From the second floor of a commercial building in CP Ramaswamy Road, The Formula doles out customised recipes for nutrition and fitness. Calling itself a lifestyle clinic, it is a minimalist team that comprises a physician, a nutritionist and a functional fitness instructor. The idea is to be “effective and sustainable”. As Rahul Gopal, fitness trainer and co-founder, puts it, “We work with our clients for only three months because we believe that’s a good enough time for anyone to find for themselves a sustainable way forward.”

Not far from The Formula on Abhiramapuram fourth Street, is The Flow, a 1,000 sq.ft. gym that 30-year-old E Chezhiyan singularly built and manages. He designs individual training and learning environments with as many as 30 clients, six days a week. “It is a one-man army to keep things simple. I suppose this is also a way of holding myself responsible,” Chezhiyan says.

Off Melony Street in T Nagar, is T Mathiazhagan’s Decafit. Inspired by his own journey as a decathlon athlete, the idea here is to share knowledge on functional fitness with a larger group of people who want to feel fit, strong and move well.

T Mathiazhagan with a client at his gym Decafit in T Nagar   | Photo Credit: K V Srinivasan

Decafit addresses an individual’s needs and life circumstances, and draws up a programme to help them harness their own potential. “The idea is to engage with our clients consciously and help bring out their best,” Mathiazhagan says, reflecting on the philosophy of his gym that has 15 clients.

Eye on your goal

The thread of commonality between The Formula, The Flow and Decafit — yes, those who own them are all supremely fit and largely practise what they preach — is that they are all bespoke gyms that help people meet their goals.

In an age where artificial intelligence and curated ads are becoming the norm, there is an increased need for a coach who is as invested in your body and mind as you are. These coaches cheer your every groan on the gym floor, respond with emojis to pictures of your daily meals, and guide you to get better, one day at a time. Also, this personal trainer has a home of his own and is calling the shots from there.

E Chezhiyan at The Flow   | Photo Credit: R Ravindran

Built on the premise that fat loss always happens in the kitchen and strength gain always occurs in the gym and that the two are interlinked, Dr Prashant Koneru, founder, The Formula, stresses his clinic is about re-learning the language of eating, and training. “Everyone requires a personalised approach. It’s not rocket science, but knowing is not the same as doing.”

Lesson in control

Meanwhile, Chezhiyan’s inspiration to pursue a career in fitness was coach Eric Cressey — the US-based fitness coach who trains pro baseball players.

Essentially self-taught, Chez, as he is known, continues his own learning in the form of courses, textbooks, certifications, et al, in the hope of building training autonomy, not dependency, when it comes to his clients. “I’d like to think of personal training as a way for accelerated skill acquisition,” he says.

At Decafit, Mathi ensures his clients fill out a form daily where they rate their training, nutrition, sleep and stress levels on a score of ten. “My intent is to place the onus of reaching their goal on my clients as well. They spend an hour here with me; if they abused their bodies the rest of their waking hours, nothing will change. Monitoring one person at a time is easier than working with a group, right?”