We are all aware of the positive effects exercise and physical activity has on our bodies, minds, and souls. But occasionally, the voice inside our heads that encourages us to forgo our workout or order takeout and work for a few more hours, wins.

When this happens, it could be difficult to keep to your plan to prioritise fitness and go to the gym. Sometimes, it is even difficult to begin a workout regime. We all go through a time when we find it difficult to motivate ourselves to start going to the gym. 

Mr Yash Birla, whom we all consider one of the most highly regarded fitness icons of India, once went through a similar phase as well! Shocking, isn’t it? That’s true, the time when Yash Birla had no interest in gyms existed in real. 

Being in the gym and working out every day is a part of Mr Yash Birla’s daily routine. But this article talks about the time when Yash Birla had no interest in gyms and his first encounter with a gym.

In his book, “Building The Perfect Body,” Yash Birla has been very candid about his whole journey of fitness. He shares, “Though I was never fat or anywhere close to obese, I was a far cry from being fit as a youngster. Growing up, I was very introvertish, with a few friends from school. While most boys of my age were either playing football or tennis after school, I would prefer to come back home and either study or spend m time with my family.”

Mr Yash Birla was closest to his grandmother while growing up. While talking about her, he says, “My grandmother believed that the more I ate, the more I would grow taller and stronger. When I reached my teens, my father and mother both noticed that the eating hadn’t helped my height one bit. Both of them were not too tall, so it made sense that their son also would be of average height.”

Further, he says, “But this was something that was not acceptable to my parents. “Yash, you need to go to this gym I have enrolled you in,” my mother one day told me, eyeing me with a deadpan look on her face.” “They truly believed that if I worked out a bit more, I would gain another two or three inches and become taller than I was,” he adds.

Then, Mr Birla joined a local gym named Pujaris Gym. He describes the place as “Pujaris was a hole in the wall. With very basic training equipment, this place was not like the joints we see today. Nothing about Pujaris appealed to me, but I went along nonetheless, to keep my parents happy.”

The Birla scion stated, “The exercises were excruciatingly boring. Lifting weights in a haphazard manner, the trainer thought he could transform my teenage physique with the right routine.” And further shares, “But I was lost, this was not something I was going to invest too much time in, that I knew.”

Eventually, he left the gym with no intention of coming back. He says, “This was my first encounter in life with a gym or anything even remotely associated with fitness.”