Being Physical

It was another season of breathlessness for me. I was panting badly. But I had to make up the distance. Atleast upto the the last light post at the end of the street after which there was total darkness. The time was 9 pm. I just saw the FIFA 2010 match between Germany & England. The Klose Podolski Lahm Ozil Muller Schwienstiger team ruled literally. That was the future of the great Oliver Kahn team. Post Ballack era. The way they crashed Argentina & England by 4 goals each. Before going down fighting against the silent guns – Spain led by Villa Cassilas Torres. Felt sad for Messi Lampard Kaka Ronaldo. All these action was on tv. Myself, at Jabalpur.

I changed the track on my Ipod shuffle. Now playing Sevendust- Black. Nice beats. To thump up my left over energy for another round of jogging. I didn’t have much left. So I had to finish it. I increased the speed, finally ending it. Felt really good. The Jabalpur Nagpur express passed me byside. After few days I would be boarding that train for my way back to college. The t-shirt was totally sweat drenched. People kept staring at me. Not a new thing for me. Came back. Mom kept shouting – “don’t go under the shower now. Don’t sit under the fan.” I said Ok. Likewise, again, I went infront of the mirror. We don’t get this big bedroom like mirrors at hostel. The whole body was reflecting with sweat. I remembered my oiled body look at bare chest round. I pulled back my hairs. I am surely loosing them fast. Getting bald. Future plans – either become Vin Diesel, total shaved, or Salman Khan, get hair transplant. Leave them to dreams for now. First complete your studies. Already this body stuff is killing it.

Back when I was 12 years old, it was the same feeling even then. Every evening after the heavy cycling, I used to come back & kept looking at the mirror at myself, unclothed, full of sweat. I did have a desire to be Arnold Schwarzenegger, not realizing how much hard it is to be someone like that. It all started with a very young age. I was 5 years old. On my way to school by rickshaw, I caught the sight of this poster of Arnold from the movie Predator. I can never forget his biceps. My 2nd hero was Sylvester Stallone. Movie – Rambo. 3rd hero – Jean Claude Van Damme. Things started happening when my father took cable connection at home & I started watching WWF, inspite of my father’s continuous protests. I remember how they showed the training sessions of Rock & Brock Lesnar. After that, another thrill was to see the whole Rocky series. Rocky Balboa & his training sessions.

By then I didn’t have any idea what bodybuilding actually is. Parents kept telling me not to do weight lifting, otherwise it will affect height. & it did affect. I didn’t listen to them & I remained 5 ft 3 inches since the age of 12 years. After that my height never increased. Medically reason it as the premature ossification of the bone ends due to heavy physical exercises. I just stabbed the sledge straight into my own foot. Now I feel the very dejection of not listening to parents. I was always regular in running. Or call it jogging. When I was born, I weighed 12 pounds. That was bit more than normal. The doctor handed me over to my father congratulating everyone for having a wrestler born. I crossed 50 kgs when I was 10 years old. So overall, I was obese by birth. So I always tried to keep up with exercises to keep myself fit, right from my childhood. I only changed the track, from free hand exercises to heavy weight liftings. Remember class 7, 8, 9 & 10. I was the God of arm wrestling at my school. & back at home, I would incessantly go on with non-stop push-ups, fly kicks, high kicks, kick boxing, crunches.

I reached the milestone of weight, when I was at Kota, in 12 std. I crossed 100kgs. It was just then & there, that the control started. I cut on my diet. No breakfast. Only 2 meals a day, lunch & dinner. No non-veg. No fast foods & junk foods. As many glasses of cold lemon water, without sugar or salt. More fruits & salads & water. Less oils. Alongwith as much exercises I could possibly do. Both mornings & evenings. & finally I was down to 48 kgs after 4 months. When I came back to Bilaspur & opened my t-shirt, I could see my rib cage clearly, without expanding it. My facial bones had grown very much prominent. My waist length was below 28. I had to get new pants stitched for me. Meanwhile I continued with my exercises. During the phase of drop after 12th, I took to as much protein I could take on. Chicken, I used to eat 1 kg in day alone. I loved fish & eggs.

Then came college. I got selected. I knew I would be made nude in ragging. & so I was prepared for that. I just followed the home made exercise schedule of Van Damme. Cause my parents never allowed me gym. Enter college. Mgims is damn worse in matters of physical fitness stuffs. I remember when I reached Bapu Kuti. I reached their with bandage on my arms, legs & a scar face. So usually I never took bath until the 10th day. Every night at dormitory, Shridhar, before going to sleep, used to go shirtless & - “dekh saale, body dekh meri.” I used to simply lay down & say – “ya its good.” It was the 10th day that I went to take bath. Clothes off. Water all over. & the show starts. It was Amit Singh who caught my glimpse. Its this guy who takes the credit of making me famous with the name of Rambo.

At school, I was known as baby Rhino. We did have, not so good, yet good enough guys to go on with physicality. Its surely not everyone’s cup of tea. The temptation surely takes in every guy. Call it the adrenaline cum testosterone factor. Be it the worst geek, being physical is every guy’s dream. As much lovely it looks to be physical, that much hardcore you have to become to be something like that. Abhinav did take much interest in these stuffs, but he got down with asthama. Pranay keeps speaking of making up, but I never saw any signs of that in him. Sinoj used to be a deadly fellow. He was my worst competitor in arm wrestling at school. I heard the guy used to do pull ups on the ceiling fan nails. Sabin did try to show off a lot. But turned out to be a loose brad. I was lucky enough to get the gym at college. No 1st year student is allowed to step into gym. But I did make my start in 1st year itself. The pgs used to go crazy over me. We didn’t have much equipments earlier. Ghosh sir made good contribution before leaving as the warden by bringing some new stuffs. Though things keeps breaking & stolen everytime. Still we try to make the best use out of it.

1st time I saw gym was when I was 11 years old & used to go to the Rly. Stadium at Bilaspur. I used to go there every morning for running. Nowadays whenever I go home, I always try to take out time for a run at the stadium. I remember the tall sturdy guys used to run all over the concrete stairway steps made for sitting. Reminds me how Rock used to run over them. I could hardly do that because of my small height. It was my father who took me there & used to show me how athletes run. Oh man! Guys used keep on running non stop for hours. I used to just keep gazing at them. That was when I was 9 years old. When I reached 12 years age, I used to run a regular non stop of six kilometers. And then I would always see the people gazing at me. Surely I made one hell of a stamina. It was then a guy called me up to try some gym stuffs. The gym was attached to the stadium on its exterior alongwith lawn tennis, volleyball & basketball courts. I said – “ mom said no.”

Bodybuilding proper started at college. 1st I just went on doing whatever I could possibly do at gym, trying to do all the equipments. I would never listen to anyone. The thing didn’t actually work. 04’ batch came up with the concept of bare chest round at the fashion show on annual fest. That was the first something like that happened in MGIMS. We remember our expression. Totally awestruck. Jaws dropped all over. I myself was sitting in the audience & watching what the hell is going on-stage. They dressed as the characters from Ramayana & Mahabharat. Dhotis of different colours with armours in hand. Background music was Age of Innocence from Enigma. Overall it was really appreciable. Eventhough Borasi sir managed to cover up his pot belly with the gold plate he wore over his belly, resembling Ram. Yogendar sir & Atul sir surely looked good with 6 ft height. Mahajan sir’s abs made him the show stealer. Bagadiya was the only guy from 06 batch. Pawan sir, as usual, the model. Satyendar was the dare devil, to wear the waist line so low, as to reveal his pelvic region. It was even below the way Ranbir Kapoor did it in Saawariya.

From then on, it became the great topic of discussion every where, be it the boys hostel or the girls hostel. Borasi sir surely did a great in justice to me. Anyway. I wouldn’t have matched their heights. & no one from them would have matched my bulk. 05 gathering was like a wait being over. People just wanted to see the new faces. 04 guys had left. Bagadiya & Satyendra developed pot bellies. Pawan sir & Mahajan sir didn’t go home after their exams & joined Belle gym. Pawan sir told me from the very starting – “I want you to be ready for the show.” I thought it to be a kid’s job. But as the days came nearby, I realized the very chill for the ultimate thrill. I was fighting with my fat. My chest was surely the best of all. I went on with deadly bench presses. It was Mahajan sir who approached me & rectified my faults. 1st he used to train me over the body part exercises. But I wouldn’t listen to him. Then he offered me the great book – Encyclopedia of Modern Body Building by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Though it was a Xerox copy of the original one which belonged to Tushar Prem Borkar sir of 96 batch. The guy surely had left. He completed his post graduation & now he is at Oman. I checked out his pics on orkut. I was left astonished. By that time, Batiston sir gave me You Tube video of Arnold & Ronnie Coleman. It was from then I started collecting videos & informations about body builders. Jay Cutler & Dennis Wolf became my favorites. Abs of Brent Kutlesa. The upper body of Wolf. Jay Cutler stole every show with his bulk. Lee Haney & Troy Zuccolotto’s pics were their in our gym itself. Shawn Ray, Dexter Jackson were the other ones to fascinate me. Frank Zane, Franco Columbu, Larry Scott, Dave Draper, Sergio Olivio were among my old favorites. One thing was quite sure, as time passed, bodybuilders became more massive. Lee Priest was my ultimate inspiration. His small height, yet his great arms. A total piece of wonder.

The principle was to loose as much fat you can. Cause until & unless fat is really gone, you can’t exhibit your muscles nicely. & that is how body builders get ranked. What matters is how much clearly you can define your muscle fibres, recalling each & every muscle of the body distinctly, ofcourse the superficial muscles indeed. & then comes the bulk. How big your muscle is. Arnold stole all shows with his biceps. Those were the biggest heighted biceps the world had seen. Eventhough his lower body wasn’t that appreciable. Dorian Yates was considered as the best body ever. Dennis Wolf had the highest ratio of upper body to his lower body, explicating a perfect V shape. People die for a V shape, which is as hard to achieve. It comes with a high developed latissimus dorsi alongwith big shoulders. Even the chest development was divided into upper chest, made by inclined brench presses & lower chest, made by declined bench presses. Flat bench presses for full development. Alongwith dumble flys. I loved theses exercises. You even were required to show the fibres of chest. Biceps were surely a hard to go on. Curls, be it concentration or preacher. I had a good piece of triceps, developed by years of incessant push ups. So I loved to go infront on the ramp & exhibit triceps heads with extended arms. Parallel dips was easy for me. That much tough was pull ups. I needed to do them for building up my back, which was not good. So I took to pull downs instead. Alongwith bent over barbell rows. Though it made backache & hip pain after exercises. So the waist belt was in for support. I don’t know how many times I injured my wrist while flat bench presses. I would go on lifting upto 80 kgs, & when I would reach saturation, I would be unable to put the barbells back to the knot & finally resulted to sprain. My most vulnerable parts were my shoulders. I loved doing shoulder exercises. Dumble presses, clean jerk presses, Olympic lifts, lateral raises, front raises, shrugs. Though continuous sprains & strains left them shrunk. & I would try to avoid rests as much I could. That was surely a very bad thing. Cause you need to give a muscle rest for atleast 48 hrs, to develop up. & the schedule was –
1st day – shoulder, back& abs
2nd day - chest & lower body
3rd day – biceps, triceps & abs
4th, 5th, 6th day repetitions.
7th day off.

It very hard for me to make abs. Since I had enough fat over my belly to cover up the abs muscles. I remember watching Aamir Khan exercises on tv to promote Ghajini. The Ghajini fever was there for a long time. Still I went on with crunches & leg raises.

05 gathering introduced me to the ramp. I never had a good height to lead the ramp. Only thing I could possibly excel in on-stage was the body show. Yes, it did give me a purpose for doing gym. During 05 gathering I built up like any WWE wrestler or any movie actor. Not having a well defined body. One thing was sure. Girls appreciate a lean trim body. The one having a good torso will be the show stealer. & so expectations were high on Mahajan sir. As usual the bare chest round was the last of all events. The best show. The last one, but surely not the least. It always used to be the main event of the night, kept for the end to keep the public sitted. & we reached back stage. I planned up for tattoos. Like Randy Orton. Or like Batista. Or like Sylvester in Expendables. Gajender made the Punisher Skull on my back. But the sweat alongwith body oil washed off everything.
On-stage behind the curtains, I remember Mahajan sir’s words – “see how the hooting starts. We always make the best shouts & applause. Just see the reaction of the girls.” The curtains opened. The it was as expected. But I surely panicked. I didn’t know what was going on. “Rambo, Rambo” shouts came from boys side. But “Mahajan, mahajan” shouts from girls’ side overshadowed it. I realized I was in for a competition here as well. Comparison always sets in when you place more than one bare chest on the stage. The public starts allotting marks on how good which body part looks of which bare chest. I did enjoy it very much. But I just knew, it wasn’t a good one for me. The best was yet to come. Next year. That was the 06 gathering. Our batch gathering.

& it all started over again, with my exams getting over & myself back to hardcore gym. This time it was totally hardcore. I tried to put my body to as much stress it could possibly bear. The schedules were there. So were all required tutorials for a good body. Actually I developed a perfect knowledge about body building from the book &internet. I didn’t need to go World Gym, the best gym at wardha. The gym produced champions every year. I didn’t have much money with me. One new thing I learnt by the time. To make a good body, alongwith hard exercise, what you need is ample of money also.
I did meet the world gym instructors. They also offered me guidelines. They were a lot helpful. I started with Whey proteins of British Nutrition. I didn’t need mass gainers. What I needed was pure proteins. As much protein I could pour into my body, that much better it is. Those were the words of Tushar Prem Borkar. The early reaction of proteins was truly aweful. The muscles started getting bulkier & harder. I was just loving it.
& soon I reached the very phase which bodybuilders refer to as the Plateau Stage.
No matter how hard you try, you find it very difficult to build up beyond what you have developed. It was very hard for me to get over it.

With frustration, I started creatinine. Alongwith whey. I changed the brand. This time it was Optimum, the costlier one. I was very much aware of the side effects of creatinine. Namely kidney failure. But I was prepared to take the bull by its horns. I increased my work out timings to 2-3 hrs. Increased the water intake. Avoided all junk foods. As much sprouts, chicken, eggs I could possibly take. Eggs. The worst thing about it was the yellow portion which had tremendous fat. So in the very expenses of an egg, we needed to take only the white of the egg. As time passed, I tried glutamine. I just wanted to be as heavy as I could.

On the other hand study loads were killing me. Opthal postings surely were. Morning & evening clinics. Surely not a joke to do that alongwith heavy gym work out. I needed to cut on my fat. So I took to morning running again. But the bad thing I was facing was the pain in leg due to weight liftings at gym. So knew running was going to be much helpful. I decided to take swimming instead. & thus the schedules became an absolute nightmare.
Get up early morning at 5am for gym upto 9:30. then clinics. The post lunch classes. Although I tried to bunk as much classes I could to take out time. Then back to gym at 4pm again. Then off for swimming at 5pm. From there back straight to evening clinics at 7pm. Used to come back from there by 8pm. Then dinner. & then again run for gathering practices till night 2am.

Being the fashion show in-charge was making everything even more hectic. But I loved it because I was getting to do whatever I wanted to.
As per the early plans, I was going to put a pose up like the Mr. Universe contestants –
Double biceps shot
Lats wing spread
Side triceps
Side chest
Most muscular pose
The Hulk Hogan pose down
Abs shot

The new star was Supratim Roy. He was gonna join me up on the ramp. The guy had a wonderful V shape. With his height & biceps, that guy looked like he is gonna give me a tough fight in body show. The 04 era ended out with Yogendar sir, Atul sir. The 05 batch era ended with Pawan sir & Mahajan sir. The 06 era started with Bagadiya & moved to Rambo era (myself). I had to put up a bunch of debutants who never touched the ramp before that. Girish, Ramesh, Shridhar. The real challenge was to put up Baghel for a ramp walk. Cause the guy was physically handicapped, had problem in right leg (polio). I had to create a bunch of hooligans for the success of bare chest round. Like every year, a scapegoat was required. In 05, it was Narjon sir. I brought Mahesh from 1st year. Yet he did well, inspite of the mild faults.

Overall I was looking forward to build up like a real pro bodybuilder. Like what Tushar Prem Borkar did. Ofcourse it didn’t happen in the end. People kept telling me to loose bulk & show up like Shahid Kapoor, Hrithik, Enrique, Brad Pitt, Channing Tatum, Daniel Criag. I knew it wasn’t possible for me cause I was bulky by birth. If also to do something like that would have required me to take fat burning pills, which were very much expensive. Or do liposection like Sohail Khan, Salman Khan. I was looking forward to go onto the 2nd level of proteins – the Iso saturates. That was very costly – 3000 bucks for 1kg. Pro builders go for the 3rd level – the Super saturates. That was even costlier. & taking steroids was surely out question. I didn’t want to die.

In the end, when I could not make a dream body, I just wanted to finish the gathering anyway possible. My biceps did measure 16 inches. Normally I am 14 inches. Chest measured 45 inches. Normally it is 40. Walking straight onto the end of the ramp & making it look attractive just required a good torso, which involved chest, abs & big broad shoulders & preferably a V shape made by wide dorsi. The side intercostals & triceps added sharpness to this wonderful look. Trapezius looked good except its not too big like Brock Lesnar.

Lower body wasn’t of much importance cause we were not to show an underwear. Still we boys used to love it to wear a low waist line with the branded tag peeking out. Specially Calvin Klein & Jockey.
Body oil always was a piece of excitement for us. Although we used to use a cheap coconut oil mostly. In some cases groundnut oil.
Going out with the girls & introduction of girls in bare chest round did change the idea of bare chest round as all boys only.
I had to take care of not rubbing against the girls anywhere, otherwise the oil could definitely spoil anyone’s dress. I remember during the backstage preparations prior to the Inferno round of 05 gathering, Akshay sir kept shouting – “beware of bare chest. Their oils are making our suits dirty.”
Another problem was the smell factor. Leave it.

Backstages were like, take off the shirt, do some pumpings. You stand infront of the mirror & make your hairs. Gel & water. & the other guy would take care of your body oiling. Oils drip from everywhere. But we want even more oil. We want to create hell. Making a Spartan like look did make an innovative idea. But for that what we needed were good thighs & absolutely sharp abs with marking intercostals. So that wasn’t feasible. We preferred jeans pants. & I tried to emulate the Salman Khan clothing from Veer or the Prince of Persia stuff waxed with WWE entry & style.

& who can ever forget the the hair waxing experimients. My hairs never got out by hair remover creams. I had to use blade. The body would smoothen up, build up, shine up. As if you have become a superstar the world wants to crown. That is the the ultimate feeling to stand & keep staring at the mirror, looking at yourself, shirtless. The guts. The curves. Everything is so beautiful.

The most exhausting & exaggerating thing was to take care of your belly. No food for 2 days. Atleast on the day of bare chest round. Starve as much as you can. & that is what I did. Alongwith spend as much time as you possibly can in gym before hitting the stage.
That was the reason why I was left out totally dead after the completion of the Heaven Hell round. I finished it at 10 pm & came back to hostel with all my stuffs. Had dinner at mess. & went off to a deep sleep at 11pm. Unlike others who partied after the gathering finished at 12am & returned at 2am.

I will always miss the bare chest round at the fashion show of MGIMS annual fests. For the time being that I found my batchmates, juniors & seniors cheering loud for me. Showed me the love I had. Its like speaking up like Mickey Rourke in the movie The Wrestler – “you people are everything for me.” The whole college knew me by that identity only – Rambo. No one knows the real name – Arnab Kumar Roy. I am that fellow who walks down the ramp with big bulky muscular body, short height, dark complexion, shinning brightly with the oils & water all over the bare chest body. We evolved. It gave me a reason for a hardcore gym. The way Michael Jackson jumped out from underground on-stage at the Dangerous performance at Bucharest, the way Triple H makes his entry on the track – Time to play the Game, spitting a bottle of water. Or call it Guns n Roses performing, Axel Rose & Slash going wild, Bon Jovi rocking. Stages are really a life to live. Though I created enemity with almost half of my batchmates & didn’t expect them to howl for me, I got a clear & a hearty applause from the junior most batch to the post graduates. I remember my Fmt lecturer Dr. Vishwajeet Pawar – “when is your show? We are waiting for it. After that I will take my kids home.” A silent crowd gone wild always shakes up the stage. Your performance on the stage speaks by the reaction of the public. I wish I could have lived these moments forever. The craze for being physical is never dying. It keeps asking for more & more. At one point of time, it did come to my mind to go into this field of professional bodybuilding, cause I loved to be physical & to put up all the exertions required for being something like that. But I remember, while doing the crunches for abs, it just srtuck my mind - perhaps my father chose the best line for me. Sitting on the table & chair, with ceiling fan above & lights, yearning to be a doctor, all you got to do is study books, is far more easier than working out behind your body for perfection. Being a bodybuilder is almost close to being an artist. You become the sculptor of your own body, cutting out unwanted parts like fat, adding on the required stuffs like muscle masses, through hypertrophy. There are ways easier than to be a bodybuilder, to lead a prosperous life. Bodybuilding is surely one hell of a kind. But addiction & love knows no reason. The love to see yourself built up & the addiction for more & more. I am thankful to God for making me this much & keeping praying for more. Amen