Size zero or six pack, anyone?

According to George Sequeira, certified trainer for muscle and fitness at Fitness Zone, people who get inspired by celebrities to have six pack bodies seldom realise the efforts that goes into it. "There are no shortcuts to fitness," he says.

Enter his gym at Miramar, and you can see how passionate he is about health and fitness.

A good athlete in school and college, George’s sporting love is what led him to become a fitness enthusiast and instructor. However, predictably his parents did not support at first. “Like every parent, who wants to see their son’s future financially secure, mine too did not encourage a career in fitness. In 1992, a business in fitness was barely heard of. So I took up hotel management here in Goa at IHM. But I always knew I wanted to get into fitness sooner or later.”

After ten years of working in the hotel industry he decided it was enough. His passion for fitness could be suppressed no longer and he took up a course in American Muscle and Fitness (AMFPT). Three and half years ago, he opened his first gym. Around 2009, Clube Tennis de Gasper Dias was looking for someone to head their gym. George and his wife, Colleen, a pilates trainer approached them and today George has about three fitness trainers under him at the club’s gym.

“To set up this second gym up was a challenge. When I took over, the gym was already in a running phase with about 40-50 members. But I wanted to set it up differently. I promised the members that it would be a better gym in a matter of just a few days.” Within eight days, he set up the gym as he envisioned it and his efforts I hear are much appreciated.

At George’s gym, they have the weight training or strength training division and the cardiovascular section where you can use the treadmill, upper right cycle and elliptical cross training. To mention of other equipments, bench  press, chest press, Lateral pull down, feet rowing, leg press, extension machine, shoulder press, bicep triceps, Graviton. George had got his equipments from Mumbai and it cost him approximately Rs 15 lakh. They have weight loss packages, weight gain programs, toning, muscle building, aerobics, and aero gym. To overcome monotonous routine they have aerobic exercises too. “My method is progressive training. What we do here is resistance training so you’re up against resistance.”

George says, “The fitness business today is booming. Now not just the males, even women, and of all ages now go to gym; unisex fitness gym has developed. It’s not just bodybuilding; many aspects of fitness have now gained prominence. From growth perspective, fitness in Goa has evolved, but there is more scope for growth.”

Speaking about the need for fitness, “with the kind of food we eat, we very much need fitness in our lives. Today the image of ideal man or woman has changed. Not just Goa, India is the diabetic capital. So the stress for fitness is in fact need of the hour.”

What sets his gym apart from any other George says, is that his clients feel at home here. Far from a military centre, it is like a stress buster - a place they come to unwind. “A positive atmosphere is what keeps it going,” says George.

From his experience in the field, he has observed that lot of people still have inhibitions about working out. He still gets clients who are too shy and uncomfortable to do gym exercises. And there are those who wish to lose weight but have a fear that visiting gyms would make them appear obese in others eyes. “But then I try and help overcome their fears and their self-consciousness first. But after they lose the weight and become healthier, they are appreciative of their gym experience,” he says.

 “I try to educate them,” George explains, “when I get new clients I ask them what their fitness goals are, and try to bring a little more sense and perspective. When you decide to work out at the gym, you also make the decision to change your lifestyle, make dietary changes and exercise more often. It’s a struggle but these changes contribute to your becoming healthier.”