If you catch yourself wondering how Bollywood celebrities maintain such fit bodies and healthy lifestyles, Yasmin Karachiwala can help you with all the answers and secret mantras. Being one of the best pilates trainers, she has trained many celebrities like Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif and more. We got in touch with her to get some inside info about the magic of pilates and the second edition of the Pilates Festival India that will be happening this February in Pune. Check ’em out!
Excerpts:
What is Pilates?
Pilates is a form of exercise which concentrates on strengthening the body with an emphasis on core strength. It helps to improve general fitness and overall well-being. Pilates concentrates on posture, alignment, balance, and flexibility.
What is the one golden rule for a lazy person struggling to adopt a fit lifestyle?
Guess I am the perfect person to answer this question. I can say when I used to be lazy, I wasn’t even thinking about a fitter lifestyle, I was very happy being the way I was and that’s the pattern I had fallen into. Having said that, I’m sure that most people don’t realize when laziness becomes a pattern and it becomes really difficult to break out of it. For me, it just so happened that a friend really pushed me to join a gym with her. That kind of made me realize how unfit I was, which really motivated me to get fitter. Also please don’t misunderstand, I do not say thinner because it’s not necessary that to be fit you need to be thin. Being/becoming thin is a choice of how we physically want to look, but being fit is something we all want to feel till the day we die. What you’re really looking at is leading a fit life, where you can wake up in the morning and not feel tired, go through your day with ample energy to do all the tasks and activity. Like when you come home and you’re not just ready to collapse, you still have the energy to sit and talk. That is being truly fit and I think all of us need to get there.
Why should one opt for pilates over other workout routines?
For me pilates is a way of life, it is a lifestyle. It can be as gentle as an instructor wants to make it for you or as challenging as you need it to be and that’s the reason I love pilates. It’s so versatile. Right now we are training somebody who is ten years old and is a national level taekwondo champion and she comes to improve her strength and is loving it. At the same time, I’m teaching someone who is 85 years old and you know its gentle, it’s slow, we are working on so many different aspects that one needs to focus on, at the age of 85. At the same time, we also train teenagers who are very active and into sports. We train actors and actresses who are dancers and have to dance endlessly on sets. We have had people with knee injuries, knee surgeries, cervical problems, frozen shoulders and we’ve been able to work with them so that they can do all their functional day to day activities with a lot more strength than what they started with.
What are your fitness resolutions for 2019?
I love fitness and I make sure that I am constantly working and striving to be better. Considering I am starting the year with Pilates Festival India, my resolution for 2019 is definitely to make sure that everyone I come in contact with, I try and influence their life in some or the other way and make it better for them—from all the years of training I have put into myself which is 27 years and counting—and help them to lead a healthier and fitter life.
You have trained many top celebrities to achieve their #bodygoals, which celebrity had the most intense workout and what was it?
I have trained a lot of top celebrities to achieve their body goal and at every stage each person’s body goal is different. Sometimes it’s to look really, really fit because they are doing a movie that requires them to do a lot of action, so we work on that. Other times it’s a dance movie and it requires a lot of dancing so they require to be really agile and flexible, so we work on that. Sometimes it’s just basic weightless to look good in a short skirt or a choli and a low ghagra, so we work on the core strength and looking shapely for that. Every movie has a different body goal and I think for each actor it is equally challenging because they have to get out of their comfort zone. The beauty of it is you are a top star because of the hard work you put in, whether it’s with the acting, whether it’s with the way they look and I can see that all my top celebrities work equally hard.
What can everyone expect at the Pilates Festival India?
To have a lot of fun with a lot of work. We’re going to make you work really hard and at the same time, you have the opportunity to use the spa and the massages and completely relax. During the night time, there is some really exciting entertainment planned for everybody. In addition to all of this, I have a very special person coming in from Miami, who will be teaching air pilates. We will have aqua aerobics, aqua pilates happening as well which is very interesting. The best thing about Pilates Festival India is that each person who comes in, is going to walk away feeling rejuvenated and full of excitement to lead on a fitter life for the rest of 2019. We are really excited; we hope you are too.
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