Storyline: Here’s an interview with fitness, lifestyle and wellness coach, Afsar Jahan, about how to enhance your health and well-being.
Bill Loguidice once said, “It’s easier to stay in shape if you never let yourself get out of shape in the first place.”
Well, isn’t it abruptly true when it comes to being fit and leading a healthy life? A few days ago I tore a ligament in my ankle. After a few days of healing the wound, the medic advised me to consult a physical training counselor to get back onto the pitch.
Afsar Jahan (photo, Facebook)
That advice put me in touch with a young professional, who guided and mentored me to perfection. Her name is Afsar Jahan, an Indo-Australian, who overcame adversities and is now helping many a sportsperson.
Jahan is a fitness, lifestyle and wellness coach. She doesn’t physically train people, but rather helps them achieve fitness goals by motivating and empowering them and to change their mindsets.
She taught me to enjoy the pleasure of training, but not to consider it as unbearable pain. She also taught me to never give up on my dream of playing field hockey again. She nurtured me well. I regained my lost health.
But the columnist in me couldn’t stop there.
So let me share her views on the importance of being fit and maintaining focus for leading a healthy life.
What is your philosophy on physical training? My philosophy about physical training is as follows. My fitness journey has brought me closer to my spiritual awareness. I believe that physical training is the connection between body and soul. Our spiritual growth depends on how loving and friendly we are to our bodies and how much we listen and take care of our bodies. Physical activity and nourishing my body are the ways I revere my body.
How do you keep your fitness training knowledge up-to-date? I’ve gained knowledge by working and experimenting on my own, along with friends and professionals. My passion has motivated me to start a cross-fit gym. I’m currently doing my certificate in the field, to develop and update my knowledge about the sport, fitness, and recreation industry.
What diet and nutrition education have you received? I don’t have any formal education on nutrition or diet. I follow natural and whole food-based eating. I gained knowledge by working and following research on mixed cropping, organic farming, shifting cultivation, and food sovereignty associated with traditional farming and food practices.
Courtesy: ketchastar.wordpress.com
Walk me through how you go through your routine from the very beginning to the end of the warm up. I’m proud to be a crossfit athlete. I prefer doing crossfit at least five days a week. I do a bit of kickboxing and yoga, too. My workout involves 10 to 15 minutes of good warm-up– mobilising all of the muscles–because crossfit is a high intense and challenging exercise type that requires 100% involvement. The more we take care of our body, the better is the performance.
Warm is followed by a workout of the day, usually referred as WOD in crossfit boxes.
The WODs look like this
- For time (30min cap)
800m run
50 Sumo deadlift High pulls
100 pushups
800m run
50 push jerks (52/37Kg)
- Strength – Muscle-ups 1-3 every minute for 6 minute
WOD – 40-30-20-10 (17 min)
Double Unders
Wall balls (9/6kg)
Post-workout involves stretching for at least 10 to 15 minutes.
How important is nutrition to you in creating a client’s regimen? When it comes to maintaining a fit and healthy body, the contribution of nutritious food is up to 70% and exercise is 30%. I help clients with healthy eating by educating them and empowering them with information. I look at their food habits and try to help them incorporate healthy options based on their tastes and cultural background. Different social and psychological perspectives also play a role in eating habits of people.
Courtesy: Facebook
Do you have fitness goals for yourself? If so, what are they? I would like to improve my fitness and become an advanced crossfit athlete. Crossfit is not just physically challenging. It’s mentally accomplishing as well.
Give me three essential exercises you suggest for anyone who is planning to reshape their body from obesity towards being fit and healthy. And tell me why these are your top three? When I first chose to do a body transformation challenge in 2012 I was a skeptic–embarrassed and so unhappy with my body. But with 12 weeks of weight training and healthy eating I achieved more than a drop in dress size. When I look back, I feel great that it gave me happiness, confidence, and vitality. For anyone to lose weight I would first explain to them that it’s not about weight loss. We need to work on the fat loss because it is associated with several health complications. Anyone can lose wight by starving and doing hours of cardio workouts. But my focus is about losing fat in a healthy way and building a person’s strength and agility. There’s a myth that women should not lift heavy weights. But I recommend that women should lift weights as a way to improve bone density and muscle strength.
Do you have plans to conduct a training program for fitness freaks? Are you planning to set up an organization and educate the young and the old on the importance of being healthy? If so, could you take us through your plans? I do have plans to integrate my farming, food, fitness, and psychotherapy knowledge and experience in promoting health and well being. I’m working currently with International Film and Entertainment Festival Australia (IFEFA) on a project called “Bollytracks.” We are recording Bollywood music selected especially for fitness purposes. We’ll be releasing the DVDs of this fitness program along with guidance about healthy eating and cooking.
