CHENNAI: The minute I use the word fitness and workout, it conjures up visuals of a woman in her athleisure flaunting her abs or a man with six-packs. At least, that’s the idea of fitness sold to us. We are so caught up with western fitness movements that we seldom pay attention to what suits our body type, the diet we consume and our lifestyle,” points out Deepti Akki, addressing a bunch of fitness enthusiasts gathered at the all-new 2,500 sq ft gym Monday Monk in KK Nagar. Deepti opened the first branch of Monday Monk at Freshworks in Perungudi a year ago.
The fitness centre offers a holistic fitness experience, providing access to mental health professionals, nutritionists and doctors — besides workout and diet guidance — to cater to every need of the client. Joining the ranks is the second unit, a franchise owned by Feroz and Balachander. The main team behind it includes Kunal Rajput, head of training and technical services; Divya Purushotham, nutrition consultant; Rohini Rau, head of studio operations and Dr Sujatha V, mental health consultant. “We believe that a fitness pie chart comprises physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health.
People come to work out as a stress buster but they often end up walking out with another kind of stress when they don’t shed enough pounds or because of peer pressure. There’s no sense of contentment as they don’t get the basics right. If you eat, sleep and breathe well then you will feel happy and productive,” explains Deepti. With this principle at its core, the centre has a well-planned list of workouts to strengthen your power, agility, endurance and flexibility. The team also plans on having a variety of fitness activities such as Tai Chi, Animal flow and more on weekends.
On the food turf, Deepti only suggests desi diet patterns that are easily available and affordable — particularly, ones that suit each person’s body. To emphasise the significance of mental health, clients are given a Child Health Questionnaire soon after they enrol in a fitness programme. Based on the analysis, a set of breathing and meditation exercises are suggested. “This is the only way to assess a person’s mental health. You see, we call it Monday Monk as people often don’t perceive Monday in a good light. We want to make all days fun. Likewise, you can be a monk either by giving up your materialistic desires and going to meditate in the Himalayas or by being one with the chaotic city life.
We also encourage people to practise gratitude by penning down the one thing they’re grateful for soon after they step into the gym,” she details. Deepti feels that there couldn’t have been a better time to open the gym, despite the pandemic playing spoilsport with the launch. She assures us that the hygiene protocols are in place. “All the equipment used by one person is sanitised. The social distancing of six feet is maintained. Our total count for a batch has dropped from 26 to 16.
Both trainers and clients are checked for temperature. As of now, we have two sessions in the morning and evening. By January, there will be four in the morning and evening. We hope to have exclusive sessions for women because of demand,” says Deepti, who thinks that Chennai has come a long way with fitness and that this lockdown has been nothing but an eye-opener for people to look within. By next year, she aims to open four more branches of Monday Monk in the city and also explore tier two and three cities. The team is also working on a Super Monk app that promises to offer four-minute videos, featuring simple exercises that their patrons can try at home.
For details, visit: Monday Monk, No 585, Dr Alagirisamy Salai, Near PSBB School, Sector 4, KK Nagar, Chennai - 600078 Call: 9840644011