Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it – Plato
Plato may have known the important role movement plays in keeping oneself fit physically and mentally. But in today’s scenario the most common advice an overweight/obese person/or anyone trying to get into a fitness regime would attract is – join the gym, lift heavy or go home.
Walk into any gym today, after opting for a whopping annual package, and the machines that will be assigned to you for the first one month will be the dreaded treadmill, elliptical and cycle.
After the first three days, of huffing and puffing on these machines, all the while yearning to lift those glistening metal bar and weights, many would lose steam and drop out. And this is what the gym management would also expect.
While lifting weights can bring about an aesthetic change in one’s body, what most gyms don’t teach, most often due to lack of knowledge, is the importance of bodyweight exercise. This is why Oval Crew differs from other fitness centres
A place that can change you from the inside
Yohannan John, the founder of the Oval Crew, prefers to stick to the basic – The Old School Training methods. Unlike many fancy fitness centres, which promises weight/fat loss and a pumped look, at Oval Crew the coaches focus on bringing the change from inside – The CORE.
“Lift your body to elevate your internal and external fitness level – Yohannan John
Armed with 22-years-old teaching experience, this certified cross-fit trainer can change you from the inside. Having trained the members of the elite special forces like NSG -SAG 51, 4th PARA and Cadets from the OTA, Rajasthan Police and Gujarat Police, Yohannan knows that the foundation of a fit physique is the core and what better tool to strengthen it than one’s own body.
The special forces, including the elite Navy Seals, are put through gruelling sessions of repetitions of body weight exercises including push ups, burpees, squats and pulls ups that can crush one’s soul.
This is because, if they don’t move, they are dead. This stands true to a civilian too who is in dire need of flexibility, endurance, strength to remain healthy in the stress filled competitive world
Understanding this he has carefully curated the WODs (work out of the day) for beginners. For a new comer, the training regimen would comprise of a set of body weight exercises that is changed every day.
From bear crawls, burpees, pushups, air squats, 400 meter sprint, jump ropes ……. are some of the body weight exercises that a new comer would be initiated into. Yohannan says that the core gradually strengthens during these workouts and he/she gets a lean and mean physique,” explains Yohannan.
The body is a complex machine that works to the optimum and provides the desired result when all the parts work in co-ordination. For example to perform a push up one needs to use the hands, legs and the core to generate the force to push the body up. The bodyweight exercises will help you keep physically active as it will help improve joint function and mobility and also help develop strength.
The importance of joint stability, strength and co-ordination between all the body parts is more as we grow older. It is due to the lack of these aspects that elderly people fall often, explains Yohannan.
Its more than mere physical
Performing the body weight exercises do not benefit merely at a physical level. It has a deep inner effect too. As Yohannan pushes you to do your first proper push up or complete the last one kilometer run, he is helping you conquer the lack of self-confidence.
Besides by focussing on your breathing while doing every repetition, you are engaging in a form of moving meditation – something similar to what the Shaolin masters practice. It cleanses both the body and mind.
Yohannan clearly understands the meaning of the saying – Your body is a temple – and by changing your fitness level you change your karma. By doing the pull up or punching or kicking a pad at Oval Crew, you are releasing your pent up emotions.
To conclude, when Yohannan makes you do that push-up or pull up, that seemed impossible to you all these years, he is not pushing you towards a physical change, but also the mental attitude.
