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A teenager’s home workout videos have proved so popular his school are now using them for their online PE lessons.
Combat sports athlete Jeevan Singh Shokar, 13, won gold at last year’s Junior European Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships and started producing daily exercise videos for team-mates and friends during lockdown.
The Dartford youngster’s videos are now being shown to fellow pupils at the St. Columba’s Catholic Boys’ School in Bexleyheath as part of their home school curriculum.
Jeevan - or JV Fit as he is now known to many - said: “At first, I felt a little bit lost when I couldn’t train. Training has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember and I didn’t know what to do with myself without it.
“I soon realised that I could help my team-mates and the junior students at my gyms by sharing my knowledge and keep fit at the same time, so I started live streaming workouts.”
The athlete often trains and represents Strood’s Combat Sports Academy, whose members have been using Zoom sessions to keep fit. Shokar trains in boxing, wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, MMA and kabaddi.
He's been broadcasting sessions each morning from 9am on his own YouTube channel, delivering vigorous fitness workouts based on his years of combat sports training. He's been involved in the sport since the age of four.
Sessions cover stretching exercises, cardio workouts, fat burning and strength building, all which were originally designed to help his friends and social media followers stay on top of their game.
But the videos quickly built a wider audience, with hundreds of viewers tuning in to exercise from home.
His teachers were keen to embrace his work, introducing the workouts as online PE lessons to their lockdown curriculum. He produced videos specifically targeted at year groups 7, 8 and 9, as well as further videos for primary school aged children through to advanced level followers.
Jeevan said: “I am very proud to be helping other kids keep fit while they’re shut indoors.
“Physical activity is such an important part of mental well-being and with kids at home and not able to do much now, even a light workout is a great way to keep feeling happy.
“I feel very humbled that so many people have been able to benefit from my workouts.
“Ultimately I would like to compete at a professional level in MMA but I am also looking towards a career as a personal trainer and nutritionist, so this has been a great experience for me and has really shown me how I can use my fitness and martial arts knowledge to help other people.
“I’m looking forward to making more fitness videos throughout lockdown and beyond.”
You can see Jeevan’s fitness videos on his YouTube channel and you can follow him on Instagram @jeevansinghshokar.
