Dr Rajat Chauhan

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Dr Rajat Chauhan

🦆🩺 🏃‍♂️ • Student - Run & Pain • GOYA - GetOffYourArse • Columnist • Author • La Ultra - The High I like to call myself a student of pain and running.
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I am also a militant advocate of GOYA (Get Off Your Arse) Move-Mint. I have been running for last 36 years and making others to run too. In my spare time I am a doctor specializing in Sports-Exercise Medicine and Osteopathy / Musculo-Skeletal Medicine with special interest in Back and Knee Pain. Yes, have written a book on non-surgical approach to back, knee and neck pains.

30/03/2026

Day 78: We’ve Overcomplicated Strength Training

We’ve made strength training far more complicated than it needs to be, and in the process, many people have quietly stepped away from it. Sets, reps, failure, progression, periodisation… it starts to feel like you need a degree before you even begin.

A recent update from the American College of Sports Medicine, built on a large body of research, brings the conversation back to something much simpler. You don’t need a perfect plan. You don’t need to train to failure. You don’t need a gym. What seems to matter far more is whether you show up consistently and give your body a reason to adapt.

Reading this felt familiar. Not because I knew better, but perhaps because I happened to be exposed early on to systems of training that were always simpler, slower, and more honest. And over the last two decades, that’s largely what I’ve been sharing.

So maybe the shift is this. Stop chasing the perfect program. Start building a consistent relationship with movement. The body doesn’t need complexity. It needs clarity and repetition.

Over the next few days, I’ll break this down, one idea at a time, what it means, how to apply it, and where most of us get it wrong without realising it.

29/03/2026

Day 77. Fix Your Relationship with Running

Running doesn’t become a problem overnight. It slowly starts to feel like something you *have to do* instead of something you *get to do*. And most people try to fix that by either doing more… or stopping completely.

Neither works.

Because the issue is not the running. It’s the relationship.

So instead of asking how far or how fast, start with something simpler. What does this feel like? Can you breathe easily? Can you relax your shoulders, your face, your grip on effort? Or are you pushing through again, just in a slightly more controlled way?

A recent conversation around exercise addiction, including insights highlighted in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, reminds us that the shift happens when movement stops being a choice and starts becoming a compulsion. And the way back is not through restriction, but through awareness.

So for the next few runs, don’t try to improve performance. Just try to notice. Slow down enough to feel your breath. Let your body experience safety again. Because a body that feels safe doesn’t need to be forced. It moves better, recovers better, and performs better.

Running was never meant to be pressure. It was meant to be space.

28/03/2026

Day 76. Running Addiction: When It Stops Being a Choice

This reel is a continuation of yesterday’s reel.

You don’t wake up one day and become addicted to exercise. There isn’t a dramatic switch. It happens slowly, almost invisibly, in ways that even feel admirable at first. What begins as respect for movement can become dependence. What looks like discipline can quietly turn into rigidity. And somewhere along the way, choice begins to fade.

In the clinic, I’m seeing this more often now. People who are not injured in the traditional sense, but are unable to stop. They train through pain, not because they don’t understand it, but because stopping feels harder than continuing. Missing a session doesn’t just feel like a break, it feels like something is off, incomplete, unsettled.

A recent editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine brings attention to this exact space. Exercise addiction is not about how much you do, but about losing the ability to choose. Training despite harm, feeling guilt when you don’t, and gradually shifting from intentional movement to compulsion.

So maybe the real question is not how much you are training. It is what happens when you cannot. Does it feel like rest, or does it feel like failure? Does movement feel like joy, or does it feel like relief? Because that difference matters more than any mileage, any pace, any plan.

Movement is a powerful tool. But only when it remains a choice.

Keep miling and smiling.

27/03/2026

Day 75. Are you running, or running away?

A man walked into the clinic recently. Not limping. Not broken. But tired in a way that doesn’t show on an MRI. He said, “Doc, my knee hurts… but I can’t stop running.” When I asked why, he said, “Running is my therapy.”

And he’s not wrong. Running ‘can’ be therapy. But somewhere along the way, therapy can quietly become escape.

A recent editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine speaks about exercise addiction. Not discipline. Not consistency. But compulsion. Training through pain, feeling guilty when you don’t, and slowly losing the ability to choose.

There’s a powerful idea in the Katha Upanishad. The body is the chariot, the senses the horses, the mind the reins, and the intellect the charioteer. The Self sits inside, as a passenger, meant to enjoy the journey.

But when the charioteer is not fully awake, the reins lose direction, the horses take over, and the journey becomes restless and bumpy… even if it looks impressive from the outside.

So I asked him one question: are you running… or running away?

Movement was never meant to take you away from yourself. It was meant to bring you closer.

Keep miling and smiling.

26/03/2026

Day 74: Miles of Meaning: It Was Never Just Running

Most people think running is about distance, pace, or finishing lines, but if you’ve stayed with it long enough, you begin to sense that something else is happening underneath it all, something quieter and deeper. Miles start revealing things, not just about your body, but about your mind, about how you respond when things get uncomfortable and no one is watching. That is what *Miles of Meaning* is about, a space where running, strength, breath, and life stop being separate conversations and begin to merge into one.

In this episode, I speak about something that almost sounds unreal: Mann Sharma completing a full marathon distance of 42.195 km doing burpees. Yes, burpees. On the surface it sounds extreme, almost absurd, but if you pause and look a little closer, it opens up a far more interesting question: what allows a human being to stay with something that long, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, almost existentially.

That is where the real conversation begins. Watch the teaser, and you’ll find the full episode link in the bio, because miles don’t define us, what we discover within them does.

25/03/2026

Day 73. The Muscles You’re Ignoring.

Yesterday we spoke about the weakest link. Today… we train it.

Most people don’t ignore muscles on purpose. They just don’t realise how important they are.

I am talking about Hip Adductors and Hip Abductors, the inner thighs and the hip stabilisers. They are not glamorous, and they are not visible. But they are incredibly important. They support your knees, stabilise your pelvis, and protect your back.

And in running, they quietly decide how you move.

Train what you like, but don’t forget to train what you need.

Which one do you find harder: Adductors or Abductors?

👇

Keep miling and smiling.

24/03/2026

Day 72. Overconfidence Overlooks Weakness

Duryodhan was almost indestructible. Almost.

One small decision… one small area… left out. And that’s where it all ended.

It’s a fascinating story. My favourite from Mahabharat. Because we do the same thing every day. We train what we like. What we can see. What we are already good at. Chest. Arms. Quads.

But the base? Inner thighs. Hips. Not very exciting. Easy to ignore. And then one day… something “suddenly” goes wrong. It’s rarely sudden. It’s usually neglected.

Overconfidence doesn’t remove weakness. It just hides it.

What’s one area in your training you know you’ve been ignoring?
👇

Keep miling and smiling.

23/03/2026

Day 71. Elite fitness is overrated.

That sounds uncomfortable, but think about it. We’ve been conditioned to admire peak performance. Faster times. Heavier lifts. Exceptional output.

But as much as performance is good fun, it is not fitness. And more importantly, it’s not sustainability.

Look at what happens after retirement in many sports. When the structure goes, the routine drops, and slowly, the body begins to follow. Not because discipline disappears, but because the system was built around peaks, not continuity.

And the same pattern shows up in everyday life. Train hard for a few months. Get injured. Stop. Restart. Repeat.

And then we say, “age is catching up.” But is it really age? Or is it inconsistency?

Most people don’t lose fitness because they’re getting older. They lose it because they stop showing up.

The body doesn’t need perfection. It needs repetition. It needs patience. It needs you to keep coming back. So maybe the goal isn’t your best run this month. Maybe the goal is to still be running… years from now.

Don’t train just to peak. Train to continue.

Keep miling and smiling.

22/03/2026

Day 70. You’re not suddenly ageing at 40. You’re deconditioning. That sounds harsh, but stay with me.

There was a study on active older athletes that showed something interesting. Decline is actually quite gradual till around the 70s, and only after that does it accelerate.

Now of course, elite athletes are not the same as being fully fit. But they show us something important: what the body is capable of, when we don’t get in its way.

Look around today. We are starting to feel “old” earlier than ever. Not because of age… but because we’ve stopped building strength, stopped moving well, stopped preparing the body.

So what should have shown up at 70, is now showing up at 40. Sometimes even at 30. And yet we keep blaming age.

Death is inevitable. That was decided the moment we were born. But life? That’s still in our hands. It’s not just about how long it lasts, but how deeply it is lived. So don’t just train for the next few months. Train so you can keep going for decades.

Tell me honestly: At what age did you first start feeling “old”? And what do you think caused it?

👇 I read every comment and then respond too.

Keep miling and smiling.

21/03/2026

Day 69. More Than a Number

A number that makes people smile… or look twice. But it also reminds me of something simple.

We are constantly being measured. Pace. Weight. Reps. Age.

And slowly, we begin to believe that these numbers define us. But numbers only describe. They don’t define. How you feel… matters more.

There is a quiet idea in the Upanishads: Aham Brahmasmi. “I am complete.” Not something to achieve. Something to remember.

Somewhere along the way, we were told we are not enough. And we believed it. But you were never incomplete. You just forgot.

Keep miling and smiling.

20/03/2026

Day 68. You’ve Been Told to Stop Living.

She didn’t come to me asking what to stop. She came hoping someone would tell her
she could still live the life she loves.

And yet, she had already been told:

• No dancing
• No hiking
• No strength training
• Not even stairs

For life.

Pause and think about that.

Pain is real. But fear-based advice can quietly become a life sentence.

Movement is not the problem. Poorly prepared movement is.

The answer is not restriction. The answer is better preparation. Better progression. Better understanding. Because the moment we take away what someone loves… we are not just treating a knee or a back.

We are shrinking a life.

Don’t stop living. Learn to move better.

Keep miling and smiling.

18/03/2026

Day 66. Do you understand ONE second?

We measure time in hours, minutes, pace, splits. But everything is built on a much smaller unit. The second.

Most of us don’t experience a second fully. We compress it mentally, rush through it, and then wonder why everything feels fast and chaotic.

When you slow down and actually feel a second, something interesting happens. Time expands. Movement becomes smoother. Breath becomes deeper. The mind settles.

In the Upanishads, the Self is described as “smaller than the smallest and larger than the largest.”

A second can feel insignificant. But when you inhabit it fully, it becomes vast. Master the second, and longer durations begin to take care of themselves.

This applies not just to running, but to how we move, breathe and live.

Keep miling and smiling.

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Back 2 Fitness, G-6, Triveni Commercial Complex, Sheikh Sarai, Phase 1
Delhi
110017

Telephone

+911146560339

Website

http://drrajatchauhan.com/

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