Loving tennis - My Fun Fitness story!

83 kgs ( 182.6 lbs ) & 23% Body Fat, Oct 2008 -->

71 kgs ( 156.2 lbs ) & 14% Body Fat, Oct 2009 ( ..and maintaining there till date! )

This is not some kind of how-I-acheived-my-weight-target-goal story. I did not start anything to reduce my weight at all - this is the side benefit when I did what I truly enjoy! This is the change that gets externally noticed in real life by people who had known me, and then the questions & story follow! So, let me start with the same opening here!

I was not looking to reduce my weight back then in Oct '08 and I didnt feel dragged down carrying around that weight or anything! After all, my BMI (the so-called standard!) was in the normal range! Few months prior to this we had a comprehensive health check-up for our group in office, sponsored by my company. There they did various tests and told me that my ideal weight should be 10kgs less! 73kgs they said!! I was bemused by this, and thought that they are some kind of fitness freaks and that these recommendations are not for normal people! Fat percentage was 23% that time, while the normal recommended range for male adults is between 10 and 20% it seems! Okayyy, there is something here - yes, I was not in any kind of regular fitness activity during that time! I could not sustain any motivation for yoga, gym, running or any other similar fitness activity during that time! So, that kind of explains the high fat percentage! But, still in spite of all this I did not feel any special urge to work towards this, as there are always other important things!

One important thing was, I had always been a sports fan and especially tennis had a special chemistry for me since I was a very young boy! But during my childhood and teenage years, in the towns where I grew up in India there were not any decent tennis facilities, and also I did not have that much money or time, being a job-focussed Indian middle class school boy! After joining work in the Bangalore city in 2005, I found the facilities and money to register for a course! It was really awesome to learn the techniques of the game that I have followed for many, many years! One interesting thing that came out of it was that the coach and the other students in the course instantly recognized the vast theoretical knowledge I had about the game. They could see that in my execution style of the techniques - well I had so many images in my mind to just copy! ;) This is where the chemistry helps you to sustain your motivation and puts you in a positive loop!

But then, soon after we moved to Finland, and I found it very challenging to continue playing due to many reasons including lack of partner, high costs, lack of local language etc! But, I always had an eye for it and tried various possible avenues intermittently till I found a partner by chance, who also had great interest in tennis, and was at the same playing level as me! The rest is history :) We have been regularly & consistently playing for the last 2 years now! I am also part of other local clubs now & play some club-level tournaments! I acheived the current fitness levels gradually in the first year after starting and has stayed there since then! The incredible thing about this is I started waking up early for this - and I was not dragging myself out of bed, I was in fact waking up with high energy and great enthusiasm! Waking up very early had always been a difficult thing for me and hence I decided to leverage my tennis interest to manifest this habit :) Of course, nowadays I wake up at 5AM regularly whether I am playing tennis during those days or not! Even during the dark and cold Finnish winters!!

Another important aspect is I feel very light and energetic compared to two years back! As I mentioned in the beginning, I was not feeling specially heavy or anything during those times, but now when I look back from this lighter state I can see what feeling I had been missing during those times! You will know how it feels only when you lose it! Changing all your trousers from 36 hip size to 32 ones is a nice feeling of course :)

So my fun fitness story is this - its very easy to get fit if you take up something for which you have some good chemistry / passion to start with! Any sports, dance etc. This way you get a great head start, but thats not the end of the deal of course. You have to take up classes to learn the proper technique which will sustain your motivation for a long time! You have to look at it as a long-term / life-long investment! And of course, you should join corresponding groups / clubs to sustain it very easily afterwards!

This is not to say that this is a better idea compared to yoga, gym etc. But, if you are like me and lots of other people, without enough self-discipline / motivation to start with, then this is a great way to become unstuck and start moving! Of course, I understand that you have to get fit / strengthen your body to play sports beyond some level, without injuring yourself. Nowadays I am at this level where I have reduced the playing time a bit and am doing some body-strengthening exercises instead to improve my tennis when I play!! So, there is now the tangible connection and motivation for me to do the boring exercises ;)

This is quite similar to do-what-you-love-and-everything-else-will-follow-automatically story... though the stakes in your career are a bit higher! ;)