Fitness & Beyond Part 1: Workout Basics with Nmami Life Expert Kitty Kalra

As a part of our Nmami Life wellness series, we assure you to bring the best of health & wellness experts to help you gain the maximum in wellness. Our sole motto is to bridge the gap of awareness when it comes to your health & well-being. 

Fitness & Beyond with Kitty Kalra

A celebrity fitness expert, health coach, and motivator, Kitty Kalra is internationally trained with Stott Pilates, Zumba, Doonya , Aquazumba, Strong by Zumba, Zumba Toning, Doonya Bollywood Fitness, and REHABFx. She is the recipient of the ‘ Bharat Nirman Make in India Award 2016’ for her contribution in the field of fitness and also the ‘AsiaSpa Wellfest 2018 Fit and Fabulous’ award.

In her own words:

“With a sports plus kathak background and classical music training, dance n music was part of my soul, but an accident n spinal injury rendered me bed-ridden for 4 months, with doctors giving up hope of me ever walking again. But then, a strong will-power and Pilates, fixed my back so beautifully, that it inspired me to dream of becoming a Pilates’ trainer someday to give back to the society and help people heal their backs and injuries themselves and never-give-up. And hence began my journey to equip myself with learning from the best and moving forward to become a dance and fitness instructor. Fitness for me is ‘beyond being thin. I love my body and it loves me back, more. And I totally believe that my body got me till here and made me smile…so NOW it’s my payback time to love and respect my body and take it forward till the end, to keep it smiling!! I also, am a health coach and a follower of the world-famous Louise Hay, who teaches the mantra of affirmations and positivity. The ‘ power is within you ‘ and the universe conspires to give you what you need, if you stay positive and believe in your own power and keep your ‘remote control to happiness or sadness’ with yourself, instead of looking up to others to bring you happiness”.

Excerpts from the Session

The very first session of Fitness & Beyond was held on 03 July at 6 PM. You can watch the entire video here- https://www.instagram.com/tv/CCLmTK5nP_7/?igshid=1du53xwbr9sdp 

 But, for those who like to read or keep a note of the expert’s opinion, we bring the entire excerpt of the session so that you don’t miss out on anything. Here are the points that were covered in the live session:

 How often should we work out?

Normally, we all contemplate in our mind that workout should be about an hour, and when we don’t have an hour we just skip it by giving excuses to ourselves that we do it tomorrow and some other day. But it’s really important to work out at least 6 days a week. You can do a regular workout on 6 days and on the 7th day you can incorporate easy activities like a basic walk or swimming in your schedule.

Charge up yourself and shift your focus

Many people don’t eat before a workout which can further diminish the energy levels and can hamper the workout goals. Everybody is different; some people need a shot of coffee or tea to boost their energy and metabolism while others need a proper meal to keep them enthusiastic and eager. Ideally, you need to eat. So, whatever works for you, stick to that. Understand that your body has been in a state of rest for 8-10 hours and when you get up in the morning, you have no fuel left in your body. It’s totally like a car, if you run a car on no fuel, what will happen? The car will get spoiled. So, you need to eat something to push up your metabolic energy and to fuel your workouts while staying away from the injuries. Try having a banana or any kind of fruit that works for you.

Building health and immunity together is the key to healthy living. Health is the only wealth and there is no better time than this to realize that without good health we are nothing. So, adopt a healthy lifestyle and don’t just think about a particular number on a weighing scale and shift you’re from weight loss to healthy living. The moment you take your attention away from weight loss, your workouts will get more effective, your food and diet plans will work effectively. Understand that diet plans are not about just cutting up foods or cutting certain food groups from your diet or plate. Eat healthily and try to balance your meals and workout together for a healthy living.

A combination of different workout is always the best idea

A workout always has to be a combination of cardio and strength training. A lot of people say that I have been doing treadmill for 1 hour and I am eating right but I am still don’t losing weight. The reason is your body is not challenged enough. You need to mix your workout and introduce different types of variety in your schedule. You can add cardio but if you have a weak back and knee, go for a walk. Go for a circuit walk as it is a fabulous way to start your workout and mornings.

Here is a tip: If you don’t want to do crazy cardio, walk briskly for 3 minutes and then jog for 3 minutes at a slow pace followed by a sprint. Repeat the process and you’re all warm up. But cardio for 20 minutes is fabulous; you can do it thrice a week for effective results. You can include dancing, swimming, and jumping jacks in your cardio and further you can involve in strength training for the remaining 3 days.

Resistance training is a must

Resistance training actually builds muscles and when you build muscles-you start burning fats in your body. Resistance training helps you in changing the composition of your body. This cannot be done alone with the cardio. And therefore, it is quite important to incorporate both cardio and strength training together in your workout session. Pilates, bodyweight training, yoga, suspension training (TRX), thera band workout, and swimming are some of the best forms of resistance training and help in building muscles. Always remember that working out on all the muscle groups leads to better results. We often workout on bigger muscle groups like quads, hamstrings, biceps, triceps, glutes, while we often forget to work out on the smaller groups of muscles. The smaller muscle groups are the ones that hold the overall body and if your smaller muscle groups become strong, the bigger ones automatically become strong.

Three key pointers to remember before the workout

• Bring in variety (mix different form of workout)
• Intensity (do not rely on the fads and go on with intensity slowly and gradually)
• Consistency is a must

10-minute total body workout that you can do at the comfort of your home

Try doing 20 counts of each workout or 40 seconds of each.  

Warm-up routine

• Start with a jog
• Jumping jacks
• Modification: Cross jacks or feet and arm crossing

Leg and thigh

• Drop and lift (both sides 10 each)
• Scale and hops (jump and go low)
• Diagonal lunge
• Lift up and Squats

Core workout

Regular plank

• Modification: Plank with mountain climber and obliques
• Side plank with oblique
• Lift up and drop down crunches
• Reverse plank

When is the best time- Morning or evening?

There is no fixed time for a workout. Whatever suits you better- you can pick. However, there are various pros and cons of both morning and evening sessions of workout. In the morning, your body is well-rested but it is not warm and therefore a morning workout session helps in building the metabolism whole day. On the other hand, your body is already warm in the evening and you are less prone to injuries in an evening workout session. A major drawback of an evening workout session is you might get difficulty in sleeping as you get hyperactive due to the workout in the evening.

Words of wisdom before starting

You need mental strength more than physical strength before indulging yourself in a fitness regimen. Make up your mind that you have to be consistent and that is the only way to get effective results. Shift your focus from losing weight and eat a healthy and clean diet for better results.

Footnote

Stay tuned for Fitness & Beyond every Friday at 6 PM starting from 03 July 2020 on Nmami Life Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/ycbd3e47