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| Desi workout |
| Neha Bhatt / New Delhi Dec 13, 2009, 00:36 IST |
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Trainer Sarina Jain packs in Cardio Fitness in “masala bhangra“.
Sliding across the exercise floor, US-based fitness trainer Sarina Jain moves to the beats of Punjabi pop, her dance team enthusiastically following suit. It’s a curious mix of Indian dance moves and aerobic exercise that Jain calls Masala Bhangra. It’s among the top five workouts in the US, Jain claims — “Grandmothers are doing it, too!”
A fitness trainer of 19 years’s experience, New York-based Jain is in India at the moment working on her next music video. It will mark 10 years of her Masala Bhangra workout programme.
Her surname, of course, is a giveaway that she isn’t a Punjabi kudi out to popularise a folk dance that’s in her blood. “I’m Rajasthani Marwari, but I grew up in the US doing bhangra at competitions. Later, when I became a fitness instructor, I realised I could combine cardio routines with something desi. It was in the garage of my home in California 10 years ago, where masala bhangra was born,” Jain recalls.
In its current avatar, Masala Bhangra is an exercise routine that modernises the high-energy folk dance by blending it with Bollywood dance moves. Jain claims a 45-minute workout burns upto 500 calories. The routine mixes cardiovascular exercise with fun, and is suitable for participants of all ages and fitness levels. “The upbeat music and dance together gives you an energy boost. I have students coming in on really bad days, but once they get into the routine, they forget about everything else.”
Jain customises and remixes Punjabi pop music for her classes, working with artistes such as Jassi. “I design my own music to suit the aerobic routine. It won’t work with just any fast-paced desi song,” she explains.
Like many out-there ideas, Jain’s proposition of Masala Bhangra 10 years ago was largely dismissed by friends and relatives. “People laughed, but many were supportive too, especially the Americans,” she says. A few years into the business, she encountered threats from Indian youth in the US, protesting her efforts to modernise Bhangra. Jain remained unfazed.
When she clinched a contract to teach Masala Bhangra at a New york-based fitness centre, Jain jumped at the offer, moving bag and baggage from California. “I believed in my product and I knew it would work in New York, because it’s a city that loves culture. It changed my life. But I didn’t want to open my own fitness centre. I prefer to freelance, teaching at fitness centres across the country, and universities too.”
In August, Jain took a master class at Fitness First’s Delhi branch, and next week she will be in Kolkata getting that city’s people moving to a round of bhangra. “Surprisingly, in India I have noticed that men are not scared to come out and try something like this, whereas in the US I mostly have women students,” Jain points out. She notes, “It’s great teaching in India, and every time I come to Mumbai and Delhi, I see more people interested in working out, keeping fit and looking good. Masala Bhangra works well because it uses your entire body.”
And so, Jain will have you doing moves that she calls “Bhangra Chicken, Bhangra Squats, Dhol Beats and Bhangra Love.” Giving names to the movements makes classes easier, she says. “I tell people it’s exactly what we do at weddings. It’s even a bit like Amitabh Bachchan’s dance number in Don.”
It’s a power workout that Jain says needs constant innovation, and shouldn’t be confused with casual Bollywood dancing. “I need to keep my students hooked so I constantly introduce new music and new choreography, and provide peppy music videos on DVD,” says Jain. She also presents Masala Bhangra workouts on television shows.
Jain’s students, primarily the Americans, are expectedly intrigued by the novelty of the exercises. “The biggest difference between American and Indian students is that Americans understand my directions very well and pay attention to instructions. Indians, however, are as much fun to teach, because they get the movements very quickly, although they have a problem sustaining the routine for a 45-minute class.” And Jain herself needs to take a break from it sometimes, she says, setting aside Masala Bhangra and taking up yoga or the treadmill instead.
While Masala Bhangra takes care of a cardio workout, Jain recommends a spot of weight training along with it. “Masala Bhangra tones the body, making use of every muscle, but you should weight-train, too.” In the next few months, Jain promises, Masala Bhangra will make its way into gyms in India.
Balle-balle to that!
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