It takes years to master Kalaripayattu, says Ajith Kumar T of Maruthi Kalari Sangham at Mudavanmugal. He does not want his students to lose momentum with the martial art because of the lockdown. “There are moves one can practise without direct supervision of an ashaan (trainer),” he says. Taking the ‘Penkaruthu’ (woman power) programme that it introduced last year, the Kalaripayattu school has now tied up with the Kerala State Youth Welfare Board (KSYWB) for online classes.
The series, titled ‘Athijeevanakalathe Penkaruthu’ is available on the Board’s YouTube channel, KSYWB Official, where lessons on the basic moves of the art can be accessed. “These are mostly 10-minute videos demonstrated by a few of our students, laying out fundamental exercises and chuvadu (moves) in Kalaripayattu,” explains Ajith, who provides the voice-over instructions. These are the basic moves, he reiterates and there is no use of weapons in it, he says. Maruthi Kalari aims to put out a video a day till April 14.
C S Suchith of Buddha Kalari, Anayara, feels a little differently about instructing a complete beginner through video classes. So he offers them only to his present batch of students. “We primarily rely on WhatsApp where the students send me instant videos of practice sessions and I respond promptly through voice messages,” he says. However, the sessions are limited to only basic moves to avoid injuries and incorrect learning and are conducted under the supervision of a guardian, he clarifies.
Gym trainers and fitness consultants are putting out handy work-out videos. Sandy Nair is one of them with his YouTube channel, Dr Sandy Nair that he started in 2007. He confesses he was not very active on it and had just seven subscribers. But now, post lock-down, he has 196 subscribers! An assistant professor at the Department of Physical Education at NSS College, Pandalam, Sandy is also a fitness consultant, and strength and conditioning coach. He has begun posting regular fitness videos.
He says, “I am a fitness consultant at Fascino Fitness ad Performance, Vellayambalam. While most of my clients have shifted to paid online training sites since the self-quarantining period, some of them requested me to post videos they could follow that didn’t require any equipment. I decided to post it on my YouTube channel so that it’s accessible to anyone.”
On his videos, Sandy starts each workout with a warm up “It’s important to do a few warm-up stretches before and after a workout.” His videos also include demos on the right way to do push-ups squats, circuit training, Swiss ball exercises and so on. His seven-minute long ‘Workout with trainer Sandy’ videos are intensive. “I am planning to introduce workout for children as well as for the elderly soon,” he says.
Sandy’s sister, Shaly is also a fitness instructor. A computer science engineer, she says holding online coaching for class 12 students gave her the idea to begin online exercise sessions for her clients. She says her clients are anything between 25 and 75 years of age. She does sessions for groups thrice a week and also holds one to one classes for a few of her clients.
Shaly’s hour-long sessions are a combination of Zumba, aerobics and high-intensity interval training. She shares them via Skype. And just like regular classes, she keeps a close eye on her to see if they are keeping up with her moves. “I tweak the steps if they find it challenging and check to see if everyone is keeping up with the rhythm.” She is considering going daily as many of her students have been clamouring for her to do so.
For those who are into yoga, the city’s Sivananda Yoga Centre at Enchakkal has taken to ‘Facebook live’ sessions for the practitioners.
“Our instructors take online classes through Facebook live from our social media page every morning, and it is open to everyone. We also rely on the video-conferencing app Zoom where one-on-one interaction is required,” says Yashpasl Singh Rawat, Director of Sivananda Yoga Centre.
(with inputs from Liza George)
