Overweight To Nationals

Life changes direction in ways that none of us can anticipate. I was someone extremely overweight and unfit. I was a typical kid, who loved eating junk food and lazing around. At one point of time, I was addicted to junk food, I would eat anything that could have possibly been eaten and if there wasn’t anything to eat, I would become angry and frustrated. My mother had to lock up the kitchen cupboards as that was the only way to control my excessive eating. However that didn’t prove to be very useful, as I would often find the key and end up eating all the food that was there. I wanted to lose weight and get in shape, but I wasn’t able to give up my habit of excessive junk eating.

One day things took a massive turn for me. I was outside eating some snacks and on the way back home, I happened to see a poster about kickboxing classes that were right around the corner. I was fascinated by the idea as I found martial arts very intriguing and enrolled up for the classes immediately. The first class was absolutely brutal. Two minutes into the workout, I was already panting, knees on the floor and I couldn’t continue.

Nevertheless, I pushed myself to get through that one hour of intense torture. The next day was even worse, I was extremely sore, and I couldn’t get out of bed. This was the beginning of a new phase in my life. In spite of all the pain, I decided to continue practising and, looking back at it now, it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I want to thank my first trainer Amol sir, for showing me that I can do it and for putting me through rigorous training inlcluding making me carry weights up and down the stairs. It was because of martial arts that I was able to get rid of all that extra fat from my body. I was also able to keep a check on my eating habits as every time I would go to eat junk, there would be this inner voice which told me ,”you’re working so hard, do you really want to lose the value of it?”. Over time, I built liking towards working out and eventually cut down my junk intake to nearly nil. I became so health conscious that, before putting anything into my mouth I would check the nutritional value of it and count my calories each day. I went from this boy who loved to eat and wouldn’t stop at anything, to this person who has plain coffee without even a single spoon of sugar.

Before starting my fitness journey, I would struggle to run 200m and when forced to run, I would barely come out alive. After I started training martial arts, my stamina increased, and I could run 10km as if It was a piece of cake. When I went for a 10km run, I had another thing coming my way. At the end of the run, there were a group of people(who would later become my coach and teammates) who were conducting a workshop on Muay Thai, the national sport of Thailand. I was blown away and decided to try training Muay Thai. I fell in love with the sport, everything from training, to diet, to getting punched and kicked in the face. I became addicted to training and now I can’t get my mind off it. Not only did it make me fitter, it made me better in all aspects of life . One of the best experiences of my life is training for my national fight. I learnt a lot as a person, and I have grown as an individual. I learned that hard work, perseverance and sacrifice does pay off. All the blood, sweat and tears shed during training was absolutely worth as there is no better feeling than when my hand was lifted, and I was declared the winner in the finals of my first national tournament. I want to thank my coach Nitin sir for training me and providing me with various opportunities .

If there’s one thing I want you to take away, it would be, to never give up when things get hard, remember: its darkest before dawn. I had tried karate, cricket, tennis but none of them helped, and I didn't feel connected. So I would request you not to give up, you will find your calling sooner or later.