Fitness for Prashanth Nagrajan is being able to climb 15 floors if the lift is not working. And then being able to normalise your breath in under a minute. It is about being able to lift your child 20 times a day without hurting your back. It is about eating the right kind of food and more importantly, NOT eating the wrong stuff
An engineer by qualification, Prashanth Nagrajan joined his family run printing business straight out of college and learned the ropes from the ground up. After spending a couple of years in the business, he headed to the prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology, New York to earn his Masters in Print Media. Returning to his family business in 2009, he took over the responsibilities of running the business from the previous generation and continued to be at the helm of affairs till 2015. In June of 2015, he was offered the position of AVP of Operations by one of India’s fastest growing startup–Grofers. In this role, he was responsible for the Operations of three cities. After donning many interesting hats at Grofers, he pursued his entrepreneurial passion and co-founded Qtrove in March of 2016. Now he heads the business side of Qtrove and is responsible for Sales, Business Development, Seller Management and Brand Building through Offline Marketing.
Having been a physically active person from a very young age, he realised the importance of being active, even more so now, at the age of 33 years. He is very enthusiastic about updating himself about the latest healthy eating habits as well as understanding how the body works. And most importantly, he loves his 7-8 hours of sleep every day!
I find it quite amusing when I meet someone in my parent’s generation and they ask me “are you into weightlifting/bodybuilding?” and they gesture with a bicep curl. The perception of fitness to a lot of people is still about lifting heavy weights or running on a treadmill. They do tend to forget the kind of weights, housewives of yesteryears used to lift on a daily basis. A bucket full of water weighs about 20 kilos!
Fitness for me is about keeping your energy channels flowing. It is NOT about how many abs you have, what your waist size is or the inches of your biceps. Fitness to me is being able to climb 15 floors if the lift is not working. And then being able to normalise your breath in under a minute. It is about being able to lift your child 20 times a day without hurting your back. It is about eating the right kind of food and more importantly, NOT eating the wrong stuff.
My parents made sure I enjoyed sports from an early age. I trained professionally for swimming from the age of eight and was representing Tamil Nadu at the National levels by age 10. I would advise all parents to get their children into activity sports from a very young age. Don’t spend money on an Xbox. Spend it on the best sports training facilities. You won’t regret it.
Exercise or take a walk whenever possible through the day; avoid sitting for long periods and eat healthy. And read up about nutrition. It is one of the most misunderstood topics. I believe everyone must know what they are eating and the significance of what they put in their body.
I try to exercise with high intensity at least 3-4 times a week. Thankfully, from a young age, I used to wake up early so am still a morning person. When I get done with my workout in the morning, I feel energetic all day long. I am sure a lot of it is psychological, but hey, whatever works right! I also try and eat 4-5 fruits and vegetables every day. And as far as possible, avoid sweets and fried foods. I have never been a fan of fizzy sodas so I guess that helps too. Having said that, I do have my weaknesses as well and can’t say no to some nicely crafted beer or a glass or Cabernet.
My most calming time of the day is the two km walk to and from my gym. The air is moderately clean, it is quiet and I listen to my podcasts and don’t have to think about anything much. Sometimes in the evenings, I indulge in a couple of games of chess with my wife.
The reason our grandparents lived with relatively few health problems into their 80s is mainly attributed to their active lifestyle and their food habits. I try to keep it simple. Have as many home cooked meals as possible. Cook with coconut oil or ghee at home. Get as many fruits and veggies as possible into your diet every day. Drink at least 3-4 litres of water. Load up on proteins and go easy on carbs. And if you eat eggs, don’t miss out on the yolk. That’s the healthiest part!
“I would advise all parents to get their children into activity sports from a very young age. Don’t spend money on an Xbox. Spend it on the best sports training facilities. You won’t regret it”
Having a gym membership is not necessary. Although it is definitely motivating to work out in a group setting, it is definitely not cheap. But we are all born with the best and cheapest set of weights possible-our bodies. There are at least 100 different body weight exercises you can do on a daily basis for 30 minutes or so and break out into a real sweat. Push, Pull, Jump, Squat, Hinge and Crawl. All of this improves your mobility. All you have to do is Google body weight workouts that can be done at home.
Sitting is the new smoking. On an average, we all sit for 6-8 hours a day. Sit on the pot, on the breakfast table, while travelling to work, at work, during lunch and dinner, in front of the TV and probably a couple of times in between all of this. We need to consciously sit a lot less and move around. The human body was not meant to sit for this long. I soon plan to get a standing workstation.
Fancy diets are just that. A fad. Embark on something that is sustainable. If you think you can stay off carbs to lose weight, I am sure you can. But for how long? And what happens when you restart your carb routine? I would rather eat everything in moderation and exercise regularly.
I go to The Cult where I get to choose between Crossfit, Kettlebell training, Yoga, and Mixed Martrial Arts (MMA) on a daily basis. This also helps me look forward to the next workout.
Do not fall for any quick fixes. Be it diets, magic fat burning pills or those vibrating belts that is supposed to melt the fat right off your belly. Like all things in life, staying healthy involves effort and patience. But there is no better feeling of accomplishment. And the best part? It is all for your own good. With the kind of stress that we all go through and the levels of air, water and food pollution we are exposed to, we need to consciously overcompensate to stay healthy. Keep that phone aside and get your required 7-8 hours of undisturbed sleep. And finally, stay calm. No good can come from yelling at people. Just take a couple of deep breaths and move on.
by Sharmila Chand
