Fitness is For All

Shashwat Shukla discusses how people of all ages can stay active and motivated every day

- Shashwat Shukla

Name: Mr Shashwat Shukla

Age: 29 years

Occupation: Fitness trainer and law student

My journey to fitness

I used to watch races in my school days and in my school and sports clubs, the winner used to get a tiffin box or a water bottle and fame. As I was a kid I got attracted to that and started to train myself.

Growing up, I got to know about Mr Ram Singh Yadav who is an international runner and Olympics player who represented India in the 2012 London Olympics. Mr Yadav belongs from my native place Varanasi and I used to read about him in the newspaper. He was serving in the Indian Armed Forces at that time and represented India in many international races. I was inspired by Mr Yadav and afterwards, he became my coach who trained and guided me like an elder brother by keeping me along with him on the armed forces campus.

In 2007, while preparing for the national level race, I had a severe injury and my scan reports showed that my left knee got tilted by 6 cm. That incident changed my life forever. At that time, I was not able to walk or wear jeans and used to sleep on the floor mat as I was not able to sleep on a foam bed because of the injury.

One day I was walking barefooted on the sand along the side of Ganga River with my coach. I discovered that barefoot is causing me less pain than shoes. My coach taught me about barefoot running and suggested I take up the activity and see the results. I began practising barefoot running and started to win many races back to back. I used to compete with people wearing branded shoes and now I am a world record holder in barefoot running.