All women around us grew up playing some kind of sport and enjoyed every minute of it. But once they enter their late twenties or early thirties their love for sports or vigorous physical activity becomes a challenge for them. Till 10 years back, most women had no time to play even those sports that they once enjoyed playing. For some, other reasons behind this reason of not having time were their kids, and physical challenges in the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and endocrine systems. However, this thing has started to change in Jammu and suddenly thousands of women are rekindling their love for exercise after years to reach their athletic goals. Supporting this fitness journey of women are air-conditioned fitness centers which Jammu has seen a sudden surge in the last 5 years. Some fitness centers are giving free trials so that you can try them before choosing to join them. Let me add that it is no longer a fad for urban Jammu women as fitness centers have mushroomed even in the rural areas of Jammu.
Women between the ages of 20s, 40s, 50s and 60s are now participating in physical activities in these fitness centers and are enjoying every minute of it. For these women exercisers, motivation to work in groups while exercising and listening to playlists to suit their mood makes them follow their fitness schedules religiously. "It's in the group that we make a difference", says Parm, who is working out these days in one of the gyms in the Guru Nanak Nagar area of Jammu. " Film music and rock tracks, go easy for this on-gym entertainment because getting up early in the morning to reach the gym initially was difficult for me as I used to feel tired during the day. But now music gives me positivity", she added. More and more women are taking up physical challenges by doing sit-ups, crunches, squats, and bench presses. Truly speaking, these places are not performing any miracles but only play a small part in their life. It's all because of enthusiasm and love to get back in shape which is making them work out at several fitness centers by spending money for fees and imported protein shakes.
Fitness is no longer men's domain and we can find some young women participating in strength training exercises for the first time who are led by instructors. Previously, women wanted to go to a women-only fitness center at the starting point of their fitness journey. For most women, an all-women workout space was considered safer than male-dominated fitness ecosystems. Earlier, these fitness centers used to conduct training for men and women in two different sessions. As of now, women aren’t inhibited by the presence of men, so they have started going freely for mixed workout sessions. It was because of conservative families and cultural unacceptability that prevented women from visiting a mixed group to exercise. Besides, privacy was an area of concern that forced women to enroll in women-only gyms. There could be other reasons also but these are the ones I have isolated in my personal experience. However, women-only fitness spaces are almost gone now. This all has changed—due to the internet and a positive mindset. Moreover, due to changed health priorities, women now visit unisex gyms.
Due to growing demand, fitness centers have changed their style of functioning and have begun offering unisex time slots. Also women-only fitness centers were not very well-equipped and had less equipment due to which no proper guidance was delivered to these aspiring young women who now want to do lots of cardio and weight training, tone up, and lose inches. While going to the gym for the last 15 years, I witnessed this change in Jammu. To understand more about this change I talked with Raj, a fitness center trainer who added, "Nowadays special training methods have been designed specifically for women who want to ensure that their bodies adjust to dynamic change without getting injured. So that such new gym lovers who are very particular and to make them overcome all these limitations easily, very supportive and comfortable environment is provided". He says, "They are ready to spend extra money for getting such specialized packages. Their preference is to appear fit and become healthy. In the past some years this trend has increased rapidly as more and more young women want to achieve their fitness goals". Women in Jammu are muscling in the physical revolution with workouts like strength, cardio, HIIT, and yoga in these fitness centers.
The message of this new generation of fitness center-going women is clearly to get fit, fast, and stronger. It is not impossible because some women are achieving tremendous results from their consistent workout plans which are simple and without any type of competitive or vigorous physical activity. More so, every woman of different ages needs to exercise very differently. We need to acknowledge the changes that training can create to reach maximum potential. Especially middle-aged and older women have unique training needs in terms of strength as well as conditioning activities. It's always advisable that the internal potential should be used intelligently to reach health goals as power, muscle mass, and flexibility change as we reach our 30s. In addition, the risk of injury increases as tendons and ligaments also change over time. Interestingly, age-related changes are not specific to women only. Even the young male population which doesn't take care of all these factors while exercising suffers injuries. That said, for those who still don't prefer to join fitness centers please note that you can choose a fitness plan as per your needs. Because having a healthy life should never be an option at a time when fitness services are now available with a lot of convenience and flexibility.