Working Out Indoors: When Leaving Rooms And Gyms Become One
Host intro: The COVID-19 pandemic forced fitness enthusiasts and professionals to reinvent the way they train. Lylia Saurel spoke to a fitness instructor about what it’s like to work out from her living room.
AMBI: Instructions given to students “breathe in, breathe out” (FADE DOWN AS TRACK BEGINS)
TRACK: I’m here with Sakshee Sharmaa in her Manhattan apartment, watching her conduct a fitness class from home. Sakshee is a fitness instructor for the cultural academy Meri Sanskriti, which is popular with a South Asian audience. When she’s not teaching full body conditioning, she studies communication at Borough of Manhattan Community College, or BMCC.
ACT: SAKSHEE: I think at first I was really scared because I was so dependent on going to the gym and so less self-motivated that I was like I don’t know if I can pull this off, I didn’t have the discipline.
TRACK: Yet, after six months working out indoors she has settled into a groove.
ACT: SAKSHEE: I live in a really tiny apartment so I have to move tables around, it’s a whole chore to work out and I kind of made that a routine for all of pandemic, so I’d say this is the most motivated I’ve been and it took home quarantining for me to get to that level.
TRACK: Only a few weeks into quarantine, she was so motivated to empower others that she decided to become a fitness instructor.
ACT: SAKSHEE: Once the world went virtual I felt like maybe I can do it, I started posting fitness videos for the sake of motivation and some academy found me on social media and asked me to fill in for one class, but now I’m just working for them.
TRACK: And that’s how twice a week she leads a 60min intense full body conditioning for a largely feminine audience who doesn’t seem to miss the gym.
AMBI: Motivational feedback and instructions.
TRACK: Sowmya Prahlad, a 47 year old mother who took a one year break from yoga says that the online sessions are a dream come true for her because she can do it from the comfort of her own house and still manage her busy schedule.
ACT: SOWMYA: I couldn’t have been happier, this is what I’ve been waiting for the whole one year that I missed yoga. I love the body conditioning, it has worked out to my advantage and I really look forward to it every week.
TRACK: This is the kind of attitude Sakshee loves to inspire, especially as someone who has struggled in the past with a healthy lifestyle. As a child in India and then as a teenager in boarding school, she would favor junk snacks over healthy food, which she says made her put on weight.
ACT: SAKSHEE: I started feeling very uncomfortable in my body, self-esteem issues etc. but over time I just ignored them.
TRACK: It was when she moved to Mumbai after boarding school, and saw more people around her taking care of themselves that she realized she wanted to work on herself.
ACT: SAKSHEE: I started getting into dancing and I started losing weight because of dancing and that helped my self-esteem and that made me feel better about working out. And then I started going to the gym because once I explored dance it was easier for me to explore machines.
TRACK: As a result she also started eating healthy, which led her to really get into fitness. Now based in New York as an acting student, she has witnessed the impact of the pandemic on the field, as well as the new opportunities it has created for her to remain connected with a fitness community.
ACT: SAKSHEE: Technology has been a game changer and fitness instructors are stepping their game up virtually. This helps in cultures like mine, Indian-American, Nepalis culture, south Asian cultures because women would rather workout at home than go to a public space because of comfort or cultural reasons.
TRACK: Now that gyms have partly reopened in New York City she says she will go back in order to stay toned and challenge herself, as well as continue teaching from home. Overall she believes people will continue to follow classes online for a long time.
ACT: SAKSHEE: I don’t think that virtual fitness is going anywhere, it’s not going to disappear. It’s going to be a trend, it’s going to be a business for a lot of people and people are going to make money off of it.
AMBI: Instructions to inhale, exhale. (FADE DOWN AS TRACK BEGINS)
TRACK: For Baruch College, I’m Lylia Saurel in New York City.