Given the impact of COVID-19, there is no denying that Fitness as an economic activity has declined globally.

Pre-COVID-19, Fitness in India was estimated to be a Rs. 4,000 crores industry based on science and healing. We expect Fitness to return to its 2019-20 levels over the next two years.

Interestingly, Fitness in India still continues to be an “unorganized” industry sector pre-dominated by small, local “gyms”. According to one knowledgeable source, fitness business in India touches the lives of a mere 0.5% of the population as compared to about 4% in Asia and 12% in the USA.

Over 1.30 billion Indians wish to lead healthier, fitter lives. Business and Industry want their employees to be more productive and image conscious. Schools want their students to be healthier, fitter and smarter!

Despite the closure and / or partial operations of commercial fitness clubs (“gyms”) apart, there is immense scope for working as fitness specialists with SPA’s, resorts, sports teams, hospitals, educational institutions and business organisations.

Personal training and online training are the best possible options for careers at the moment.

Our optimism is based on the following premises –

• People are acutely aware of the need to maintain good health generally and, in particular, prevent and / or manage comorbidities.
• Fitness professionals are the SECOND line of defence (only after the medical personnel) to help prevent and / manage and reduce incidence of COVID-19.
• The society at large has got accustomed to online transactions. People are willing to be trained online in the privacy of their homes or outdoors in the parks and beaches, etc.

To add glamour – and money – are the burgeoning professional Sports Leagues and the top down effect these events are having across the country at levels of competitive sport.

There is huge range of fitness clubs or gyms out there – from gyms with mud-packed floors to fancy, deluxe clubs and resorts.

The fastest growing segment is, of course, in personal training! Another segment catching up rapidly is sports conditioning thanks to wide spread professionalization of Sport.

So, it is no surprise then to witness an attractive 20% rate of annual growth in the Indian Fitness Business!

All experts agree that the biggest challenge to the growth of Fitness in India is the dearth of Fitness Professionals educated and trained to world standards.

Gāyo believes in the “16 X 8 Matrix”

There are 16 fitness goals (e.g. fat loss, medical rehab, muscle mass, etc) that a person may aspire too.

These goals can be achieved through a permutation & combination of eight training methodologies: Strength Training (weights), Special Resistance Training (e.g. Pilates, Plyometrics, Functional Strength Training, etc), Diet Management, Nutrition & Supplementation, Sports Medicine & (medical rehab through) Exercise Therapy, Sports Psychology, Biomechanics (sport conditioning) and Alternative Therapies (e.g. Yoga, SPA).

A world-class fitness professional must be able to deliver through the medium of the eight training technologies any of the 16 fitness goals that his / her client may pursue.

A fitness professional who masters this matrix is assured of a world class career in Fitness which tops in emotional joy of helping clients and earning lucratively.

Fitness professionals holding our certifications are successful: in major Indian cities like Mumbai and Delhi, some of them are earning as much as Rs. 4 Lakhs per month – at the age of 25-28 within five years of launching their personal training! The average national monthly income of our personal trainer student is Rs. 57,000 within two years starting practice.

They are successful because Gāyo Fitness Academy offers now only over five world class vocational courses. We provide continual technical and academic support and professional guidance to all our enrolled students and certified professionals. Gayo guides students in business development, marketing and personal training opportunities.

Effective, November 1, 2015, Gāyo started its education partnership with the BPCA’s College of Physical Education which is permanently affiliated to the University of Mumbai. This is the first time ever that private Fitness Education has been brought into Mainstream Education in India!

Let not the lack of money, education or knowledge of English language obstruct your plan to launch into a lucrative Fitness Career! You do not have to be bodybuilder to become a Fitness Professional!

You will succeed if you have the following qualities…

• Passion for fitness & exercise or sport
• Desire to help yourself and others in Society to improve health and fitness
• Willingness to continually learn the latest in Fitness and Exercise Sciences:

Evolution of Fitness into a financially lucrative, emotionally satisfying Career

Thirty years ago, “physical culture” was what a basic gymnasium provided to men. To keep fit, you walked or took up a sport. Or, you joined a vyayaamshala. No concept of scientific fitness existed then. Fitness till the 1980’s provided one limited physical benefit – strength – at best.

In the 1980’s aakhadas, where once wrestlers huffed and body-builders puffed, transformed themselves into well-equipped gyms open to men and women. Vyayaamshalas began to blend traditional Indian exercise forms with western Fitness Science.

Health clubs in bigger cities improved their range of strength training equipment with pulley & cable devices and machines. Cardiovascular equipment came in. Dieticians provided counsel to clients who really did not care about diet.

Television channels have introduced urban Indians to at least one positive “Western” cultural feature: sport and fitness. Sports personalities and events, and photogenic TV presenters do exert an aspirational effect. Peer pressure is now immense to look well and perform better in competition. Indians have begun to feel the pinch of increasingly expensive medical treatment. Absence from work implies loss of income and security.

These social and economic factors now drive urban Indians towards Fitness.

Responding to growing demand, fitness businesses have modernized themselves with “range of motion” device-controlled strength machines and microprocessor-driven cardio machines from abroad. Aerobics, Yoga and martial arts enliven health clubs. The SPA – Sanum Per Aqum or Health through Water – is de rigeur now!

The single most critical change in Indian Fitness, in the last 15 years, has been the application of Fitness Sciences. Fitness is now meant for a 6-year old girl as much as for a housewife or a sportsman or a businessman.

In this scenario, as a fitness professional with highly respected international credentials, your career has an added competitive edge!

Gāyo Fitness Academy continually seeks help its students build rewarding employment and / or business opportunities.