Raipurites dance the calories away ahead of garba nights

RAIPUR: With Navratri just around the corner, garba and dandiya fever has picked up in the city. As Raipurites gear up to sway to the rhythmic beats, the first step is to tone themselves perfectly to put their best foot forward.
Music-based group workouts like zumba and aerobics have made their way into the daily routine of city’s youngsters, who are sweating it out to get into the perfect shape for Navratri.The goal here is to burn those extra kilos put on during Ganpati while also getting into shape to enjoy Navratri completely.
Priyal Chandravanshi, a youngster who participates in garba every year with full enthusiasm, says, “I want to deck up and be fit for the special garba nights. After the long festive season of Raksha Bandhan and Ganpati, I ate a little too much, I want to get into shape now. Hence, I have started grooming myself for Navratri from last week onwards.
I go for a jog every morning and evening along with a short walk after dinner and do some yoga twice in a week.” For a perfect shape and glow Leaving no stone unturned, girls are also cutting down on their diet to flaunt a perfect waist in their ghagra cholis. Priyal adds, “You can dance well only if your body moves perfectly. The dress also looks good, when you have a flat tummy to flaunt. For this, I have cut down on the carbs in my diet and I am opting for more fibers and proteins these days. This will reduce the inches and also add glow to my skin.”
Exercise to the folk tunes And as the preparations are in full swing, gyms and fitness studios of Raipur are jam packed with people who are working out day and night. There are more than 50-60 people in each batch with more than three batches in each studio across various fitness centers in Raipur. While running, jogging and gyming make up the regular forms of exercise, folk dance aerobics ups the fun element and lets you practice the dance steps as well.
These work-outs mostly include burning the calories on the festive playlist, as people prefer honing up their moves also while working out. Gauri Shankar Pradhan, a fitness instructor, who takes zumba classes, says, “Every year, we have many takers of zumba in this season. This year also there are many girls and guys for zumba and power yoga. We also take ‘garba fitness’ classes in this season which includes exercises with folk dance steps and Gujarati folk tunes. This serves a dual purpose of dance class and exercise, and that’s the reason people prefer it over regular gyming in this season.”