Relieve Low Back Pain | Reduce Low Back Pain | Canada's Leading Authority in Human Movement | Dev Chengkalath

Here’s my dirty little secret.

Over the course of the past 6-8 weeks I’ve let my training slip. Yup. Big-time.

It didn’t happen suddenly, mind you. In fact, I didn’t even really notice a big change at all. It was more of a combination of a bunch of little changes that, when summed up, were horrible!

After years of fairly consistent training and nutrition, I’d let myself slide.

I’d heard all the excuses before.

Putting off the workouts because something else more pressing at the time came up: dinner with friends, a “must-see” TV show, a crisis at work, overtime or any other number of excuses or events.Too tired, too hungry, or any other “toos”.

And I’d heard of the repercussions as well.

The weight gain. The muscle loss. The waning energy levels. Disturbed sleep. Depression.

I’ve had clients tell me they just wake up one day and find that they’re unable to fit into their favourite pair of jeans, out of shape, with aching joints, or low back pain.

Even climbing a simple set of stairs would leave them breathless. True de-conditioning.

I’ve seen this in my clients and now I’m starting to see this in myself. Well, not exactly to that level.

But enough to make me stop and take stock.

How could this happen?

I’m an experienced healthcare professional who has access to all the best training and nutritional information anyone would EVER need to build their ultimate body.

I’m connected to some of the top physiotherapists and conditioning specialists in Toronto. I’m an online moderator on the forums of one of the top nutrition systems in the world (Precision Nutrition). I have numerous degrees and designations in physical therapy and fitness.

But somewhere along the line, I let myself know everything but do nothing.

Not familiar?

When told about something, many people, and I’m just as guilty of this, will say “I know, I know!”.

Everyone knows how important exercise is; everyone knows eating healthy will make a dramatic difference; smokers know smoking is bad for them; most people know lots. The knowledge is out there.

But it’s one thing to know something.

It’s a completely different thing to do something about it.

And that’s where I stand. I know lots but have done nothing. I’ve been dispensing the advice but not taking it myself.

I’ve failed at consistent application of my training and nutrition habits.

A not so subtle softness has descended upon my midsection. What once was rock hard and chiseled is now a shadow of its former self. My arms and legs have atrophied from their previous proportionate states. I would be deluding myself if I thought I could play even half a soccer match, let alone 90 minutes on the pitch.

Don’t get me wrong. I still think I look like I workout.

The problem is that I just look like a smaller, softer and weaker version.

This is where it hurts and I’m loathe to admit it, but my body is not a body I’m proud of anymore.

In this blog series I will chronicle my journey toward my ultimate body. I will detail my trials and tribulations. My fortunes and my frustrations. My successes and my failures.

This will be a small part of my MAGIC HUNDRED.

This will be me, overcoming my inertia.

This will be my return to the iron.

Dev Chengkalath

Sir Issac Newton: Movement Guy

Though this post doesn’t deal with Human Movement directly, it does touch upon a broader sense of “inertia” which loosely defined from Sir Issac Newton’s 1st Law states that “a body in motion tends to remain in motion and a body at rest tends to remain at rest, unless acted upon by an external force.”

In my case, it was my own resistance to moving beyond the status quo, my comfort, my excuses. I was staying at rest. Immobile.

And it was my fault.

Have you ever wondered what you could really and truly accomplish in only one hundred days if you focused all your energy on it?

Think about it.

The only real difference between those that are successful and those that don’t enjoy the same success is usually related to two words: “taking action”.

Adding that external force. Action.

A while back, I came across a fantastic step-by-step success blueprint created by one of the United Kingdom’s most successful personal trainers and fitness entrepreneurs, Dax Moy.

Me and Dax: He really is that much taller than me.

In my excitement I immediately invested in the same program that so many others had used to craft their own success.

I was tired of, as Dax calls it, “serial goal setting” and was finally ready for “serial goal getting“.

Note the incredible difference between the meaning of those two phrases with just one word changed!

That evening, I read through all the information and listened to all the audio. I was stoked and jazzed as I downloaded the program and was ready for my next 100 days towards success. I was going to get things done!

Then what happened?

Life.

My work schedule as a physical therapist and human movement specialist filled up and expanded, surprise medical-legal reports from years long forgotten popped up, a few personal projects with pressing deadlines “suddenly” appeared.

It was like the world conspired against me.

Inertia struck again.

Isn’t that typical?

We end up being our own roadblock to achieving our success.

With all those “immediate” obligations, I didn’t even get started on my own journey of a hundred days. I didn’t write out all the things I wanted to work towards in those few months; the trips; the financial achievements; the educational pursuits; those personal and professional goals that would lead me towards self-actualization.

Serious Goal Getting

Now that things have settled down and I have some time to truly start the habit forming, I’ve dug out the powerful message extolled by Dax and am going to start (again!) immediately.

Through this blog, which was one of the goals I had set for myself to accomplish in the past, I hope to share with you a bit of my journey and perhaps encourage you to work on your own magic 100.

This program definitely gave me the push I needed to get working with Rocco and he’s definitely been a tremendous asset in my corner. Thanks again Rocco!

If you’re interested in learning more about Dax’s incredible program of self discovery and empowerment, check it out HERE.

Set those goals. Get those goals.

Let the journey begin.

To your success.

Dev Chengkalath