Sumaya Dalmia
Masters Degree in Sports Science, multiple certifications from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFFA), Pilates Professional from the Pilates Foundation.
Delhi
Sumaya Dalmia played competitive sport all her life, but her foray into the fitness industry began as a “fun thing.” The economics honours grad from St Stephen’s,Delhi, was still in college when she decided to join a group fitness training course offered by Reebok. “I loved the energy of the class and I was good at it,” says the founder of Sumaya, a brand that has 6 studios in both Delhi and Ananda in the Himalayas, offering customised fitness routines in addition to group classes, nutrition counselling, pilates and outdoor fitness.
She soon began hosting NDTV’s first health show, ‘Good Morning India’ where she became a, “consultant to the new fitness division,” before hosting another health show for Zee TV.
Moving to New York to study, proved to be an eye-opener of sorts. “My trainer at the gym there was such an inspirational guy,” she says, recalling how he customized programmes to suit individual requirements. He inspired her enough to switch from studying economics to sports science. “I did every course under the sun,” she says.
When she entered the Indian fitness space, in the early 2000s, is was still in a nascent, fairly unorganised stage and, “I was confused because I thought that the industry had no place for someone like me -- I was overqualified,” says Dalmia, who realized no one knew the value of her qualifications.
So she started her own gym, expanding over the years as “more people began taking me seriously.” Working with a team of highly qualified fitness professionals, Dalmia firmly believes that, “fitness is is a science. We are responsible for other people’s bodies and health and we really have to know how the body works.”
Pooja Bhatia Arora
Aqua aerobics and core fitness trainer from Fisaf Singapore, CrossFit Level 1 Coach, ACE Certified Personal Trainer
Bengaluru
Pooja Bhatia Arora has battled with her weight all her life, but when she had her child, things really spiralled out of control. “I had a bad injury and tore a ligament on the knee. The doctor told me I needed to lose weight and get fit,” she says. What started off as simply a mission to lose weight soon became a deep passion. “I was obsessed with learning form and would be constantly reading up about nutrition and training,” says Bhatia, adding that this soon segued into a series of fitness certifications.
A lifetime of being overweight however meant that, “since my knees had carried so much load, I developed osteoarthritis very young and was advised to stop all form of exercise,” she says. But that was not an option. So she decided to embrace the healing power of water, discovering a course in Singapore that trained her in aqua fitness. “I came back and began training myself in a pool,” she said. She also started a Facebook page called FitMermaids on which she would post her own workouts. “Seeing that people started reaching out to me asking for classes. So I rented a pool, and began,”she says.
While Bhatia, who trains at multiple locations in the city, loves what she does, she admits it comes with its fair share of challenges. “Fitness is still not seen as a serious enough industry in our country and my work often gets discounted,” she says, admitting that she has had people walk up to her and say that people enroll in her class because she has a pretty face and wears a swimsuit. “You wouldn’t say that to a man who teaches in trunks, would you?” she says.
On the flip side: “I have clients who have stuck by me for years, Speedo calls me their master coach and yes, the industry is changing for the better,” says Bhatia who hopes to create a community of people who are body-positive and truly love exercising.
Shwetambari Shetty
Zumba Master Trainer, Nike Elevated Trainer, AFAA certified group exercise instructor
Bengaluru
She is often referred to as one of India’s “fittest women” but Shwetambari Shetty calls her induction into the industry, a “happy accident.” She was working at a bank, getting very complacent, so she decided to switch jobs, choosing to work at a Bengaluru-based health club. “It was a completely different role from what I was used to. The only similarity was that I was managing people in both roles,” she says.
Being around people who were so conscious about their fitness rekindled her own interest in it. “I was a sporty kid, but when I started working, that fell apart,” says Shetty, who went on to garner multiple fitness certifications. She then began freelancing, before setting up The Tribe, a group fitness club along, with a friend in 2017. “We wanted to introduce people to workouts that were fun,” says Shetty, who ran it for three years.
Last year, Tribe was acquired by health start-up CureFit lead by former Flipkart executives Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori and merged with the Cult fitness brand that they had bought earlier. “We have 30 centres in Bengaluru and 5 in Gurgaon, and we are expanding,” says Shetty, Fitness Expert at Cure Fit. What keeps her at it is the strong focus on standardisation and the efficient use of technology, essential when leading the approximate 15,000 clients they have on board.
