In India, unfortunately, parents don’t encourage their children to take up sport due to various reasons, traditional and practical, but I was lucky as a child that my parents encouraged my swimming career. I used to train for a total of 6-7 hours a day, six days a week and I was really FIT! I represented Maharashtra for thirteen years at the National level and during my growing years as a sports person. I realised that the fitter you are, mentally and physically, the greater the ability you have to enjoy all that life has to offer.
Since I am primarily a swimmer and an athlete (I achieved my dream of completing a full 42kms marathon this year) I did not visit the gym much as part of my training but when Rahul Dev suggested we start our own gym I thought it would be a great idea to share all we have learnt about fitness over the years with people who are really looking at becoming fitter for the specific purpose of improving the quality of their lives. Till recently most people equated fitness with a just a muscular body or with body building but this is not true and nowadays almost everyone that goes to a gym understands that being fit includes not only strength and endurance but also flexibility and mental focus as well.
Personally I love to run and I run approximately 55-60km per week. I have always used functional training techniques because those are the systems that help develop the kind of physique I like, athletic, strong, with great endurance and flexibility. To me, a body that just looks good but cannot perform is definitely not desirable. I am able to maintain my fitness levels at all times because my exercise is not restricted by the space I am in. Whether in the office or at home or even travelling I make sure I can experiment with different kinds of activity with which I can physically and mentally challenge myself. I try to put in an average of 7 hours of rigorous physical activity per week but I also remain as active as possible throughout the day. Some days it is possible for me to exercise even 3 hours but some days only 30 min so I make each workout count.
