I go approach it. like you have to figure out the protein first and then the rest doesn't even really matter, right? Cuz one thing I also wanted to mention is the beauty of protein um around what you were saying with water is that it because it satiates you so well, you don't feel like snacking. I never ever feel the need to snack ever because all of my meals are optimized for protein first and anything else come later. So I

and anything else come later. So I wanted to call that out that if you just have enough protein in your meals, you will just straight up not not even feel like snacking. So yeah, lunch is my biggest meal and then in the evening that's when I work out. I've been trying to move to the morning. It's just hard for me. But I feel like I'm going to I'm very close to making that switch actually. So literally might even be interesting. interesting. But like that's the thing though, right?

But like that's the thing though, right? Yeah. As far as your lifestyle allows, it's just all about going. If you can go, that's great. It's like it doesn't even matter when you actually go. Like just go and we will get to that. But yeah, and then finally, yeah. So around that time in the evening maybe I'll have my scoop of you know whey protein isolate or sometimes I'll do like a they have these uh protein shakes in that you get in tetra packs that are really good.

get in tetra packs that are really good. Yeah. Um I'll maybe I'll plug the brand name once I check it out. And then finally dinner is also basically also kind of really big but not as much carbs as I have in my lunch but like the protein amount is the same because I need 180 g which is a lot actually. Um yeah yeah actually but you are like having it from uh like what are your sources like I think it's mostly meat yeah egg I rely on a lot I'll have them like crazy I it just also helps that I like them so that helps and yeah eggs meat fish mostly animal sources I would say just because more bioavailability and also the I I like the taste as well

and also the I I like the taste as well but I'm also partial to the occasional dal there's this thing I make where It's like dal but infused with chicken. I kind of came up with that. It's it's great. There's like a I would say that I wanted to have it but So how would you recommend somebody structures their workout plan? Yeah. So 2 and a half years I worked out at my terrace or in my home that's how I did it and then uh I should from Jan 23 till now I have been going to a local gym near my house and that's how it has been. So how to

and that's how it has been. So how to start? So basically I don't think you do have to keep it simple. You don't have to optimize and you know think about the plan or something like that. Keep it simple. Get the basics right. Do the fundamentals. Structure it in such a way that your foundations are strong like push-ups, pull-ups, quads. These three are enough to get it in get you into a decent shape. got only need to live in and everything to get into a decent respectable conditioned person and then you can move on to that if you want to or if you don't want to that is your call I'm not going to ask you to do that but I think once and everyone once in a

but I think once and everyone once in a while everyone should try it out at least and see how what it does to your body then you will understand the magic it me and you can't like you know convince someone else to do it yeah how difficult is it to go through life and you know like talk to a stranger when earlier that day you like deadlifted your body weight you know like you've done such a difficult thing already nothing else even comes close to so simple thing suppose my shoulders why I slouch like this so a lot of people are usually like this when I need them and I see them this slouch gives a body quoture for negativity it's like so a simple a simple thing like this it it just gives you a comfortable position to

just gives you a comfortable position to talk to someone and that person seeing you gets a what do you call it like with a non-verbal communication like right and they just respect you more right they know you're a well put together person it's like the equivalent of a limp handshake right some people handshake like nobody likes that like bro where's your strength you know like shake your hand or shake somebody's hand like you mean it that's the whole point correct so yeah again uh so you and just do it with your pingates and there are enough tutorials out there. I I myself started with a lot of YouTube videos are available. Absolutely. And we can link some of them. Yeah. In the description for people to follow. Yeah. So see if

for people to follow. Yeah. So see if you want to do it, if you decide you want to change, there are enough resources out there that you will you know just trap around and find like I want to do this. You will do anything and everything to do that. recent uh right now I'm reading a book by a rashian uh what do you call it kettle ball master so I I am such a person who never reads a book so I'm not much of a reader like unlike you but like this is something which interests me what kind of workouts a Russians are doing because I connect to that more it's not about going hard every day it's about doing things in a way that in the long run you know how to like manage your like

know how to like manage your like infinite game right what you said about consistency over intensity I believe. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah. So, I don't want to be uh like you know fit in 30 days. I don't want to get abs in 30 days. I don't want to lose weight in 30 days or 3 months or something. I want to do this for life. So I want to you anyone who is listening to this and anyone who wants to start their fitness journey uh so they should think about putting in uh habits and uh putting in such systems in place that they're able to sustain it and continue it for a long time. You don't even need to leave your

time. You don't even need to leave your house like if you just stand up and just do 100 jumping jacks that's it. Yeah. You know, and I know it's like stupid and we used to do it PT in school, but you won't believe this is something I've started doing very recently. I don't even know where I got this idea, but the first thing I do after waking up leaving my bed in the morning is 10 jumping jacks. I I cannot explain why I do it, but somehow I just feel like okay, now my day has started. Like now I am awake and now I have stuff to do cuz we all do, right? And then I'm now next doing

do, right? And then I'm now next doing that stuff cuz of course I'm not going back to bed after doing 10 jumping jacks. My heart rate is like 100 you know like no part of me wants to be lie back in my bed once I do that. So I don't know just a random call out if anybody wants to try that out let me know. People should find their own like what works for them. 100% you can just give out cues like what you can do like like people does not people don't really have to get up and do a jumping jack.

have to get up and do a jumping jack. They can do anything just to the end thing at active but that is like something which people should take out from and I know take away from death. Exactly. And then also I know bed rotting nowadays is a big thing. Are you familiar? Okay. Yeah. And I feel like my personal reason for starting to do this is that I have never been the type of person that bedrocks and yet somehow I was becoming that person and I was like hold on this is very alarming. I cannot let this happen to myself. So I was like what can I do? How can I improvise to problem solve this? And this is just what I came up with. But yeah, to your point, I also want to um call out that

point, I also want to um call out that the goal of this video is to not give you a comprehensive training plan, diet plan. There are literally millions of videos out there. I love some channels and I can plug them. Athletex is kind of what I grew up on a little bit. Jeff Cavalere is so awesome even though it's probably juiced, but I don't know. No, no comments there. Um but it's like that's separate. Yeah. But in terms of his training and like his advice, I feel like it's really up there. And then also Jeremy Ether I I feel like is another really good channel. Jeff Nepard is another one. Honestly, I'm sure everybody has their own. It doesn't matter. Like we are not trying to replace these guys here. We know nothing

replace these guys here. We know nothing as much as they do. Our goal here. Exactly. Two normal people to need a healthy lifestyle. Yeah. And moreover, we are at least I am not even a gym rat. Like it's not like I start oh I start craving it. I need to go. Like sure I'll go. I enjoy it. But it's not like you know it's like my life and I live and breathe that because I feel like those people can sometimes be annoying. I don't know if you've had that experience but so yeah I have I have had that experience in a way that people think that I am and I would

am people think that I am and I would like go to extends to do this because of any because how do I explain it to them like it's not that I am a gym rat or something it's just that I take out one one and a half hours to do that stuff and then I'm a normal person it's not like I have to hit it three or four times a week that is is a goal not 6 days or 7 days a week. No. And I want to do that because everything circles around the fact that I wanted to play football better. And I also wanted to say if like somebody is not into sports, right? Completely get that. One of the

right? Completely get that. One of the days of my workout week is always a 15-inut session where my goal is simply just for 15 minutes I'm going to get my heart rate as has as high as I possibly can. Like that's just my intent of going to the gym. You can actually you don't even have to go to the gym. Whatever you need to do. So like one of my favorite things to do is um that exercise where you have like a kind of like a block just you know like a stair kind of thing. It's just like a block that you Yeah. So you can stand on. So what I do is I just grab like a kettle bell kind

is I just grab like a kettle bell kind of heavyish and then I will just literally um So the goal is to explode off the ground with as much intensity as you can. Exactly. And then land on the thing and then just repeat it. Kicks my ass so hard in 5 minutes. A lot of things. Yeah. a lot of we should be doing it like how it helps how it translates into your daily life you don't even understand that. Moving on to the last part of our you know little chat here what I did was um I went ahead and compiled just what I'm working with presently in terms of my workout plan um into like a quick website that also obviously I'll be linking uh you know this in the description for anybody to see. And before I show it, I just want

see. And before I show it, I just want to flash that this is not meant to be comprehensive by any means. It's just what can get most people started. There are many splits available. This what I have here is commonly referred to as the bro split, which is just all body parts separately, but also you can do push pull. You can do whatever there like there's again there's no rules. Just don't do weird stuff like legs and back on the same day or something. Keep legs separate and also I will recommend always start your week with legs. To me it's the most important body part to work out just because of the overall benefits because it's the largest muscle. Your body secretes the most amount of testosterone, the most amount of um development or um upgrading takes place when you do legs on a Monday. So

place when you do legs on a Monday. So even if you skip the entire week, that's fine. Your body will still get the benefits of a workout if you just happen to do legs on your first day. But we will get there. And I just want to quickly walk through this. I'm not going to go into too much detail. And feel free to critique me in terms of how you would approach this. And yeah, try not to roast me too hard. So for arms, I like to do both biceps and triceps on the same day purely for the reason that the end pump is a sight to behold. It's God's greatest glory. Go down. Yeah. Go to exercises for biceps for sure are just curling. You can use a cable, you can use a barbell, you can use a Okay,

can use a barbell, you can use a Okay, just normal dumbbells. Exactly. Yeah. Try to shoot for eight to 10 reps. Um, three sets generally. Those are like my ranges. It depends usually, but generally if you're confused, pick a weight that you can do about 8 to 10 sets with. Sorry, 8 to 10 reps with. Yeah. And like three to four sets, I feel like, you know, is like decent. And then before we kind of go into further stuff, one thing I want to say and that I learned from a you know reliable source or like a good podcast was that for any muscle group to grow you need to do about 12 working set per week. So this is where splits come in, right? So you if you're just doing arms one day,

you if you're just doing arms one day, that's totally fine cuz you're getting your 12 sets total of whatever it is that you were doing. But also now if you're doing push pull legs and other breakouts like that, it's fine and they also work because the total you still get to about 12 sets of each body part. So it doesn't really matter what set you use um or sorry what split you use just try and get up to like if you're starting out 10 is probably also more than fine. Um 10 total sets. So like when you're doing curls you'll probably do three. So that's three done for your biceps. You really just need to do like eight or nine more sets if that makes.

eight or nine more sets if that makes. So yeah, I like doing curls. I like doing push down ropes, which is just like your, you know, push down motion. You can ignore drag curls. Those are kind of advanced. Overhead extensions are just meant to be for your longer head of your bicep, sorry, of your tricep. Um, line lying incline curls are just stuff you do on an incline bench and it's for your longer head of your bicep. Similarly, concentration curls are for your peak of your bicep. And it's just kind of concentrated. Again, if you're confused, just look it up.

if you're confused, just look it up. There's like a million, you know, uh, tutorials that you can find for each of these. Um, for back, what I like to do is start with a pull-up or chin-up. I like to do three sets of each, but obviously for some of you all, it will be hard to just randomly start doing pull-ups. In that case, what is recommended is um if you just jump off the ground and then uh pretend that the floor is lava. So just try to hang as much as you can without coming down.

much as you can without coming down. Right. Of course, eventually you'll come down. Keep on your negatives. Exactly. That's exactly right. Eventually, it will defeat you and you will come down, but that's okay cuz you can then just jump up again. And I promise within a couple weeks, you will for sure be able to do pull-ups if you are consistent with this. So once with that out of the way, the way I like to do it is um think of it in terms of like break it in four parts. So in the horizontal plane, you want to do a close grip and a wide grip workout, which is like a row motion.

workout, which is like a row motion. Obviously back means rows. So you do like a wide grip in front, close grip in like a wide grip in front, close grip vertical, wide grip vertical. So that's like my pretty much my go-to. Um any misses here AB? Anything that you spot here that you do but that that is not here? Okay, got it. Um and then barbell rows are where you kind of bend forward and then you're kind of rowing like a barbell, right? Is that right? Correct. Makes sense. And you can probably do that with a cable as well. Again, all of these are interchangeable. By the way, so here is in case if people who are already working out and been there for a while, I would just ask them like do the pull-ups towards the end and push-ups

pull-ups towards the end and push-ups towards the end, then you will actually feel the burn and you know that that if play treated as a finisher and you will see where you stand right now. It's in crazy. That's a great call. Never tried that just out of trial. Yeah, just out of fear more than anything. I feel like I won't be able to do a single one. Even I even I was doing like that and I thought yeah I won't be able to do two but ended up doing 15. So it's like a lot of there's no way I can do 15. No chance. No, not in a single go but in

chance. No, not in a single go but in three. So okay sets. Got it. It's like three sets of failure. Don't have to do like that of sense of Yeah. I will don't push your body towards maximum makes sense. Yeah, I will try that and report back to you in terms of how that went. So yeah, but anyway, that's back. Uh, one thing I want to mention is shrugs I feel like are really important especially if the goal is to look good in clothes cuz it gives you that nice like you know V broad or taper shape here. I don't have that which is I have to do this but maybe hopefully one day soon. And then for your lower back, you can do hyper extensions, which is just kind of going like all the way down and then like

like all the way down and then like raising your body up using your lower back if you want to make it harder. Most neglected. This is one of the most neglect. Agreed. And it's so important because as you were saying earlier, so many people have lower back pain and it it would not happen if they just, you know, did this. If it becomes too easy, I like to grab two very like, you know, small 10 pound dumbbells. And what I like to do is you can alternate between W's and Y's. So, how that works is you have to Yeah. So, you have to with your like when you're down like make a W shape basically. So, these are your dumbbells and then you have to like really crunch your back as they go up.

really crunch your back as they go up. And then in the next uh next repetition, you have to raise them above your head into a Y. It's very difficult to do. Yeah. And even if you do literally five lb like the pink dumbbells, it's still very difficult to do. So yeah, I recommend that you try it. But again, if you're a beginner, don't worry about any weights. Just like do this like cool motion. I actually really enjoy doing these. They're so fun. For chest, really, you can think of it in three breaks. One is like your normal overall. Do then you want to do incline for your upper chest and then decline for your lower chest. My favorite thing here is um doing crossovers. I really enjoy doing the crossover cables. It makes me feel like Spider-Man when he was stopping those trains in Spider-Man 2 back in the

trains in Spider-Man 2 back in the day. So I yeah that part has been fun. And then I like to randomly throw in core exercises. What's your uh philosophy around core workouts abai? So core is the most important part of your body. It's like uh and I don't separately train my abs or something like that. What I do is I try to engage my core in every workout that I do and it is not easy. It is not easy like this is something which uh some I looked upon how to do it. Uh I asked people around how to do it. It is not easy. Like there will be times when you are engaged and like three or four reps in you will let

like three or four reps in you will let loose and then again there is a shake. So that is how I engage my core and whatever core development I have I have like developed over that. But obviously there are exercises ability exercises where you can do it and use kettle bells or you know just normal dead hangs. Dead hangs is like great strength and you you don't have to sway you have to be in a position. So what helps you keep it like if you hang you will sway around. Right.

if you hang you will sway around. Right. Right. Right. So your core helps you keep it in a static phase. That is something which is important. Yep. And I also want to add to that uh a really important notion about core workouts is that just working out your core does not burn belly fat. Like I feel like yeah I feel like I this was just something I randomly believed and I feel like a lot of people still think this but doing crunches does not physically burn the fat in your belly. That's just not how that works. That belly is burnt. Yeah.

that works. That belly is burnt. Yeah. That the like the way it does work is because you're burning calories but you would still burn the same amount of fat even if you were walking. Like doing crunches is not directly related to you losing belly fat. So, just wanted to throw out there. Um, I learned that way too late, like embarrassingly late. Um, for legs, um, you can think of it as really just three major parts. Your quadriceps, that's your front thighs, back thighs would be hamstrings and glutes, which is your bum, and then obviously your calves. So, again, bunch of material out there. If I had to pick just three. Yeah, go ahead. But something people miss out on is stim raises. Yeah, that's exactly. So, which

raises. Yeah, that's exactly. So, which is why I have that here. And it's so easy to do. You don't need any weight. You don't even need to be at the gym. Sometimes I'll just do tip raises in, you know, normally during a workday cuz you just have to stand against a wall and like push yourself off uh using your your toes basically. So, yeah. But if I had to just pick three, I would just do Bulgarian split squats. Um I would do the lunges. I think lunges are really important. And then finally, the Romanian deadlifts. I feel like those are really great for the glutes.

are really great for the glutes. Exactly. And I really like to, you know, pack my bum when I do that, for lack of a better term. Like I'm squeezing as hard as I possibly can and then I'm unable to sit for the next 3 days, right? Just the greatest feeling ever. And then obviously you don't want to neglect your calves. Please train your calves, guys. It's so important. If you're ever wearing shorts, yeah, it's just not a good look to have, you know, wiry calves. Like, nobody likes that.

wiry calves. Like, nobody likes that. And then finally, the reason I have shoulders separately is because I was trying to give them extra attention cuz they're really weak for me. Um, you really cannot go wrong here. There's not that many options to choose from. I'm sure any shoulder workout will have the component of a standing press which is just like upright like that which I really like doing just because it makes me feel so good, nice and strong. And then lateral raises are another good one. Try and have them be really slow and controlled and lead with your pinky.

and controlled and lead with your pinky. So when you're like going up, go up like that. I feel like that's been a super helpful. So what I've been doing there for the art releases right now what I'm trying is I first set I hold it for 3 seconds. Second set I hold it for 4 seconds. I third third set I hold it for 5 seconds and fourth set is basically a higher weight with 3 second boot. Wow.

higher weight with 3 second boot. Wow. So I'm just putting you know isometric tension on my muscle so that it it's the benefit of it. Yeah. There are different ways to go about it. Exactly. Okay. And then just on the other side of that, if you wanted to do it eccentrically, what you can do is you can just go all the way up and then come halfway down, then go all the way up and then go all the way down. So doing that puts your muscle under a lot of tension. And again, remember if you'll take one thing away from all of this, you don't have to do any of these exercises. Like the only like your muscle doesn't know if you're doing shoulder presses or lateral

doing shoulder presses or lateral raises, right? What it does know is that is it getting the signal um stimulus or not? Exactly. Is it getting the required stimulus for it to break down and rebuild? That's how muscles are built. That's how they get bigger. So if you just want to do lateral raises, 15 sets, fine. That's totally fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But as I've mentioned here, the only bad workout is a missed workout. So even if you can go just for 10 15 minutes, just go to the gym. I promise you once you're there, there is just no world in which you will not feel like working out. So whatever it takes, build systems, have processes that get you at the gym because I

that get you at the gym because I promise you once you're there, it's just so like it's much much easier um compared to that. And also on that same note, Abay, did you have any other uh tips for us in terms of consistency? like what can people do to you know not just start this hopefully given the information that we shared which wasn't a lot but at least hopefully some of it was helpful but how do they stay consistent with their habits so I can share what I did and they can like uh take some inspiration out of it and try to do it their way so for the initial 2 three years I used to log my workouts every workout I used to write it I don't

every workout I used to write it I don't like uh type it or something I used to write it in a small journal I still have my old workouts so it used to be like push-ups 10 into three squats 10 into three running one into two it was more like diagonal running or something whatever it's like I just used to beep it and what that so you have to understand that this is something which will not give you instant hit or instant dopamine hit like this is something the results will be seen after some time after when you put in the effort after you put in time and a lot of times you won't see the result there will be times where you won't see the result and you will by the am I doing it

will by the am I doing it So these are small things which help me keep going like logging my workouts and then after 1 month if I see oh I used to do 10 into three now I'm doing 20 into three suppose it just it just gives you small dopamine hits like that okay I was like it's a long journey you have to make small goals so that when you accomplish it you're like okay you are going in right direction and then you go on to the next one that helped me in a way secondly uh I tried there were days when I went max Okay. So maximum of my potential but over the period of time I understood that is not the right way to go about it because if you are going max

go about it because if you are going max every day you're not truly going max every day because there's a cost of going going maximum every single day. So there is a those cause prostate videos that you see that people going hard and doing this you can do that for a finite amount of time not over the years you can't do it every day I'm sure I can write it down you after going hard every day you are not really going hard every day so it's like make your workout 7 out of 10 and do it every not every day basically do it over a consistent period of time because if you make it 10 out of 10 or you know 15 out of 10

out of 10 or you know 15 out of 10 suppose but if you are in bed for three days or you are not you're just so you can't move a muscle or don't want to do it or something like that. Don't do that. Make it a seven out of 10. That is like a decent number to start with. Make it a 7 out of 10. Do it like consistently over a period of time and then try to improvise or you know just iterate on it. Absolutely. And to what you said about you know the destination all and all that the way I like to think about it is this is something I want to be doing for the rest of my life

be doing for the rest of my life realistically like until the month I die whenever that is I want to be in a position where I am still working out or you know moving as we said earlier it doesn't have to be lifting weights. So I in my head I think of it as a really long marathon which extends until the day that I'm alive and it day until the day that I'm alive and it really helps me because the only thing that everybody knows about marathons is that you're not supposed to sprint in a marathon. The whole point is that you just have to keep moving. Exactly. Even if you're walking that's fine. Lots of people walk and complete marathon.

people walk and complete marathon. There's nothing wrong with that. Right. Nobody sprints the entire duration of a marathon. Like I'm sure maybe some people do like the prof they don't sprint every day. They do it once a week and every all the week is leaning towards that one sprint and then you get wet. So it's by nature like nature there's only intensity by nature can only happens for a small amount of time. It's it can't happen throughout throughout it can't happen. Yeah. And really the wins there. Yeah. keep it consistent and also the wins that you get is in the process if you really think about it like that's how at least I've conditioned myself like every time I go and work out that's success for me

I go and work out that's success for me and it ends the day the day ends right when it's a new day again I have to check that box and I just have to keep checking that box forever and that's fine like I'm not trying to get to I don't know 200 lb and then stop because I'm not going to stop what's the point on that right so at least that's what's helped me I'm uper Mhm. You can treat it as like a rent that you pay to keep that. That's a good one. Yeah, I like that. And it's And it's due every day, right? It's due every day. It is due every day. Exactly. And you have to fill that bucket every day. And it your body

that bucket every day. And it your body remembers the days that you don't uh fill pay rent basically and it will come back and ask you for rent one way or the other. Exactly. Wow. That is um and and lastly but like I'll be completing 5 years of starting this journey in next five six seven days I think. I mean thanks so much for sharing your experience worth 5 years now. That's actually crazy that you're going to be finishing 5 years soon. But yeah honestly I learned so much and you know I'm sure any listener here that has made it so far honestly would have also taken away so much. So really want to thank you for taking the time and yeah hopefully thank you for having me. Of course man long. Yeah definitely long due and yeah you know looking forward to seeing you grow also as a creator in

seeing you grow also as a creator in this field cuz I feel like it is so inspirational to watch you as you transform you know yourself and others around you and yeah happy to continue our already old friendship for many many years going ahead. Bro, come soon. We'll find a worker plan together and play football together again for sure. Yes, sir. Looking forward to it. Likewise. Thank you. That brings us to the end of that episode with Abhimarda. If you will take nothing else away from that episode, just go out on a walk right now. I don't care where you are or what you're doing right now. I need you to go for a walk or it's okay if you'll go

for a walk or it's okay if you'll go tomorrow. Either way, thank you all for sharing these episodes with those that continue to benefit from them. If you would like to support me, the easiest way to do that is by subscribing on YouTube and leaving me up to a five-star rating on Spotify or any of your favorite podcast apps. There are also links in the description for more direct ways to support me. And now without Oops. Catch you all in the next one. New episodes every Wednesday.