Made in India rules the worldof Fitness
M
ilind Soman is quintessentially a role model to all men who want to stay fit, healthy and ageless. He is one of the original supermodels of the country, and can still kill thousands of females with that charming smile, not to mention the hot-bod stature. His modeling and acting career assignments notwithstanding, Soman is not known more for his fitness records, as he completed the Ironman Triathlon in Switzerland, which consists of a 3.86 km swim, a 180.25 km cycle race, and a 42.2 km run - he managed all this in 15 hours 19 minutes and 29 seconds!
The Ironman
I started competitive sport when I was nine and started swimming at the national level. I won my first international medal when I was nineyear-old so that was a great incentive for me to continue. I continued swimming competitively till I was about 23. I was national champion in swimming for many years and those 13 years of growing up in that kind of environment taught me a lot. It makes me the kind of person I am today. So the discipline I feel I have, the kind of focus, kind of positivity…I think it all comes from those activities that I was lucky to be a part of, and also the liking to be fit... To feel like there’s nothing I can’t do, to feel invincible, to feel amazing.
It’s something that you don’t want to lose. I was really active but I stopped swimming in 1998. For 15 years I didn’t really do any kind of exercise or sport or anything. I was just very active, I used to do pushups and pull ups and maybe run a little bit. I didn’t like running but when the Mumbai marathon was announced in 2003, I thought it’s a big challenge and I should do it. So I ran the first edition of the Mumbai marathon in 2004, I did the half Marathon and I got hooked to it. It was so amazing. I thought probably it would be very difficult
to run 21 kms at a stretch and everybody told me also that it’s going to be tough — you’re going to get cramps, you’regoing to fall down, collapse and you’ll die — but it was really easy. So I realised that there are so many things as I was growing older that wouldn’t happen when I’m young. So many things that you think are going to be tough but if you just work at them, they turn out to be easy. Every time I run it’s like a reaffirmation of what I can do what I am capable of and that I can face any challenge, any obstacle that comes in my path. See that’s a kind of addiction, that feeling of just being powerful is worth striving for.
Body shaming culture
Body shaming’s been happening since many years. Now because of social media there is lot of talk against it as well, that’s why you’re talking about it today. Otherwise nobody was talking against it say five years ago. A magazine says, “That’s the way you’re supposed to be!” you say “Ok. Alright. ”Another one says it’s supposed to be another way you say, “Ok”. It is very recent phenomenon that due to social media the other voices are being heard as they are the non-commercial voices, they’re the more idealistic socially positive voices that are now being heard in this particular regard and so it will change. It has to change because you can’t have just one sided argument, or one sided discussion or one sided promotion, so things will even out. There are a lot of things that have been happening in the world because of commercial is at ion of products or services. People are being made to believe that Model-actor Milind Soman shares with POORVA TAMHANE his health mantra they need to be like this or they need to do this or they need to have this but now because of social media there are other voices that say, “We don’t have it and we’re happy and you don’t need to have it, join us we can be another community”. Finally, we are a society. We want to hang out with people who think the way we do and believe the same things we do and have been able to do that. So things are getting better and not worse.
Fitness mantra on-the-go
I work 17 hours a day. I am different because I know I can do it. The difference is only in the knowledge. It’s not in the person. Everybody can acquire that knowledge. People who has 9-5 jobs too should know how to stay fit. You have to start with crawling. Crawling is not easy. You get on the ground, crawl around, then get up, and sit down. Lie down on the ground slowly and get up. That’s a good exercise to start with. You can slowly start to get more energetic. You can then walk and slowly start with jogging. Basically, first you have to say I want to do it. Take the first step. Wake up at5.30am, what will happen then is you’ll begin to feel sleepy at 7 pm in the evening. The only thing you have to do is wake up early. So your whole life will change if you change one thing and you stick to it which is easy. It’s easy to wake up at 5.30 in the morning but it’s difficult to stay awake, which is just that one thing you need to remember. Eating right is also important. I eat everything. The only thing I do not have is refined white sugar. That’s the only thing I stay away from. I have minimised a lot of my non-vegetarian food. Sometimes I crave the taste so I eat it, I don’t eat it for nutrition. If I need to taste anything I eat it, but not necessarily adapt it in my diet.