I have started doing the following as a warm up exercise in the gym and it is a lot fun. I thought I will share it and also encourage all of you who are a tad bit sedentary to get on with the program. This is a simple and fun way to get started.
The concept itself is not new. But doing it is what matters. Hence I am providing the specifics of that I do. Alter it to suit your needs, strengths, limits and restrictions. As usual, make sure there are no medical conditions that will prevent you from exercising. Check with your doctor first.
1. Take an Adi tala song with a brisk pace, like 100 beats per minute. Let it be a good recording without any audio issues, a good and pleasing performance with the beat emphasized prominently. The song I chose is Raghuvamsa Sudha by MSS which is at that rate.
2. Make a platform like the picture below. This is what I make at the gym but you can substitute the step of a stair case if you do not have access to such a setup. Outdoors with bricks and a plank will do too and in fact better. Make sure it is sturdy.
The height should be adjustable. This is the max height I am willing to go, I cut that into half on some days.
3. Here is the actual work out. Start the song with both foot on the ground. Right foot up on the first beat of the song, left foot up on the second beat, right foot down on the third beat and left foot down on the fourth beat and so on.
So for one avarthanam of Adi you would complete two cycles of this.
4. That is it and simple enough. To keep it fun, since you are essentially keeping thalam with the foot ( and the body ) just like dancers do, make sure you hit the beat correctly. For Raghuvamsa sudha, right foot hits the plank on 'ghu' ( of 'Raghu vamasa'). Yes, eduppu matters. It does get harder as the song progresses since you will naturally be getting more and more tired.
5. The cross check: "Sri" ( of "chandra sri" of the pallavi line ) should be on the right foot hitting the ground ( that is the first beat of the thals ).
The left foot hits the ground on the next beat (i.e. second beat of the thala ), then the right foot will be ready to step on the blank for the
third beat on 'ghu' ( of 'Raghu vamsa'). Got it? Simple enough in concept, it just takes too many words to describe.
The end of the song will be
with the right foot down on the ground and the left foot up on the plank. Stop in that position for good effect, relax and catch
your breath. You are now sufficiently warmed up for any further workout!! The whole thing takes 4 minutes.
6. The fun things is to keep your steps going during the theermanam between pallavi and anupallavi and
anupallavi and charanam. As with thala keeping, keep your cool, don't go with the mridangists beats, go with your
own metronomic steps. You will be rewarded when you step on the plank with the right foot on the 3rd beat. e.g. the 'ga' of
'aga' for the anupallavi, at the right eduppu.
Now for the variations in the methods and the degrees of difficulty.
1) You can use other songs but keep the pace brisk. But if you are just starting after a long sedantary life,
you can start with a slower song. After that, I found this 100 BPM or higher songs to be just the right thing.
For some faster variations, I go to GNB's 'vararaga laya' and Bombay Sisters' koniyADa' ( kokiladhwani ).
These two songs are tough task masters.
2) You can always adjust the height. In fact, to get started, you can just step back and forth without any elevation.
I can not even complete the song on many days at the height shown in the above picture. I give up after the anupallavi.
But that is OK. At half that height, no problem. But we can always work up to this height.
3) Once you reach comfort zone, do the same as above but with some weights in hand ( dumbells ). Nothing crazy, something like 10 pounds in each hand.
4) If you want to use two steps and not one like above ( e.g. 2 steps of a stair case ), that works perfectly. Right foot up, left foot up, you are on the first step. Right foot up, left foot up. Now you are on the second step. left foot down, right foot down, you are on the first step, left foot down, right foot down, you are on the ground. That will be just one Adi cycle. I would not recommend it to the beginners since when you are tired, which you will be by Charanam, the two steps down can be a bit challenging. Be careful.
5) For the next level, if you have space, step up on the plank, then step down on the other side, quickly turn around, step up on the plank and step down. If you can do this with two steps at 100 BPM with a 10 lb dumbbell in each hand, that can count as more than a warm up!
Go for it!
