Here's how you can get healthy, according to lifestyle icon Nawaz Modi Singhania

Fitness and lifestyle icon and founder of Body Art Fitness Centres, Nawaz Modi Singhania, in an effort to create awareness on healthy living, conducted a Calisthenics workout for participants of Yoga by the Bay on Sunday at Marine Drive.

Speaking about it, Nawaz Modi Singhania said, “I, along with 25 of my Body Art Team Trainers conducted a Calisthenics session for where 1,200 -1,400 participants covered about 160 rows along the Marine Drive Promenade.” She went on to add, “The Calisthenics workout targeted height gain, waist slimming, abdominal tightening and flattening, hip and thigh slimmers and stretching out, among other things.”

In conversation with this correspondent, Singhania speaks about Calisthenics workout, healthy living and gives tips on how to get fit.

What is a Calisthenics workout?

Calisthenics is all about working on tightening and toning up muscles. Even if you’re slim, if you’re not firm though, you’ll still look and feel awful. Health-wise too, if there isn’t a certain degree of muscular tone and muscular balancing, the skeletal system therefore having no complementary support, one is likely to suffer aches and pains, more commonly in areas such as the back, neck and knees.

How is it important in today's scenario? What sets it apart from other workout regimes?

Through Calisthenics, looking one’s best, feeling one’s best, steering away from health-related problems, having the energy to go through one’s day tirelessly and enjoying higher self-esteem and confidence to tackle all one wants to achieve in their life is the greatest gift one can give oneself. While working on muscles, there can be many approaches.

Working on toning, tightening, posture correction, long, lean, slender muscles, bulk, strength, muscular endurance, mobility, range, flexibility, etc are some considerations. In other words, different resistance and strength training routines offer different sorts of results. They all add different types of value gain. Depends on what one is looking for.

Why did you get into fitness?

To be able to practise everything that I preach! To look and feel my best. To be in peak health. To go through my days with a lot of energy, self-confidence and in the highest possible life condition. To be able to achieve all I set out to. To anti-age. And so much more! (See our website www.bodyart.in to note all the benefits of fitness).

With a global obesity epidemic going on, what are your tips for a healthy lifestyle?

• Firstly, funny as this sounds, it is so helpful! I read a cartoon recently which said something like - If you want to stay in great shape, try eating, in front of a mirror…. naked !
• Secondly, have lots of mirror in your bathroom. Trust me, it works wonders in sorting out all of your bad habits automatically and in a hurry, and getting the good ones in!
• Finally, drinks lots of room temperature water and get adequate, quality sleep in every night!

Calisthenics workout on Sunday at Marine Drive... How did the idea germinate? Why?

The organizers approached me to do something a bit different than Yoga and in our meet we decided to go with Calisthenics, mainly for teenage girls, and address their issues. So the content of the session was exercises to gain height, develop a better waistline, flatten and tone the abdominals, work on slimmer, toned thighs and shapely hips.

5 tips for someone who is trying to get fit.

• Be consistent with your exercise and nutrition plan.
• Be flexible. If you missed your workout or over-ate at a meal, find a way of making up for it - and soon.
• Notice the small improvements. They are constant! They will spur you on and motivate you to stick to doing what needs to be done to get and stay super fit.
• Keep company with those who are fitter and slimmer than you. You’ll feel driven to keep pace with them. The opposite is also true!
• Drink plenty of room temperature water through the day and ensure adequate, quality sleep every night.