TFS Gulf 
- Meet CA Abhishek Avhad from Mumbai, who is a fitness addict and ICAI’s 1st IRONMAN.
- After a year of working at EY and continuing the same routine of drinking and partying over the weekend, he decided to concentrate on his fitness.
- Here he explains why we need to focus on our lives beyond our jobs or professions.
Getting back on the right track
2 years ago, I made a conscious decision to make a serious lifestyle change. Working for one of the Big 4 CA Firms in Mumbai, Maharashtra meant spending the entire week in the office and then drinking and partying the weekend away!
The same routine continued for about 1 year before I could not drink anymore on the weekends. I took up running when one of my former colleagues encouraged and guided me through it. It was a great stress reliever and helped me immensely to focus better on work and eventually quit smoking.
IRONMAN Triathlon:
One day I happened to read about the IRONMAN Triathlon on the internet and I was absolutely hooked on it.
Usually, the athletes who enter these kinds of races already excel in at least one of the segments like expert swimmers and experienced marathoners. I did not know how to swim a year and a half ago and had never run even 20 km at a stretch.
So this was all the more exciting and very challenging. Within the next 18 months, I was waving The Tri-Color in Sweden with 4 other Indians. A Proud Moment for me and my country.
Challenges and Dealing with them:
The biggest challenge has always been to find the motivation, energy, and time for training. Consistency is the key. There are several times in training when you feel like giving up. Your body gets cramped up and the mind gets exhausted. You hit the snooze button or even worse don’t set the alarm at night!
Another challenge is the lack of infrastructure for training. No good roads in the city meant cycling indoors for 8 hours at a stretch. Crowded pools ensured that I reached the pool by 5 in the morning and finish the workout before the city even woke up. Most of my runs were at night since that is when the roads are empty. But all these obstacles make you strong mentally and prepare your grit for the race day.
Parallels between The Race Training and CA Exam preps:
- Instead of spending 12 hours a day with the books, I was spending slightly lesser hours in the pool, on the saddle, and in the running shoes.
- Every session is important and if you skip one you don’t get it back.
- The more you suffer on the field, the pool, and the study table the more you will enjoy the race and the exam day.
- What started out as a physical journey also served in spiritual ways. I have learned to call upon faith to push limits same as CA.
- The race is as big as the CA syllabus and the only thing that will make you succeed in both of them is to keep pushing & pushing endlessly.
In conclusion:
You don’t deserve to become a CA the day the result is declared. You start deserving in bits and pieces as and when you work towards it, and if you work enough the results are there!
I see many of my ex-colleagues who do not have a life beyond their jobs or professions. This attitude isn’t helping us. We need to take up challenges in every field of life to grow as a person. We are larger than the obstacles we face.
If I can do it, so can you! And as the IRONMAN tagline says – Anything is possible.
Bollywood has an IRONMAN – Milind Soman and so do we Chartered Accountants – CA Abhishek Avhad!
P.S. CA Abhishek Avhad can be reached at abhishekavhad@gmail.com. He is very passionate about helping and guiding others to stay fit. If that’s on your agenda feel free to email him!
