General: You need your ten-pound dumbbells for all these exercises. Start with one set of five reps, then increase to ten reps. Later, go in for three sets of eight reps each.

Upper back, chest, shoulder: alternate-shapers Starting position: Stand with feet slightly apart, back straight. Grasp your dumbbells in an overhand grip. Bend your elbows inwards so that your dumbbells are in line with your shoulders, your palms facing one another.

We've already spoken about how you can prevent back problems by improving your posture and doing abdominals. The exercises given below will strengthen your back muscles and also give your back that nice, smooth, streamlined look sans bulges. If you have a back injury, don't even try these workouts. And even after it heals, check with your doctor before starting on them. Again, no ankle-weights, only dumbbells are required.

Shoulder, pectoral: alternate-shapers Starting position: Stand with feet slightly apart, Grasp your dumbbells in an overhand grip. Let your arms hang down, palms facing your thighs, dumbbells making a straight line, lengthwise.

These are to firm up your pectoral muscles - those muscles under your breasts. Here again, you don't need ankle weights. Only your dumbbells.

General: Start with one set of five reps, then ten reps. Later, three sets of eight reps each.

Weight- training is equally useful for both men and women. You can begin at the age of sixteen or even when you are middle-aged or older. After the age of thirty, however, you should give yourself a complete medical check­up and consult your doctor about the test- results, and then with his consent, go in for it. Again, if you are highly myopic, check with a vitreo­retinal surgeon before training with weights.

Legging it up

General: Strap the 5-pound ankle-weights around your ankles. Start with one set to set of five reps, work up to 10, and finally to three sets of eight reps each.

Aerobics are the only exercise that can burn fat, while sensible eating prevents fat from accumulating on your muscles. However some people have specific problem spots-arms, thighs, love-handles at the waist, etc. ­which stubbornly droop even after having lost fat. This is where weight ­training - let's call it spot-shaping - comes in.

Give yourself a fair chance:

No, don't switch off and skip this article because you have as much interest in weight-training as a bird-watcher has in cricket. If you have stayed with us so far, you would have realised that we have always seen fitness as a vital instrument that helps you discover yourself. And discovering oneself is an exciting life-long voyage. In this eternal adventure, you never know what little nugget of information or capsule of experience may come in handy in focusing more sharply into yourself.

Losing fat-weight is not seen as a quick, easy process. That is because many people are misted into believing that if they diet, they will lose weight. They will, but it will not be fat-weight-loss but water-weight loss and lean-muscle-weight loss. Only aerobic exercise can build up your lean muscle mass and ensure fat-weight loss.

As you continue to exercise, you may find that your weighing machine sticks stubbornly to one weight. For example, if you were 70 kg when you began exercising, you will still be 70 kg. Don't get disheartened. It does not mean that you are not losing fat. What it means is that your muscles are developing, they are getting stronger and becoming more efficient. It is a temporary but a long drawn-out phase. Your muscles are burning fat.

With all the necessary precautions being taken care of, you can start.

Don't have excessively high expectations but develop a firm, enthusiastic resolve that you will get fit gradually.

It has taken you years to reach the unconditioned state you are in. To expect your body to bounce into a perfect state of fitness overnight is unfair. Give yourself three months to feel the positive changes within you and six months to lose excess fat.

As you feel the effect of aerobics unfolding within you like the petals of a blossoming flower, you will find yourself seeking out and enjoying the kind of food that complements your lifestyle. You will realise that it is not how much you eat but what you eat that is important.

Have you chosen one or more aerobic activities from the given list? Whichever you pick, you can rest assured that it will be extremely effective. Just follow the score sheet given at the end of this article.To summarise:

There are different paths (margas) of yoga that can be taken in order to reunite with the divine energy.

An active person can realize his divinity through work and duty (Karma),
a religious person through devotion (Bhakti),
an intellectual person through knowledge (Jnana), and
a meditative/reflective person through Raja Yoga.

You might ask, "what on earth is mental dynamics?" If you accept that every one of us has a limitless, inherent power, you will also accept that that mighty power will never be exploited or used unless you make it work for you. It is that immeasurable spirit of making it work that we term as mental dynamics.

Can you do it? Can you bring about these healthful changes in your lifestyle? Of course you' can! What is change but reformation? And what does reformation lead to but growth? Indeed, even as we write reformation continues all around us - in Nature, economy, politics, and in thought. The entire concept of evolution hinges on change, Your body itself is a marvelous ever-cnanglng empty. As you create, see, near, touch, all those impulses are triggering billions of changing processes within you, The spirit of change is blended into your being. Yes, you have the great, priceless ability to bring about any change that betters your life. It is indisputable. It is written.

Hunger pangs are difficult to resist, You have changed your lifestyle, you are into the new reality, you know you have undertaken the fitness journey to health. Yet, those hunger pangs, that craving, that feeling of emptiness does return occasionally. There is nothing wrong in giving in to them once in a while. Some fitness books even give you a splurge list where you can eat anything you want on a weekend and count your calories the rest of the week. We are not sure how effective this program is.

Predictably, many people - particularly overweight - have an argument against exercising. Many people claim that "Exercising increases the appetite." "So, if I exercise I shall feel more hungry, eat more and put on more weight. Therefore it is wiser not to exercise!" Hallelujah! Here you have a statement clothed in logic, presented with such utter confidence and reaffirmed so constantly that you could begin to believe in it yourself!

As you way have caught on by now, fitness is a journey. Over the centuries, pilgrims have trekked to distant places to answer some unknown, inner call. They have, toiled over stony paths, climbed mountains to reach their destination. So is fitness the answer - to your inner self. When any illness besets your body, it feels hemmed in as if the borders are narrowing, the boundaries are closing in. It's a time when growth not only may seem unattainable but also non-existent. It's a time when communication gets swamped by discomfort, pain, numbness. It is not a natural state of life. Medicines are useful because they turn you around from drifting purposelessly, from becoming too vulnerable. But after medication. doctors point you towards fitness. For it puts order back into the disordered state, it provides the healing touch to the diseased state, it identifies the goal lost in the mists of sickness, And that goal is health.

If you don't exercise, this is what happens to your insides. Since your body is in a state of rest, the energy produced by breathing is primarily directed to your internal organs-one of which is the digestive system. In this state, 80 percent of the oxygen-rich blood is flowing to these organs. That leaves only 20 per cent for your skeletal muscles-which are undemanding because they are not being exercised. Your digestive system signals its hunger pangs to your appestat - the brain centre that controls the appetite. This is the time you feel hungry. And as long as you do not exercise, you continue to feel hungry at regular intervals.