1. How did your journey into the world of fitness begin?

I was very athletic and sporty from my school and college days, I used to be that person who would get medals in every annual sports event. I always had this fascination for sports which gradually decreased when I started university. Back In North South University, I was not involved with any kind of physical activities and became very lazy.  

I noticed I was lacking energy, focus and drive towards my life goals. At this point, I knew something had to change, I decided to start being active again. This led me to start my fitness journey. Throughout my training, I got motivated and inspired as I started becoming a better version of myself and got in track with my goals. Then I started a social media blog to share my fitness journey with everyone. This was the beginning.

2. How did you become a certified fitness coach from a fitness enthusiast?

To be honest, I did not have any intentions to become a fitness coach. There might be many people who aspire to be fitness trainers but for me, it was not the case. Initially, I did not take the certification to take fitness as a profession, I took it as I wanted to learn from scratch. The

the certification I took was from the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA). When I started learning more, I eventually started gathering knowledge and also applied the theories and techniques for myself and my own workouts.

3. How did the thought behind initiating SheActive come up?

As I was working out and became consistent with my routine that I set for myself, I got a lot of benefit from the regular physical movements and also balanced food habits. For example, I noticed my productivity and focus got better, I learned to become disciplined, I was mentally

stronger – feeling good in my own skin and confident about myself. Overall, my lifestyle became better, which helped me become more organized about my life goals and aspirations. It made me realize that there are a lot other aspects of fitness other than just reaching your physique goals. This led me towards the vision to truly help women by teaching them the ultimate perceptions of becoming fit and all the benefits that come along with consistency. And that’s how I started the SheActive as a training platform for the women of Bangladesh.

4. During coaching, what challenges do you often face?

As I started my coaching classes in the middle of the pandemic back in July 2020, I started with online training and still I am continuing this. I do both group and one-on-one training and in both

cases, I used to face challenges with people’s short-term mindset towards fitness – which is that – majority of them are looking for shortcuts and easy fixes to quickly reach their goals. People have the tendency to not want to do what it truly requires to build fitness as a sustainable lifestyle and maintain results for the long run. When people do fad-diets or take any short-term   fixes, this can be unhealthy for them for many reasons but most importantly, because they tend to bounce back to their original state after a certain time. Since these are not sustainable methods for the long term goal, they lose any and all progress once they stop doing it.

5. Share some of the memorable experiences of your fitness journey.

The most memorable thing that happened to me in the fitness journey is related to my husband and I working out together for the first time. He has been a Certified Fitness Trainer back in

Canada and doing this for a really long time. Initially, he had his own fitness transformation which got him motivated to take his certification and start a career in fitness back in 2012.

When I met him back in 2017 in Bangladesh, he was the one who pushed me to go start working out and to the gym. Before that, I used to hate the gym and also didn’t like working out that much as I was really lazy back then. He used to train me and taught me the basics. The first day I went to the gym with him, I was able to do the movements with correct formation right away.

Usually, beginner trainees require a lot of guidance until their form is corrected. My husband was quite surprised at how quickly I learned and this made me feel great about my initial capability.

Another memorable moment is associated when I initially launched the SheActive online group training program subscription back in July 2020. I started with a basic rooftop workout video

with a thoughtful message. I assumed maybe 2-3 people would join. But surprisingly there was more than 25 people! which was very unexpected as I did not have any testimonials or paid

clients back then. This was one of the remarkable memories of my SheActive journey. To add to this, I recently hit 350+ subscription members this month (July 2021), which is a great milestone for this platform I started just a year ago.

6. What kind of diet would you suggest for someone who wants to stay lean but can’t hit the gym?

From the perspective of weight loss, what matters the most is that you need to eat within a

certain calorie range. So food is not the enemy, the enemy is the extra calories that you take! People have the tendency to label food as “good” or “bad” – which can be very unhealthy for their mental health.

Generally, I’d recommend to follow a high protein diet with moderate amounts of carbohydrates and healthy fats along with lots of vegetables, specially green leafy and colourful vegetables. But the most important thing is to stay within your target caloric intake if you want to stay lean.

7. Share some quick fitness hacks that people can apply to their regular life?

Hacks are great and can make your fitness journey more enjoyable, however, the fundamentals and the structured planning is what counts in the long run.

When people workout alone, they tend to get distracted very easily, so a quick hack is to keeping your phone away! (or put your phone in airplane mode) will help them to stay focused & stick to their plan.

Another hack is wearing proper workout gear which can get you in the mood to move. Also, having a smart watch can keep you accountable.

Black Coffee (without sugar or milk) is a very under-rated fitness hack and works as a great pre-workout to give you energy and focus giving you an athletic rush while moving. Lastly, choosing the right kind of music with the right beat for your workout can make a huge difference.

8. Apart from fitness, what keeps you busy nowadays?

Apart from training with SheActive, I recently launched my product line under the SheActive label which is called ‘Shop SheActive’. This is a totally new and exciting phase of my journey. I have just launched a mini-resistance band set as the first product and many more are on the way. So, now it’s more than training as I am working towards launching more fitness products to make home training more effective. This has been keeping me busy.

9. What would you prefer to be if you were not a fitness coach?

As I am a marketing graduate from North South University, I planned to go for a job in a multinational company. If I did not start SheActive right after my graduation, maybe I would’ve been working at a full-time job now. Starting SheActive from scratch was something new for me as I did have any prior business exposure. You can say that my future plans shifted within just a year of starting SheActive.

10. Anything you want to say to the young fitness enthusiasts?

Not only the youth, I want to say this to women of every age that you CAN achieve your fitness goals from home. Of course, if you are a bodybuilder or athlete, you may need a specialized training facility. For the rest of us wanting to become a stronger version of ourselves & be fit and healthy, there are lots of training methods which can be done from home easily with minimal

equipment or simply your own bodyweight. All you need to do is incorporate the right mindset and approach towards training & nutrition for long term adherence. It is all about pushing past your own comfort zone and focusing on achieving the small goals you set for yourself.