In a fitness space that is increasingly defined by how much you can push yourself (ultramarathons, trans-continent cycling challenges, and cityscape parkour), it’s a relief that HRX is for everybody. Beginners can understand body basics with it, and it can be scaled for intermediate and advanced-level practitioners. For a workout ‘owned’ by Hrithik Roshan and designed by him and his personal trainer, Mustafa Ahmed, this comes as a surprise. You’d expect it to be about body building, and in a sense it is, but not in a muscle-bulging way.
The workout
“HRX is a strength-based training module, where we work on specific muscle groups in each class, using weights and animal-flow movements to build functional fitness,” says Anupam Popli, the master trainer in Cult Fit Centre, Gurugram, that has HRX classes. He says this will have a good carry-over in life: this means you can move more efficiently in daily life (without groaning each time you reach to lift out something heavy at the top of your cupboard).
Catering to a spectrum
It makes business sense, of course, to cater to the whole spectrum (it was formulated in January 2017), with an emphasis on beginners, because India is still at the nascent stage of fitness growth, and with our soaring obesity levels, most people still join a gym to lose weight. At the Cult Fit Centre, in Gurugram, where I take an HRX class, of the 15-odd people who had turned up, almost all the eight women wanted to lose weight.
It also helps to have clothes and shoes tied in with it, and that’s what Roshan and his business parter, Afsar Zaidi, Co-Founder of HRX and Managing Director of Exceed Entertainment, have done.
The experience
Cult Fit is a machine-less gym, with just racks of weights at one end (dumb-bells, barbells, kettlebells, medicine balls). Not having been in a gym for some years, I am a newbie, but it starts off as Popli promises — with two trainers and beginners being put into one line.
The circuit, focussing on the back and quads the day I took the class, with 3 sets of 3 or 4 exercises each, consists of a mix of load-bearing drills, animal-flow movements and body-weight exercises. The whole class (excluding warm-up and cool-down) is 25-30 minutes. “We work with a component called zero momentum repetition (ZMR), where we slow the movement down, increasing the time under tension,” says Popli. The first 2 to 4 reps are performed very slowly, engaging the muscle for a long duration. The next 10-12 reps are done the regular way. “This builds body awareness for someone who is new to working out. Beginners start with low weights and gradually progress.”
Trainers spend 3 weeks studying the science behind the workout, performing mock drills and taking the test. There are four levels of training: 0-3, and they are either athletes or already have some form of certifica-
tion before they qualify for HRX.
