A fit body for a fit mind, and nation!

By Afzal Khan
Pune, 28th February 2025: A wave of fitness culture is sweeping Pune city. Youths showing off their biceps and triceps through skin tight T-Shirts and young women basking in the glory of possessing slim and fit bodies is the order of the day. Needless to say, ‘Gym-mania’, as some youths call it, has come as a boon for the health and fitness sector in the city. Pune, which enjoys the sobriquet of Oxford of the East with education centres spread all over, seems to have added the “Fitness Hub of the East” tag, as health and fitness facilities, most of them meeting international standards, mushrooming in every nook and corner of the city.

Only recently, gyms in Undri and Koregaon Park became the centres of attraction for organizing Calisthenics competitions. Youths with top physiques from many cities, including Mumbai, flaunted their talent in the competition which comprised of feats of strength, endurance and skills. All the participants of the event possessed nerves of steel as they stretched themselves to unimaginable limits, with some winners almost fainting after their performances. “Participation is more important than victory,” said a youth who walked away with the consolation prize in the calisthenics contest.

Being a practicing body-builder in the early nineties, I witnessed body shows and power-lifting/weight-lifting competitions in Pune city then. Pune Shree, Maharashtra Shree were the most popular ones those days, and these events are still in vogue. However, Calisthenics contests are among the added attractions such as Zumba and Crossfit in the 21st century. The art of body-building is evolving and reaching greater heights.

In the nineties, I was obsessed with the late bodybuilder and showman, Eugene Sandow, during my heydays! Sandow was a ‘natural’ bodybuilder (steroids were not popular among bodybuilders those days as he was born in Prussia in 1867). He bowed out of the world in 1925, and his legacy lives on to this day. Known for lifting nine men and women comfortably seated on a huge plank of wood and lifting a bar with two baskets containing a person in each with just one arm, Sandow is still revered as a bodybuilder par excellence, especially among people of my age (I am 62 years old now).

People who know me cannot resist appreciating my “fit body”. “What is the secret of your health,” asked a friend of my age. “Natural diet, regular exercises and a good heart that does not spite anyone,” I said. When he told me to elaborate on the heart-without-spite part, I said that people who do no bear grudges and jealousy and do not possess any inferiority complex are generally found to be healthy. This has been my observation, and biologists will be able to prove it. Physical culture is my forte, I am not a physiologist or biologist!

To conclude this short insight into physical culture, I would advise today’s youth to strictly avoid steroids because they can help achieve short-term gains while deteriorating the health once someone stops taking them. If you’re a veggie, eat paneer, tofu and a dozen unfertilized eggs for proteins, some without the yolk and some with the yolk. If you’re a non-vegetarian, red meat is the magic wand! After all, one wouldn’t want anyone to make a mince-meat of him/her in the gym while exercising or on the competition stage!

End note: While macronutrients like proteins, carbs and fats are petrol; micronutrients such as fruits, vegetables and dairy are oil. The body needs both of these, like any motor vehicle, to keep running smoothly and powerfully. Proteins, in any form, are a must with every meal. We Indians have to live with the problem of a fat belly, thanks to an overtake of carbs and abstinence from proteins! Live long, live a healthy life for a healthy nation.

(The author has worked as a journalist with The Times of India, Pune Mirror, Indian Express and top newspapers in the Gulf countries of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. He is a practicing bodybuilder, having won the title of Mr Sandow at the International Barbell Club, Pune camp in the year 1990, for performing some feats of strength. He can be reach on [email protected])