Nothing good comes easy, not even my biceps, lol. Every good thing comes with some hard work. Ask the strongest and most huge bodybuilder if he made it in one day, I'm sure he will answer, “NO”.
I've heard a saying that goes this way, “Sew your clothes according to your material and not your size”. I first heard this saying from my mom. I didn't get a clear understanding of this statement until I asked her the meaning.
She detailed everything for me and I got to find out that everything still boils down to living a life of minimalism.
Sewing one's clothes according to one's material and not one's size simply means drawing one's budget based on the available resources not based on one's desires or wants.
I decided to talk about that statement and its meaning first because I have had that play in my life. I once visited a gym and I felt that was the only place I could do some workouts and build my muscles but I was wrong. The first day I visited the gym, I wanted to use the gym apparatus and equipment but the cost demoralized me.
Since I couldn't afford the cost of gym workouts, I had to bring out the minimalist lifestyle in me and employ certain strategies to make do with some home items by simply improvising them for the gym apparatus.
My precious mat is second to none. I can't exchange it for a million dollars, no!!!
I didn't have to buy this mat, it's been at home since and was used as a play mat for kids when they were home for a long holiday.
Since the kids had traveled, the mat was just folded and kept in one corner of the playroom. I now use this mat for certain workout activities like pushups, press ups, V-sit, Plank, Pilates and the rest.
One of the advantages of carrying out these exercises on a mat is that the mat increases friction between the body parts in contact with the floor and reduces slide risks due to sweat drops.
One special attribute minimalist persons possess is the spirit of improvisation.
I have this software on my phone that guides me on a daily sequence of workouts to build my abs, triceps and biceps. Some of these workouts require me to have a bolster. I didn't want to fill my house with many workout apparatus or spend money buying them, so I had to improvise my mat for a bolster.
Guess how I transformed my mat to a bolster. Very simple. I just had to pack my hoodies into the mat, fold the mat around the hoodies and my bolster is ready for any bolster workout.
I never had to skip certain workouts due to lack of apparatus because I will always improvise and that has made me possess lesser belongings. With my improvised bolster, I can carry out many workouts like Child's Pose, Seated Forward Bend, The Bridge and many others.
Most of the workouts I do on the mat and bolster require body contact with the floor and don't expend energy as fast as compared to those workouts that require lifting oneself above the ground and pushing against gravity.
One of the workouts I needed to do to build my biceps was Pull up. Guess what I used for my pull-up workout routines, a wall hanger.
This wall hanger was always used for urgently hanging dresses before moving them to the wardrobe later. But I have turned this into my bar for pull-up exercises.
Just by the end of the wall hanger, I hung one of the medals I won from a sports competition. Why did I do this? I did that so that whenever I was doing my workouts, I would always remember what my coach in High school often told me, “No pain, No gain”.
I have engaged in several competitions and I have learned that nothing good comes easy. To win a race, you have to fight till the finishing line and to win a soccer, you have to score more than your opponent.
My motivation to take workouts seriously came from influence by friends from high school. Back then in high school, one of the famous ways to celebrate goals during a soccer match was to pull off shirts and show off your abs, muscles and biceps. If you're a boy and you don't have those, no need to celebrate after scoring but if you have, then you can go ahead to make the female spectators flabbergasted with the sight of your “assets”, lol.
Since then, I have embarked on a mission to build my muscles, especially my abs and biceps and that mission will never end till I clock old age 💪 💪.
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry for the #kiss prompt.
All the images are MINE.
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