Life & Style | Health
Shape shifter
Manjusha Radhakrishnan tones her muscle and kickboxes with Bollywood actress Masumeh Makhija. But did it work out for her?
- By Manjusha Radhakrishnan, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:01 November 12, 2008
Manjusha Radhakrishnan tones her muscle and kickboxes with Bollywood actress Masumeh Makhija. But did it work out for her?
Let me begin with a confession: Fitness clubs and I have never been on the best of terms. Our relationship has been rocky at best. Even the prospect of working out in a swanky gym equipped with a DVD-lending library with a stash of chick flicks could not entice me to flex my creaky muscles.
So imagine my delight a couple of weeks ago when a release landed in my inbox, inviting me to work out alongside a Bollywood celebrity, albeit an inconspicuous one. The big question was whether the struggling Bollywood actress Masumeh Makhija, now the avatar of a gym's ambassador, could beat me into shape and perhaps lead me down the path of healthy living.
With a mixture of both trepidation and anticipation, I ploughed my way into the gym Shape Express, tucked away in a corner of Centrepoint shopping mall in Bur Dubai. As I entered, I found the gym's owner and the petite actress going through the rigors of circuit training (which I was informed is a workout area where the equipment that tones your upper and lower body are placed next to one another in a circular format).
Watching the founder clucking around the actress like a mother hen made me uneasy about the thought of sweating it out alongside her as she glanced at her mentor every other second for approval. After some tiring rounds of discussion, Makhija reluctantly agreed to run me through the 30-minute training exercise that claims to be ideal for a career woman. The ground rule was that the Shape Express founder would be ghost-directing our moves.
First things first, the diminutive actress looked a million dirhams in her gold hoops and her dramatic, deftly applied eye and face make-up. But apart from her gym gear, there was little that screamed "committed fitness freak". Shed it, and she could jump straight into a rave party.
Which is why her next words threw me off track. "There were days when I worked out for more than five hours. I am a trained Kathak and belly dancer. But, I love variety. That's where circuit training comes in. It has a bit of everything – muscle toning and resistance training," explained Makhija.
Over the course of an hour, I discovered that "muscle toning" and "resistance training" were favoured phrases that would worm its way into answers when a pesky novice like me wanted to know why we were training on one particular machine as opposed to another. "You worry too much. It's a great work out. Let's leave it at that," were some of her oft-repeated remarks.
Lip syncing
As we rotate between squats, leg lifts and ball-balancing, it becomes evident that though the starlet may not have two left feet, there's a lot to be desired when it comes to leading a workout.
She was like the Bollywood actress who is an ace at lip syncing. "I am not sure whether you are doing it right. Maybe, I should try it first. Try to duplicate my moves," Makhija, said, knotting her winged eyebrows.
After a few failed attempts, we managed to go through the first circuit without too much damage.
But you have to hand it to Makhija, when it comes to morale boosting - she is spot-on. I'm in decent shape, she said - after a head-to-toe look over - for a self-confessed foodie whose idea of exercise is to reach for a pepsi while watching my favourite sitcom.
The highlight of our marathon was the kickboxing. "Imagine every lousy guy out there and punch with all your might," Makhija egged me on. Suffice to say, that was the best part of the workout.
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