Women sparring with powerful punches, a few standing on their heads, few others tying a tire over their shoulders, men mounting on one another making locks, while clutching, choking and tossing down opponents. All this makes up the workout regiment at Cult, a Bengaluru-based workout station. The gym is the brainchild of brothers—Ritesh and Rishabh Telang—from Agra. After doing his MBA, Rishabh, 31, joined Reckitt Benckiser’s sales and marketing division before turning consultant at Wipro. In 2015, he founded Cult after some soul-searching for the right techniques and workout forms of the art of sculpting bodies.
He toured Finland, Germany, Netherland, the US and brought back a mix bag of workout forms.
Ritesh, 27, is a B.Com graduate and after working with companies such as Mudra Communications, JWT and McCann Erickson, he joined his brother. Ritesh says, “True to our name, our aim is to build a community of fitness enthusiasts.” When you enter Cult, you feel, you have stepped into someone’s garage, a factory or a warehouse. You don’t see machines or regular gym equipment, only a table welcomes you.
You cannot spot an air-conditioner there. Hanging around are barbells and ropes. Boxing glove, boxing gear and a wooden boxer become the sporting paraphernalia. “Cult is a training facility focused on machine-free training programmes. And this is reflected in our rustic training facility,” Ritesh says.
They at Cult had culled various workouts from Bboying, Cross Fit, combat sport such as boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, Muay Thai and yoga. This training form has many takers. Tharang, 38, a software professional, swears by Muay Thai while Prajakta Karande, 38, a management professional, soaks in the adrenal gush that comes after an aggressive boxing bout and Annika, a second year B.Tech student, finds CrossFit engaging. Rishabh says their training fosters fitness, “Boxing enhances strength, cardiovascular and respiratory functions and also helps in improving balance, agility, coordination, and reaction time. We deliver the programme in a secure manner. Our sessions go beyond the basic techniques, we do a lot of drills.
We had even conducted a free workshop for women’s self-defence. Cross Fit consists of functional movements performed at high intensity. You get fit and your strength, speed, power, athletic performance will improve."
He adds, “Mixed Martial Art is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, it calls upon a combination of stand-up fighting and ground game. MMA lets you build a lean and athletic physique while giving you the strength. Yoga provides a blend of postures, breathing techniques and meditation. It is a kind of recovery session after a hard workout. It brings holistic well-being of both body and mind,” Ritesh adds.
The thing that unites the members is the variety in the workout routine. Annika says, “Everyday, I get to do something new, something challenging that would shock the body and in the end, I feel energetic. My stamina, endurance and speed have improved.”
Tharang swears on the support they get in overcoming their mind-blocks, “As a woman in her late 30s, I had seen people giving me a weird look seeing me dressed for the gym. When I approached a self-defence trainer, he was wondering why I should learn it. Here, everyone encourages you and I am gradually becoming fit.” Prajakta feels fitness is for all, “All our sessions are in groups, and we put up people who are new with people who have done it before, people who are slender and people who are stout together and they all do the same activities. But we scale it down for those who cannot do something.”
Muay Thai has a huge fan -following. Here, you use your whole body as a weapon to strike your opponent, and defend yourself. Muay is called the ‘Art of Eight Limbs’ because it uses eight points of contact, the hands, elbows, knees, and feet. Pro and immature Thai Muay fighters, a MMA conditioning coach, a MMA fighter, a rugby coach, a state-level boxer all form a dedicated team of trainers at Cult. Recently, Mukesh Bansal, founder of Myntra, and Ankit Nagori, former senior executive of Flipkart, invested $3 million for Cult’s expansion. A new centre will be inaugurated in November and two more are in the pipeline.
The Mixed Bag