Hatkhola Byayam Samity has added modern workout equipment to keep up with the times, but the "stars" seriously into bodybuilding still prefer to go the traditional way. The gym has produced several bodybuilders who have won the coveted Mr India title like Shankar Saha, Kartick Saha, Kalachand Roy and recently in 2013-14, Sujan Roy. "Ours is more a temple than a gym, where we follow century-old techniques. Two hours of intensive workouts are routine for us. This helps us get a body that never sags, unlike the ones that are pumped up by nutritional and steroid supplements," said Roy.
Sixty-year-old retired airlines employee Ashok Ghosh Dastidar was swinging the 10-kilo wooden mace with the ease of a child working his favourite toy. "I have been doing this for 40 years. No modern-day weight or fitness training can match the age-old methods," he said.
Earlier, the club would also have a mud-lime-turmeric bed for wrestlers. This lay defunct for want of users but the samity is trying to revive it. "We have not only survived but also flourished all these years just by following ancient body-building and exercise regimen using what modern gyms might call archaic equipment and yet, at just Rs 50 a month per member, we are continuously producing the best bodies. Isn't this something to boast about?" secretary Somnath Banerjee said.
(Inputs from Akshita Todi and Sagnik Mukherjee)
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