Train and gain

KOCHI: They say if you follow your passion, you won’t work for a single day in your life. This is true for city-based fitness trainer Ajith Babu. For the 29-year-old from Edappally, fitness was a passion since childhood. After studying mechanical engineering, he started work at a company in Kochi as a trainee engineer and would finish an eight-hour shift to go and work out. “During that time, I joined as a part-time floor trainer at a gym nearby to support myself, as the stipends weren’t that great,” he quips.

But later, when he moved jobs, work started getting in the way of his time in the gym. And that is when he decided to quit the private sector. “I thought of joining defence, or something more in line with my energy. I was preparing for exams, while still working as a trainer. But then, I noticed my clients getting results, and though I was pulling 14 to 18-hour shifts, I was enjoying it,” he says.

From a part-time floor trainer in 2013 to a full-time personal trainer at one of Kochi’s most reputed fitness centres in 2015 -- Ajith, by then, knew where to focus his career.  He trained people from the likes of former Kochi city police commissioner and motor vehicle inspector to actor Jayasurya. It was towards the end of the year that he was called up by actor Prithviraj Sukumaran to be his personal trainer, which he continues to be till date.

 Ajith’s process of training is rather meticulous. He works with the client to help them achieve their goals. “Every person is unique. Some of them come to me with a goal but some don’t. For the latter, I have to help define theirs so they have something to work towards,” he says. He begins by tracking the last seven days of their lives and finding a routine so he can start making changes. “But it has to be gradual. If you are a beginner, and on day one I ask you to eat avocado salad and take 50 planks, you would drop out in three days,” he quips. Instead, it is important to give the mind time to adjust to the new routine. “If you are shedding weight, I might ask you to walk 5,000 steps and sleep for seven hours. It is important to create achievable goals. So we start in moderation, create a system, and then add or delete things from it according to your goals,” he says.

But how different is this from being a celebrity’s personal trainer? “Well, most people come to the gym wanting to lose weight, but the ‘when’ is open-ended. People like Prithviraj have a deadline for their routine -- to lose weight or build muscle before a shoot starts. He has been into fitness more than me and is very focused,” says Ajith. Around 2016, Ajith also started an online portal to provide virtual training to people, even as he is travelling. You can reach him on www.liftwithajith.com or over his Instagram handle
@ajithbabu7.

Lockdown abroad
Ajith was a part of the team that left for Jordan for shooting the Prithviraj Sukumaran-starrer Aadujeevitham. He spent the lockdown there and got back only towards the end of May. “It was a shooting location where extra-terrestrial shots are filmed in many Hollywood movies. So we had little to worry about exposure. We were at a good facility with enough food, thankfully,” he adds. The team spent time playing ludo and cards while being miles away from home.