Zeroing in on what he calls the ‘Roy Training System’ that draws inspiration from legendary fitness gurus—Paul Chek, Mike Robertson, Mike Boyle and the like, Kolkatabased Chinmoy Roy, a certified strength and conditioning coach, lends ‘scientific‘ benchmarks to his training circuits. He played in the Kolkata League football matches and also in first division cricket, but gradually diversified into fitness training as a way to keep his connect with sports, following sports-related injuries. A fitness course with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) landed him the opportunity to train the Bengal junior cricket team in 2001; thus paving the way for his long innings with the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) from 2001-2015. He was Head Fitness Coach for the National Cricket Academy camps from 2005-2010 and an assistant trainer under Greg Chappell in the Indian Cricket camp in 2005; and in 2008, he became the India ‘A’ trainer. He was invited by the National Academy as a teaching faculty in 2008. He gained much mileage by personally training the cricketing doyen from Bengal, Saurav Ganguly from 2005 to 2012. Also a sportswriter, Chinmoy has had a stint with the Outlook magazine from 2012 to 2016 for his ‘Sports Tip’ column. Since 2010, he has been engaged with Star Ananda TV channel for a fitness show. He continues to write fitness columns for the Anandabazar Patrika (ABP) and The Telegraph, Kolkata. He shares his experiences with Corporate Citizen on instilling fitness within corporate houses and why strength training is essential for all
Chinmoy with film star Paoli Dam“While Virat Kohli is the toughest and most fit, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble were one of the most dedicated fitness trainees. I consider Irfan Pathan and Md. Kaif as two of the fittest cricketers of the previous era. M.S. Dhoni is a natural who does not need to train much and Wriddhiman Saha is one of the fittest sportsmen I have trained so far,” said Chinmoy Roy, strength and conditioning coach, Kolkata. “Back in 2006, Sourav (Ganguly) has gone on record in the ‘Sport Star’ magazine, saying how I helped him in his ‘comeback’ to the Indian team under Greg Chappell,” he added.
Not just cricketers, Chinmoy has rubbed shoulders with his celebrity trainees from Bengal, Tollywood queens—Raima Sen, Paoli Dam, actor Tota Roy Choudhury and film star Dev Adhikari, among others.
“The driving force behind launching Roy Training System was to unleash a wider spectrum. I could see that a majority suffer from joint pain, metabolic issues and obesity. So, I felt the need to diversify and educate myself on other health aspects too. Roy Training System also conducts Corporate Fitness Hunt and creates concepts on fitness shows and competitions. I had three centres before but I now focus on only two of them."
Corporate hold: He regularly ran corporate workshops in Kolkata until 2015. 2014 saw Chinmoy tie in with Singapore based EcoOils and conducted workshops for them in Singapore. This opportunity enabled him to get an extensive offer with EcoOils in 2015 when he hosted workshops in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for them.
Training with Irfan PathanHis module or any corporate workshop is to run separate programmes for different levels of fitness. “During the workshop, I segregate the young from the older executives and also identify individuals with knee and back pains. I tell this group that their first job is to fix the pain. The weight loss or the cardio exercises are then designed, keeping in mind their individual ‘pain factors’. Like those with a knee pain, you are asked not to jog. They are given non-impact cardio like shadow boxing, cycling, etc. as a fitness regime in consideration of their prevailing aches and pains,” he added.
Keeping his corporate workshops simple, an advice to his corporate clients is to “Tell the executives to set aside 25-30 minutes of their day for workout. I give them easy options. For most, it is not possible to hit the gym everyday as most are either travelling, busy or retire late to bed. So, my advice to them is that they can either do the workout at the workplace or at home. I demo exercises and make the employees do it at the workshop. I advise them to alternate between strength and cardio training every day.”
Chinmoy with ‘Dada’ Saurav Ganguly‘Core’ factor: Chinmoy specifies simple core exercises like plank, side plank, and bridges that can be done at home or at the office cubicle during coffee/snack break. “These keep the midriff section strong and helps to keep back aches at bay which is a common complaint from desk-bound office goers. I also educate them on how pain strikes at the shoulders and knees. So, doing some shoulder strengthening exercises like Y-T-W raise while lying on floor or leaning on the office table also helps to keep the shoulders healthy. Similarly squats, step-ups and hamstring curls can be beneficial in keeping the knee joints in good health,” said Chinmoy.
Besides, he also educates them on more potent metabolic issue that can surface silently and unknowingly. “All of a sudden your blood screen shows high sugar, cholesterol or the BP seems high. To keep the silent enemy at bay there isn’t any substitute to exercise.”
Chinmoy explains that any exercise that raises heart rate encompasses a cardio workout. “So, you need not have to look for a park or field to do cardio exercises. A spot high knee, spot brisk walk in your room or in the confines of the cubicle is good enough with intervals of 30 seconds to one minute in one repetition. There are many variations of on-the-spot cardio exercise. I demonstrate these exercises at the corporate workshops which are equally simple for anyone to do. For those who fancy walking, I tell them that you can use the tiffin or coffee break to climb four-five flights of stairs or simply come out of the confines of the office and do a 10-minute brisk walk.”
“For those who fancy walking, I tell them that you can use the tiffin or coffee break to climb four-five flights of stairs or simply come out of the confines of the office and do a 10-minute brisk walk...”
‘Wo-mania’: Chinmoy‘s take on fitness and women has its own tongue-in-cheek appeal, as he questions women on whether they should trigger their desire for working out and ponder over whether looking and feeling good actually appeals to them or not.
“Since cardio exercises produces happy hormones. It gives a glow to the skin; besides exercise can also help a racing mind to settle down. So it’s a win-win scenario (physically and mentally) if you get yourself into some form of a training routine,” he added.
He advocates that charting out a target is always helpful. “For it would keep him or her going. One can set a goal like ‘I will lose 6 kg in the next 6 months’. Once that is achieved, the next goal can be set again,” he said. “Once the goal is achieved one can self-reward oneself.”
Child’s play: In a gadget-savvy world, single-minded devotion to ‘virtual’ games has reached alarming proportions where parents struggle to wean kids off their iPads or smartphones and Chinmoy has a two-prongled solution. “One, give them a condition: if they exercise for half an hour, they get one hour of TV viewing. Two, each kid has his or her own preference of sport. Throw that sport to them. And create the exercises relevant to sports—if a child loves football, make him run with the football rather than making him just run plain! For those kids who do not like sport, give them funny activities. Create a group and give them some group activities to perform.”
Absolute mantra: “I drive home one point that you got to trigger your desire. The desire to stay fit is the mantra. If you do not see a healthier you in the future, then no one can make you do the exercises. I also tell people to choose exercises to their liking,” he said.
By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar
