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METRO WORKOUT

Photo: M. Karunakaran

Menacing moves B. Vasudevan leads his class

Trained in karate, kung fu, tai chi, judo and a list of other martial arts that I can’t pronounce, Vasudevan strings together movements from most of them for this workout, made more interesting by the fact that I am trying to outwit an opponent. Some lessons can be applied outside the fighters’ ring.

“Look at your opponent’s eyes to divert his attention from your hands and legs.”

“Go forward menacingly to hit one, but quickly draw back and hit the guy who’s not expecting an attack. His shock will get him before your blow does.”

“When you are faced with more than three opponents, you have to floor each with just one hard blow. If you take two blows for each, you are dead meat.”

For a while, I ape Vasudevan as he switches from one fighting style to another. To strengthen my arms and legs, I perform a few karate movements. For calming my mind and increasing my powers of concentration, it is tai chi. Most of my energy gets dissipated in the effort to imitate him. In the process, I fail to concentrate on my breathing and my punches lack power.

With the participants having to throw their fists and legs around, this workout is all about power and how to use it to down another. Even the warm-up exercises, which Vasudevan says is patterned on yoga, achieve two purposes. Hands rotated in front is aimed to knock the man standing in front. A sideways rotation is supposed to have a man standing on either side go careening to the floor.

Frog-jump is the only exercise that is free of a motive to inflict pain. Sitting cross-legged, Vasudevan holds his breath and then jumps up and down like a frog. I try it, but fall dreadfully short of perfection. Interestingly, 49-year-old Vasudevan, who has won an international free-fighting championship in Sri Lanka in 1979, gives his free-fighting lessons for free. Many youngsters living in fishing hamlets from Foreshore Estate to Panaiyur have been trained by Vasudevan. A fisherman himself, he relies on the sea and a wellness practice (using acu-pressure and reiki) for livelihood.

Bottom Line: Sculpted body and fighting trim. But too many movements to practise.

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