Mumbai's fitness experts share if deadline-based regimes are worthwhile

If there is one thing thatrsquos been giving fierce competition to the baking mania on our social media feed itrsquos the gamut of fitness challenges Although not entirely new the concept became a blitzkrieg during the Coronavirusinduced lockdown when the world was forced to hunker down and indoor home exercises became the norm Influencers and YouTubers such as Chloe Ting Blogilates Cassey Ho and Pamela Reif promised toned abs peachy booties and flat bellies to participants According to reports 34yearold Ting from Australia gained more than three million subscribers in May 2020 aloneResearch says that if you can stick to a new habit for 21 days and see good results therersquos a good chance yoursquoll be able to maintain it into the future All of which has us wondering if the challenges really work and letrsquos say you conquer the 21 days what about life afterWhen Arpreet Bajaj founder and owner of the Nariman Pointbased Studio23 got down to formulating a fitness challenge during the lockdown he did not keep a 30day timeline in mind ldquoWe decided to have the challenge every month because itrsquos all about consistency Our golden rule is donrsquot miss the workout two days in a row Thatrsquos because once you start missing days you also start losing momentum and then you find excuses to not do itrdquo Bajajrsquos virtual challenge now in its fifth edition includes daily programmed workouts by an expert panel of trainers Each session concentrates on one aspect of fitness from body weight training strengthening flexibility and mobility high intensity cardio to core building It is also peppered with mental wellbeing and weekly guided meditative Yoga Nidra sessions Bajaj says in order to make it holistic they also got on board a panel of experts such as professional acrobat Cyrus Khan movement expert Giles DrsquoSouza aerialist Ria Bajaj Kripa Jalan nutritionist and MPH in Nutrition Candidate Harvard UniversityPlanks pushups squats lunges and flat abs the challenges cover a wide spectrum But a YouTube video canrsquot correct your form or account for past injuriesItrsquos the medium that Megha Iyer founder of 4Aces Hospitality found problematic when she signed up for a bunch of challenges including yoga last year The remoteness of it is also what compelled her to give it up ldquoI tried a couple of fitness challenges by different YouTubers For me workout is quite meditative itrsquos about being in the moment But here I was constantly worried about whether my form was correct or if I had missed the step Moreover the tutor canrsquot fully monitor if yoursquore doing it right on the basis of a phone or laptop screenrdquo Iyer has reverted to physical classes with a personal yoga trainerFor every failure therersquos also a corresponding success story Before he signed up for a virtual fitness challenge lawyer Gaurav Shrawat would struggle to touch his toes He admittedly came from a bad place ldquoI had poor eating habits my sleep cycle was erratic and I knew zilch about nutrition I used to go swim sometimes but the lockdown put an end to that too At that stage I felt I needed professional help to take it forward rather than pull things off the Internetrdquo he says Six months and five editions of fitness challenges later Shrawat says he can not only do burpees and crawls but also feels more alert and productive ldquoAfter one challenge I decided to sign up for another because I wasnrsquot sure if Irsquod continue following it if left to my own devices Here I had to fill up a daily worksheet about water intake nutrition sleep last exposure to blue light and even lsquosilencersquo time meant to cultivate mindfulness and appreciation of the present moment Basically I was being held accountablerdquo Shrawat plans to go independent after a month or twoFitness coach Sohrab Khushrushahi who gave up a 15yearlong career to pursue fitness has been conducting challenges since 2018 His brand Sohfit holds 40 and 21day intensive workouts that also focus on eating clean simple food and training together as a community ldquoChallenges tend to reboot your fitness levels Thatrsquos why itrsquos called a lsquochallengersquomdashitrsquos hard and itrsquos for a short duration You canrsquot be on a challenge all your life itrsquos important to find a balancerdquo Maintaining fitness levels post a challenge is up to the individual he adds ldquoYour job as a coach is to teach and hope that the student continues to develop even once they are done with the challenge Of course we want to help people post the challenge as well and offer them a number of options to continue training and eating well once the challenge is donerdquoMegha Iyer founder of 4Aces Hospitality gave up a virtual fitness challenge as she didnrsquot find the medium conducive to a holistic experienceGiven that itrsquos for a short duration the burden of expectations is invariably high Tingrsquos workouts are inserted with disclaimers ldquoVideo titles are subjective and shouldnrsquot be seen as absolute truthrdquoBajaj says therersquos always a lag in the gains that you see from a challenge ldquoYou may not see the results immediately but they are building up in the background So we tell people not to get discouraged Also a lot of people have wrong expectations that theyrsquoll do a challenge and come out shredded It takes longer than thatrdquo He says the 21day theory has long been busted ldquoThe new school of thought says on average it takes more than 30 days before a new behaviour becomes automaticmdashin fact 66 days to be exactrdquoGaurav Shrawat Arpreet Bajaj Avinash Mansukhani and Sohrab KhushrushahiCuffe Paradebased Avinash Mansukhani fitness consultant and transformation specialist says a fitness challenge where results are promised in 21 or 28 or 60 days are great for those who want to kickstart their fitness journey and are looking for some sort of motivation ldquoBut the advantages stop right there Firstly fitness should never have a deadline itrsquos an ongoing process and different bodies take time to adapt and show results While this may present a lowhanging fruit of result in a short duration and may motivate you to start itrsquos more likely yoursquore not going to reach there in a short amount of time and this may demotivate you from being active after the challengerdquoThat said Mansukhani feels that what fitness challenges can certainly do is instill discipline and cultivate accountability ldquoIt will get you into the groove of things get your muscles working stay motivated and teach you to discipline yourself to dedicate a certain amount of time to your body every day Make these a part of your liferdquo66No of days it takes for a new habit to become automatic as per a new school of thoughtSurvived 30 days What next Fitness is long term Mansukhani suggests you get onto a structured fitness programme which is designed individually for your body and challenges it progressively along with the nutrition required to fuel and replenish your body ldquoAnd donrsquot forget to recover wellrdquoRepeat the 30day challenge ldquoIf you feel you still need a support system and professional guidance before you make it on your own sign up for another sessionrdquo says Bajaj