The majority of people visiting Nageswara Rao Park in the morning get curious about a group of boys and stop to check out what they are doing. These boys climb ropes, jump from one swing to another and perform other gravity-defying stunts. They call it street workout: a form of exercise that can be done anywhere using provisions available in public spaces.
Professional tennis players, these boys first met at Lords Table Tennis Academy. L. Sathishwaran, a fitness enthusiast, stumbled upon some street workout videos and wanted to try out the challenging routines. When he shared the idea with his friends at the Academy, they were ready to join him.
“Working out in the gym can be monotonous after a point. So when Sathishwaran, popularly called Sathish, suggested the idea we wanted to try it out. We started this six months ago at the park and we practise four times a week, in the morning and sometimes in the evening too,” says 19-year-old Shreyas Chandar, who along with Nishanth Nandakumar (19), Sendhurapandy MA (17), Vijay G (17) and Deepak Darshan, works out every day. Vijay is the only non-tennis player and joined the gang after he saw the other boys practising. He adds the park is the best place to practise.
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Explaining the workout, Sathish says, “We do a lot of challenging routines such as handstand push-ups, pistol squat, elbow lever, human bridge, hinge push-ups, rope climbing, two finger pull-ups, obstacle jumps, one hand leg raise, frog stand, L-sit and skinning the cat. It took us months to master them and there are many other exercises that we wish to attempt.” A tattoo on his biceps saying ‘Endurance’ shows his dedication to fitness.
These are extremely difficult workouts but the boys say anyone can do them if they practise regularly. This is a closed group now but they plan to organise street workout classes for others.
The group posts workouts, photos and other details on Facebook ,YouTube and Instagram.
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Check out >www.facebook.com/sathishstreetworkout , >www.youtube.com/user/sathishstreetworkout