The surging awareness of, interest in, and demand for a healthy lifestyle is fuelling a fitness revolution in India
Words by Pallavi Barman
Who am I?
Let’s open by saying that I am a big believer in “transformative fitness”- and by this, I mean not the dumb bell-lifting-muscle-pumping-gym-selfie kind of fitness. This is the level of fitness that transforms the body and mind and sets one onto a path of higher achievements and optimal performance. I am a small, but strong voice in this Indian fitness industry. Small, I say because I can’t vouch for very high KPIs on social media, but strong I say, if you were to meet me at 5 am and see me flip and cartwheel and run!
It’s imperative I introduce myself because I am a live case study who has ridden the fitness wave in our country. I started my fitness journey circa October 2010 and that is exactly when our country was experiencing a tectonic shift in the way “millennials” were beginning to experiment with their lifestyle. “Dedicated Fitness” was the newest and latest addition in the lives of a handful of urban youth from metro cities, for whom affordability was not a concern and fitness as an opening for conversations was a great tool at bars and gatherings.
I moved with this elite group, rather cultish in nature, working hard by the day in our respective vocations and playing heavy by the night at the Crossfit box and creating engaging and interesting weekends with beach workouts and long runs and hikes and mainly fitness led pursuits. The gratification from the above ranged from providing us with a sense of belonging to the idea of judiciously using time for personal growth.
The outward appearance, where the body looked chiseled and muscles looked toned, was the greatest perk. Mind you, social media hadn’t proliferated and infiltrated individual lives like it has now, so content wasn’t all pervasive and people didn’t work out for content alone. Maybe back then we didn’t even think we have an edge over the others merely by respecting and taking care of our bodies the way one ought to.
This is also the time when the germ, the seed of HRX was sown. The market had a gaping gap. Barring the aforesaid suitably dressed coterie, the general social groups still continued to walk in the mornings and evenings – men in their Bermudas or clothes from the previous night and women in their salwar suits and “keds”. While people were actively engaging in physical activities, the wardrobe changeover was seldom a concern because very few travelled abroad or shopped online, very few took to their fitness or understood the same seriously, and social media still hadn’t percolated down making fitness a trend. Do you remember the time when practically no one or not too many people even owned sneakers?
HRX was at the right place at the right time, and with India’s biggest fitness icon at the helm of affairs, it was poised for success. HRX was built with a vision to achieve a two-pronged purpose; one, to be the brand for Bharat, not merely for the elite athletes, but to be the brand which empowers and equips the average Indian in getting started on to their fitness journey. While the international players were pursuing the athlete, HRX went after the “everyday athlete”.
Second, we sought to democratize fitness through sustained endeavors like affordable pricing, easy accessibility online, launching economic programs at Cult or simply making more gyms, creating a workout regime- the HRX Workout – which was gender agnostic, age agnostic, and catered to a wider spectrum of strength starting from low to moderate. This was the early era of fitness in our country and with the advent and growth of e-commerce we started seeing awareness grow, interest grow, and of course adaptation and acceptability of fitness improved.
The next significant jump in the rise of fitness came with the exponential growth of social media in our country and with a focused marketing strategy led by India’s Greek god at the core, this epoch marked the rise in consciousness towards health and made fitness mainstream. Sports came to the fore and India started signing up for them, playing at clubs, participating in events and practicing daily for fitness.
HRX began partnering with communities at the grass root level supporting all forms of amateur sports and activities starting with jogging, running, street cricket, football to name a few. HRX was now building its own army of opinion leaders starting with the members of the communities, trainers at the gym, to the working team at the HRX, to the CEO and me who led the business.
Working at HRX or with HRX did not mean merely paying lip service to the idea of fitness, it meant being a part of this immersive world we all created, getting our hands dirty, getting our core stronger, getting our running shoes on, slaying our personal best and many more. It was a personal mission for the team at HRX and not just a business goal. This passion translated into content, products, new launches, campaigns till it was palpable and real.
The graphs were shooting up steadily and then the world got enshrouded in the panic of the pandemic. While fear, anxiety, misery were the highest orders of emotions people felt, a new phenomenon also started taking place simultaneously. Health and Fitness, from being a trendy topic, became a necessity. People who were on the fence finally hit the floor. And the count of fitness enthusiasts rose.
Oddly enough, when most industries felt a jolt, the fitness industry got more fortified. When access became a problem, e-commerce brands aced the choices. And both of these helped HRX in its upward movement. The demand for fitness rose across categories- clothing, accessories, footwear, healthy food, home training equipment, bicycles, smart devices etc. and we catered, covering a substantial ceiling in health and fitness requirements. This milestone established us as a significant and important player in the homegrown fitness industry and today HRX is the forerunner and champion of the thought of associating with government initiatives and taking every Indian in its fold to enable higher and better quality of life.
HRX wishes to be the clarion call in the fitness movement which takes the number of gym goers in our country from a mere 50L to 4x with the availability of open-air training parks, more community events, access to simpler and affordable products and largely integrating all of this through technology. At HRX, we aspire to quantify mental health as well. Visualize knowing your happiness and wellbeing ratio like you can count your steps or kilometers ran or calories spent in a day. This will mark the start of a truly new breakthrough in science and fitness- unifying the physical, somatic, and mental aspects and helping set goals for holistic, well-rounded fitness over and above physical and nutritional.
With the thought in our hearts and strong intent and hard work every day we #KeepGoing.
