The
Telegraph, Kolkata, India. Saturday, April 24, 2004
In town and
not training with Anwar Wahab? That’s a no-no for Arjun Atwal.
Since 2001, the ace golfer has been keenly following the
power-lifting regimen the ace fitness adviser has set for him.
Queries from Atwal keep flooding Wahab even over e-mail, when the
golfing champ is abroad, seeking tips from the man who has helped
him with the groundwork for his long drives.
“Arjun keeps dropping into my place whenever he is in Calcutta. So
do Rohan Gavaskar and Devang Gandhi. But golf and cricket require
absolutely different energy levels. In golf, the exercise pattern
is that of a power-lifter’s because the muscles work the same way
in both cases. Tiger Woods picks up 130 kg just like a
power-lifter while working out and hits the longest shot,” says
Wahab.
But the middle-aged fitness guru prefers to keep his hi-flying
celeb clients out of the conversation and focus on his current
mission — help Calcuttans shrug off their sloppiness and stay in
shape by giving them a chance to sweat it out at “a fitness centre
of international standards”.
As the fitness consultant to Ocio — touted as the country’s first
leisureplex — Wahab is giving shape to a fitness module to be
rolled out to Calcuttans by May-end. The five-storey building in
Alipore has been furnished with equipment of Cybex-make, a leading
brand in fitness gear manufacturing, that can be used by both
sportsmen toning up their muscles and middle-aged women battling
the bulge.
“Those in the 40-plus age group are really getting into fitness.
But 90 per cent people in Calcutta use fake machines at the
neighbourhood gyms. Quite a few of them have come to me with
problems arising from wrong training and use of machines not
up-to-the-mark,” says Wahab, who regularly puts Rohan Gavaskar,
Devang Gandhi and Team Bengal Ranji through the paces and steers a
fitness programme at Tollygunge Club involving 20 young golfers
from the east.
“The pectoral/rear deltoid, the assisted chin-up/dip and the hip
abduction/adduction gear will be introduced in Calcutta for the
first time. Not even top-notch gyms in Mumbai have all these
upgraded editions of equipment. The movement on them will just
feel like butter,” promises Wahab. Add to this the functional
trainer, a gym by itself, with 22 exercise routines on a single
machine.
Ready to take in around 500 members, Ocio will be offering a
family package for Rs. 65,000 a year. The gym even offers an
at-home feel where one can do the treadmill with an eye on a
favourite TV show.
Wahab’s job at Ocio would be to evaluate a trainee’s fitness
according to his or her age and thereby set up a short-term
regimen. After a thorough monitoring, a pattern suitable to the
trainee will be prescribed.
To help him out will be a bunch of four certified-trainers and
doctors to keep an eye on the member’s health. Safety measures and
emergency plans will be accorded highest importance.
