Hear It from the Winner Among Team Leaders: Ravi Yadav

Ravi Yadav was pronounced the winner among the team leaders of SocialBoat’s February ‘Fat Burner’ challenge, with a team of 37 members, 2,04,258 calories, and 255 streaks. In a conversation with SocialBoat, he talks about his adventurous journey with fitness, his aspirations, and his learnings from the challenge.  

Although an active participant in school sports, Ravi was often bullied for his lean body structure. Right after finishing school in March 2014, he contacted one of the local trainers and started working out. He got results instantly, and he was pleased and surprised. The same year in June, Ravi met with an accident that damaged the right side of his face. After a few days’ rest, he resumed his routine. However, he would fall sick every two months or so, it had become a pattern. On seeing a doctor, he learned that his trainer had been giving him Dianabol tablets (a kind of steroid) to manipulate the results. Falling sick was its side effect.  

Ravi switched his trainer and worked again with a stronger determination. On the last day of college, he met with another accident, worse than the previous one. He hurt his knee and the doctor advised complete rest, once again, stopping his workout routine.  

Post recovery, Ravi shifted to Delhi to prepare for government job exams. In Delhi, he started working out again. Ravi calls his passion for fitness “gym ka keeda.” His passion didn’t let him stop at that. He wanted to know more, do more, and learn more. With Covid hitting and exams being postponed, Ravi had nothing much to do. He got the idea of a professional course on fitness from an Instagram post. After asking around, he signed up for a certification from the K11 School of Fitness in Karol Bagh (k11schooloffitnesssciences ). It became his ambition to become a good fitness trainer that would continue even when he got a government job.

Currently, Ravi is training four clients, both online and offline, while completing his certification, and preparing for the exams. He shares valuable insights that he learned during his course and during the challenge. Read on to know what a winner does differently-

1. The importance of a proper diet

Ravi says that one of the most surprising things that he learned during one of his lectures on nutrition is that the ideal diet is so different from our usual diets. Usually, we eat carbs, which help us in nothing. A proper diet should be a protein diet. Ravi himself eats a full-protein diet consisting mainly of eggs and chicken, even though everyone else in his house is a vegetarian. He jokes about how they have multiple stoves in their house.

2. The technique is key.

Reiterating that golden trio for a fit lifestyle - proper nutrition, technique, and rest - Ravi says that the course in fitness taught him the importance of technique and approach to fitness. It determines long-term success in fitness. For example, people who aim to lose weight usually adopt a cardio workout. However, for losing weight too, strength-training is equally important as it gives long-term results.

3. The secret to victory.

Reflecting on the challenge, Ravi says that the biggest advantage he had over the others was that almost all the people in his team were athletes. They would run a lot for practice, and this increased the overall logged-in calories. He further says that by explaining the science behind the benefits of strength training for runners, he has helped them decrease their timings significantly.  

4. Learnings for the next time.

Ravi says that one area where he can improve for the future is consistency. He aims to be consistent himself so that he can inspire the same in his clients. With this, more calories will be burned to achieve better results.

5. Ravi’s method to keep clients motivated.

Ravi keeps a record of all his clients. When they start training with him, Ravi tests their strength, endurance, etc, and notes them down. Whenever they feel demotivated, he shows them their progress through these records. In addition to this, a comparison of the current technique or posture of working out with the previous one gives them the same motivation.

As far as fitness is concerned, Ravi’s goals, for now, are to push his heart rate further and gain more muscle. He wants to pursue a master’s course in fitness training and gain more knowledge and practice about the field.

“I want to learn everything from A to Z about fitness,” Ravi says.