Bengaluru is a city that’s learning to stay fit. Running the marathon or biking to work or hitting the gym with increasing regularity, most Bangaloreans are up, about and active. The health and fitness market is India is estimated at around Rs 2,900 crores, according to a Technopak report in Business Standard. It pegs the average annual spend on health and fitness by individuals at approximately Rs 2,600. The statistics are not specific to Bangalore but do give you a general idea of the average citizen’s interest in fitness.

Is fitness as an industry seeing satisfied consumers? And who’s rushing to stay fit?

Chaitra S Kumar, Nutrition In-charge at gym-major Talwalkars, Sadashivnagar, says their usual client profile includes corporates, especially those in deskbound jobs, people with health problems like diabetes or heart ailments. “Many housewives also come for workouts in the afternoons,” she adds. Fitness centres can also become a place for rehab, provided the doctor agrees of course.

Wanitha Ashok (on the right) conducts an aerobics class at LRDA studio, Jayanagar. Pic: Reshmi Chakraborty.

“We get people who are overweight or underweight; for injury rehabilitation or with hypothyroid and diabetes and many ladies who come with the common case of polycystic ovaries on their doctor’s advice,” says Nikhil Bhatia, branch manager, Gold’s Gym, on Old Madras Road.

Plenty of options

Fitness centres, weight loss clinics and gyms are in every available corner of the city. There are brand names like Talwalkars, Gold’s Gym, Fitness One, VLCC, Body Care, etc., as well as smaller neighbourhood gyms. Most apartment buildings and condominiums these days are equipped with gyms and often have a trainer in attendance. Personal trainers are also becoming popular.

On an average, a three month membership for a general fitness programme in a good gym would cost you Rs 5,000-7,000. A personal trainer would cost you an average of Rs 3000-5000 a month. Of course it also depends on the package you opt for.

“Ideally, the trainers should either have done ACE (American Council on Exercise), ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) or NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) certification. These are international certifications that well equip trainers with knowledge with few instances for injuries,” says fitness instructor Wanitha Ashok, who trains around Bangalore.

However, most gyms these days conduct their own training programs. “These days we do not get too many certified trainers applying as instructors,” says the branch manager of a known chain of gyms in Bangalore who doesn’t wish to be named. “What we look out for instead is their experience in the fitness field (e.g., bodybuilders are in demand) and whether they are capable of explaining fitness basics to the customers and handling them carefully. They undergo our own training once they join.”

Bhatia of Gold’s Gym says that as an industry, fitness is not yet highly evolved in India. “We are still in the process of training people. However, once they join a place like ours, they undergo a monthly training process and are also constantly upgraded by monthly trainers on the latest international methodologies.”

What really works?

As with any service industry, fitness centres too come with their pros and cons and it’s difficult to find people who are uniformly satisfied with the experience.

Dimple Ahuja* who lost 12 kgs over three months in a Banaswadi based weight loss clinic after her pregnancy, is quite happy with the outcome. She did follow a strict diet and was regular with her walks. “But I think the overall guidance helped me,” she mentions. Dimple though has friends who have visited the same place with lesser results. “A slimming centre is not magic. I think it also depends on how self-disciplined or motivated you are,” she cautions.

Sandra Menezes, housewife and a resident of Sarjapura, says she stuck to her tried and tested exercise routine of brisk morning walks as two months of working out in her building gym resulted in persistent joint pain.

The one area where most things seem to go wrong (going by media reports and public opinion) are the slimming centres and weight loss clinics. Many of them promise guaranteed weight loss (say 10 kgs in two months) but seem to fall short of expectations. This is where asking questions and being aware would help, thinks Sangeeta Jha, nursery teacher from Domlur.

Sangeeta’s mother paid Rs 30,000 to join a weight loss programme in a neighbourhood slimming centre. “She went for three sessions a week and she was given passive exercises to induce weight loss through vibrating machines, etc. She was also asked to follow a strict diet (suggested by their dietician) and walk for an hour every day.” Sangeeta, who thinks they signed up in a hurry, feels the diet and the walk were what made her mother lose weight, not the machines, which only resulted in temporary changes in body weight.

Jeena Saran* a former medical management expert with a similar fitness and slimming centre says, most of the machines used make you lose about 100 gms per session, and work on the principle of neuro muscular stimulation. “Your muscles keep contracting even at a resting stage, so you burn calories. Some offer an inch-loss technique where heat therapy is given and may result in a few grams of weight loss due to sweating and increased metabolism.”

Reshmi Chakraborty is a features writer and mother of a 3 year old. She lives near Bannerghata Road.

References       

(* Name changed to protect identity)

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