Papri’s Weight Gain Challenge Episode 3: Weight Vs Strength

From zero experience at the gym to learning how to kick-box, check out how Papri’s work-out went.

Papri’s Weight gain  Challenge

(Photo:TheQuint)

Camera: Shiv Kumar Maurya, Athar Rather, Abhay Sharma, Sumit Badola and Abhishek Ranjan

Graphics and Art: Erum Gour and Arnica Kala

Video Editing: Deepthi Ramdas

(My name is Papri Das and I have taken on a two-month weight gain challenge! Follow my journey, from why I want to put on weight, to my first four weeks by clicking on the links below)

Weeks 5 & 6

“Are you happy with yourself when you look at yourself naked in the mirror?” 

Sounds like a question your therapist would ask you? Well, this was my fitness trainer Vesna Jacob’s question to me when I first met with her at her studio.

The reason I visited her was because I also needed to work out along with a balanced diet if I really wished to put on weight.

As someone who was always lean, I never did consider hitting the gym. It was almost a no-brainer to me: Wouldn’t you lose more weight if you work out?

I am glad my two guides on my journey, nutritionist Rupali Datta and later fitness trainer Vesna Jacob corrected my misconception.

Working out not only burns the excess fat in your system, it also helps your body to break the protein in your body into muscles.

Vesna Jacob

So all the meat I was eating for the challenge? It was time to convert it to muscle.

Difference Between Weight and Strength

On my consultation Vesna Jacob, a well-known Delhi based fitness guru with multiple wellness books to her name, tried to understand my reasons for gaining weight. We also studied my Body fat Analysis to find out what percentage of body fat I needed to burn.(yes, an underweight person can also have unwanted fat)

Work out for Gaining Weight

And then began my exercise routine. She started with simple exercises to test my strength, movement etc, and then got me on the real stuff - the reformer, the trampoline, the Wunda chair and of-course some good old weight-lifting.

This is a reformer.(Photo:Amazon.com)

I started with catching 1 kg balls, gradually upgraded to kg balls. I also did squats and other exercises With the 2 kg ball still on me. In the last week we moved to dumbbells.

We also did a whole lot of cardio (jumping jacks on the trampoline was an everyday affair), which was surprising considering the purpose was to gain weight. Vesna clarified that her goal for me was not weight gain, but strength gain.

Incase you were wondering what a ‘Wunda chair’  looks like.(Photo: Amazon.com)

She broke it down for me in simple words - your goal should be to become stronger, the weight will follow.

I went to her studio in New Delhi every alternate day of the week, given that we had limited time and a lot to accomplish.

Did she push me hard? Yes, she pushed me painfully beyond my limits, but once I started to feel that I was able to move my body a tad better with each visit, I started enjoying the drill. My favourite were kickboxing sessions at the end of the routine.

I work out!Photo: Giphy

The first week left me tired and sore, and I even had to skip work to deal with the muscle pain and cramps, but it got increasingly better with the later week.

At the end of 2 weeks of training, when we revisited the scales, I had managed to gain 1.5 kg!

(Follow @Quintfit and @PapriTweets for updates on Papri’s Weight Gain Challenge.)