Garba is the new zumba for festive fitness freaks

Nagpur: Fitness freaks have discovered a new fun way of burning calories — ‘power garba’. ‘Dupatta’ workout, ‘dandiya’ workout and ‘teen taali’ are already in vogue and ‘power garba’ is a new addition to the list of innovative and exciting ways people want to try this Navratri.With the nine-day festivity just beginning, many are keen to lose some fats while enjoying garba moves. ‘Power garba’, as the name suggests, is a marriage of intense traditional folk dance and fitness. It is a structured workout which includes all components of fitness such as cardio, muscular strength and body composition which is the reason why fitness enthusiasts are incorporating garba into their exercise routine.

“Dancing is a great calorie burner. During traditional garba, a lot of upper body is involved whereas baithak garba needs people to be good at squatting. In power garba, we add a dimension of garba and dandiya in exercises like lunges, burpees and crunches. This form of exercise is much more than cardio,” says fitness expert and ‘power garba’ trainer Madhumita Gubre.Madhumita’s ‘power garba’ classes run round the year, but see a sudden spike ahead of Navratri. “I have students ranging from 6 years old to 60. My workshops have been houseful this year. Working out in the gym might get boring after some time, but people lose track of time while doing garba,” she says.Vaibhav Agre, a fitness and garba lover, thinks the mildly cool October nights are perfect for such workouts. “When it’s garba, nobody minds shredding a bit more,” says Agre, who goes to Jerryl Lawns to practice and has fitness watch strapped on his wrist to keep track of calories burned during the dance. “I was astonished to see that one hour of intense garba can burn more calories than one can burn on a treadmill for the same amount of time,” he says. Agre, however, is cautious not to over do it. ‘Power garba’ helps build endurance, muscle strength and improves flexibility, say those who practice it throughout the year. “Without making any changes to my diet, I lost about 5kgs in three months. It is not monotonous like gym training,” says K Falguni, a working professional. Just like there are special high-on-tempo songs for zumba, there are special dance numbers for ‘power garba’ too which are a fusion of traditional Gujarati songs and modern dance numbers. Anushree Kulkarni, a dance enthusiast, says, “The music adds to the thrill. Garba is therapeutic as it gives joy, aids weight loss and helps build lower body muscle. What more does one need?”