How I made my Lockdown productive

 The Phase when my Fitness Journey began

             A skinny guy turned into a lean fit 

I was a skinny guy till 2020. I could not gain weight on the body though I used to eat a lot. But my body growth was not that good. I faced lot of teasing from my friends because of my thin body structure. Though I used to play a lot, I remained slim for many years. My weight never crossed 60kg in my life. It was stuck at 59 something. I really wanted to add some weight on myself.

In 2020, Corona entered in the scene and we were forced to be inside our homes. Being in a joint family, me and my elder cousin started working out on our terrace. He knew stuff about fitness and I was a keen learner of fitness field. I did everything he taught me. 

We used to do bodyweight calisthenics exercises twice a day. I learnt stuff like explosive pushups, handstand, L-sit, frog stand and many more. We were consistent with our workout as I wanted to make this time as productive as I can. Talking about nutrition, I got adequate amount of energy sources required to gain muscle mass. I used to take 5 meals throughout the day. A healthy home made food was enough for me to gain weight and some muscles too. 

Gradually, I saw the results on my body. I started gaining weight and muscles were visible too. When I counted my weight after 3 months in was 63kg. Before lockdown, I weighed 59kg. I was really satisfied with the results I got. It felt like all the hard work paid off. 

Then I decided to join gym to further build my body. Within 2 months of proper gym and healthy nutrition, I was able to build more muscle mass on my body. My weight also went to 67kg. That was the weight I was aiming for as it was under normal category according to my BMI. 

With the mix of bodyweight training and gym training, I was successful at making my body strong and fit.

This is how I made my lockdown productive. I worked on my physique and was able to achieve the desired results.

Now, I'm regular in fitness and I work on my body properly. I make sure I'm fit and strong as they say:

"A healthy mind lives in a healthy body."

Fighting and Conquering My Evil Side of Brain

 An experience where I overcame my negative Self

I have been involved in professional cricket since I was 11. Most of the players in India love batting. Many of them love bowling. But personally, I love fielding more than these two departments in cricket. I love the athleticism and thrills involved in fielding. Since I got in my senses, I idolised Suresh Raina as my favourite fielder. In fielding sessions, I use to copy his diving style. Fielding came naturally to me. Since beginning I have been a gun fielder.

Fast forward to 2019, we were in a match where I dropped two regular catches that I used to take with ease in practice sessions. Fews days later, I dropped two more. I was shattered, felt mentally down.

I realised it was not the skill that made me drop those easy catches, it was my mind. Whenever the ball went high in the air, my negative mind used to demotivate me that what if I drop this, I won't be able to take it, this and that. I was thinking too much of the failure that I was unable to focus on the present.

Next day on practice I was fully focused on improving this thing. I had a fight with the evil side of my brain. I made sure I win against all the negative thoughts going on in my head. 

From the next game, I changed everything about my mindset while fielding. I was only focusing on the ball and reacting to it. I knew the skill was there, just the psychological aspect needs to be improved. I was not thinking of anything else. I removed all the fear of failure from my head. I tried hard to remain in the moment and not think of anything else. 

I came out successful in this hurdle. My conversion rate for taking catches remained above 95% after that failure phase. That failure was also important to make me aware about my wrong mindset. Now, I can proudly say, I don't drop many catches and am able to express the best I can perform.

This was a lesson for all those who are losing against themselves inside their heads. If you believe yourself, you cand do it. Chin up, fight against your negative side and come out as a winner. 

A Must have Morning Habit

 A morning Habit that will make your day productive 

Earlier, after waking up, I used to grab my phone being on the bed and start my day replying to texts and laughing on memes. This used to be the first activity of my day. For years, I didn't realise I have been missing on something. 

2 years back, I saw this post from famous fitness guru Luke Coutinho where he suggested not to touch your device for the first 1-2 hours of your day. He, with his valuable post, told his social media audience that when we go through our phones in the morning, we tend to retard our fresh mind. We become less productive throughout the day.

I started this habit from the very next day. I turned my mobile data off before sleeping so that I don't get any notifications. Now my morning routine was: 

Wake Up — Make my bed — Walk around peacefully — Get Fresh — Do workout (without even listening to music) — Start my day

Seriously telling, the results were visible within a week. I felt really productive throughout the day. The initial hours of the day where I was disconnected to the outer world resulted in mental peace. I was able to think more and got more creative as I was not consuming any toxic content in the morning. 

Earlier, with all the negative content on the social media, I used to stress my brain a lot. 

Now, I've been regularly doing this habit for past 2 years. And I will suggest you all to try it once and see the magic it unfolds. 

No phones in the morning is a real good morning. 

The Best Football Match I played

 

             The Day when Underdogs Outplayed Heavyweights

 A football final that I will always cherish

A beautiful game that requires enthusiasm, passion and roughness has given us some of the best memories we've ever had, either by playing it or watching it. Yes, I am talking about football. 

I will share one of the best experience I had recently when we had our Intramural finals at our university. There are four houses in our department that compete against each other in few games every Saturday. This time we, Pratap House (Blue), were up against five time defending winners of football, Subhash House (Yellow). They had 10 specialized football players whereas we had only 4 so on paper, they were favorites and we were underdogs.

They were overconfident that they will beat us easily in the finals. They kept on teasing us for a week, but we were quite. We kept on practicing and focused on the controllable. We had the hunger of beating them in the finals and shut their mouth with the results. We were extremely charged up to show our resilience.

On the day of finals, the weather was perfect for an exciting football match as it was raining. The game started, I got yellow card under 1 minute of  play. The game went on and no team was able to score under the allotted time of play. Both teams got several chances to convert but the score line remained 0-0. Our defenders and goalkeeper played exceptionally well, blocking out every chance they made. It all came down to penalties. I was selected for taking the penalty. Excited and nervous too.

Starting 3 penalties were scored by both teams to make it 3-3. We converted our 4th as well. What happened next was unexpected. Fourth player to take the penalty from Subhash house kicked the ball off the target and they missed. Now we are 4-3 up with a golden chance to win the game and Intramural as well. I was going to take the final penalty. There was a bit of pressure but the lead was with us so a bit of pressure was released. I took my time, visualised where I am going to place the ball. I also planned how I will celebrate after winning.

Luckily, I scored and ran towards our team taking off my jersey, throwing it high in the air and jumping as high as I could. That was the moment. That was when we shut all the voices. Everyone was shouting at their loudest, jumping like mad. We came into the huddle and danced on the beats of nagade. We cherished every moment of that win. We thanked our teacher who gave us the motivation to give it our all. His motivating words really pushed us beyond our limits. Being a huge Ronaldo fan, I could not miss the Siuu celebration as well. 

That was the day when we showed, if you play as a unit and give your 110%, even the better teams can be beaten. Our resilience, never give up attitude and commitment was able to beat a better team than us. We were so satisfied as group that we were able to shut many voices that sledged us.

That is Pratap House for you. Jai Pratap, Vijay Pratap.

Confidence: The Catalyst for Success

 Confidence: The Catalyst for Success

Under confidence and over confidence should be starved with the feeding of confidence.

Remember, overestimating & underestimating yourself is harmful for your growth. Self-faithfulness and self-confidence are extremely important factors if you truly want to achieve something big for yourself. Self-doubt is one of the major resistance we face while we are in pursuit of our goals. 

Confidence is an important trait to acquire which can lead us to achieve what we really want to achieve. Confidence is a complex psychological trait that can have both positive and negative effects on our decision-making and overall well-being. It's often said that under-confidence and overconfidence are two extremes, and finding a healthy balance is crucial.

Building Healthy Confidence:

Self-Awareness: Understanding one's strengths and weaknesses is crucial. This prevents overestimation while boosting self-esteem in areas of competence.

Realistic Goal Setting: Setting achievable but challenging goals encourages gradual self-improvement and maintains motivation. 

Feedback: Actively seeking feedback from trusted sources helps in gaining a more accurate assessment of one's abilities. 

Continuous Learning: Embracing a growth mindset fosters an attitude of continuous learning and adaptation. 

Mindfulness: Practicing mindfulness can enhance self-awareness and help in recognizing and managing confidence-related biases.

In summary, confidence is a valuable asset when balanced appropriately. Starving under-confidence and overconfidence with a healthy dose of self-awareness, feedback, and realistic self-assessment can lead to more effective decision-making and personal growth. It's important to view confidence as a tool to be nurtured and adjusted according to the demands of different situations, rather than as a fixed trait.