I've told you many a time that I require very little to get my workouts accomplished. Minimal equipment (or none at all sometimes), and some space in which to train in - and thats really all I require. In my case, that "space" usually translates into my living room, where I train regularly - that, and in another "spare" room from time to time. And this is great - it ensures I have NO excuses not to train, and if you do the same thing, and follow the same routines as I advocate in Fast and Furious Fitness - YOU too will have no excuses, and will be doing a great service to yourself and your health. 

But, while training in one's living room is great - it can never beat training outdoors in fresh air. Never, ever - and I'll sign my name to that one.

My workout this morning was accomplished mostly outdoors. Sprints, "ape" training (I know, I know), pushups and bodyweight dips - and all this in the neighborhood park. This particular park I go to is quiet at certain times of the day, and has a lot of trees and greenery all around - so I absolutely enjoy training there. And training outdoors makes me enjoy doing the ONE thing that is probably the most important thing to take care of in your workout, and yet, also the most ignored. That one thing is DEEP BREATHING.

Ah, the scent of fresh air in one's lungs when one's recovering from a hard set - can't explain the exhilaration of inhaling pure, fresh air when I'm gasping for breath. Deep breathing works well if your indoors as well, but it gives you a special "buzz" if you do it outdoors in good weather - can't really explain it in words - you'll have to experience it for YOURSELF to find out!

And today's workout brought back some special memories, in particular, memories of a trek through the jungle in the Kumon hills of the Indian Himalayas. Now, this was REAL jungle - not a city park - with plenty of wildlife as well (leopards, monkeys, the occasional tiger - you name it). A real, wild jungle in the hills - and one of the first things I remember there is the intoxicating smell of PINE trees all over the place. Absolutely wonderful; it made one feel as if one had stepped right into a gigantic, natural, air freshener - and believe me on this one -you'll be wanting to breathe that air deeply even if you've never exercised in your life!

Anyway, I did a short trek into one of the jungles, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Isolated, natural surroundings - surrounded just by Mother Nature, and the intoxicating and uplifting smell of PINE in the air. And I remember thinking how nice it would be to actually TRAIN in an area like this.

Just think about it - FRESH, mountain air to breathe - the pine is a bonus. Absolute solitude, so you focus on your workout and your workout alone. Sure, you may have to avoid the curious monkey or two - and you may have a hungry feline (a.k.a. Jim Corbett or Rudyard Kipling) observing you at close distance without you being aware of it, but hey, thats the fun of it all, isn't it?

Jokes aside - my point in telling you all this is that NOTHING beats outdoor training. This obviously doesn't apply to places where there's extreme weather - but if there's not, take every opportunity you have to train outdoors. Preferably somewhere with a lot of greenery and trees around you; someplace where the wind blows gently and the air is fresher than a daisy's scent.   .   .

OK, I don't mean to wax lyrical on this, but you get my point! I'll end here for now - more again tomorrow!

Best regards,

Rahul

PS: Don't forget to carry your copy of Fast and Furious Fitness with you into the jungle!

PS#2: If you enjoy trekking in jungles, and that sort of thing - then "Man Eaters of Kumaon" by Jim Corbett, the great hunter and outdoors enthusiast is a MUST read for you!

PS #3: And no, I don't endorse hunting of any sort - be it commercial, or for "fun" - except in cases where it's required to "control" the numbers (such as crocodiles in Australia), and neither did Corbett, except when he HAD to. The only shooting I do personally is through a camera, and Corbett was of the same bent of mind. You'll see what I mean when you read the book!

I often come across people jogging and walking in the neighborhood parks, and even on the roads at times. Disciplined folks, folks that make it a point to get their workout in daily, and do so without fail - something which I highly commend. People that run (or walk, if thats their routine) whether it's hot outdoors, or freezing cold. But more often that not, I've found one thing missing in their routines - something so simple they're doing it naturally, without "thinking about it", yet doing it incorrectly.

And that one thing is the way they BREATHE. Breathing, for whatever reason, seems to be out of most people's minds when they train. You'll see folks worrying about the number of reps they do, what exercises they do, correct form, and so forth. Now, all that's fine and dandy - but neglecting to breathe correctly is one of the BIGGEST mistakes you can make in your training.

There are so many benefits associated with deep breathing that it would be nigh impossible to list them all in this email. But for starters - breathing correctly energizes you, and more importantly, helps you RECOVER faster from hard exercises - both DURING and AFTER your routine. It clears your head and purifies your lungs - and perhaps most importantly for most folks - it aids in burning fat. Breathe deeply and frequently during hard exercise, and you will burn way more fat than if your breath is shallow - and unfortunately, that is what most people do.

Always remember to breathe through the nose, and not the mouth (which can be tempting to do during a tough set). And always, always, make sure to breathe correctly DURING the actual exercise itself. I consider a set of pushups half done if you don't breathe correctly - they are that important. And once you  do so yourself, you'll understand why I'm saying this. So remember that when you learn an exercise, always learn proper breathing form as well along with the actual exercise itself. I'll have more on this topic later, but for now, rest assured that this is something you need to be paying attention to. I consider this so important that I devote an entire chapter to it in Fast and Furious Fitness.

By the way, this advice applies to all forms of exercise - it doesn't matter if your lifting weights, jumping rope, doing bodyweight stuff - deep breathing lends itself to everything. In fact, it doesn't even matter if your NOT exercising - you should still make deep breathing a part of your daily routine. And once you do so, you'll be amazed at how much better you feel when breathing correctly.

The old timers said it best - YOUR BREATH IS YOUR POWER. And indeed it is - as YOU will find out as well!

And that's the tip for the day. Have a fantastic weekend, and if you train - train hard - and BREATHE correctly while doing so!

Best regards,

Rahul

PS: Grab your copy of Fast and Furious Fitness now to see what the fuss is all about.

You've been working out hard, but are unable to make progress beyond a certain point. You hammer your muscles hard during an exercise, giving it EVERYTHING you've got, but you are still unable to move beyond a certain point. And even when you do make good progress, you aren't feeling as great as you should be. Assuming all else to be fine (sensible training, no overtraining, enough rest etc) - what is that one missing link that is holding you back from getting as good of a workout as you should be?

Hint: It involves someting you do naturally, something you do without even thinking about. You've been doing it since the day you were born, yet somehow you aren't doing it correctly NOW. It's something simple, something elementary, but amazingly, most of us pay virtually no attention to it.

And that something is DEEP BREATHING, and CONCENTRATING ON YOUR BREATH. 

Let me give you an example from today's workout. I did a set of sprints at medium velocity (still not fully healed from my injury a couple of weeks ago, but I'm getting there), followed by pullups and some other exercises which I'll talk about later. Nothing too tough, nothing that serious - in fact I generally do my sprints at a far higher intensity when I'm fully fit - but yet, I'm feeling like a gazillion bucks right now. And the key to this is my BREATHING, and my focus on the same during my workouts.

I focused extra hard on breathing correctly on EACH repetition of the pull-ups. Ditto for my pushups, and super ditto for the sprints - though I did not do them at full speed, I was still working up a pretty decent sweat during the routine, and the reason was correct breathing technique, and actually FOCUSING on how I breathe while exercising.

And the benefits of deep breathing go far, far beyond simply improving your routine/results. You purify and cleanse your lungs while breathing correctly, you bring plenty of benefit to ALL your internal organs, and most of all, it's an INSTANT shot of "energy" that virtually nothing else can give you. I should know - I'm still buzzing after a moderately hard workout, and it's almost an hour after completing my routine!

Think about how YOU would benefit from breathing correctly, and focusing on your breathing during your routine. More importantly, how GOOD would you feel for the rest of the day, and how much more could you get done?

The answer is clear enough. I devote an entire chapter to deep breathing in Fast and Furious Fitness - be sure and check it out if you are interested.

All for now. If you are training today, make it one to remember!

Best regards,

Rahul

PS: We will soon have a link to our facebook site up on the blog (and website) up as well. For now, you can "like" the posts by clicking on the link beneath a blog post. For example, THIS one. 

PS#2: Have an enjoyable and safe weekend!

Started off in fine fettle with my sprints this morning. Did a 5 minute general warm up, then eased into the first sprint, and cranked things up from there. I finished that part of my workout in about 20 minutes, most of which was deep breathing and "recovering" from the sprint. I talk about sprints in great details in my "Fast and Furious Fitness" book, but for now, let's talk about deep breathing.

As you can well  imagine, a set of hard sprints gets the heart pumping, and there are few (if any) exercises that require more deep breathing than sprints do. My own routine went like this: sprint, breathe in and  out DEEPLY while recovering, and then back again. And getting the fresh air into my system felt GREAT - sort of like I had a "natural" drug pumped into my system, with only good side effects. By the end of my routine, I felt fantastic mentally and physically - sort of like I was floating on air - and this was after a set of hard sprints, which are supposed to exhaust you by the end of the workout. And I attribute all this to deep breathing - and with good reason. Breathe deeply, and you get fresh, lifegiving, OXYGEN into your system - which energizes and purifies your entire body. You feel more aware of your surroundings, and are able to perform that much better.

And in my particular case today, being that it's the middle of winter here, it felt that much better getting the cold, crisp air into my lungs and entire system while working up a healthy sweat.That's a "free" tip for you: when exercising outside in cold weather, concentrate even more on deep breathing, rather than trying to protect yourself from the cold (which is what most people end up concentrating upon), and you won't believe the natural high this gives you.

Most people forgot to concentrate on their breathing during their exercises - and this is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. ALWAYS concentrate on your breathing - and once you start doing so, you will be amazed at the benefits you reap from doing so.

Deep breathing is something else that I cover in my book Fast and Furious Fitness, along with a host of other important information that is a must for any serious trainee. Be sure to grab a copy.

Thats all for today. If you are working out today, make sure you breathe deeply while doing it!

Best regards,
Rahul Mookerjee

Hi everyone,

This is the first post on my blog. The posts on this blog will motivate and inspire you to achieve new levels of fitness and confidence, while also providing the occasional laugh. Be on the lookout for new posts daily!

Get fit - FAST!

Rahul