The profession emerged as a full-fledged career for many, coinciding with the rise in urban stress ?When I started the academy in 1994, people would ask me whether they could enrol in the ?gym?. I patiently explained that my academy is not a gym, but a fitness academy where scientific knowledge of fitness is given,? says Leena Mogre, whose institute started with just 10 students, and now has produced more than 2,000 certified personal trainers in the last decade. The academy has a faculty of experts in sports medicine, nutrition and diet, food science, obesity and physiotherapy. The three-month fitness management course at the academy covers subjects like anatomy, exercise physiology, exercise injuries, sports-specific exercises, weight loss, client identification and presentation.

Mogre now has branches in Thane, Chennai and Baroda, and says she even has plans to start one in Calcutta. She says personal trainers now earn anywhere between Rs 3,000 to Rs 1 lakh a month, depending on their clientele.