Imagine this. It's 5am in the morning. You're nicely tucked into your warm bed and finally starting to really dream and enter your most restive moment of the sleep cycle and your alarm wakes you up. You forgot to switch off the alarm that you had set for the one-off occasion like dropping someone off at the airport or waking your child up for them to study. How do you feel having forgotten to switch off that alarm and having it disturb your sleep? Cheated, perhaps, of that extra couple hours of rest and sleep?
Now imagine waking up every single day at around 4.30am because you want to, because you need to, because you have to. You want to because those couple of hours are precious 'alone time', you need to because your body needs its daily routine and you have to because you're determined and disciplined and getting to your daily workout is what makes you the person you are the rest of the day.
Dr. Kamal Jadhav is one such person who lives in total alignment with her body and its clock. For most of her adult life, she's maintained a healthy lifestyle. Now retired, she's reaping the benefits of the dedication and respect she has shown to her body. Kamal Jadhav is an inspiration to most people who meet her, whether inside a gym or in a social gathering. She embodies the message of consistency & discipline for a successful fitness program and consequently a fit & healthy life.
Kamal has had a diverse career chart. She was the Head of the English Department at Jai Hind College, Mumbai for a good part of her teaching career. She used to read the Morning News on Doordarshan for 3yrs and then anchored a program called Business Plus on DD Metro for 6yrs. She has also had a parallel career in Voice Overs and Commentaries for film documentaries. And for many years, and occasionally now too, Kamal comperes live programs for the corporate sector.
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| Professor days |
A Naval officer's daughter, she had the privilege of a great schooling in Visakhapatnam & Mumbai. She went to college in Ooty and then graduated from Madras University. Her post graduation was from Andhra University and finally she did her Ph.D with the University of Bombay. The constant change of place at a young age probably taught Kamal resilience & coping mechanisms & created the strong personality that Kamal has.
Kamal recalls how as a young child and all through her days as a young adult, she was always seen with her handkerchief in one hand & an inhaler in the other. She was teased by her friends that those two things were her pacifiers. She strongly remembers wanting to be stronger and healthier because of those remarks. She describes herself as being overweight as a young woman. Though seeing her photos from the time, I personally think she looked amazing even back then. She remembers taking long walks in Navy Nagar's lush green areas after her marriage to a Naval officer, Capt. Reuben Jadhav. The walks continued when she went on to become the busy mother of two young boys, with her husband mostly away on missions. Even though the pollen content in the air in those green areas was bad for her sinusitis, she continued to focus on cardio as her preferred form of exercise. These years laid a strong foundation to who she is today.
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| picture from her mom's autobiography |
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| baby Kamal |
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| Green house captain - standing in the centre |
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| Beautiful family picture of younger Kamal & Capt. Reuben and their children |
Then on her 50th birthday, Kamal gifted herself a gym membership and she's never looked back. She works out five days a week with two rest days, Thursdays and Sundays. Her routine is walking to the gym, which takes her about 30 mins and then an hour and a half in the gym. She alternates between upper body and lower body weight training sessions. When I ask her which machine in the gym is her favourite one, she says she has none because each machine is beneficial to some part of her body. Such is her commitment to a balanced and consistent routine. Not surprisingly all her allergies have disappeared and she insists that this last decade has been the shiniest of her life.
Kamal's tips for working out and maintaining good health are worth listing :-
1. Without discipline & consistency one cannot make exercise an integral part of a daily routine.
2. Holidays are not an excuse or a licence to 'let go' of one's routine. In her own case, she travels to New York once or twice a year to visit her sons and their families and on the way to their home from the airport her first stop is at the local gym close to her son's home where she renews her gym membership. She takes a day off to account for jet lag and is back to her routine the very next day.
3. She thinks people need to choose the right moment to exercise. Early in the day works best for her, because that way it gets done before all other responsibilities show up. But, she concedes that everyone can find a moment that suits their own lifestyle.
4. If you don't like the confines of a gym, do something else, she advises. Ride a bike, go for a run or a brisk walk in the fresh air, but make sure you're working on building & maintaining muscle mass. So, include some kind of resistance training & weights.
5. Once you've started, trust in the process. Give exercise & your new routine time to help you. Her point is simple but powerful: it took you time to get out of shape, it will take you time to get back in shape.
6. Stop making excuses that you don't have time. Not working out reduces your overall working life. To be able to work at optimum levels until you are much older becomes possible in fact only with a healthy lifestyle. Working out de-stresses the body, mind & soul.
7. Stop living your life with the attitude that my children will take care of me when I'm older. Build an independent life of self respect. Let your children be able to live their lives happily knowing you are fit & fine.
8. Fitness is 70% what you eat and 30% exercise.
9. Don't look for motivation outside of you. When Kamal goes to visit family and gets back to her gym after some time, the younger gym goers tell Kamal that she's been missed as she is their inspiration and serves as their motivation. Even though this is flattering, she insists that each one of us has what we need in us.
10. How she looks today is a result of several years of hard work. People bring their wives to the gym to show her as an example to follow. Youngsters mention they hope to be fit like her when they get older. She insists that she's not doing anything out of the ordinary. She just has her priorities right.
11. Prioritise your health as work and remember that the quality of any work is always intricately connected with good health.
12. Go to bed on time. A good workout is only possible if one's body is rested.
13. Right food at the right time is important. Kamal has a large breakfast, lighter lunch and an early dinner by 7.30pm. As a culture, she thinks Indians need to start bringing their dinner times to earlier in the evening.
14. Anything that is made for mass consumption is junk food. You can have a cheat day or two where you indulge but this cannot be eaten on a regular basis.
15. Think of your body as a temple. Be mindful about everything you put in it. Respect your body and it will serve you well. Abuse it and it will retaliate.
16. Everything follows after good health. Once you get sick, none of the things you were chasing after matter.
17. Kamal's key message is "Don't do as I say, do as I do". She points out that she goes to the gym in New York with her grandson and they regularly exchange notes on the newest equipment or exercise trends.
18. Enjoy the benefits of a healthy life. Even though diabetes is part of her genetics, she's never had it. She eats chocolate & rice everyday. That's what consistent exercise can do!
19. Above all she's her own best friend and loves herself.
What do you think of Kamal's list? Can you add something to it? Maybe one of your favourites that has helped you or someone you know? Feel free to add it in the comments and let's all work together towards being healthy. The floor's all yours.
#fitnessgoals #dailysteps #olderandfitter #womensupportingwomen #strongwoman #dailydiscipline
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Listen to Kamal speak to Michelle Philip on Michelle's podcast 'Soul 3' about her strict fitness lifestyle
https://open.spotify.com/
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