‘Alia Bhatt is one of the nicest people I’ve met; she is super dedicated and hardworking’: Fitness trainer Sohrab Khushrushahi

In our quest to lead a fit and active lifestyle, we often try different workouts to find out — through a trial-and-error method — what works and what does not. It can be a tad confusing as to what kind of exercise to take up. For instance, some people are comfortable doing yoga; others work out in the gym. Some get their daily 10k steps in order, while others go out cycling every day. Sohrab Khushrushahi, the founder of SOHFIT, says fitness means different things to different people, but “movement in any form is good”.
“The idea is to constantly move because that’s what human beings were designed to do. We weren’t designed to sit on a desk and not move,” he adds.

Khushrushahi, a personal fitness trainer to celebrities like Alia Bhatt, Robin Uthappa, and others, has had quite an interesting journey himself — from being a lawyer for close to a decade to pivoting and following his passion for fitness. During a recent exclusive interaction with , he talks more about this, busts some fitness myths, shares his experience of working with mother-to-be Alia Bhatt, his collaboration with DaRulk — who has been working with celebrities like Chris Hemsworth and Josh Brolin, and with whom he introduced his online fitness program RFT India — and what he thinks of weight loss from the prism of fitness.

Excerpts:
People took up fitness activities during the pandemic, when the focus was on health and immunity. But now, many seem to have regressed as a sense of normalcy has prevailed. What do you have to say about fitness being a lasting trend?
For me, fitness has always been a lifestyle. It’s not a month-on-month thing, or a wedding-to-wedding thing, or a festival-to-festival thing. It’s something that you have to incorporate into your life. Yes, during the pandemic, everyone looked at fitness [because of Covid]. But, that has to continue over a period of time because it only continues if it’s a part of your life.

What, according to you, should everyday fitness look like? Some people try to complete 10k steps every day…
Fitness is different for different people. I don’t think you can put it in one single frame. For me, the most important thing is movement. You have got to move every single day. The lives that we all live right now, we sit a lot, our jobs are desk jobs. Even if we work from home, we are rarely moving. So, movement in any form is good, it could be dance, working out, Pilates, yoga, walking, anything you want.
The idea is to constantly move because that is what human beings were designed to do. We weren’t designed to sit on a desk. As far as the step count is concerned, I think it’s subjective. Someone who is really active and trains regularly doesn’t need to get 10k steps in. For example, someone who is training every single day might get 5k steps. Is that bad? No, it’s not. It depends on what your day-to-day life is like. If walking is the only form of activity you are going to get, then yes, go get 10k steps.
In the course of your journey, have you had to counter many myths about health and fitness?
Every day there is a new myth that comes out as far as fitness is concerned. For me, fitness has always been about keeping things simple. Do the simple things right, work hard and work smart, and don’t search for shortcuts. I think the myths today that everyone hears are always about shortcuts, like how to get fitter in the fastest way possible with the least amount of effort. Even the whole myth around ‘I need to lose weight, so I will only run and I will keep running’ — these things are done now. Or, ‘women shouldn’t lift weights because they will become bulky’.
What people try to do is that they try to sell fitness and that makes no sense to me. I think you just need to let people train, move and work out in whatever way they like, and they will see the benefits themselves.

You have had quite a journey yourself, from being a lawyer to following your passion for fitness training. What made you switch?
Passion. I was obsessed with my health and helping people. This may sound far-fetched, but I wanted to make people fitter and the country fitter in whatever way I could possibly do. Eventually, the goal was to always work with athletes and create a culture of fitness for the country — that is my passion.
You have been a trainer for Alia Bhatt. What has been the experience and what would you say about the actor’s discipline?
Alia is amazing. I have nothing to say other than the fact that she’s amazing. She’s one of the nicest people I’ve met and is super dedicated and hardworking. She never shies away from anything and I absolutely adore her. I think she is an amazing human being and a great friend as well.

How challenging is it to train celebrities? From routines to consency, how do you decide on what would work best?
With fitness, I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all. You have to keep experimenting and trying things. With actors, I think it’s about the role they are performing, what is required, the look they are going for. There are a number of things that go into it. It is challenging, but it’s challenging for the actor as well, because they need to make the time for it. Hats off to each one of them because they make the time for it. From the ones I’ve trained so far, no one has thrown any tantrums, everyone works really hard and they got into the process, which for me, is a very important thing.

You are also a sports trainer; how different is it than regular training? Tell us about your experience of working with Robin Uthappa.
It’s very different. When you train someone for a sport, it’s specific to that sport. You are working on just making them better. For an athlete, it is more specific. In the case of the general population, it is just physical preparedness that you want them to have. In terms of training Robin, he has become family to me now. He is someone that I get along with really well. He is a great guy to work with. We experiment, we try things; he has literally lived with me for a month and we train twice a day together. We have kind of gone all-out and it’s been nothing but a pleasure. I call him my brother.

You also recently collaborated with DaRulk, who has worked with celebrities like Chris Hemsworth and Josh Brolin. What was the takeaway?
I still talk to DaRulk every single day. He has been my mentor for years. Working with your mentor, what more can you ask for, right? I think it is an amazing thing to have happened. I learn a lot from him. I exchange notes with him. He’s a fabulous guy who never shies away from sharing knowledge. He’s been a great help and I am looking forward to doing RFT in India with him.

Many people get into fitness so as to lose weight. In your opinion, should that be the only agenda?
No, it shouldn’t be the agenda at all. If you focus too much on weight, you are taking away all the other benefits that fitness brings to your life. So, for me, it would be more around working on fitness goals and your health in general; weight will take care of itself if you do that. Anyone who trains regularly, eats well, is dedicated, consent and hardworking, I don’t think they care about their weight. I don’t think weight even comes into the equation. Weight is just something that will take care of itself if you do everything else right.

Besides training, what else should people keep in mind for good health?
For good health, you should eat well, sleep well, and be happy. What people need to understand is that training is one hour of your day. The other 23 hours matter so much more. If I train for 1 hour a day, I [also have to] take care of my recovery, my sleep, rest, mental and physical stress — all this has to come together. It’s not more important, it’s as important as your training. Sleep, eat, hydrate, and take care of your mental health. People ignore their mental health, which is also very important.
A celebrity, Indian or otherwise, who is really disciplined and focused about fitness.
I don’t know all of them. But from my experience, Robin and Alia both are super disciplined, focused, and dedicated in terms of what they need to do. In terms of people I’ve never worked with — every athlete out there — I have always looked up to Rafael Nadal. I think he’s brilliant. In the Indian context, Virat Kohli. I think what he’s done with his fitness, he’s transformed the way people in India look at fitness because it’s second to none. Hats off!

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