Margao police gym, a health haven for cops

MARGAO: Faced with the daily stress of work days that are approximately 12-hours long and sometimes even more, South Goa superintendent of police (SP)

Arvind Gawas

and other police personnel try not to miss out on their daily physical fitness sessions in the police gymnasium situated on the second floor of the South Goa district police headquarters in

Margao

.

Interestingly, it was Gawas himself who set up this fully-equipped gymnasium 11 years ago when he was heading the police headquarters department.

Besides the Margao gymnasium, there are also police gymnasiums at Altinho-Panaji, Vasco and Mormugao (Harbour) police stations.

The gymnasium at Margao is well-equipped with a wide range of fitness equipement including a treadmill, exercise cycles, Olympic bars and bench, a cross-trainer, assisted chin-ups, cable-cross, pulley, a peg deck, dumbbells and chest press machines, oblique abdominal board, preacher curl bench, incline and decline bench, cable crossover rack, calf raiser and leg extension equipment among others.

While the gymnasium remains closed on Sundays and public holidays, on other days it is open to police personnel, other staff of the police department and their family members, too. The gymnasium functions in two sessions, from 6am to 10.30am and from 4.30pm to 9pm. The 5.45pm to 7pm slot is reserved for women. Children of police personnel, some as young as eight-years-old, too, visit the gymnasium regularly, happily skipping away or hopping onto the cycling machine.

Talking about the importance of fitness, Gawas says that after the age of 45, cops have a tendency of falling prey to ailments such as spondylosis, back pain, shoulder injuries, etc. Medical checkups and physical fitness tests are conducted annually for the police personnel at the police headquarters and the district headquarters. "Besides this, police personnel also undertake weekly physical training and parade with arms drill and the shramdhan (social service) of cleanliness of police station," Gawas tells TOI.

One of the regulars is Margao town traffic assistant sub-inspector (ASI)

Krishna Gaonkar

. Partly paralysed after suffering a stroke while on duty around 10 months back, Gaonkar is now well on the path of recovery.

Gym regulars take part in contests

“I feel better now as I can move my arms,” Gaonkar says. PC Sarvesh Phadte, the gymnasium incharge says, “There has been a lot of improvement in ASI Gaokar’s physical condition. Besides doing various stretching exercises and using the cycling machine, he also participates in the yoga sessions conducted by our trainer, head constable Prakash Bandekar.” Interestingly, Bandekar handles the yoga sessions at both, the Altinho gymnasium in the morning, and the Margao one in the evening.

The gymnasium is also a haven for retired police personnel. One of the regulars there is retired deputy SP Guruprasad Mhapne.

Deepali Gokuldas Beer, 25, says, “I have been visiting this gymnasium for 1.5 years now, and doing my daily workouts. I have lost weight and have greatly improved my fitness.”

Phadte proudly says that some regulars who train at the gymnasium have gone on to participate in local and national body building contests, and that many of them have even won awards.


Explore the yearly horoscope 2025 for Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces zodiac signs. Spread love this holiday season with these New Year wishes, messages and quotes.