Physical fitness and rigorous workouts are but second nature to the army way of life, but, bringing in the same fitness rigours to students or corporate houses is nothing short of a battle. Braving such an odd is a National Defence Academy (NDA) alumnus, Colonel Vijay Bakshi, Associate Professor and the Head of the Department of the Personality Enhancement Programme (PEP) at the Institute of Finance and International Management, Bengaluru (IFIM-B). He spoke on the need for a structured fitness programme that he runs at IFIM-B and on the possibility of extending similar regimes within corporate houses. At 61 years, Col. Bakshi does not feel any older than 40 or 45 years and continues his fitness regime to look smart and fit, while inspiring others too
“We all say that healthy body has a healthy mind! This is the philosophy that we too follow in the army and I have tried to bring in the same to the institute (IFIM-B) where we run a wellness programme called the Personality Enhancement Programme (PEP).”
The PEP comprises dual aspects of learning life skills and combining it with lifestyle habits to impact overall fitness. The uniqueness of the PEP is that it is mandatory and no student has the option to opt out of the group fitness activities at IFIM-B. “We are the only B-school in the country that encompasses a structured physical activity training component as part of our curriculum”, said Col. Bakshi.
“The structured fitness programme has been running for the last five years and is getting better; even so in the last two years since I joined the institute. We have refined and improved upon this programme. We have physical trainers and yoga instructors who make the students undergo these activities. We also engage our faculty in supervising these activities. We normally have two batches running concurrently, so, while one batch does the first cycle, the second batch is engaged in the other cycle of activities.”
“It does not matter whether you are a boarder or a day scholar. Ninety per cent students are residential, the balance 10% of the day scholars who despite staying in far-flung areas around Bengaluru, have to report for their morning physical fitness practice. It is a mandatory-assessed course and every student is allocated two credits for engaging in these activities. The PEP incorporates 40% ‘life’ skills and 60% of ‘lifestyle’ skills,” says Col. Bakshi
The IFIM-B ‘Life Skills’ relate to the academic and curriculum part on aspects of improving one’s personality including oral and written communication, interpersonal skills, leadership traits etal. “Here, we also include resume writing, how to participate in group discussions, personal interview, how to develop a good attitude, etiquettes and corporate social responsibility.”
The ‘Lifestyle Skills’ component includes physical training that is conducted for an hour in the mornings from 6:30 am. “We make our students go through four different activities as part of the curriculum in an academic year. The rota is prepared in such a way that students are required to perform and cover all of the four activities during their academic term. These are aerobic/zumba, gym, yoga and other sports and games. The students are free to choose any of the four activities per term with the proviso that at the end of the four years he/she has undergone all the stipulated activities. Girls too have to undertake all these activities, barring the frequent ‘army-style’ activities,” he added.
“It does not matter whether you are a boarder or a day scholar. Ninety per cent students are residential, the balance 10% of the day scholars who despite staying in farflung areas around Bengaluru, have to report for their morning physical fitness practice. It is a mandatoryassessed course and every student is allocated two credits for engaging in these activities. The PEP incorporates 40% ‘life’ skills and 60% of ‘lifestyle’ skills”
While Col. Bakshi has been an avid sportsperson all his life, his training at the NDA instilled more rigour and discipline and as current faculty member at IFIM-B, his ability to superimpose the same on campus is laudable.
“We divide our students into four houses – ‘Apache’, ‘Braveheart’, ‘Coronation’ and ‘Daredevil’ and conduct inter-house sports competitions. When you do that, you automatically can sense leadership traits emerging in some of them and this one guy becomes the team captain, leading to teamwork wherein everyone works around their own strategy and competes to emerge victorious. Similarly, even in corporate houses, if you have some kind of fitness and team building activities, it adds to leadership qualities. Some also endorse teams that participate at national-level championships and some who support professional players, but these are an exception and not the rule!”
While a fitness regime in the 24x7 work schedule for corporate employees is an undying battle, Bakshi’s remedy for it is to go beyond mere providing of sports-related infrastructure and actually set in a structured and timed fitness regime.
“If not all, some corporate houses have started preventive health care and fitness workshops for their employees, while most of the infrastructure is made available, they fail to organise these activities in a structured manner. You would find youngsters and trainees availing of these facilities or maybe even participate in some form of sports and games; but those in the 35+ age category normally are happy to sit around their desk, are complacent or resigned to their sedentary habits.”
He suggests that companies should reserve lunch hours or other specified time period, akin to countries like Japan where each and every employee has to go through some kind of fitness activity.
“I know many executives who join the runners club; or engage in group activities that make one feel good and helps to enhance zeal to work. It will lead to better efficiency and productivity; you will have a good family life, no stress at all and this cumulatively will add to the overall well-being”.
By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar
