Healthy Eating and Fitness
Ajay Singh Sethi a Reebok certified trainer and Barefoot exercise specialist talks to Deepthi Velkur about how he wants to help people live a lifetime of health, fitness and happiness. “Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune” – Jim Rohn. Ajay Singh Sethi is hugely inspired by Jim Rohn and believes continuous self-learning helps you achieve greater individual success as well as coach and inspire others. An MBA graduate from XLRI, Jamshedpur, Ajay traded in his promising corporate life for one that inspires and helps others stay active and healthy. A Reebok Certified Trainer, Barefoot Exercise Specialist (L2), EBFA USA, Certified Rehab Trainer, Kettle Bell Instructor, 24FIT Master Trainer and a Running Coach to name a few, Ajay hopes to bring Kota on the world map of Ultra Running with his flagship event Chambal Challenge (www.chambalchallenge.com) and take his 24FIT Coach education program nationwide to help people live a lifetime of health, fitness and happiness. FM: From playing sports at the national level to running, what was the trigger to switch to long-distance running? Ajay: To be honest, it wasn’t a well-planned or thought out decision. I was hoping to be a professional basketball player but unfortunately, injuries cut that dream short. With a management degree from XLRI and
The Vibrant Chambal Challenge: A runner’s odyssey!
Avid marathoner and coach, Ajay Sethi talks about his journey through the Chambal valley and the challenge it presents to an endurance athlete. Humans ran even before the original epic run of Pheidippides (from the battlefield at Marathon to Athens) and that became the foundation for the modern-day marathon. Then, there are Raramuri’s who can still run 400+ km in a single session! The “Chambal Challenge” gives each of us a chance to explore and get in touch with the Raramuri that exists within each one of us. The Challenge uses the vast expanse of nature – the rugged yet scenic beauty of the Chambal valley and the wilderness of the Mukundra Forest sanctuary to provide a soulful, sensory experience to the runner. Every Ultra Marathon claim to be the toughest and it is, in its own way different but the Chambal Challenge is probably the only Ultra Marathon in the country that combines a road run, uphill, downhill and trail running all into one long run that demands the best of strategy as well as skill from a runner. If a regular half marathon or a full marathon is about going the distance, then the Chambal Challenge is about Going Beyond. There is something transcendental, something spiritual about going beyond. Chambal