Quote Of the Day Which Turned Out To Be A Very Thought Provoking Statement.

• By vishwa on Inspiration

• April 2, 2009

I read newspapers every day, but I thoroughly read the sport edition as the accomplishments by many individuals in the sport arena is largely appreciable and something positive to think about. The front page regrettably is all about  dirty politics. I would like to quote Earl Warren on this occasion; he says “I always turn to the sport section first. The sports page records people’s accomplishment; the front page has nothing but man’s failure.” Ironically, true! Since the 2009 loksabha elections are nearing, we can all see the hypocritical faces of our politicians. Their false promises to people, the mud-slinging on the ruling party by the opposition and vice versa, their money distribution spree even though the Election commission has denounced such action is all disgusting to know.
Interestingly, however, today when I was reading the newspaper I came across a riveting comment. The comment was by Akshay Kumar who is one of the highly accomplished actors here in India. He states “If you can’t give your body an hour a day to exercise, it is better you die.” This is a very powerful statement which he has made. We all know that Akshay Kumar is basically a martial artist and one who has a pleasing physique because of his physical culture. Now, getting back to the statement, it is high time we treat the above statement as a gospel. We all know that young people are suffering from type 2 diabetes, blood pressure, obesity, and many other related diseases. It shows how inactive we all have become, as most of the above diseases are also mainly caused by inactivity. Inactivity and unchecked stress levels can wreck havoc in our bodies.

Many people take health for granted. They wait for some disease to crop up and then consider that to be a warning signal, and what advice they receive from majority of our ill informed doctors is that we should diet and take the medication regularly. They want us to depend on their medication for very well known reasons. Just think if a subject on physical training/resistance training would have existed in the curriculum of medicine. As people everywhere depend on their Doctors words to be that of Gods, and it would be of great help for many when doctors themselves would recommend people to be physically active. Eugew Sandow in his book Sandow’s System of Physical Training in the year 1894 had said, “It should be compulsory in all schools for boys to have regular training with dumbbells, and if this were universal there would soon be a beneficial change in the physique of the rising generation.” I would love to make two changes to the above statement of this greatest natural bodybuilder; firstly, girls should also be included in this physical culture and, secondly, it would not only change the physiques of rising generation but also improve their health. Many proclaim him to be the greatest natural bodybuilder, as his arms measured 19 inches and chest 48 inches. The physical accomplishments of this man are many to name them here. Just to mention one, he could lift/overhead a dumbbell weighing more than 300 pounds with one arm. It is quite an accomplishment for a natural bodybuilder, as the word steroid during his time was unheard of, for it was in the 1960’s that the use of steroid proliferated. Larry Scott Mr Olympia of 1965 was the first bodybuilder known to have used oral steroids for the first time in the history of bodybuilding. HA! Now we all know that the usage has become prevalent and rampant to such an extent that almost all the actors in Hindi film industry get buffed within very less period. It is amazing to see them grow within a very short period.

There seems to be an urgent necessity to bring in a change in the education system; the importance of resistance training should be taught in every school. It has been proved that resistance training such as weightlifting can be taught to juveniles with emphasis to technique rather than lifting heavy weights, as proper technique is of out most importance. Dr Mel Siff through his extensive research on weightlifting has confirmed that bone scans of children who have done regular competitive lifting reveal a significantly larger bone density than those who do not lift weights. In other words, controlled progressive competitive lifting may be useful in improving the ability of youngsters to cope with the rigours of other sports and normal daily life. His above findings was stated to show that stresses imposed on the body by common sporting activities such as running, jumping, and hitting generally are far larger than those imposed by power lifting or Olympic Lifting. Dr Mel Siff further adds “In other words, the stresses imposed on the growth centres of the growing child’s body are markedly greater than those occurring in competitive lifting.” I restate that a system of well trained and educated physical trainers should be employed in each and every school so that every child reaps the benefits of lifting weights.

I very well know that I sound like someone from wonderland. But just think if such system would have existed. It would have certainly changed our outlook and would have helped us all in living healthier lives. We all know the famous quote that a sound mind exists in a sound body. If we did realize the importance of the above statement, there would have been much more accomplishments by the human kind.