Starting a business at a young age is no cup of tea. The same could be said in the case of Danees Kazi. At barely 22 years, he runs his own fitness centre called R D’s Fitness Mantra at St Inez. Cedric Silveira in conversation with this fitness enthusiast
What brought an interest in fitness?
Well, while doing my BSc, I wished to work and so started working at Neomi’s fitness centre. The work slowly turned into interest and then it gave way to passion for the job. After working for a year and a half at Neomi’s, I worked at Basilio’s fitness centre and then worked as a Personal trainer at Fit-India (Fitness Innovation Techniques-India). All of this gave me the capability and ability to start something on my own and this February, I started off with my own fitness centre called R D’s Fitness Mantras. Presently I also run another fitness centre at Porvorim.
Did you undergo any training before taking up this assignment?
Yes, I underwent a three-month personal training course at Fit–India. The rest of my knowledge comes from hands on experience.
What difficulties did you encounter in setting up this centre?
Finance was one big hurdle. The other drawbacks were to find a good location, and get all my licenses. In all it took me almost 9-10 months before I could start on my dream.
Would you say Goans are fitness conscious?
Goans by and large are not known to be very fitness conscious, although the trend is changing. However, they tend to come to the centre is they wish to gain weight or loose weight. Once they achieve their objective they usually discontinue. In the case of the youth too this trend is seen, and they tend to take breaks whenever their exams approach.
What are the equipments that you possess?
We have thread mills, cycles and ellipticals among the cardio fitness regimes and for weight training we have table crossovers, leg process machines and bench chest pressure equipments.
Do you conduct any fitness assessment for your clients?
We have a personal fitness assessment for those who register for personal fitness. For regular members we check the weight before assigning them any training equipments.
Do you recommend any diet?
As such I give my clients a general diet which includes 5-6 small meals every 3 and a half hours. I also recommend them to have protein rich food. A dietician is also available if desired.
Do you have any message for the readers?
The mentality of us Goans is that we go to the gym if we are overweight or underweight. Beyond that we don’t usually give it much thought. Yet one should also consider the other benefits such as improvement in stamina, flexibility, cardio parameters show improvements, the posture is corrected and most importantly the stress levels are decreased.
