‘Alia Bhatt is one of the nicest people I’ve met; she is super dedicated and hardworking’: Fitness trainer Sohrab Khushrushahi

“The idea is to be in constant movement because that is what human beings are designed for. We were not designed to sit at a desk and not move,” she adds.

Khushrushahi, celebrity personal fitness trainer like Alia Bhatt, Robin Uthappa and others, has had quite an interesting journey: from being a lawyer for nearly a decade to turning around and following his passion for fitness. During a recent exclusive interaction with indianexpress.comtalk more about this, bust some fitness mythsshares her experience of working with expectant mother Alia Bhatt, her collaboration with DaRulk, who has been working with celebrities like Chris Hemsworth and Josh Brolin, and with whom he presented his online fitness program RFT India, and what he thinks about weight loss from a fitness prism.

Extracts:

People began to be physically active during the pandemic, when the focus was on health and immunity. But now, many seem to have backed off as a sense of normalcy has prevailed. What do you have to say about fitness being a lasting trend?

For me, fitness has always been a lifestyle. It’s not a month-to-month, or wedding-to-wedding, or festival-to-festival thing. It is something you have to incorporate into your life. Yes, during the pandemic, everyone looked at fitness. [because of Covid]. But that has to go on for a period of time because it only goes on if it’s part of your life.

How should daily fitness be, according to you? Some people try to complete 10k steps every day…

Fitness is different for different people. I don’t think you can put it in one box. For me, the most important thing is movement. You have to move every day. The lives we all live right now, we sit a lot, our jobs are desk jobs. Even if we work from home, we rarely move. So movement in any form is good, it could be dancing, working out, pilatesyoga, walking, whatever you want.

The idea is to constantly move because that is what human beings were designed to do. We were not designed to sit at a desk. As far as step count goes, I think it’s subjective. Someone who is really active and trains regularly doesn’t need to take 10k steps. For example, someone who trains every day might get 5k steps. Is it that bad? No, it’s not. It depends on how your day to day is. If walking is the only form of activity you’re going to do, then yes, do 10k steps.

Over the course of your journey, have you had to debunk many health and fitness myths?

Every day a new fitness myth comes to light. For me, fitness has always been about keeping things simple. Do the simple things well, work hard and smart, and don’t look for shortcuts. I think the myths that everyone hears today are always about shortcuts, like how to get in shape as quickly as possible with the least amount of effort. Even the whole myth around ‘I need to lose weight so I’ll just run and keep running’ – these things are already done. Or, ‘women shouldn’t lift weights because they’ll get bulky.’

What people are trying to do is sell fitness and that doesn’t make sense to me. I think you just need to let people train, move and exercise the way they want, and they will see the benefits for themselves.

You yourself have come a long way, from being a lawyer to following your passion for fitness training. What made you change?

Passion. I was obsessed with my health and helping people. This may sound like a stretch, but he wanted to get the people and the country fitter in any way he could. Eventually the goal was to always work with athletes and create a fitness culture for the country, that’s my passion.

He has been Alia Bhatt’s trainer. What has been the experience and what would you say about the discipline of the actor?

Ali is amazing. I have nothing to say other than the fact that she is amazing. She is one of the nicest people I have ever met and she is super dedicated and hard working. She is never scared of anything and I absolutely adore her. I think she is an amazing human being and also a great friend.

How challenging is it to train celebrities? From routines to consistency, how do you decide what would work best?

With fitness, I don’t think there is one size fits all. You have to keep experimenting and trying things. With actors, I think it’s about the part they’re playing, what’s required, the look they’re going for. There are a number of things that go into it. He’s challenging, but it’s also challenging for the actor, because he needs to take the time to do it. Congratulations to each of them because they make the time for it. Of those I have trained so far, no one has had tantrums, they all work very hard and got involved in the process, which for me is something very important.

You are also a sports coach; How different is it from regular training? Tell us about your experience of working with robin.

It’s very different. When you train someone for a sport, it’s specific to that sport. You are working to improve them. For an athlete, it is more specific. In the case of the general population, it is only the physical preparation that you want them to have. In terms of training Robin, he has now become my family. He is someone I get along with very well. He is a great guy to work with. We experiment, we try things; He has literally lived with me for a month and we train together twice a day. We have done everything possible and it has been nothing but a pleasure. I call him my brother.

You also recently collaborated with DaRulk, who has worked with celebrities like Chris Hemsworth and Josh Brolin. What was the takeaway?

I still talk to DaRulk every day. He has been my mentor for years. Working with your mentor, what more can you ask for, right? I think it’s an incredible thing that happened. I learn a lot from him. I exchange notes with him. He is a fabulous guy who never shies away from sharing knowledge. He has been a great help and I am looking forward to doing RFT in India with him.

Many people get in shape to lose weight. In your opinion, should that be the only agenda?

No, it shouldn’t be the agenda at all. If you focus too much on weight, you’re taking away all the other benefits that exercise brings to your life. So for me it would be more to work on fitness goals and your general health; the weight will take care of itself if you do that. Anyone who trains regularly, eats well, is dedicated, consistent and hard-working, I don’t think they care about his weight. I don’t think weight comes into the equation. Weight is something that will fix itself if you do everything else right.

Apart from training, what else should people take into account for good health?

For good health, you must eat well, sleep well, and be happy. What people need to understand is that training is an hour of your day. The other 23 hours matter much more. If I train 1 hour a day, [also have to] take care of my recovery, my sleep, rest, mental and physical stress, all this has to come together. It’s not more important, it’s just as important as your training. Sleep, eat, hydrate and take care of your mental health. People ignore their mental health, which is also very important.

A celebrity, Indian or not, who is really disciplined and focused on fitness.

I don’t know all of them. But in my experience, Robin and Alia are super disciplined, focused and dedicated in terms of what they need to do. In terms of people I have never worked with, all athletes, I have always admired Rafael Nadal. I think he is brilliant. In the Indian context, Virat Kohli. I think what he’s done with his fitness has transformed the way people in India look at fitness because it’s second to none. Congratulations!

📣 For more lifestyle news, follow us on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook And don’t miss the latest updates!