Jitendra Joshi, Co-Founder and Director, SportzConsult has found out a great way of working out while enjoying the process, with the help of sports. He writes about how playing different sports has helped him become healthier and fitter
BY JITENDRA JOSHI
Co -Founder and Director- SportzConsult
It is that time of the year again when we have millions muttering the same objectives all across India and around the world: the New Year’s Resolution. I recently overheard my colleagues contemplating, and wondered why I wasn’t thinking about it. Smiling to myself, I thought I know that these resolutions never work! Statistics suggest that gymming, followed by dieting, top the list of resolutions. I do neither. What I do is play, that too for sheer fun!
Not long ago, I was the typical couch potato pre- and post- work hours. Life was insipid and irritable. That was when I finally initiated the desperately needed transformation. The easiest thing to do was put on my sneakers and start running. I managed a few yards (300 to be precise), huffed and puffed, gasping for breath. It dawned on me that my fitness levels were appalling. As part of a sports management company, that ought to know the many benefits of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, I was disappointed that I let the situation get this bad. Running can be very monotonous, so I thought, why not get back into the groove of something that I loved? Sports… Was getting back to sports the answer? Well, sports was the answer for me and I’m thankful that I identified it just in time. Connecting and engaging with active sports was history, but I did my best to revive it again. For me, the gym had never been an answer. While going to the gym was in vogue, sports was always special.
So what is your answer? Are you planning to hit a neighbourhood gym with your friends or spouse and work out this year? Is this going to be a momentous event, a game-changer in your life? Don’t strain the brain for a fitness plan. Rather, sort out where it can fit into your lifestyle. If it doesn’t fit in easily, figure out a way to tweak your routine to fit it in. I say this through personal experience; it will go a long way. Find time to get back to the sport you loved. Pick a new sport with your kid. Seek a coach and get trained, for it’s never too late to learn anything! I bonded with my daughter greatly over the last one year as we play squash and badminton together twice a week. So, don’t make fitness a big event. As a friend commented, “Schedule it to regularize it” and I say the same.
I don’t procrastinate and deliberate. Instead, I know I have 30 minutes in the morning before I need to be at work, so I just pick up the racket, the football or the basketball and step out, or at least cycle to work. What matters is the 30 minutes that I spend religiously, as a daily ritual. Playing has huge benefits. I live in the moment during that half-hour of on-field experience, in a state of true bliss. The experience of sports time amidst or against others (again, people with various sizes and shapes!) is so engaging, entertaining and most importantly energizing. Pumping iron and running on the treadmill does take you somewhere (oops… in some way running on a treadmill doesn’t take you anywhere, right?!) but sports is a different ballgame altogether!
But did this all commence on the first day of January? No. So why wait until the calendar changes years? Pick that favourite sport of yours, or just go out and join the kids who are playing it. Carpe diem! Seize the day and start now. Keep
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jitu@sportzconsult.in
