The Whole Truth | Yasmin Karachiwala breaks down our fitness ‘wants’

Celebrity fitness trainer Yasmin Karachiwala. (Photo: Twitter)

Note to readers: The Whole Truth is a fortnightly column that helps you make sense of the new age of wellness

Yasmin Karachiwala has a natural ability to inspire. In my yoga-attuned life of the past six years, I rarely ever looked at going to a gym until my sporty husband suggested I followed Yasmin Karachiwala on Instagram. In my BC life of seven years ago and earlier — BC and AC are time qualifiers I use to divide my life into two distinct phases, Before Cancer and After Cancer—I had enrolled in every gym within 2 kilometres radius of my home, and every time, I would give up after a few sessions. The argument in my head possibly was: The workouts take so long to show results, I might as well eat less and stay fit.

After I started following her, and then a few other fitness gurus from around the world, and then moving on to books on exercise and fitness, I am a convert. As all experienced and intelligent wellness experts would tell you, resistance and weight training do something to our bodies that no other form of exercise can: They work best in building and strengthening our muscles. Without healthy muscle, there is no fitness, definitely no longevity, only consistent fatigue, and eventually disease.

Karachiwala makes workout results achievable and accessible. It helps that she trains Bollywood’s most fit: Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt and several other stars. She is synonymous with bringing Pilates to India. When her book, The Perfect 10: 10-minute Workouts You Can Do Anywhere, was announced, I had to immediately get a copy.

'The Perfect 10: 10-minute Workouts You Can Do Anywhere' by Yasmin Karachiwala

The book makes my trainer pretty redundant. Ninety per cent of its ages are actually workouts, each 10-minute, and each targeting part of sequences targeting a particular matrix of the body. It also becomes interactive when you can scan a code to access some videos of these workouts.

Before she gets to the workouts, Karachiwala warns us of the finger apocalypse waiting to happen: Out fingers on devices and remotes move much more than our bodies now, which, Karachiwala believes, is the ultimate antidote to staying fit, so don’t let the finger win. One of my favourite parts contain her categories of fitness personalities. “Increasing the want factor is about identifying your exercise personality and customising an active lifestyle for yourself. And while many people like the pushing, the shouting, the yelling, the looking-into-the-mirror-and-pumping, not everyone does. As there are people, there are fitness personalities, and identifying yours could be key to sticking to a routine and giving yourself something to look forward to,” she writes.

(From left) Yasmin Karachiwala, Katrina Kaif, Sophia Loren. (Photo: Twitter)

So here goes, identify yours, and see what Karachiwala suggests for each type:

The Steadfasts like to do what is required, not too much, not too little. They are regular.

Karachiwala suggests:  Splitting their workouts into three parts with progressive changes in weights and repetitions.

The Overachievers are those who “live” in their gyms. Their workouts are their obsession.

Karachiwala suggests: Listen to their bodies by making sure they identify good pain from bad, and take more rest days.

The Dreamers want the results, but don’t want to work for it. They have a high drop-out rate.

Karachiwala suggests: “I gently recommend reality.”

The Big Dippers dip into everything from Zumba to Pilates to boxing.

Karachiwala suggests: A studio class with varying workouts for multiple fitness programmes.

The Sports Hobbyists: Regular swimmers, tennis-player, golfers and the like see their physical activity more as a hobby and their want factor is in-built.

Karachiwala suggests: Pilates at least once a week.

The Groupies need exercise buddies.

Karachwala suggests: A group class, “but only if they focus more on the workout and not talking among themselves”.

The Goalies come with a goal, like getting fit before a wedding or losing pregnancy weight.

Karachiwala suggests: Consistency, the most sustainable goal.

The Walkers are ubiquitous. They walk on promenades, parks and beaches.

Karachiwala suggests: Climb uphill, jog in phases, push your bodies out of their comfort zones.

The Reluctants are children forced by parents to join gym, husbands forced by wives to lose that paunch.

Karachiwala suggests: Find a workout you enjoy, start slow.

You’re thinking, I am three of them together. Of course, these categories overlap. I used to be a Dreamer-Reluctant who became a Dreamer-Steadfast. And it’s been an easy routine: I dream of the post-workout high, and I am steadfast about picking up the dumbbells thrice a week.