it is not always easy to follow a fitness regime. For many, even hitting the gym on a regular basis seems tough. But for people like Anuraag Jaiswar staying fit, following a strict fitness regime is like second skin.
But it didn’t just happen for Anuraag. Before getting into the world of fitness and finally taking it up as a profession, 27-year old Anuraag tried out many things. From the business of acting to becoming a marketing executive, to an executive of operations, digital media and event management, Anuraag had dipped his fingers into all of these things before finally solidifying his foothold as a fitness instructor and personal trainer. Anuraag is now a certified Strength and Conditioning coach.
“I was the fat kid of the class who always hides during the annual day sports to avoid being chipped into some stupid race only to get humiliated later,” said the fitness specialist as he recounted his school days. Later, when he got stung by the “gym-bug” he realised that spending time in the gym made him happier. And like a cherry atop a sundae, his increased curiosity in the field of nutrition further amped up his appetite to know more about this profession.
After working for brands like Talwalkars and Golds Gym India, Jaiswar is presently a strength and conditioning coach and nutrition consultant for Guwahati City Football Club.
Now I know, for many lazy bums like us, these fitness jargon must have just gone over the top making very little sense. Do not worry, I did ask Anuraag to run us through the basics of what a ‘Strength & Conditioning Coach’ means. “Okay! Keeping it really simple, strength and conditioning coach is the one responsible for the muscle performance and movement of an athlete during a game” Jaiswar said. To be more precise, the performance that he is referring to can be categorised in terms of strength and agility.
Apart from being a fitness instructor, the nutrition consultant also identifies himself as a home chef. “Cooking is my hobby and I attended a short duration course at Institute of Hotel Management” he added. Moreover, after being in the field of fitness for 14 years and counting, Jaiswar is well versed with the nuances and the relationship between fitness and nutrition. Hence, he is also aware of the common misconception of eating food in small proportions to reduce the body’s fat content. “It lowers your metabolism forcing your body to burn lesser calories at rest and storing most of it,” said Jaiswar. He further added that weakness, loss of focus and zeal could be the other side-effects which people should be aware of.
The fitness enthusiast follows a daily regime of strength training and rehab practice which deals with muscle and joint pain caused by muscle imbalances. Making sure to hit all the muscles at least once a week is his second top priority. His first priority is to design workouts for many clients that he manages. “…quite of my personal workout space is used for workout designing than carving myself,” added Jaiswar.
Talking about one’s daily fitness regime we could not help but ask his views on the rising trend of “Instagram fitness experts.” Stressing on being qualified, certified and experienced he said: “In fact, it is pretty helpful and online training is probably the coolest way to reach out to people not limiting them to your locality.” The keywords definitely are being qualified and experienced because unsupervised strength-training could potentially result in lumbar spine, shoulder, and knee joint injuries.
The road to fitness is never easy, to begin with. Now with the added pressure of teaching clients raises the bar quite high. The challenge is to keep the clients interested and sessions not monotonous so that the clients do not miss out on any workouts. “In my case, I have to do it with a pair of dumbbells and a resistance tube instead of a fully furnished gym,” said the fitness expert.
Now for people who work eight to nine hours six-days-a-week, following a fitness regime seems like a far-fetched dream (I would like to console myself every day thinking this way!). However, Jaiswar has a totally different take on this. “You know what’s great about a desk job? You can save all your physical energy and hit the gym with a bang! All you need is some strong caffeine after work to get workout ready” he said.
Jaiswar’s zeal and drive towards his passion is something that we all could be inspired by. As his motto states “I enjoy taking risks as I believe life is too short to play safe,” one must never confine themselves to the comfort zones.
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