JOIN USStop chasing fads, find your mojo
Fads, diets, and working out indoors are all passe as gyms indoors are beginning to be a thing of the past. Working out outdoors is what is catching up with youngsters as well. Parks, society gardens, beach-side, lakeside, forest-side or going to playgrounds and community gardens are popular choices to sweat it out now.
People want to break free from the mundane. During winters, people want to step out. They like to stretch, contract, jump, twist, skip, bounce, run, cycle, dance, and practice yoga, pilates, functional training and CrossFit.
The fitness conscious are changing workouts. They feel that they can challenge their body in a calibrated way and enjoy fun and frolic, which is the recreational aspect of these outdoor workouts.
Can you imagine working out in the lawns, next to trees, listening to the chirping of birds and under the open sky? The sun could have just risen or it could be the sunset. The movement of running, cycling, or practising yoga or pilates, functional training and CrossFit with groups, partner or partners, is catching up.
It’s not that people do not go to gyms anymore. Though gym lovers are still around, more and more people want to go outdoors. Those who are bored of gymming, resort to group classes. Thus, such classes are gaining popularity. During winters, Zumba, dance aerobics, bhangra funk and Bollywood dancing is in vogue.
Whatever be your choice, be equipment-free and enjoy the workouts. Add life to your workout by mixing elements, be it Surya namaskar, or bhujangasana of the East, or the plank of the Western science or even simple burpees. May it be a gymnastics guide workout or a simple advanced yoga session, don’t forget to enjoy and make it an experience of fulfilment, joy, happiness and celebration.
In the last 10 to 15 years we saw trends of fusion diet, and Italian food come into our lives in the form of pastas and pizzas. We were completely inundated with the menu and Chinese became the second choice. Thankfully today, new age children — the millennials —are gradually moving on to vegetarianism and most of them now to veganism.
Punishment is no more the word. Celebrate with fitness is the new mantra — fun, fitness, frolic and philosophy.
Intermittent fasting has once again stormed people across nations and they want to now eat within an interval of 12 to 14 hours. This is nothing but the old Ayurveda practice of eating a good meal a day, preferably vegetarian, plant-based or vegan. Health and healing is about cleansing at the cellular and organ level, regulating organs, its functions and systems and fortifying your whole physiology and anatomy. Along with this, the workout culture is growing. People want to look good and feel better, become stronger, and sporty. Fruits are a hot favourite and salads will continue to stay in demand in the coming year.
(The author is holistic health guru and corporate life coach)