Having been in the fitness industry for over 20 years Kirit Thakore has a vast knowledge and experience of delivering sessions of all types. Martial arts, insanity, boxing, circuits, weights, and variations of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) too.
September 2014 and somebody posted a bhangra routine on his Facebook wall and suggested that they do that.
Well, considering that he had 2 left feet and wasn’t interested in a dance class he initially dismissed it UNTIL he saw the views, comments and shares on the video. Views into the 100,000’s, 1000’s of likes, 100’s of comments and shares.
Looking at many other videos on social media and the response was the same. This proved the market is massive. So, never to back out of a challenge he decided to try a short few weeks before Christmas 2014 of a bhangra workout.
Kirit searched on YouTube for basic easy to learn bhangra moves, knowing that if he could easily do the moves then the same would go for his fitness members. The warm up came by by accident as his daughter came back from a reggae concert saying that the dancing there was similar in rhythm to bhangra. Kirit took a basic reggae beat and put together a very easy warm up but one that gets the smiles starting from the word go.
Once he had the moves he then searched for relevant music, simple instrumentals with the motivating beat to really lift the people. He put a timed routine, with timed music beats so nothing was left to guesswork. Kirit’s bhangra workout was born.
He had a lot of objections initially from some of his long term members who were used to “more intense” workouts and not keen on a “dance routine”. Kirit explained that this would not be a dance routine but in fact a very intense cardio routine to compete with any cardio routine. Unfortunately many of his members were not sure and his initial numbers were lower than his normal class size. But Kirit believed in himself, the routine and most of all the proof that he had seen on social media. He was undeterred.
The few weeks before Christmas were a learning curve and enabled Kirit to smooth out the routine, add a few things and change a few. January 2015 had the finished routine.
Kirit put a few clips on social media and was surprised how much attention they got, far more than any of his previous video clips of his classes. This led to a nice little increase in numbers to his classes. He polished up the routine more and the fun started. He also used a calorie counter to measure the calories burned and confirmed to himself that the cardio routine was up there with all the other intense routines burning 600 - 1000+ calories an hour.
The other big revelation was the fact that during other routines such as insanity, although they were very effective, they were not always pleasurable. His bhangra workout had similar results but had such a feel good factor, in fact it was like having a great workout without feeling like you were exercising. Now that’s a great result.
The group was consistent over the weeks and people were improving. In a way, although not a dance class, people were improving their rhythm and the more this happened the more calories were being burnt. Towards the end of the module people were asking what the next routine was going to be and Kirit had already set the wheels of motion.
He took a bunch of his students from a various classes and asked them to join him for an hour. He taught them a very basic but popular routine and taught them. He then videoed this routine and from the moment he put it on Facebook the messages started to come in. In 4 days he had over 20,000 views. When the new class started his class size doubled. His previous big class numbers now became an average number and every single week he has had new members. Kirit also realised that by adding the relevant sounds of bhangra, the hoi hoi’s and ha ha’s that the atmosphere of the class was even more electric.