Chirag scores big with online fitness program

HEALTH management has become the emerging market in India owing to the changing lifestyle and Work from Home (WFH) setup. With a possibility of yet another lockdown, in case of sudden surge in Covid cases, Generation Y is looking beyond weight loss programs and opting for a healthier routine to build resistance against the deadly virus.

Bizz Buzz spoke with nutrition coach Chirag Barjatya on the adoption of a healthier lifestyle amongst millennials, the myths around nutrition supplements and resuming physical exercises post Covid recovery.

According to the 28-year-old, millennials with IT backgrounds make up majority of his client base with people between the 30 and 45 years. The Pune-based entrepreneur, who started his journey with a single client during the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, has added over 800 members to his fitness program as of 2021.

"During the initial days of lockdown last year, I did not have any clients. But as the hesitancy reduced and with government initiatives, people have understood that exercise is the most important thing to boost your immunity. And as people spent more time indoors, some developed health issues such as backache and anxiety. So, during Covid, huge number of people joined our program. And IU could build a stronger business portfolio," Barjatya says.

Apart from India, the fitness entrepreneur has clients throughout the world including the USA, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Vietnam and South Africa. Barjatya said that due to exponential rise in customer base, he is planning to expand his team from 3 nutrition coaches to 20 by the yearend.

"People do realise that physical fitness is proportional to mental well-being. Due to pandemic and subsequent lockdown, we saw psychological implications such as PCOD amongst women and depression, anxiety in general population. So, it becomes more important for us to be active physically. We included a psychologist in our team to help people cope with such issues. Being suddenly locked inside houses or rooms, lowers your motivation. What we have seen is that being physically fit has reduced the dependency of some of our clients on anti-depressants, while some said that it saved their jobs and marriages due to lowered stress," he added.