Civilians Can Now Get Armed Forces-Like Training At Odisha’s First Open Fitness Park

Bhubaneswar: People in the state capital will now have the opportunity to undertake fitness and self-defense training, similar to the one imparted to paramilitary and armed forces personnel at the state’s first-of-its-kind open fitness park, ‘7 Horses Studio.’

The studio has come up at the training ground of Odisha State Armed Police (OSAP), 7th Battalion, in Chandrasekharpur area. Enthusiasts will be trained using at least 35 varieties of equipment belonging to OSAP.

The initiative has been undertaken by a startup called ‘O-Launchpad’, which specialises in co-working incubation and offers co-working space and shared office solutions to startups, entrepreneurs, companies, and industries.

“We have utilised the ‘obstacle ground’ of OSAP 7^th battalion, which is used for paramilitary, pre-defense academy and police training. The space has 35 pieces of equipment, including Burma bridge, roping, rope climbing, jumping, crawling, crocodile crawling, etc. It is India’s third such centre to have all such fully-furnished equipment. But, it was unexplored. We have taken up the premises on a rental basis and converted it into a fitness park,” said Om Swarup Bindhani, founder of the programme.

One of the training zones will be reserved for aspirants of police and armed forces. “At least 90 per cent of such aspirants are rejected for not meeting the physical fitness criteria. We want to solve this problem. We have invited many of the defence academies to join us,” he added.

The aspirants will be trained by retired Army officers. The 20-acre plot with thick vegetation around is being cleared for setting up an open-air yoga studio. It will also serve as the first self-defense training studio for girls and women, where they will be trained by police and army personnel and retired officers.

For youngsters, there will also be a sports fitness studio. “We have invited many international and national players to train the aspirants. There are provisions for playing football, cricket, volleyball, baseball, among others,” he said. The enthusiasts will be trained for free in the first two months. Later, they will be charged a nominal fee.

“The equipment had been lying unused. So, we have given those to the firm on hire basis,” said Bijay Kumar Sahu, DCP Armed OSAP 7th Battalion.