Sunday, February 6, 2011

Get fit the '8' walk way

Two decades back when we were less dependent on machines, physical exercises were embedded in our daily life.

We had kal ural(grinding stone) for grinding dosa and idli batter, ammi kal(grinding stone specially for spices) for grinding spices and masala, sweeping, mopping, washing clothes and utensils helped us to stretch our muscles. Squatting on the floor for eating food and then cleaning the space, pumping water from water pumps.

Routine visits to temple and the circumambulation around the big praharams on granite stones were a good walking exercise. The granite stones had the acupressure effect on our soles of the feet. We also walked/cycled to the nearby groceries,parks,banks and schools.

All these and healthy food habits kept our previous generation free of life style diseases.

Cut to the present, where most of us today are totally dependant on machines and electrical gadgets, house-helpers, motor-vehicles and processed food.

With no scope for physical exercises in our house-hold work, we enrol in expensive gyms, yoga and aerobic classes to keep fit. We have to mark a separate time for walks and keep lifestyle diseases at bay.

I too devote nearly 40-50 minutes for walk. Sometimes I have 'purpose walks'. I walk to the nearby banks(4kms), my children's school(4kms on a different lane), the vegetable market(3kms) and these days with the wintry climate it is a pleasure to walk. I generally avoid the main roads and always take the bylanes where there are no traffic.

When accompanied by my friends it becomes an 'Idea walk'(walk while you talk).

Now with summer setting in and the sun scorching from early morning to late evening, my walk time could go for a toss. But no, I heard about the '8' walk and will try this summer.

I heard about this '8' walk from Mr. S.R.Kishore kumar in his cookery show on Podhigai channel, long back but did not keenly follow the show.

But This sunday during a Q&A session with him, I heard about the '8' walk and its benefits.

The '8' walk - here it goes.....

In a 10 feet X 10 feet room, draw the digit '8'.

To begin with walk over it non-stop for a minute, after a week gradually increase the time to 2 minutes, 3 minutes and so on till you reach 5 minutes.


This exercise, Mr. SRK said though done for a short time has immense effects other than weight loss.

It de-toxifies your lungs, checks your BP and sugar level under control.

He also suggests drinking a cup of the following vegetable juice each day for fat reduction.

Ash gourd juice with salt and pepper.
vazhathandu juice ( juice extracted from the stem of plantain tree)
Kollu chutney(horsegram chutney)- This melts the body fat and reduces bad cholesterol.
cabbage soup.

So, knock off the toxins, burn the fat and get fit this summer with '8' walk and veggie soups/juices.

16 comments:

  1. all i am able to do these days is spending half an hour with my tread mill....

    BTW, nice to see hindi version of these gadgets like..."kal ural" , "ammi kal",,, just trying to mug up these, but seems difficult for me..hehehehe

    Regards,
    irfan

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  2. @ irfan - try the '8' walk way.

    Those are tamil words.

    I wonder if kal ural is used in north india bcos it was exclusively used for idli and dosa batter. will check with my north indian friends.

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  3. Perfect. I too penned similar views a couple of months back. For ready reference here is the link http://chitchatcrossroads.blogspot.com/2010/11/where-are-we-heading-to.html.

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  4. really but wont you fill dizzy going round and round in that way ..

    maybe i will give it a try .. i do go regularly for early mornign runs though

    Bikram's

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  5. Hmmmm its look like a great way to exercise but I don't really know that I can do that.

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  6. Great post...informative and useful

    i am planning to start the * walk...as for all those juices...hmmmmm!!

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  7. I have always been into fitness from a very long time. Apart from Aerobics, I also like to do power walking inside the house,I can walk for 1 hour without feeling bored or tired,as my mind is always busy thinking of something or other, and so the passage of time never matters to me.I hate walking on the roads, for I don't like to get tiny stones stuck in the shoes.
    Somehow each to his/her own way of keeping fit, as long as they don't find some excuse to evade it.
    Nice to read about the information given by you.
    Thanks for visiting my blog, glad you liked the song, as these days they rearely put these songs in the radio, for them 20 year old songs have become classic, but to hear such gems which will never be boring has become difficult.

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  8. I agree with you how today's lifestyle has taken away our involuntary exercises - I wrote something along these lines a couple of years ago - http://rajirules.blogspot.com/2009/04/floored.html

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  9. I am interested to know more about this '8' walk way fitness routine, I looked up in the internet but couldn't find anything, could you please give a link or something to this so that i can know more about it.
    Thank you.

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  10. @rama -- no info on internet regarding this. Mr. SR kishore kumar does a cookery show demonstrating unique and traditional dishes (on Tamil channel called podhigai. Infact after q/a session the interviewer told to call the channel for his phone number so that he could give more info on that. I heard his books are available in chennai.

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  11. @ raji- This post floored me. VEry beautiful post. I've left a comment there.

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  12. @SSS - thanks and best wishes for your walk

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  13. @ talha - yup, looks simple and great.

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  14. @Bikramjit- no, I did'nt feel dizzy. In fact i did it for more than 3 minutes and yes I know from your 'running experience' that you run.

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  15. @Ms.chitchat-- I remember reading that excellent post and I did leave the comment 2 months back.

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  16. Prof.Dr.Rajan IyerAugust 4, 2011 at 7:23 AM

    Sweet Sister, I am interested in knowing more about this '8' walk way fitness routine,and also know more about this interesting personality Mr. S.R. Kishore Kumar hence thank you and all in this blog to give me his address/ contact details.(I am a Tamil Brahmin who cannot read or write Tamil or Malayalam)Hope you will respond.
    * I request you to mail me: orgonchi@yahoo.com ,orgonchee@yahoo.com ,psiorems-iyer@hotmail.com
    A few words about me: I am Prof.Dr.Rajan Iyer(MBBS,DGO,MD, FF.Hom, MD Acu)practicing Complementary Medicine(28yrs.)

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