BENGALURU: Namma Bengaluru women like to keep fit and they don’t do it in half-measures: they beat the flab lifting heavy weights and through high-intensity workouts. In fact, city women are also partial to mixed martial arts, body combat and pilates, say fitness experts.
And it’s paying off. According to a study by HealthifyMe, a calorie counter and weight loss coach app, women in Bengaluru burn the most calories per day in India. Niveditha Viswanathan, VP Business Development, Healthifyme, says, "The data from the 50 million workouts logged by 3.6 million users in India shows that Bengaluru women show a higher affinity towards both high-intensity workouts such as pull-ups, push-ups."
Sucheta Pal, zumba global brand ambassador and lead zumba education specialist, says women are not shying away from climbing their way up in bouldering gyms, kalari, kick-boxing, mixed martial arts and parkour. "Fourteen to forty-five-year-olds are the takers. Most are corporate professionals, housewives and mother-son duos," adds Sucheta.
Fitness experts have seen rise in percentage of women enrolling in fight clubs and cross training. Rishabh Telang, fitness expert at cure.fit, says since a year and a half, women are becoming more aware and they have realised functional training is more important as women by nature, have less bone mineral density.
"They understand that these training help improve their functionality and perform better at work and home. At cult, we now have approximately 40 per cent women and most of them are regular to the gyms. They come at least four days a week," he says. He adds that it is also surprising to note women trying mixed martial arts. They learn to use each body part for self defence and get fit alongside it as it helps burn lot of calories. "They are into mixed formats. They are taking up combat sports as well as it helps in a holistic fitness regime," he adds.
City loves gyms the most
Amaresh Ojha, Founder & CEO, Gympik, says Bengaluru continues to be the fitness capital of India. "Our study that researched one million people showed that fitness was still dominated by urban cities. Bengaluru had the maximum demand for gyms with a 40 per cent spike in the number of new memberships this year, followed by Mumbai with 35% and Delhi with 30%.The ratio of females to males taking up memberships was 55:45 during the post-christmas and New Year periods," he says adding easy access to the internet, TV and technology have brought about a paradigm shift in perspective of woman taking to fitness and health seriously." He lists major reasons for women to take up fitness: rising cases of osteoporosis and lowering of bone density; breast cancer; lifestyle and good looks and Bollywood and Hollywood celebrity influences.
But, what about IT hubs’ desk jobs?
Shwetambari Shetty, fitness expert at Cure.Fit, says, it seems incorrect considering the work profile of most in the city. She says the number of calories burned depends on other factors too such as age. One needs to be active whole day too. "Most people are into desk jobs here. Hence, burning calories in an exercise session of an hour every day will not help much as being inactive for the rest of the day will further reduce the burned calorie count."
Sports and domestic chores help them keep fit
Healthify’s study says city women burn around 239.1203 calories on an average a day. Priya Gopinath, 24-year-old IT professional who on a high-protein diet, says she burns 1,800-2,000 calories on an average. "As I am a powerlifter, my workouts involve me lifting heavy weights on a regular basis. I don't do a lot of cardio, but I keep myself active and do a lot of mobility work before each workout, followed by stretching," she says.
Sujetha, a 29-year-old health and wellness expert and speaker, has always been a sports enthusiast. She says she preferred outdoor sports such as badminton, basketball and volleyball. "But they were not regular. As a result, I was scared of facing any weighing machine. And then I decided to face it rather hiding it. Joining the gym was the first step,” she adds. She says she burns around 500 to 800 calories a day. "I do cardio and weight training."
On the other hand, Devika Ballal, 35, housewife, burns most of the calories doing chores such as cleaning and laundry. "People think that there's not much you can do when you stay home but they don't realise that chores take a lot of effort too. I don't follow any specific diet but I try to eat healthy."
Christina Debbarma from Power World Gyms notes that some women clients have also motivated their family members to stay fit. “In one of our branches, for example, a family of four - mother, father, son and daughter - workout together and it is the mother who is taking the lead,” she says.
