A World at War with Itself
The podcast will be for a year, where Julie Finch-Scally, writer and broadcaster can interview people about life and the current situation of the world. She will discuss how so many things have changed over the past 80 years since her birth, and what the world needs to change to improve and save the planet from ourselves.
A World at War with Itself
Fitness
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To keep fit, is it necessary to do regular exercise? May be, maybe not. This podcast tells you what you really need to do to keep fit.
Hi there, this is Julie Finch Scaly with you again for another Wednesday episode of A World at War with Itself. And this week it is another subject under the category of health. I'm going to discuss fitness and have in the studio with me Tofig Chowdery, who has been a personal trainer for many years. Welcome, Tofig, and thank you for joining me today.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for having me, Julie.
SPEAKER_01In your role as a personal trainer, can you look at someone and see if they are fit?
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yes, obviously.
SPEAKER_01And how do you get to that conclusion?
SPEAKER_00The word fitness or fit from from the perspective of a trainer, or I think it should be not only a trainer, through everybody's eyes, that a person, if he's fit or not, you can tell from their demeanor? Yeah. Presentation? Presentation, their willingness to socialize, their participation of everything. As human beings, if we are not feeling well, we will not want to go out, be there because we are always feeling tired, sleepy, or stay home rather than socialize.
SPEAKER_01I've always considered that fitness and exercise go hand in hand. Is this the case or can you be fit without doing exercise?
SPEAKER_00Exercise is kind of like an activity. The thing is to be able to lead our regular life. We have a certain amount of work that we need to do. So with the modernization of the world these days, we tend to not do that. We order online, stay home, working, sitting in the chair for a long period of time. So we are literally bringing the movement or activity level to so low that we struggle with our health and suffer from different type of disease that we can get rid of. Just be a little bit more active. It doesn't need to be crazy, like a lot of weights around you. You don't need that.
SPEAKER_01But you mean just like going for walks regularly and things like that?
SPEAKER_00Yes. Like you're working in in your studio for a long time, and then you decide that, okay, after this work, I will have a half an hour or 20 minute break. I'll just walk around the compound around here. And then that's it. That's what we need. Suppose you have a huge script to write, and you need to focus on that, and you can't just go walk while you're doing that. So you can keep your movement within your room. You can sit on your table, write it, and then you think, okay, I need to stand. Have a standing table, and you can write down while standing. And then you can come back to sitting position again after ten, fifteen minutes.
SPEAKER_01Does that change your metabolism that we have in the studio at a higher desk? And then you sit down again. Does it change the way your body's working at the time?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. We need circulation going on.
SPEAKER_01Ah, improves the circulation.
SPEAKER_00Our joint needs to be.
SPEAKER_01Ah, the joints. How much exercise does one need to be or keep fit?
SPEAKER_00There is no specific amount of hours or days for that. You have to make your lifestyle around that according to your needs. There is no specific hours for that.
SPEAKER_01So you can dependent on each person.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Is there some specific exercises that are better than others, or does one need an all-round routine?
SPEAKER_00I would say just a compound movement, just like squat or sitting on a sitting and standing from a chair. That is kind of like a workout by itself. If we take it as a workout in that sense. Yes. If you think that okay, I'm sitting comfortably on a chair and leaning back. And then after some time you feel no, I don't feel like leaning anymore. I want to be at the front. So that is actually our body keeps telling us that, oh, you need to move. That's why we feel uneasy, no matter how comfortable that looks.
SPEAKER_01That's why we fidget. Yeah. Well that's what kids do all the time anyway, isn't it? At what age is the best time to start exercising and is there any age limit when people should stop?
SPEAKER_00There is no limitation. There is no male, female for exercise. Everybody can just keep up doing it to have a good life. That's it. As simple as that.
SPEAKER_01I read that all one needs to exercise is three times a week. Is that true? And if it is, would it be the same routine each time or would it be workout on different parts of the bodies?
SPEAKER_00The thing is, because we are all busy in your busy life, and if you feel that you're not you're trying, but you can't still do as much movement as you need to. So in that case, we need a routine. We obviously need routine and it can be three days, two days. One day is too low to get to that level. So I would say that yes, if you feel that you had a hectic day today around the office and you have to do a lot of physical activity. So in that case, you feel like, oh, I've done a lot of work. So you don't need to do any other physical activity on that. So in our daily life, just sitting here doing paperwork, you feel that, oh, I haven't done much of movement. So in that case, you have to have a routine, like for 40 minutes. At the end, you need to sit and relax and breathe in and out to get your blood flow normal again.
SPEAKER_01That's interesting. You see that relaxing. I know people say when you um you stretch or something before or after, but you're saying relax so that you can actually breathe better.
SPEAKER_00Yes. The thing is when we do a routine of workout and there are high intensity, there can be a low intensity, uh some workouts activity stresses you out a lot. Some workout or activity might not that much of an effect. So after it all we sweat, we tend to sweat or feel a bit like we have done a bit of work, and then you need to sit. That is also a part of the whole thing, that you need to sit, breathe in, breathe out, or just simply relax, uh sip some water, and that will help us get our blood flow back to normal again.
SPEAKER_01Does exercise keep you healthy, or does the health depend on other things as well as exercise?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. We need to connect, we need to talk to people. We get so much stress from daily life, and sometimes we feel that oh, there is nobody there to talk about it. We absolutely need that. Yeah, we need to connect to people, talk to people. It doesn't need to be a huge long conversation. Long conversation, or some you look for some sort of resolution for your trouble or the things you're facing. Just a chat. Just to talk, yeah, yeah, we need that. So that's why people go to gym to find gym mate there, or you can have few friends together join a gym. That is an another type of atmosphere as well uh itself. So you can work out and you can talk so much while you're doing that.
SPEAKER_01I personally find that very boring. Not the talk, but just the way if that I I do all my exercise on my own, and I'm quite happy to do that, thank you. Um if the body is used to regular exercise, what happens when one stops?
SPEAKER_00The thing is it depends on what level you are working at. So people start going to the gym and then afraid of weights or afraid of some sort of machines there. But slowly we tend to get used to it and we try to use everything there. When I started going to the gym, it happened to me. I just wanted to run on the treadmill because I was gaining a bit of weight. I thought that treadmill is enough. I don't need to hurt myself touching any of the weight machines or weight uh weight stuff. But I ended up going there, but it took me a long time. And the thing is it's our body. So we have to keep one thing in our head that it's for my own good. I cannot push my body, I have to love my body, and I need to keep it fit, that's why I'm there. So no rushing with workout. So once we start there and we get to the level that oh, I'm pulling 20 kg, okay, why not more? 30, 40, 50, and then people get a bit too over enthusiastic, and then what they do is they go for chemicals or other substance, and that is when they start to get addicted to gym. Suppose you are working out on a regular basis and then you need a break, that is actually good for you. So you can go on a trip somewhere and you don't want to work out, you don't want to do anything because you are already doing two times a week and along with your work. So at that time you thought that I'm going away for two weeks or 15 days or 20 days, and I won't get a chance to work out there. It's absolutely fine as long as you are.
SPEAKER_01I'm glad you said that, because I know I go away on odd occasions and I think, oh, I should have done some exercise, and I didn't.
SPEAKER_00So So once you get used to your workout, you're going on a holiday, keeping in mind I don't need to do any of things about even any exercise or gym, but in your head it will go on like, oh, I've been doing this so much. There is something lacking during my so during our holidays, not every day is celebration. We we also relax. So you will find that, okay, is the the resort or the hotel have any gym there? So let's go or do a bit of workout. I just need to do half an hour of it. So that's how it goes on.
SPEAKER_01Can someone over exercise?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01What happens?
SPEAKER_00Then you will stress your body. Uh even their timing for workout, it's good to do during better to do during daytime so your body can get used to regular life before you get to bed. So if you do an intense workout and keeping on doing it every single day, some people get so carried away with it that it goes every day, like seven days a week or five days a week of intense workout. You have to have a variation of workout. You can't just run every day on a treadmill. The blood flow goes on really fast. And you you go to bed, you'll hear that your your heart is beating fast, and then you freak out, like, okay, what's happening? It's good not to go overboard.
SPEAKER_01Overboard on it. Then there have been cases where people have had heart attacks, and the paper reports that they were fit and exercised regularly. But do you think some people believe exercising is all they need and put any pain they feel down to the over exertion from the exercise?
SPEAKER_00There are two types of pain during exercise. That is when your muscles are shocked at the level of workout. Obviously, like there are certain movements that we don't get to do during our regular activity, day-to-day life. But when we we are working out, we actually doing those movements and the muscles, we have so much going on in our body. So few of those muscles get shocked. And that is a good pain. You will know that. Oh, I I worked out here, that's why that pain is there. But there is another type of pain that is for probably your form was not alright. Suppose you were doing squat and suddenly somebody was talking next to you and you had to look around and then you hurt your neck while pulling that. It can happen with a minimum amount of weight. So when you do that, you have to be really focused on that. I'm doing a squat. Okay, let me finish my workout and then I'm coming back. So that is that would be the thing. Socializing in the gym is good in the when you're having a break. A lot of people like to socialize and they want to do that in the gym as well. But if you find that no, I want to finish my 30-minute or 40-minute workout without any interruption, just go for it. That's even better.
SPEAKER_01Can some people become addicted to exercise?
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Do you see that quite often?
SPEAKER_00Yes. You'll see.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01What drive them to do it?
SPEAKER_00So we are especially the young people when they do their lifting and they see that the muscle is growing and they want it more and more. And then as human beings we have a limitation. And then they look for a substance, and it's so much easier to get them now. They're everywhere, they're on your face. And they goes with that. And they are not made for our daily consumption. Those are like steroids. So you have to have a proper guideline, a doctor telling you to take steroids. So a lot of people get too carried away, they will just inject. And because they can lift more. And that is where they totally mess up their body.
SPEAKER_01Is it mainly men that this does to happen to, or is it affect women as well?
SPEAKER_00Anybody can suffer from that and hurt from that. But mostly men.
SPEAKER_01That's not the syndrome that you used to have, you know, that there was the little weakling and then there was the big guy who was all muscly and everything. Is it that that's still going on? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh dear, how sad. What do you say to these people if you see someone like that?
SPEAKER_00The thing is, I I hope that people knows and people tries to learn about the consequences, like what are the reactions, what can be the bad sides and the good sides before taking any sort of supplement. Any supplement. And we need to follow that. It's better to have natural food, healthy. Natural food. And rather than any type of supplements. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Why did you become a personal trainer and how has it affected your life?
SPEAKER_00After my graduation I started working. And I've been working for seven, eight years, and it was mostly desk job, looking at the computer. Then I realized that my size of my clothes are getting bigger and bigger. So my waist right now is 33, 34, but it was 39 and it was getting bigger. So I realized that something is wrong. But I was young. It didn't affect me any other way other than I have to go buy bigger clothes. And a lot of my favorite t-shirts were not fitting me anymore. And I didn't want to throw them. So I decided to look for something and I asked people, and one of my relatives is a doctor, and he said that just join a gym. Just look for something. You have to have an activity. The place where I'm from, there is not much scope of running or go for a regular jogging with so much crowded people around. So I decided to look for a gym. And then I went to the gym. And then it started. And I kept on doing it. And from my gymmates, a lot of uh comments like, You've been working out for a while, why there is no change in you? The gym culture was just growing there. And they said, Why are you wasting time in the gym? Why not sit with us, talk to us? Even the family members. At one point, now a lot of those people are taking tips from me to how we do much better.
SPEAKER_01And makes you feel better, and yeah.
SPEAKER_00I had really ups and downs with my family over time. My parents were old, they were suffering, and I had to support them. And at one level I had to leave my job, I had to leave my career to just to look after them. And I was only doing workout and being their carer, workout and their carer. So I was really depressed at what's happening to my life, what would be the goal? And then I kind of thought that, wow, I'm able to do it. I can take care without any, yeah, doctors are there. But apart from seeing the doctor, I'm able to make everything for them. And then COVID came. I can't even go to the gym. And from World Health Organization, the head of World Health Organization was telling people to climb stairs if you can't go to the gym. So I started doing that. You know, to climb the stairs like hundred steps, then move it to 150 more and more, you know. And then I could see my next door neighbor who can see me running in the stairs, he started doing the same thing, you know, and lost lost his weight. You know. These are the things. It's really interesting. And I wanted to share it with people, and I started doing instructing.
SPEAKER_01I have a final question. If someone wanted to get fit, what would you tell them to do?
SPEAKER_00Be active.
SPEAKER_01Just active.
unknownActive.
SPEAKER_00And then you will take yourself to the next level. Just have an active life. You can just go for a walk. I would say just walking and looking at thing is good. That is recreation. But for the benefit of health, we need to sweat a little bit. So have a walk that it doesn't need to be right away you start to walk and sweat, not that. So keep the pace to a certain level so your body can feel that you're struggling a little. Struggling in the sense that you're sweating. Like going up hills. That's what we need. Our body needs just that.
SPEAKER_01Look, thank you for coming and talking with me today. It's been very interesting learning about fitness, and I think many other people probably find that exercising does have its benefits. I have been speaking with Tofiq Chaudri, a personal trainer for many years and helping people with their exercising and fitness. And that's it for this week's episode of A World at War With Itself. But I will be back again next Wednesday. Please do join me then. This is Julie Finch Scalli wishing you good health.