Fitness expert Tutul Nandi believes in the power of individual workouts. By Seema Chowdhry Sharma

For some women, staying fit is a fad, for others it is a way of life. Tutul Nandi, 34, a total body fitness consultant and owner of U2U — a gym at Saket — is among those who belong to the latter category.

Even as a young girl growing up in Kolkata, Tutul was interested in health and fitness but it was only after marriage and a move to London that she was able to explore her passion to the fullest. “Fitness is such a field that once you get into it, you want to learn more and more about it,” she says.

Knowledge is The Key
Over a period of five years while she was in Europe, Tutul trained in various fitness programmes like those offered by Reebok, American Council On Exercise (ACE), International Stress Management Association (ISMA), and other institutions.

“I learnt about the circulatory, muscular, nervous and skeletal systems, all key players in maintaining absolute fitness of the human body. Each course stretched between six and nine months and I even attended short workshops so that I could learn more,” she says.

However, at that point, Tutul’s only aim was to indulge her passion for fitness. “I was not looking to make a career out of this training. It was when we returned to Delhi in the late ‘90s that I thought about opening a fitness consultancy.”

What started out as friendly sessions for her pals soon became a career option for Tutul. In 1999, she started taking exercise classes for a group of close friends from her living room. Soon she received requests for holding more sessions so that other acquaintances could join in too.

“It was at this point that I decided to set up U2U, first from my home and later at Saket.” Today, the demand for her fitness consultancy has grown so much that apart from her outlet at Saket, she also practices at Vasant Vihar and is planning to set up a new workout station in Gurgaon, Haryana in the next six months.

Health Fundas
With almost 55 clients walking in and out of her studio on a daily basis, Tutul believes that there is a difference between staying healthy and staying slim.

“You can get slim by popping herbal weight loss pills or dieting but this is not the route to staying healthy. So if you want to be fit, you have to work out by understanding your individual body needs and diet requirements,” she advises.

Tutul confers on a one-to-one basis with all her clients. “If you want to stay healthy, and are not interested in just superficial benefits like losing inches or kilos, then you must have the know-how about your body including your vital organs.

Without this, no workout can work wonders for you,” she says. This is why Tutul believes in individual workouts.

“After speaking to my clients, I plan seven to 10 day workouts and diet guidelines for each person specifically. I expect them to visit me once a week so that I can monitor their progress and change the workouts as and when the need arises. This way, those who stay far away or want to work out from home have the option to do so.”

Apart from individual fitness plans, Tutul also specialises in pre-natal and post natal exercises, working with special problems like knee or back injuries, improving height for teenagers and working with special children who have neuromuscular disorders.