GLUTTON FOR EXERCISE

CrossFit athlete and assistant coach , Mumbai

Paridhi Doshi had it all planned. She would give her finals at the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), attend Cultural Day, the prom and farewell, and then head to the US in the last week of June for a month-long holiday, her first in three years. On her return, she would enrol for the certificate course to become a CrossFit coach. Covid, she hadn’t bargained for. NMIMS cancelled the examinations and all subsequent events. Doshi and her batchmates were assessed on the basis of the internal marks of the sixth semester. “I felt pathetic,” says Doshi. “I didn’t feel I had earned a degree from one of the toughest management colleges in India.” It would take her a fortnight to make peace with the situation. The trip to the US will have to wait, while the box—gym in CrossFit lingo—authorised to conduct the course is shut. The all-India top 10 CrossFit athlete is now prioritising the discipline as she had intended to. After taking some equipment

“I HAVE BROKEN DOWN AND BEEN VOCAL ABOUT HOW I FEEL. IT TAKES THE BURDEN OFF HAVING TO PRETEND”

from her box, CrossFit Blackfire, Doshi works out from home. Even if it means jumping in the corridor so as to not irk the neighbour below. “I love CrossFit so much,” she says. “The discipline keeps me going. All of us spend an hour [digitally] every day, where we sweat, laugh and connect.” Still, there are days when all she wants to do is curl up in bed and not talk to anyone, even her parents with whom she moved in just before the lockdown after living on rent for a year and a half. “I have broken down and been vocal about how I feel,” says Doshi. “It takes the burden off having to pretend.” Training others virtually has helped. “It feels great to help people be better versions of themselves and feel good about themselves.” —