Aaliya Farooq: First female fitness entrepreneur of Kashmir

‘Have trained over 20,000 women in last 8 years’

Srinagar, Jan 20: Breaking the stereotype, Aaliya Farooq from the downtown area of Srinagar is creating ripples with her gym centre where she had trained over 20 thousand women in the last 8 years.

Aaliya, a resident of Khanyar is giving a push to women empowerment by helping them to stay healthy and fit.

Talking with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Aaliya said that in the year 2000, her husband started a fitness centre in the Khanyar area, however, due to some issues he wasn’t able to run it properly and they hired a male trainer.

“Women were not comfortable with the male trainer so I had to take charge of the centre in 2012. In 8 years I managed to change the fate of the centre,” she said.

Aaliya, who is the mother of two children, said that before taking charge of the centre, she did her fitness trainer course from J&K Body Building Association affiliated with Bodybuilding Federation of India.

“In the present era, fitness is considered as an important aspect of well being and regular exercise can keep us away from various diseases,” she said, adding that it is unfortunate that women who are neck to neck in other fields with men aren’t taking care of their fitness.

“Heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and infertility issues in women are common because they don’t work or exercise,” she said. “There is no need to come to gym centres but exercise is a must. Just eating and sleeping is very dangerous for our health.”

Aaliya said in last 8 years, she has trained over 20,000 women who were suffering from depression, obesity and other major issues.

“After getting training of just a few months they got fit and inspired and advice others to do regular exercise to stay healthy,” she said.

Aaliya said she faced various challenges in starting up this gym centre but it was only possible with the support of her husband and in-laws besides friends.

“If you want to be strong and stay healthy and fit, then you must start workout from today and by doing regular exercises for a month or two you will definitely see a change,” she said—(KNO)