The other call was to offer the following advice, "If you want to stay in the fitness business, better start giving pills & powders"!!
A lot of people live with fitness myths, having their own concepts and theories of fitness and health. When it comes to fitness, there are many that believe strongly in the dictum `ignorance is bliss’. Most people hate to exercise. Some hate even the thought of it. Everybody wants a `medicine’ that would make him or her fit. Then there are those who associate frank obesity with `good health’. There are those who swear by steam and sauna as the only ways of reducing weight. A tummy vibrator is hailed as THE machine to reduce the waistline.

Others shout from the rooftops: "AEROBICS IS HARMFUL" --period. Still others argue that one cannot match Yoga to reduce weight.

I have come across many of these characters in my career as a sports medicine consultant. I meet them in my clinics, during talks, audio-visual demos or corporate sessions on fitness. The time is ripe for REAL FITNESS. Time to spread correct information on fitness and dispel a lot of existing myths on fitness.

Unfortunately many of the fitness programs and equipment sellers have pampered the psychology of the consumer. Do-nothing-and-get-fit kind of formulae. Most of the people associate exercise with punishment. A mischievous schoolboy is often punished for his misbehavior and asked to run a couple of rounds of the playground. In keeping with Freudian theory, his subconscious mind equates running with suffering. On the other hand a good performance is rewarded with a chocolate. So deep down it is registered as "Exercise is very bad, very bad and chocolate is very good, very good!!" Early in life, when such associations are made, counseling exercise often becomes an arduous task. It takes a great deal of patient deconditioning.

Taking advantage of these human tendencies of exercise hatred, programs like "Total Fitness in 30 minutes a week" or "No diet, no exercise only herbal medicines" hit the human soft spot. Then there are equipment manufacturers who advertise " 7 minutes a day to Fitness" and show a Tarzanish figure modeling. Out comes the wallet--- forget the out come.
REAL FITNESS promises no such miracles. For REAL FITNESS is very close to the truth. A patient, enjoyable way towards better life. No room for quickies here.
REAL FITNESS is an attempt to create awareness about fitness, clear the existing myths and provide a simple, concise and practical formula for fitness. Of these, clearing existing myths seems to be the most challenging task.

Creating awareness about fitness in the community is very important for people need to realise the value of fitness. In REAL FITNESS we have highlighted most of the benefits of fitness in an attempt to create awareness. Here, rather than just emphasizing what would happen if you are not fit, definite plus points of being fit are provided.

If made interesting, people are willing to listen to fitness facts. I have realised that after launching the Fit India Movement in 1994. Fit India Movement is a grass root level fitness awareness program. Launched amid fanfare and media appeal with India’s greatest movie idol Amitabh Bachchan, this movement has spread to various cross sections of society trying to create fitness awareness. The popularity of the talks and demos and audience participation reveals that people want to make a change in themselves-- a positive change.
After awareness comes introspection. In introspection one needs to look within, to find out individual strengths and weaknesses.

Am I really fit?
Where am I lacking?
What do I need to do?
Each one has to know where he stands on the fitness scale. Having done that, one needs to embark on the journey towards fitness, using the principles of exercise and diet provided in REAL FITNESS.
Finally when it comes to maintenance of the fitness programs, there are maximum dropouts. This is possibly because many think about fitness as a target or an end to be reached.

For example "I want a 30 inch waist line".
Once reached they get complacent and yo-yo back to original levels. Fitness is more the means rather than an end. The means to lead a healthy happy life, a continuous process.

REAL FITNESS is devised to ensure a fitness maintenance program. The aim is to help people form a niche in the mind for fitness. Making a habit of fitness. Like we have conditioned ourselves about food, bathing, brushing teeth, sex etc. Fitness becomes a conditioned habit. If you miss your workout, a bell rings somewhere in your mind body axis, reminding you about it. And just like any other habit you hate missing it, you could even get withdrawal symptoms, if you stop! Fitness as a habit should enter your biological clock. Then the job is done.

While on habits, I am reminded about a professor in medical college who was talking about his tea drinking habit and the difficulty of shedding habits.

"H.A.B.I.T. is so stubborn" he said in his characteristic accent,
"You remove the H and A BIT remains.
Take away H and A and BIT remains.
Then remove H, A and B, IT remains.
You finally remove H, A, B and I, still T remains.
HABIT very, very stubborn."
Make fitness a habit.

What is Real about REAL FITNESS ??

A REAL mnemonic.
As a medical student I found that an easy method of remembering information was the use of "mnemonics".

Mnemonics are short-forms or abbreviations which help the brain to recall facts quickly. In fact there was a book of mnemonics in anatomy to make studying easy.
For example if you had to remember the names and the sequence of the eight bones in the wrist joint all you had to do was say:

"She Looks Too Pretty. Try To Catch Her."
She means --- S for Scaphoid.
Looks is --- L for Lunate and so on.

REAL is a word, which apart from meaning the truth, has condensed a formula for fitness and health. Easy to remember and follow.

R stands for Relaxation.
E for Exercise.
A for attitudes or posture...and
L for many things... Laughter being one of them.

Similarly I have tried to give a mnemonic for basics of exercise and it is called the S.W.A.N. formula. Everybody has heard of the fabled duckling, which became a swan. Possibly she used the SWAN formula.

S for stretching
W for weight training
A for aerobic exercise and
N for Nutrition.

S.W.A.N. will be dealt with in the following chapters.

The beauty of mnemonics is that, in the end after reading the book even if you remember just 2 words R E A L and S W A N everything will fall into place.p> Apart form exercises and nutritional tips, topics like relaxation, attitudes or posture and laughter are included, as there is now confirmed evidence about the efficacy of these methods for pursuing REAL FITNESS.
Come and taste REAL FITNESS.