Weekend is the typical excuse for most of us to skip the gym, gorge on calorie-rich snacks and trade our sleep for jamboree. But for a 20-something IT professional and parkour enthusiast Deepti Sinha, eight to 11 hours of the weekend are purely committed to sculpting Parkour skills and taking her fitness game a notch higher...
Parkour is a form of free running that involves climbing, swinging, vaulting, rolling (and other movements), surmounting obstacles and, hold your breath, jumping from one building to the other. You name it and Deepti Sinha, an IT professional with a well-known software company in Pune, has done it all. If you call that a herculean task, wait until she tells you about her most intricate stunt till date, “In my recent shoot for a world-famous sports brand, I was required to jump from one car to another with the help of different kong vault. It was both new and difficult for me.” But that is exactly why she chose Parkour as her passion in the first place, “It looked different and new. It made me feel like I could fly without wings!”
A healthy body resides in a healthy mind. As is obvious, Parkour does not require physical strength alone, but a generous dose of mental conditioning, determination and a never-say die attitude, “Training your mind to get rid of the fear and do that jump is important. Sometimes, you know your body can take something, but the mind rejects it out of fear. So, training the mind is as important as training your body. The will to take the leap of faith, yet knowing your limits at the same time is important. Practice is going to be painful, you will fall, get hurt but that’s what life is about. You must look beyond the pain, get up and keep struggling to achieve your goal!”
“I practice Parkour every weekend with my crew called ‘MYOW’ (Make Your Own Way). The crew founder Deepak Mali is one of the reasons I never give up on the most challenging of stunts. He just would not let you quit. He inspires me every time he reminds me that the obstacles we face in Parkour are just like the obstacles we confront in life. We only progress when we do not quit until we succeed.” At the same time, Deepti isn’t one to quit easily, “I believe in conditioning and practicing and giving myself some time till my body is ready for a challenge of a greater obstacle.” Patience is another virtue indispensable to learning the art and Deepti has mastered it well, “In Parkour, there is no instant success. You develop and progress gradually. You should not expect doing wonders right at the beginning, but the time you invest in learning one step at a time to perfect the art will finally pay off. In fact, it will make you want to keep fit so you can challenge yourself to do more and more.”
Deepti sheds light on some important exercises that facilitate Parkour stunts, “We start with warm-ups and end with stretches. We focus a lot on core exercise and jump from one obstacle to another to practice landing. It is very important to land correctly and absorb the force, else you may end up hurting your knees or ankles.” When she is not performing Parkour stunts, she is preparing her body for them over the weekend, “I love weightlifting and honing my flexibility. Every week, I vault, I kong, I jump, I run, I lift, I stretch. I work towards mastering an element and in the process, I have learnt that there is absolutely nothing that our body cannot achieve if we practice hard. Needless to say, it takes time and calls for dedication and hard work, but the result makes it all worth it.”
“Fitness is my passion and I would love to share the knowledge that I have gained about it over the years,” says Deepti. So, here is bringing you the top five fitness tips from the parkour maestro...
The will to take the leap of faith yet knowing your limits at the same time is important. Practice is going to be painful, you will fall, get hurt but that’s what life is about. You must look beyond the pain, get up and keep struggling to achieve your goal
Going against the tide can be intimidating; however, Deepti is on a mission to challenge all stereotypes related to her passion, “Parkour is catching the fancy of men and women alike all over the world, but in India, it is a male bastion so far. I am here to change that. It is my will to become a traceur and encourage other women to try their hand at it. At the same time, I want to set an example. People in the fitness industry have to be fit for it is their job. But I am determined to show the world that it is possible and necessary to be fit even when you are not from this industry.”
The lack of facilities to practice Parkour doesn’t make it any easier, “There are hardly any Parkour gyms in the country where there are provisions for safety. We practice this form out in the open, such as parks.” Despite all odds, there is no stopping this one, “I have bagged a small role in a Marathi film as a fighter. It requires me to be in the fittest form possible and that keeps me occupied these days”, she shares enthusiastically about a project in the pipeline.
“My life is beginning to turn around for the better. It feels like God is rewarding me for all my hard work in the past one year. An article on me in Corporate Citizen magazine is the first time someone is writing about me! Frankly, I am thoroughly enjoying the way life is shaping up at the moment!”, she signs off on a merry note.
By Namrata Gulati Sapra
