Akshay Chopra Is Here

A Researcher, a Mentor, an Author, an Educator, a bodybuilder, a Defence Personel, An Encylopedia….Sounds unbelieveable?

But its true. Can one person have so many facets and dawn so many hats, and yet excel at EVERYTHING that he does, thus maintaining his consistency and zest.

MEET AKSHAY…as we unveil the many facets of AKSHAY CHOPRA !!

 

AKSHAY CHOPRA – Born to excel 

Akshay was born in the capital city of India, New Delhi with quite a bit of genes for sports in him from birth, his mom being a former National Award Winner in athletics and his grandfather being a former wrestler in Lahore, Pakistan (before partition). The motivation continued throughout his life as he excelled in all sports and loved the simple idea of being outdoors and sweating it out harder than the others. 

 

AKSHAY – THE DEFENCE PERSONEL 

Love for the uniform, extensive reading and sports qualified him to enter one of the best higher studies institutions in the world. AKSHAY CHOPRA graduated from the prestigious National Defence Academy and the Air Force Academy. He was commissioned in the Indian Air Force as a pilot in the transport stream. During his academy days, he encountered the toughest military training at that level and gave him the firsthand experience of the bootcamp or military workouts. 

In his first posting in Baroda, along with his flying, he managed to venture into the field of bodybuilding and he won gold in his very first district competition and subsequently several medals at state and national level championship. He became the part of the IAF bodybuilding team and trained under some of the best coaches and players in the field of bodybuilding.

The best part about the entire journey was that he got a chance to train and learn from the top coaches in the country in different fields, in the likes of Mr. Sheopat Singh, several times national high jump champion; Mr. Prasad Kumar and Mr. KLNV Prasad several times Mr. India winners in bodybuilding and IAF coaches; Dr. Dhananjay More, national powerlifter and one of the most qualified doctors in sports and fitness in India, top Ustads (coaches) in the army and IAF, and many more. 

 

AKSHAY - THE AUTHOR

There was another love of his life: BOOKS. He simply loved reading on different genres and it was the amalgamation of these two fields which led him to explore areas which other sportsmen did not want to venture into. 

Akshay has authored more books in the field of fitness than anyone in the country, many of them being the first ever in the country in those topics of research. He has also written hundreds of articles for various magazines and websites. 

 

MOST POPULAR BOOK TITLES:

 

AKSHAY VENTURES INTO FITNESS

What Akshay realized during all these years was a big gap between the Why’s and How’s of the field of sports, fitness and nutrition. The missing link always was the reasons behind the Why’s. Hardly anyone wanted to venture into the academic side in these fields and there was a massive mismatch between the academic reasoning and the practical applications. 

Reading being one of his passions, he started reading everything and anything he could lay his hands on in the field of sports, fitness and nutrition. Akshay was never the one to be satisfied and a constant endeavor to explore more led him to do a range of certifications and courses from various international organizations around the world. He is presently one of the most certified and qualified fitness professionals in the country.  

While he was doing his flying, competitive sports, professional studies for certifications, he managed to get his hands on the research which he found was the key missing in his arsenal and this hooked him to it. 

 

AKSHAY CHOPRA - THE MENTOR /SPEAKER

AKSHAY CHOPRA has been conducting talks, seminars, and lectures around the country, in various schools, universities, defence forces establishments & other professional setups, addressing thousands of people from all walks of life. He speaks extensively on topics ranging from myths people face in everyday life related to fitness, nutrition and general health; to various research based professional topics. He has addressed people from all walks of life, be it doctors, researchers, students, fitness coaches, dieticians, teachers, corporates, housewives etc. 

Few of the many places Akshay has been invited as a guest Speaker are:

- Josh Talks

- Miranda House, Delhi 

University

- Bharti College, Delhi University

- Indira Gandhi Physical 

Education & Sports University

- Assam Valley School, Tezpur, Assam

- DAV School, Ghaziabad

- Kendriya Vidyalaya, Guwahati

- Devnandini Hospital, Hapur

- Franchise India Meet

- All India Radio, FM Gold

- Air Force Stn, Guwahati

- Air Force Stn, Tezpur

- Army Stn, Misamari

- Air Force Stn, Jorhat 

- Air Force Stn, Baroda

- Air Force Stn, Avantipur

- Air Force Stn, Kalpi

 

AKSHAY – THE SURVIVOR 

All this while he was competing for various competitions and was posted in different corners of the country where the availability of decent gym was simply out of question. He has done different forms of workouts under the extreme conditions, and  in the harshest of the environments and that’s why understands the psychology of his clients, and has an edge over everyone else. 

He was doing all this and more while battling multiple serious issues on the personal and professional front like a serious shoulder injury, for which he underwent a major surgery later, and won a gold in state bodybuilding competition both during the injury and after the surgery and may more extremely painful and humbling incidents which happened.

 

AKSHAY – THE BUSINESSMAN 

Akshay decided to enter the field of business in his final years in the IAF, when he co-founded Body Mechanics along with Mr. Sunny Gambhir and Mr. Sanjit Pal Singh Gulati. BM as it is informally known, is one of the most research based and result producing gyms in the country with concepts of boot camp and sports based workouts using unconventional tools like heavy ropes, sandbags, tyres, chains, slam balls, suspension training, animal workouts, loaded carries etc. It has again introduced several firsts in the country, like the first ever fully integrated workout software for the clients and coaches to reduce errors, increase productivity and reduce client-coach interaction time; first ever virtual gaming for spinning bikes, zero-pilferage rates in terms of revenue, and a lot more is being worked on. 

The aim of BM was to clear the myths and misconceptions in the field of fitness and nutrition from the minds of clients and coaches alike and build trust as the base for the entire model. BM has had record breaking enrollments and sales figures throughout simply because of the strictly controlled professional environment, extremely competitive pricing and incomparable services at the price.  

The coaches for BM were handpicked by Akshay himself and trained under concepts and modalities which they have never worked upon and this also led Akshay to launch the BM Human Design School which provide the most extensive and unconventional courses in the fields of fitness and nutrition to coaches and trainers which they can use to multiply their income, increase their knowledge and overall move up in the ladder of professional success. 

WERSTUPID 

MYTH BUSTER 

Akshay saw that there was a big missing link between what is true by research and what is true by shear false marketing gimmicks. One of such concepts was of the Bootcamp workouts which were literally being misused by trainers who don’t have an iota of an idea of what is a bootcamp. Bootcamp is a word which came from military training and you have to do it to understand what’s the intensity and ferociousness involved in a bootcamp workout. Doing workouts on a yoga mat, is not bootcamp. Bootcamp is hard and brutal and that’s how it is supposed to be. But Akshay added an edge to it by adding the fun component to the bootcamps, for which BM is extremely famous. 

Another big step Akshay took, towards education of the masses, was by launching the 1st ever research based fitness channel in India: We R Stupid. Through his channel Akshay challenges, various fallacies and lies being propagated in fitness, nutrition, supplementation etc. purely based on deep research. The channel is growing steadily with an excellent fan base. 

Soon, the international community took notice and he became a popular name in the industry. 

 

SECRETARY IBFF 

In 2018, he was invited by IBFF (International Bodybuilding & Fitness Federation) in Europe, and was appointed as the Gen. Secretary for IBFF India, along with President Mr. Richard James. 

This was followed by the first ever IBFF INDIA CUP, which was organised, at the prestigious Lalit Hotel in New Delhi. The competition became a symbol of sorts, as it also became the first ever bodybuilding & Physique show to have a Transman category, and supported the LGBT community in India. The Lalit Suri Foundation, of Mr. Keshav Suri, Hon. Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, Mr. Manoj Tiwari etc. were some of the famous names, who were part of the occasion. 

 

LONG TERM VISION

In Akshay’s own words:

“There is lots to do, and I with my team, is working constantly towards it. My next major step is in multiple dimensions covering various aspects of business & life………..

 

1. THE MOST EXTENSIVE FITNESS COURSES FOR PROFESSIONALS:

In the recent years, there has been a mushrooming of fitness academies around the country. The problem however, remains the same, Substandard curriculum and run-of-the-mill content. Various fitness academies are offering fitness courses, purely seeing the massive growth in the fitness industry in India, not for real education. Almost all the academies are offering similar course content, and very few have the potential to make a professional future ready in terms of both theory and practical application.

I am currently working on developing the first ever course on Sports Nutrition Supplementation in India. That’s a black hole about which almost all coaches, dieticians, and doctors alike, are confused. The difficult part is unearthing the real unbiased research. The course will be the most extensive one in the history of this country. The admission to this course will be based on fulfillment of some basic requirements and parameters. 

This course will not just be any one day certification, but a course extending over hours of content, covering hundreds of different ingredients being used in sports supplements around the world. The course material will be extremely extensive and will really add on to the knowledge of the student & their future career prospects. 

 

2. BODY MECHANICS FRANCHISE:

After almost three years of testing the BM model for gyms, we have now officially launched the franchise model for Body Mechanics. Learning from our experience, and overcoming the challenges, we are offering the franchise model with complete support to the investor. 

BM franchise model, is one of the most transparent models in the business of gyms. With complete support from our team, the model of BM offers inhouse management, designing of the gym (a BM usp), purchase of the equipment,  self-designed in-house software, to the indigenous BM AWS (Automated Workout System), selection and training of the coaches (the most neglected aspect) .Every aspect is taken care of by the BM management. 

 

3. IBFF EXPANSION:

Any organization or federation, takes years to reach a level where it can command the kind of trust & support from the people. IBFF India, after conducting the first ever super successful IBFF India Cup, in the prestigious Lalit hotel, in New Delhi, ARRIVED. But this is just the start. 

The aim of IBFF now is to appoint the teams for each state in the country, under their respective State Heads. 

 

A note from self…..

“I am a hardcore Delhiite. Born, brought up, and ruined in Delhi. 

This was till the time I joined the defence forces, where I found what life really means. 

My mom being a former National Award Winner in athletics and grandfather being a former wrestler in Lahore, Pakistan (pre independence). So I had good genes for sports, but I soon realized that genes alone do nothing. You need to give your genes a reason to act. 

I loved all sports and loved the simple idea of being outdoors and sweating it out harder than the others. 

I hated academics, but I loved books. These seems like a contradicting statement, but in simple terms, I hated being instructed to study and mug up subjects which I didn’t like. 

But I lived reading books on varied topics. I simply loved reading on different genres, mainly non-fiction. 

This is where I learnt my first lesson – “one of the finest habits one can inculcate in their lives from an early age is reading. At that age when you are vulnerable to everything, nothing opens your mind like a good book. Make books your friend and you would never be lonely.”

So, I hated studying, and maths was my waterloo. I flunked in maths in my 12th. I cried for two days, not because I really felt bad, but because my parents should not feel that I didn’t feel bad and I don’t get a beating. 

Funny part was that on the day of the exam, I was the happiest guy after the exam finished, and I was sure, that 80% is the minimum I would get. I saw the other student’s grim face, who found the exam tough, and I laughed at them. 

Well I worked, very hard again and passed my compartment exam with flying colours. I got 60%. Those marks were great for me. 

I was also into competitive athletics and training hard day and night for it. That’s what I loved more. 

Later while doing research I realized, I had the classic symptoms of ADHD. But, for Indians that was an alien term. If you cannot focus in academics and get good marks, you were labelled naughty and dumb, and useless for life. I was a classic case. People just judged me from my marks, just marks. 

I loved uniform and I love my country. Everyone who dawns a uniform has a sense of patriotism in them. Love for the uniform, extensive reading and sports made me get into one of the finest military institutions in the world – the National Defence Academy. 

This is where I learned my second lesson – “everything happens for a reason. Just don’t lose your focus.”

The NDA training is one of the toughest in the world. So, when people of my age were enjoying and bunking colleges, we were sweating and bleeding in the training. That’s what makes the Indian Defence Forces, the finest in the world. 

National Defence Academy – teaches you one thing first – “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. They do not push you to the physical limits, that’s broken way back. They push you to the limit, when your mind takes over and you create new mental limits. 

NDA builds lifes, relationships and friendships. Whenever ex-NDAs meet, there is bound to be a big discussion about the academy days. the friendships you build in NDA are forever.

The aim of NDA and other defence forces training establishments is to make ‘men out of boys’, and believe me they teach you the way, men are supposed to learn. 

NDA teaches you how to obey, and obey without doubts. This is because, you cannot command someone if you have never obeyed. If you haven’t gone through brutality, you cannot take another person through it. 

From NDA I got into the Air Force Academy, where we learn our basic flying, and we learn it the hard way. You try and perform some funny stunt in the cockpit and you get hit badly. This is sometimes necessary, to save your own life, and teach you the hard way that a small mistake in the cockpit can be fatal. There will be no one to slap you when you are flying alone. 

From AFA in Hyderabad, I was off to Bangalore for my transport flying training. and got commissioned in the Indian Air Force as a pilot in the transport stream. 

In my first posting in Baroda, along with flying, I managed to venture into the field of bodybuilding and won gold in his very first district competition and subsequently several medals at state and national, and services championships. 

Flying and bodybuilding was tough. I used to carry my workout kit, in my aircraft, and we often had to do night halts at different stations, where I worked out, with whatever equipment I had.

I was called on to be a part of the IAF bodybuilding team and trained under some of the best coaches and players in the field of bodybuilding. 

Sports & military training taught me the right meaning of discipline, dedication and determined pursuit of your goal.

This is where I learned my next lesson: “don’t just go through pain, grow through it.”

I loved that sense of physical pain. I remember the first time I did a leg press of 700kgs, with heavy squats and other leg exercises. I was in Thane, as I reached my mess, and got down from my bullet. I fell on the ground. My legs refused to take weight. I tried to get up again, the legs cramped and I was down again. Two of my friends had to drag me into the mess, to eat and drink something. 

My military training ingrained in me the virtue of perseverance. I got a chance to work in some of the best gyms in the country, and some of the most inhospitable conditions. I remember working out in a small gym in a farm, when I was posted in Guwahati. The gym just had one fan, and the humidity levels were over 95% in most cases. But I won my best medals in that gym. 

My curiosity was not just in playing a sport, but also knowing the why behind it. What I realized during all these years was a big gap between the Why’s and How’s of the field of sports, fitness and nutrition. Hardly anyone wanted to venture into the academic side in these fields and there was a massive mismatch between the academic reasoning and the practical applications. 

Reading being one of my passions, I started reading everything and anything I could lay his hands on in the field of sports, fitness and nutrition. I explored more & more, and did a range of certifications and courses from various international organizations around the world. I did more certifications than anyone I had met in fitness in the country. 

During my third year of training, I tore my shoulder muscle. The NDA mentality set in immediately. I played a competition with a broken shoulder and won a gold. But of course, I had worsened the problem, and I had to undergo an extensive surgery. This is not the only surgery I had undergone. I had broken myself multiple times from head to toe.

I retired after app. a decade of service. I retired as a missile officer, that was my last posting. 

I ventured into business after retirement. I opened one of the most successful and research based gym concept in Delhi, with the name of Body Mechanics. This was the place where I used all my research of athletics, military training and bodybuilding, with my theoretical research. Aim was to remove the negative points I had observed in gyms across the country. Body Mechanics, became one the most successful gyms in the country, with the highest client and employee retention rates. 

Even after doing major certifications and courses, I found something missing bigtime in my knowledge. This is where I ventured into the field of independent research. I started writing extensively, such that till date I have written over 55 books and ebooks, and hundreds of articles of various magazines and websites in the country. 

One day I was watching a movie with my better half, and it was a pretty stupid movie. While watching a scene, I just got irritated, and said, we r stupid, to watch this movie. And suddenly, something struck. 

I went out with my wife instantly, and discussed with her, who loved the name, with which I started India’s 1st research based YouTube fitness channel, WE R STUPID. 

Couple of months back, I was invited to Italy, where I got the honor of being appointed as the General Secretary for IBFF in India. IBFF or international Bodybuilding & Fitness Federation, is a Europe based sports organization with over 50 countries under it. 

I had no mentors for anything in my life. I am the first person in my family to enter NDA & AFA, and become an IAF pilot, the first person to enter bodybuilding as a sport and win and the only person to start a business, and also the only one who is an author. 

But I had a strong will to do all these things. 

I get a question often, that how do you manage so many things together. My answer is “by doing less of everything else”. Also, do not manage time, you cannot do that. Manage your energies. You should have the energy to sustain for long hours of work. If you have the energy, you would be able to much more in a much in a day.