naps stories

naps stories 14

Sincere thanks to all those unknowns who wrote these articles and to those who forwarded to the rest of the mankind

Compiled & Prepared by A.Narayana Prasad., narayanprasad_a@yahoo.com

No gym needed Pumping dumbbells at the local gym might be a breeze, but if you're breathless while running up the stairs or give up within two laps of swimming, your body is only being partially exercised. All that bicep bulk isn't helping you perform any better.

Maybe rolling back to the basics and exercising the body as a unit will help. It's called functional fitness, and it involves exercising a variety of muscles all at once while also focussing on your core.

The exercises - all of which are activities that help your body deal well with real-life situations - can also be done using regular household objects. And the benefits are visible, people say.

But don't take fitness exercises scientific way of pressure needs to

this to mean that functional are any easier. There's a going about them, and the build periodically.

"Take a conventional form of exercise such as running and squatting, and personalise it to your body's needs. Or build an entire workout around a daily activity," says fitness instructor Madhuri Ruia.

Thanks to Internet -2-

Try not to use remote controls for everything.

Even when returning home from the market, carry your own shopping bags, and while you're at it, keep your posture straight, walk briskly and divide the weight equally between the two hands.

Alternately, sitting and casually bouncing on a Swiss ball while watching TV or reading a book helps the back muscles immensely. Elastic bands with varying levels of resistance, too, are just as helpful.

Sarah Fernandes (29), a chartered accountant, makes use of the chairs in her house to do situps. She also frequently rolls up her aerobic mat, holds it vertical and uses it to support herself while doing squats and other leg exercises which help her core.

"Just make sure that your core is engaged with whatever you do, even if it's sweeping and swabbing. You will sense the tension when you're out of breath.

But if your instinct says something's doesn't feel right, stop immediately," adds Ruia. Don't sit still, improvise Experts say that as you experiment , you'll

Thanks to Internet

"These are effective ways to stay functionally fit at discover new ways to exercise different muscle groups simultaneously.

"There are three commonly known kinds of crunches - forward, backward and reverse besides what you might design for yourself. And then you can play with the way you climb the stairs, too - take two steps at a time, climb backwards, sprint, jog, step up and down," says Dr Mustafa Topiwala (27), a sports trainer and physiotherapist with Saifee Hospital.

This is also true for the resistance bands that work out different muscle sets in your body.

Homemaker Sheetal Kher (25), mother of a sixmonth old, has taken to gardening with gusto.

"Weeding the small garden in my compound and watering the saplings is so much more exhausting than I thought. I have to bend a lot, and it's helping my posture," she says.

However, get some advice from a physiotherapist before embarking on your functional fitness regime. Get to know what kinds of functional fitness exercises will suit you best, and once you've got the hang of it, you can improvise.

Thanks to Internet -4-

Set aside a fixed time slot and gradually increase the intensity. You'll know for sure that you're fit when you sense an inner strength in your core, and your muscles all hold up well under pressure.

Eat healthy food - take in a lot of proteins, healthy fats and vegetables.

Thanks to Internet -5-

WHY ARE INDIANS EASY TO IDENTIFY 1. Everything you eat is savored in garlic, onion and tomatoes.

2..You try and reuse gift wrappers, gift boxes, and of course aluminium foil.

3... You are always standing next to the two largest size suitcases at the Airport..

4. You arrive one or two hours late to a party and think it's normal.

5. You peel the stamps off letters that the Postal Service missed to stamp.

6. You recycle Wedding Gifts, Birthday Gifts and Anniversary Gifts.

7. You name your children in rhythms (example, Sita & Gita, Ram & Shyam, Kamini & Shamini..)

8. All your children have pet names, which sound nowhere, close to their real names..

9. You take Indian snacks anywhere it says 'No Food Allowed.'

10. You talk for an hour at the front door when leaving someone's house.

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11. You load up the family car with as many people as possible.

12. HIGH PRIORITY ***** You use plastic to cover anything new in your house whether it's the remote control, VCR, carpet or new couch. ***** 13. Your parents tell you not to care what your friends think, but they won't let you do certain things because of what the other 'Uncles and Aunties' will think.

14. You buy and display crockery, which is never used, as it is for special occasions, which never happen.

15. You have a vinyl tablecloth on your kitchen table.

16.. You use grocery bags to hold garbage.

17. You keep leftover food in your fridge in as many numbers of bowls as possible.

18. Your kitchen shelf is full of jars, varieties of bowls and plastic utensils (got free with purchase of other stuff) 19. You carry a stash of your own food whenever you travel (and travel means any car ride longer than 15 minutes)..

20. You own a rice cooker or a pressure cooker.

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21. You fight over who pays the dinner bill.

22. You live with your parents and you are 40 years old (and they prefer it that way).

23. You don't cooking.

use

measuring

cups

when

24. You never learnt how to stand in a queue.

25. You can only travel if there are 5 persons at least to see you off or receive you whether you are traveling by bus, train or plane.

26. If she is NOT your daughter, you always take interest in knowing whose daughter has run with whose son and feel proud to spread it at the velocity of more than the speed of light.

27. You only after 11pm

make

long

distance

calls

28. (this is Best One ) If you don't live at home, when your parents call, they ask if you've eaten, even if it’s midnight.

29. You call an older person you never met before Uncle or Aunty.

30. When your parents meet strangers and talk for a few minutes, you discover you're talking to a distant cousin.

Thanks to Internet -8-

31. Your parents don't realize phone connections to foreign countries have improved in the last two decades, and still scream at the top of their lungs when making foreign calls.

32. You have bed sheets on your sofas so as to keep them from getting dirty.

33. Its embarrassing if you're wedding has less than 600 people.

34. All your Tupperware is stained with food colour.

35. You have drinking glasses made of steel..

36. You have mastered the art of bargaining in shopping.

37. You have really enjoyed reading this mail forward it to as many Indians as possible.

I STILL LOVE TO BE AN INDIAN

Thanks to Internet -9-

The Management Tip Traditional leaders see the employee-boss relationship as a transaction: money in exchange for labour. Transformational leaders know and recognize that employees want much more than that. Here are the four things your people need to succeed:

Love:

This may sound touchy-feely, but love

simply means focused concern that is exclusively for that person's good. Show your employees you care about them and their futures.

Growth:

No one wants to be exactly where

they are forever. Create a culture that allows your people to grow and expand.

Contribution:

To feel fulfilled, employees

must know that they are contributing to the whole.

Emphasize the ways that their work matters to the organization.

Meaning:

We

are

meaning-seeking

creatures. Share a vision that demonstrates that all of your employees are engaged in a larger purpose.

Thanks to Internet -10-