Once in his thirties, when he lost the weight that was wearing him down. And once in his forties, after an accident took away his ability to walk, let alone run.
In 2009 Gurushankar was over 110 kilos. Long hours, food on the run, and not much time for himself. One day he decided he had had enough.
There was no shortcut. He trained properly, ate better, and kept at it when nothing seemed to be happening. Over time the weight came off and settled around 73 kilos. For the first time in years, he felt genuinely well.
In 2012 he began a blog, just sharing what was actually working for him. It grew into 604 articles on weight loss, food, training and staying motivated.
Between 2012 and 2018 around 72 lakh people read them. For a couple of those years he also coached part time at Hermes Fitness in Chennai.
What began as a way to stay fit turned into a genuine love of running. He went on to finish more than 70 events, from 10Ks to half and full marathons.
His marathon best is 4 hours and 20 minutes, earned the way everything else was: steady training, week after week.
On 24 February 2021 he had a serious accident that tore the ACL, MCL and meniscus in his knee. Fixing it took three surgeries. The medication that followed brought on rheumatoid arthritis, with its own pain and swelling.
At his lowest, doctors told him walking on his own would be hard, and that running was probably over.
He started over from a hospital bed. With his wife Sridevi beside him through every step, and a lot of physiotherapy, he went from bedridden, to a walking stick, to walking unaided, over about nine months.
The pain did not simply vanish and the setbacks kept coming. He kept going anyway.
In 2026 he decided to rebuild his fitness from scratch, the same patient way he did it the first time.
That second start is what Guru Fitness Planet is today: a place to learn, train and stay active for life, shared through the website, social channels and YouTube.
Outside the running shoes, Gurushankar has spent 26 years in industry, across manufacturing, automotive, sales, supply chain and digital, including senior roles before he founded his own company, MG WEB, in 2021.
He is also the General Secretary of the MWC Runners Clubin Mahindra World City, one of Chennai's rapidly growing running communities.
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You do not need to be at rock bottom to start, and you do not need to be an athlete. A short conversation is enough to begin.