INDIAN HEALTH - PART 4 - EXERCISES

This is a summary of a great book and provided as community service to you. Your feedback is appreciated.  My advice: Buy the book and use it as a constant reference.

Book: The South Asian Health Solution

Author: Ronesh Sinha, MD

ISBN: 978-1-939563-05-7

Note: This summary is to quickly get us moving in the right direction and is not a substitute for reading the book which abounds in case studies and much greater detail than what is presented here.

THE CHALLENGE

We noted that the majority of Indians are fat or obese, and even the slim looking ones  are 'skinny fat' with little muscle and unhealthy levels of visceral fact.  Besides a high carb diet, the author attributes this problem to the lack of proper exercise.  Many who "exercise" harbor misconceived notions that walking alone is good enough. What the Indian needs is a set of muscle building exercises like lifting weights as well as some specific exercises that strengthen various key muscles of the body.  Muscles are the right store of glucose needed for strenuous activities and prevent its accumulation as bad tummy fat.

The author shows great understanding of the reasons why Indians lack proper exercise and are unable to maintain a regimen for significant lengths of time.  Thus, many of the suggested exercises in the book are those that are carefully chosen and can be performed even amidst a busy schedule several times a day.  Among the many benefits of exercising are: fat loss, taming insulin resistance, enhanced brain function, delayed aging, lower stress, and above all good role modeling (for the young).

SOLUTIONS

Inspired by the yoga approach and specifically vrkshaasana (the tree pose), the author recommends first a set of exercises that strengthen the core (the trunk), the roots (legs) and branches (arms).  He does not consider human engineered cardio equipment as matching a workout of outdoor exercises of running and walking in fresh air under diverse conditions.   Some of his favorite exercises are the following.

1. The squat.  He recommends avoiding sitting on a sofa but to prefer squatting (as they do in front of street corner tea shops in India) if not in the yogic posture.  The non-yoga squat extending the arms straight out with gaze forward and lowering oneself bringing the thigh parallel to  the ground is recommended for losing weight and also for strengthening leg muscles.  Squats with weights are the next higher level after one has mastered the basic squat.  Several variations of the squat are available for people at varying stages.  (see  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGvzVjuY8SY ).

2. The second set of exercises recommended is the set of forward lunges which improve balance, coordination and symmetry.  "One of the best exercises for women who want to tone their thighs and buttocks," so says the author.(see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gb3LNm247Y )

3. Suryanamaskar: The famous suryanamaskar of yoga (seehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38GTnjg_aBA ).  The author recommends doing each pose separately and perfecdting them first.

4. Walking: The author recommends not just walking, but "active walking" wherein one pays attention to the specific muscles involved, chooses different terrains, and trying to progressively "beat one's prior record."  A specific recommendation is to walk as a "walking corpse" facing palms forward, opening up the chest, and keeping shoulders back.

5. Weights: A regimen of weights is recommended starting from low weights and progressively increasing to higher levels.  This is one area totally ignored by Indians to their great detriment and highly stressed by the author.

The book has many more exercises and much detail on each that are not included here.  It is not just a book on diet and exercising, but also one that covers health in a holistic way dealing with things like stress management and special circumstances like pregnancy and post-natal issues.  In short, I consider it a very valuable contribution.

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Other parts of this can be found by searching through the right panel.  Have you seen my book, "Innovation by India for India, the Need and the Challenge" available through amazon.com and flipkart.com ?