One And Only Fitness Mantra, Just Move! | Dr. Kalpa Kapadia

We at HFM are always ravenous to learn more about health because we like to have all the possible answers to the Ws related to health. And this time we have a very experienced health & wellness expert with us. Started her career as a homoeopathic doctor and now working as a full-time health & wellness coach, Dr. Kalpa Kapadia shares her wisdom and expertise in a candid conversation with us.

‘She is the one who teaches fitness’ that’s how most people know her. But little do they know that she started her career as a homoeopathic practitioner. “I started doing my practice and it occurred to me that I can still do something side by side.” And that’s when she started associating herself with fitness, “eventually it took over”. Since 2005 she is into fitness training. As a trainer, she has worked with almost all the reputed health clubs in town like KG fitness, Surat Tennis Club, Gymkhana, and CB Patel health club.

Being a Health and Wellness Professional

“I am not just a fitness coach, but a health and wellness professional”

Wellness is a broader term, of which fitness is a part. In her fitness training, she emphasises more on how one is going to perform in life in every aspect including doing the daily trivial jobs effectively, feeling good about oneself, and nicely treating the people around.

How did I find my calling?

“Probably it just happened naturally, I chose it or the work chose me, can’t say.” Being into it she realised that health is her forte. Her passion is to reach out to people who are in need of the knowledge she has. And this is the reason that the side job eventually became a full-time thing. Today people (with a YOLO mentality) want to try and do anything and everything in the world, literally, and that demands fitness and eventually a fitness coach. “So, it’s the need of the hour that keeps me driven in life, and the fact that somebody has learned something from me gives me immense happiness”.

Practise it before preaching it!

“I always tell myself - This is my family, these are the people I have to live for and I have to show them that I am making the best out of what I have”. Before leading the path of holistic wellness to others Dr. Kalpa believes that it’s her duty to be able to weave her life and be in a state of wellness herself. When you are in a teaching position people in the surroundings subconsciously get inspired by you.

Mentally stable, Physically able, and Emotionally available.

For Dr. Kalpa, fitness is not limited to just physical aspects but it is the existence of feeling healthy, being able to think normally, and being able to complete your social responsibilities with utmost fluency. This complete package is fitness. “Fitness is feeling, being, looking, and performing healthy in your day-to-day life for a long time.” And when one attains the state of feeling well, efficient, and productive, that is the state of wellness. Dr. Kapadia wants to make people aware in society (especially the youth) that everyone has to come out of the idea of looking a certain way at a certain age. “It is possible that one does not fit in the so-called perfect body dynamics of the society and still be very fit or visa-versa.”

Prioritising tasks is the key to a balanced life.

Balancing is a skill one needs in every big and small circumstance. You need a balance between work and personal life, between physical and mental health, between food and exercise, and being in rest and motion. Everything needs balance. And one can only learn to balance once one learns to set their priorities. The prioritising exercise above work, mental health above success, and sleep above overtime. Set your priorities and lead a balanced life.

After her 15 years of experience and knowledge, Dr. Kalpa Kapadia shares some cool & wise advice with us:

• Take care of your mental health just by doing physical activity.
• Always start with moderate activities, and change one thing at a time.
• Read your body, and know what it needs. What activity and food it requires.
• Everybody is different, so it needs different attention.
• Cook your own food or at least know what you are actually eating.
• Don’t starve yourself, I repeat - never!
• Home-cooked food will never make you fat.
• Know your health coach. He/ she should be well-informed and updated.
• If you have a sitting job, move for 5 minutes every hour.
• A complete thali should have more greens, a little bit of protein, a few carbs, and fibres.

Cool set of advice right?

But above all, she has one more thing to say “this is for everybody - MOVE! Do any activity. To always be healthy just get up and move, it is our primal instinct as human beings.”