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By – LATA RAJAN
This post is not about Health and Nutrition but about achieving Inner Excellence and building Mental Muscle. The pathway – training to be a teacher at the K11 Academy of Fitness Sciences. What does it take to become a PT Course Lecturer at K11? As a first step, one needs to enrol for the Lecturer Training Course – the content extremely interesting and painstakingly detailed – ranking very high in quality.

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 To illustrate – a 3 ½ hour topic of the PT course may take well over 2 full lectures where all facets and aspects are explained in great depth. The glee quotient is high because most part of the course is handled by Kaizzad Capadia – Director, K11 Academy Of Fitness Sciences.

While the minimum marks to pass an exam in India is 35, K11 stands out as an exception – The courses at K11 have triple assessment criteria of Theory, Practical’s & Viva. Each of the three needs to be passed with a minimum of a 60% score for a student to receive the K11 Certification.

But for us aspiring to be faculty, the theory exam, post the Lecturer Training Course, must be passed with a minimum of an 80% score!!!
Once this hurdle is crossed, there are Mock Lectures to be passed… 16 topics to be prepared and delivered in front of an audience, current faculty and the Director!

Going through the written exam is a somewhat “safe” proposition – but the Mock Lectures is like being “online” – a live Exam. The thought itself was enough to scare the living daylights out of me. I was sure I would be tongue-tied…My CNS had to form new neural pathways to verbalize!

And yet I found this expedition to be most enriching and rewarding…

Once I cleared the written exam, Workload on my mind increased multi fold – for now I had to exert a High Intensity defence against my formidable enemy – My Critical Voice. This voice taunted me – “You have not played a single sport in your life and neither do you sport a great body composition… A Lecturer in physical fitness!! No way!”

I thought “It’s high time I trim this flab – charbi toh ghatani hai.” I used “Selection Criteria” (A subject I now teach in Exercise Science at the K11 Academy) to zero in on the best possible exercise mediated pathways to an improved Body Composition – I had a repertoire of 5 Structural and Compound Unsupported movements with me – my faithful qualities of Resilience, Perseverance, Single minded focus, Profound desire to stay healthy, and a deep thirst for Knowledge – and I used them to the fullest on my Exercise routine & my Nutrition.

With the backing of my colleagues, I successfully cleared the first mock, but I knew I have to stand on my own two Legs. So with my chin up and chest out, I ploughed on. At times I wondered if I could “Shoulder” the responsibility of a teacher – a woman in a man’s world of Strength Training, but “Arm”ed with scientific knowledge, the task was not so difficult. Moreover, my “Core” value of commitment held me in good stead and I could “stomach” the pressure.

In the Director’s cabin, I built my confidence – step by step, block by block; I gained inner strength with every successful mock – much like building Strength in my Muscles; I got the better of my apprehensions and performance anxiety – much like pushing my Cardiovascular system to pump harder and to endure; my rigid Inner Critic held me back many a time – learning to shut its voice meant stretching my belief in self – much like lengthening my muscles.

I benefited greatly from the Director’s support and the positive learning environment he provided- I learnt much more about the prepared topic – Additionally, I had the opportunity to develop oral communication skills.

Today as I successfully delivered my last mock lecture, I look back at the distance I have traversed – the journey has been truly elevating!

I am much inspired by Robert Heinlein’s quote “When one teaches, two learn.”

Lata Rajan,
Sr. Faculty Exercise Science at the