She is one of the secrets behind the oh-so-fab bodies of the Kareenas and Deepikas of the world. Celebrity trainer Yasmin Karachiwala was in town for a fitness session at Rush Fitness, Alipore, the studio that will be soon starting Yasmin’s Pilates at all its outlets. A t2 chat during the breaks. 

A lot of young men and women tend to ignore the importance of working out... 

You know at 20, you are young and you want to do fun stuff. But it is very important to start training your body right during your 20s so that by the time you are 40 you don’t have to change your workout routine much. You need to build a good foundation in your 20s — do the right exercises, read up, learn about them and enjoy what you are doing. 

How does this foundation help? 

As people grow older — men and women — they lose bone density so by the time they are 45 or 50 years of age, they tend to develop osteoporosis. But if you have been training since the start, you can avoid this. It is very important to add some kind of training aspect in your routine. This is the reason why I love Pilates because it gets everything into the picture — it increases your heart rate pumping, it adds strength because we do a lot of body weight exercises and at the same time it works a lot on your flexibility. 

What are the basics of Pilates that you would follow with beginners? 

You start with some basic exercises and see what is best suited for your body type and build up from that. Pilates is the perfect combination between yoga and strength training. It has the flexibility of yoga but unlike yoga where you have those isometric holds where you hold your pose for some seconds, here you build your strength through repetitions. So we get the best aspects of flexibility and strength into our workouts.

Is there any right time to start? 

There is no right time or age. You start working out right from when you’re a baby — you learn how to crawl, walk. The problem is people think working out is all about going to the gym. You don’t necessarily need to be in a gym to work out. It can be anywhere and anything — running, playing soccer, basketball, cycling, swimming. Yes, equipment definitely add a good element to it but the best workout for you is whatever appeals to you. 

What does your training session look like? 

I do a bit of everything. I weight train, run, cycle, crossfit, and do Pilates. I give two hours every day and work out at my gym (Yasmin Karachiwala’s Body Image) with my training partner. 

Are you very particular about eating right? 

For me food is a lifestyle — it’s not a diet that you do for a short time and you go back to the same old routine once you feel you have lost weight. It is a lifestyle where you know when you are eating the right food and the bad food — you should be aware that if you are eating bad food why are you eating it. You just have to know that every meal needs to have protein, fibre, carbs and a bit of healthy fat in it — you need to plan your meal and you need to stop eating junk food, sugar, soda, and fried food.

Do body shapes determine the problem areas? 

You can’t control your body shape — if you are apple-shaped there will be more fat storage around the abdomen. People who are pear-shaped will store more fat around their hips and then there are some people who I call the lollipop shape, who tend to have the same dimension around their chest and back. It does depend on what shape you are. For me, if I know that someone is of a particular shape, I am likely to give them a routine that stresses on their problem areas. If women start working out early and continue doing some kind of physical activity, they will not have problem areas to focus on. When you lead a sedentary life or eat the wrong things despite working out — think fried food, sugar — exercise is not going to help fix your problem areas. Having said that, yes, problem areas are very personal to everyone — hips or arms or abdomen. 

You conducted two very intensive workout sessions for the trainers at Rush Fitness. What are the basics that a good trainer should know? 

A trainer must know his or her job. A trainer should know the anatomy of muscles and bones and how they work. They should know different types of exercises, and why different bodies need to be trained differently. A good trainer should also incorporate a variety of techniques to ensure that the workout sessions are not boring.

Your clientele includes celebrities, businessmen, homemakers... how different or similar are their sessions? 

For me everybody is a celebrity in his or her own right. Most of my clients just want to be fit. I do train people from different walks of life and every individual who comes to my gym has a fixed goal in mind and we work towards it. Like, if Katrina (Kaif) is doing a movie where she needs to wear a bikini we will work towards that kind of body and if Deepika (Padukone) is doing a movie where she needs to look like a warrior, we will work towards that kind of look. So yeah, it is all very goal-oriented. 

Yasmin’s stars

Pictures: Anindya Shankar Ray