Indore: Celebrities from Deepika Padukone to Alia Bhatt, Parineeti Chopra, Huma Qureshi, Sophie Choudry, Kriti Sanon, Ileana D’Cruz and Katrina Kaif have turned to Yasmin Karachiwala to lose weight.
On Saturday, Yasmin, the 49-year-old fitness trainer, was in city, and she shared her experiences with Free Press and gave tips to readers.
Ques: How did your journey to become ‘India’s most sought after fitness trainer’ begin? What led you to choose this as a full-time career?
Yasmin: My fitness journey started unexpectedly. Many years ago, a friend coaxed me into joining a gym with her. I happened to go for their aerobics class and realised that I was a complete klutz. I took fitness as a challenge. Once my instructor was sick and asked me to fill in for her. I really enjoyed it and thought that this would be a good career path for me. I got certified as a group aerobics instructor and soon found Pilates when I was looking for muscle strengthening. What I feel really helped me break into that ecosystem was my Pilates practice, which I started eleven years ago. People had barely heard of Pilates then - and I started raising awareness about it and generated a lot of interest in the process.
Ques: A piece of advice for women who are more comfortable with home workouts.
Yasmin: There are lots of home exercises you can do like squats, lunges. Use a journal to track your progress and jot down any breakthroughs you may have – push ups, triceps dips, jumping jacks, surya namaskars, chest lifts, and sit ups.
Ques: You are known as the pioneer of Pilates in India. What interests you about this form?
Yasmin: I have done a lot of aerobics, weights, TRX, functional training but I wanted something to work from the inside out and nothing does that better than Pilates. It stretches and strengthens the body from the inside-out giving you better posture, alignment and prevents injuries. It makes you better equipped for any other activity that you choose.
Ques: Vegetarians often complain about optimum protein intake. Any tips for them?
Yasmin: Most people, especially vegetarians, think they don’t get enough protein. According to me, protein is quite over-hyped. People go crazy about how much protein they should take. Ask yourself does your body really require that much protein? Are we working out that hard that we really need to compensate with the best protein? There are a lot of great vegetarian options like paneer, dal, sprouts, nuts, tofu, broccoli, seeds, dairy products like curd (dahi).
Ques: The most common diet and fitness mistakes people make, according to you?
Yasmin: I find people doing fad diets all the time and they set themselves up for failure. We need to make good food choices, not follow a diet.
