The heat at Begumpet Hockey Stadium is not just from the searing sun at 8 am on Saturday, but also from widespread excitement as more than 500 people lunge, squat and jump in unison. The ground trembles with the bass from peppy remixes. Above the music and excited voices is the twang of Cory George, the face of F45, who towers over the crowd.
MetroPlus caught up with Cory before the training event, where he shows off some demos with his team.
“I did not know what to expect of the market prior to coming here,” he explains, “but in India, I’ve noticed there’s been an influence on more of a traditional bodybuilding mentality, so I’ve done some research on the gyms here, on the one-on-one model here. Group training is something with big influences but was missed here. Due to the fact that gyms always hold intimidating factors — be it equipment, another person, or even stepping foot inside a gym — group training sees multiple trainers and gym-goers from different walks of life.”
Face of F45 Training Cory George doing a demo at F45 in Srinagar Colony, Hyderabad
The 27-year-old admits his journey into functional fitness was not a traditional one, stating that he regretfully leaned into a bodybuilding lifestyle. “I have a lot of ongoing injuries from moving incorrectly (not properly warming up or grabbing too much weight) and I was not being educated on specific movements and was just pushing myself through something I should not have. So functional fitness becoming more popular, is self-explanatory. It answers questions such as ‘why do we need to squat, deadlift, hip hinge?’ Most harmful occurrences happen from incorrect movements you should naturally be able to do.”
For the love of a cheat meal
Cory then recalls the first time he took a class and how he was smitten with the process, “I worked with somebody that was a little overweight that had literally never picked up a weight in their life and I was also training with an NBA player; we were in the same class, doing the same circuits but going at our own athletic levels and still being challenges at these paces, which I had never seen before.”
Cory is not uncomfortable talking about cheat meals and other similar indulgences. In fact, his face lights up when it is mentioned. “Most people stress about a cheat meal, because they’re constantly cheating,” he confides with a chuckle, “which explains why someone gets overly concerned, and this comes back to consistency. Between 80 and 90 percent of my diet is clean so if I were to eat a piece of cake or a glass of chocolate milk which I love, I’m not stressing about it. I’ll save those for like date night or a social gathering.”
