Quick, intense, engaging

Yoga is one of the oldest forms of exercise in the world, but today, with a greater emphasis on cardio fitness, a high number of gym users in India are looking for more. While fitness is becoming a greater priority, the means and methods adopted may be undergoing a sea change. Les Mills, first introduced to India in 2008, has been gradually gaining in popularity, but the company has been much more successful in China and Brazil.

 In India, Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru have taken the lead when it comes to offering Les Mills in fitness centres. Possibly the biggest chain with Les Mills exercise classes in the country is Gold’s Gym. The smaller Virat Kohli-backed Chisel Fitness is also offering Les Mills. Other fitness centres and chains offering it are Anuj Academy in New Delhi, Intense Fitness Club (IFC) in Mumbai and most premium centres in Bengaluru. These include Apple Fitness and Kaizen Fitness. There are also fitness centres in Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Kolkata that have the Kiwi firm’s patented classes.

The Les Mills range of classes runs from RPM to flexibility and core strengthening like Body Balance, though Body Pump and Body Combat have so far been the most popular in India. A Delhi-based Body Combat trainer says, “Les Mills offers more intense training, which is something Indians are beginning to appreciate.The advantage of Les Mills over regular cardio is that there is more coordination and it improves speed, response and agility.” Compared to regular cardio, Les Mills classes burn more calories.

The variety offered by Les Mills makes it a tempting proposition for most fitness centres in India to consider. Amaresh Ojha, the CEO and founder of Gympik Health Solutions, a Bengaluru-based aggregator of health and fitness centres, says, “Traditional forms of exercise like gyming and yoga have become monotonous. That’s possibly why you are seeing more and more premium centres opting for Les Mills.”

Being a new thing for middle and upper income Indians, who are generally more sedentary than their counterparts overseas, the adjustment to high-intensity workouts is not always easy. According to a Delhi-based trainer, a regular Body Combat class, combining moves mimicking boxing, Thai boxing and judo, takes up to one hour, but most beginners start with classes of 30 minutes and increase gradually by five minutes every week. It takes up to five-odd weeks for a user to get up to speed, and undertake a full session of Body Combat.