I am a husband and a dad to a 7-yr old. My day time job is that of a consultant in the healthcare sector. I trained as an internist in India and was practising there in Infectious Diseases before moving to the US in 2018. I love reading (not an ideal hobby for someone who wants to improve his metcon timings) and have recently discovered the heady addiction of trying to maintain a lawn. I love spending time with family and our church community.
What led you to try CrossFit?
I was obese and absolutely allergic to any form of physical activity until I turned 19. That's when one of my professors in Medicine bluntly told me that I could not counsel patients on healthy lifestyle choices when it looked like I had been gorging chocolate ice creams for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Gulp! Message received. I started running to lose weight and got hooked onto doing some sort of physical exercise everyday. It became a great destressor after a hard day, to the point of me running on the treadmill at 3 AM after a long day at work. After hitting the 30s, I started having knee issues leading me to try out P90X to improve muscle strength and reduce knee pain. However, those were very monotonous and became boring in spite of Tony Horton's antics. That's when one of my buddies told me about a new fad in the US called CrossFit. The craze had not caught on in India, so I started to watch videos on the Net and try those movements at the local gym. I used to visit the old CrossFit website to check out the WOD and try it out. The other members thought I was crazy- jumping from a treadmill to the bar and then to the pull up bar and back on the treadmill again. If anyone from Titan would have seen me then, they would not have recognized any of the movements. They were heavily modified and scaled. That of course led to injuries and bad form that I am still working through. I formally started doing CrossFit at a box in New Jersey in 2023. I joined Titan after our family moved to Maryland in 2024.
Why do you continue to CrossFit?
I love Olympic weightlifting -they are my favorite. The workouts are cross functional with equal emphasis on gymnastics, power, strength and cardio. The fact that there is a new workout everyday adds a certain novelty to the whole experience. No matter how advanced an athlete one is, the workouts have something for everyone- it never gets monotonous or dull. To top this, having a good bunch of folks to work out with enhances the experience (Woohoo Rooster Crew)!!
Describe how your attitude towards health and fitness has evolved since you began your journey.
The biggest change in my attitude has been in realizing the importance of tracking numbers. I would never keep a record of how much weight I was lifting or my timings and thus was not seeing any gains for a long time. I started to see results after I started recording my weights and timings.
Share a memorable CrossFit moment that makes you laugh or puts a smile on your face.
What I think of as one of the funniest moments in hindsight (it was not so when it actually happened), was when I did my first wall walk. The workout was a set of power cleans followed by wall walks. My core was already smoked by the time I went in for the wall walk. I just could not keep my legs straight and they slid sideways down the wall to such an extent that they knocked the feet of the gal doing her wall walks next to me. Thankfully she was a seasoned CrossFitter and laughed it off.
What are you proud of and why?
I have had shoulder and wrist issues that have hampered my overhead movements and Olympic lifts for more than a year. I used to struggle to do push presses with 50 lbs dumbbells and had a single rep max of 135 lbs for the power cleans. However, during this year's Open, I was able to do the 50 lbs dumbbell push press and did 30 power cleans with 135 lbs. My scores are probably scraping the bottom of the barrel, but I couldn't care less. I was glad I could finally break that barrier.
What's your advice for other CrossFitters or people looking to start?
The heaviest weight in the gym is that of the door. Once you open it, you have done the hardest part of the workout. Just show up, do what you can, and persist. You will be surprised at how things will change for you in a few months' time.
Why the coaches chose Shalom as Titan of the month:
Shalom is a consistently enthusiastic learner of efficient movement. His presence in the gym naturally fosters compassion and humility among others. A motivating and encouraging member, Shalom seamlessly integrates with the Rooster Crew. He is known for his strong work ethic, receptiveness to coaching, and acceptance of all feedback, making him an exceptional individual. Beyond the gym, Shalom is happy to share his extensive medical knowledge when asked and even goes so far as to send relevant medical articles.
