My Bollywood Body is one such YouTube fitness channel, run by a Canada-based trainer, Riz Sunny. The page now has just under a million subscribers, and is among the most watched and subscribed to Hindi/Punjabi fitness channels on YouTube—and this is not counting the 300,000+ followers My Bollywood Body has on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Twitter combined.
“In today’s age, every individual feels the need to be fit but seldom finds the time to hit the gym,” Sunny tells Guardian 20. “Be it students, housewives or working professionals, they are always working against the clock. My Bollywood Body provides gymming solutions at home, at a time convenient to the user, and that too at no cost.”
Besides his online enterprise, Sunny also owns a real gym in Ontario, Canada, which makes him well-versed in all matters related to physical fitness. And expertise is what’s mostly lacking in this field. “I have always encountered people performing the wrong exercises with little to no understanding of the biomechanics that go behind them. I try my best in correcting many, but of course I am not able to help a lot of people. With that thought in mind, I decided to help as many people as possible at absolutely no cost online. In order to pursue and fulfil this dream of helping people regardless of their faith, colour or race, I launched My Bollywood Body,” he says.
My Bollywood Body promotes the concept of e-gymming with various weight loss programmes available at the click of a button. Depending on their personal fitness objective, users can choose from the various available online fitness modules.
Fitness for women is also an important aspect of Sunny’s online project. He feels that fitness channels on YouTube are usually very male-oriented. Hence he felt it was necessary to create one “Just for Women” series on his channel.
The other unique thing about Sunny’s workout videos is that they don’t just cater to the English-speaking demographics. Most of the videos on My Bollywood Body are in Hindi and Punjabi, which explains the high user subscription levels.
Shreyas Kamath is a Bangalore-based trainer who runs an eponymous YouTube channel that’s becoming more popular by the day. With over 55,000 subscribers and counting, Kamath’s e-gymming project, which started in 2013, has acquired an international presence in a matter of four years.
Sunny’s “100 Day” series of videos is among the more popular programmes on his channel. The series comprises 100 different videos showing easy-to-do free-hand exercises that anyone can attempt in the comfort of their home. “Anything we do to increase heart rate is considered as an exercise. The best method to do this is by exercising using our own body weight. Exercises like push-ups, squats, lunges, plank, leg raises, burpees, cross runs, jumping jacks etc. are exercises that uses our own body weight as a tool,” he says.
Shreyas Kamath is a Bangalore-based trainer who runs an eponymous YouTube channel that’s becoming more popular by the day. With over 55,000 subscribers and counting, Kamath’s e-gymming project, which started in 2013, has acquired an international presence in a matter of four years. “I provide free as well as paid content. I have over 350 science-based videos on my YouTube channel for free. These videos can help people who just want to be fit or even want to become bodybuilders. I also provide one-on-one online coaching for people who want customised training and nutrition protocols. I have trained over 750 people in the last three years from across the globe and have helped them reach their fitness goals,” Kamath says.
While the online space now boasts plenty of such fitness channels, the need for quality health-related content remains as strong. Kamath says, “It is important to have such portals because half knowledge is dangerous, especially when it’s about your body. I have seen so many fitness consultants in gyms that possess half knowledge. It is very important to update your knowledge because the science is always showing us sides of fitness that we thought never existed. Online portals can help people cross check with the information that is being given to them by trainers in the gym. Another advantage is that they can now be self-taught and do not have to pay people in their gym to teach them exercises.”
It’s likely that in the coming years, the number of e-gymming channels, and even exclusive portals, operating from Indian would rise. “I believe the graph has only gone up from the time I started back in 2013,” Kamath says. “Access to the internet has of course helped the common man connect with people like me. And I can proudly say that this trend is not going down anytime soon. You should also remember that there are millions of Indian who live in foreign countries, who make use of such videos. On my channel, I have seen good viewership from the USA, UK, Australia and the Middle East as well.”