The urge to stay healthy is growing year on end and more and more people are now hitting the gym. Young as well as the old are now keen on staying fit and getting the most out of life. This has also led to many people with varying degrees of motivation taking a decision to become fit. This happens especially when the New Year resolutions are made. The start of the New Year many people make resolutions.
They want to do something new that will change them. Some people decide to read books regularly, others plan to go running every day and then there are those who decide to go to the local gym and work out. They want to develop muscles and look fit and be popular in their circle of friends. A chat with those who run gyms in Goa gave a very interesting picture.
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The ground reality
Anisha Singh runs a number of Pilates studios in the state. She says unlike in gyms where people may come and then leave after a couple of months, people have a long standing affair with fitness at her studio. Explaining the reason for this behaviour she said, “The cost of a gym per month is approximately in the few thousands whereas with us it is several times that amount. The people who decide to come with us are motivated and stay with the program. Our sessions are not long drawn out affairs. They last for 55 minutes and one can come for any session between 7-8 am till 7-8 pm.” Another important reason she said was that in the gym one would focus on a part of the body everyday while in her studio, the entire body was in focus on a given day. Motivation, Anisha said was never in short supply.
Interesting trend
Bashir Sheikh, who is the owner and coach of a gym in Panjim, said trends are forever changing. Bashir said, “Last year more people signed at the start of the year. This year not even 50 percent of that number. For example if 10 to 15 people signed up, then ten people stayed and the rest left. The reasons given were pressures at work and preparations for the exams”.
Sunil Karmalkar who owns a gym in Panjim and has been in the business for 20 years smiled and said the trend of people signing up in the New Year was not visible for the past three years. Sunil said, “They don’t make any new year resolution. They just decide and come over. People have enjoyed themselves during the festival season and then come in Jan 10-15 and many of them are still with me. They want to get fit or stay fit”.
Another major player in the business is Norbert D’Souza who has a number of gyms around the state. He said earlier there would be a rush at the gyms around Goa with 50 percent of them dropping out in a month or two but now the dropout rate had reduced to 20 percent. Norbert said, “Now during the festival season there is a drop but they tend to come back. This is also due to the fact that people from outside are now living in the State and many of them are aware and very conscious of staying fit”.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Advait Madkaikar who runs a gym in St Inez. The festival season he said always resulted in the number of dropouts increasing but they always came back. Advait said, “Now Ramadan and lent is going on so quite a few will drop out but they will come back next month”
Not serious
But for Sankar Naik who has a gym in Calangute said people signing up in the New Year and dropping out in a month or two was normal. Sankar said, “It is a problem of motivation. Many of them come with ideas of building up their arms and getting six packs. It is tough and difficult and takes discipline to get a six pack. Many of them are not willing to change their lifestyle to achieve their goals and find it too tough and just drop out.”
It is obvious that the general public is interested in getting fit but there still remains a percentage of the population that is not interested in doing the hard yards required.
