Those of you that have been following my daily emails and blog posts know by now that my #1 weapon for getting into kick butt shape - and FAST, at that - is a long, steep hill which I used to climb daily in China many years ago in a different life.
At the risk of repeating myself, that hill is one of the very, very best things that ever happened to me in terms of health and fitness. I actually "discovered" it by "accident" (long story there), but once I did - there was no looking back.
Quoting from my book:
"Climbing hills is one of my all time favorite workouts. In a previous Chapter I spoke about my training in China, when my workout consisted for climbing a hill followed by a bodyweight routine. I used to live near a hill which was about 10 minutes walk away from my home. This hill was pretty steep, and took about 25 minutes to climb at a reasonable pace. There were many routes up this hill, some with steps, and some without. I usually chose the route with steps on the way up, and the slope without any steps when on the way down; this gave me the best workout, as I worked my thighs heavily going up, and stretched my hamstrings out thoroughly coming down. I used to exercise mostly in hot humid weather, and used to be soaked in sweat by the end of the climb – and this was before I had even got to my bodyweight routine. It didn’t matter if it was winter and cold as heck; I used to work up a sweat anyway when I climbed. Now that’s some serious cardiovascular exercise there! "
Great, great stuff - and lest you believe that these sort of hill climbs are tough only for the unfit and uninitiated, well, THINK AGAIN - this hill will make you feel it in no time regardless of your current fitness levels.
Anyway, there's plenty more where that comes from, and you can read all about my hill climbs and the associated benefits by getting Fast and Furious Fitness here: - http://rahulmookerjee.com/index.php/articles/83-fast-and-furious-fitness-the-book - but that isn't the topic of today's email.
No, what I want to do today is to actually SHOW you what this particular hill looks like. This is something I've been wanting to do for a long, long time, but couldn't because I didn't have the actual pictures I took back in 2005 - but I'm back in China for the immediate nonce at least, and I've taken these pictures myself during my very first day in China. Made it straight to the hill after very little sleep and a 7+ hour flight (and more travel) over - and that in itself should tell you I let very little get in the way of my hill climbs!
These pictures can be seen right here: - http://rahulmookerjee.com/index.php/the-hill. Those of you that have "friended" me on Facebook have already seen these updates, but I figured I'd put it on my site for the rest of you as well.
Anyway, it's been a goal of mine for a very long time, but it's only been a month or so since I used some visualization (something I speak very highly of and in detail in Fast and Furious Fitness) and other techniques to make this goal a reality. And I'll tell you this, my friend - when you have a goal - and truly set about conquering it - there "ain't" nothing in tarnation that can stop you from achieving it, provided you go about things the right way.
Dreams CAN, and DO come true - we just have to BELIEVE.
I should know - obstacles were thrown up at EVERY step along my last odyessy. Obstacles that we'd normally never have thought we could overcome - but overcome them we did, even though we were stupefied at HOW some of the issues got resolved. I'll be writing more on this later - in fact, I'm working on a new and related product on achieving one's goals (fitness, life, anywhere) so stay tuned on that one.
Anyway, that's the update for today, and those are the photographs. Back to regular programming again soon - stay tuned for details on some lung busting climbs and associated workouts from China!
Best regards,
Rahul
P.S. #1: I usually post most photos on Facebook first - and you can find me on Facebook right here: - https://www.facebook.com/rahul.mookerjee
P.S #2: - Dreams are great, but they are only half the battle won. Action is of paramount importance, and if you dream of being supremely fit and healthy, then the first thing you need to do is take action - by grabbing a copy of Fast and Furious Fitness right HERE: - http://rahulmookerjee.com/index.php/articles/83-fast-and-furious-fitness-the-book