After being an instructor for so many years and dabbling with various
exercise routines like cardio-vascular workouts, salsa and step aerobics,
Jain has now started her own style of a heavy-duty and fun workout known
as Masala Bhangra.
The workout was born out of Jains obsession for fitness and love
for the north-Indian folk dance. However, she says, I am not just
a bhangra dancer, I am a certified fitness instructor.
Her love for dancing began in 1990 when she was 15. In high school,
she used to exercise at a recreation centre next to her house. One day,
the fitness instructor needed her to take over. Said Jain, It
never occurred to me that it was going to be my career; it was just
an awesome hobby.
The instructor at the gym pushed me to start teaching step aerobics.
I became really good at teaching and I would see students who would
follow me everywhere I went. And now, 10 years later, I teach step,
cardio-salsa and hip hop in the best time slots at all the top-notch
gyms.
A graduate in marketing and communications, Jain worked in a public
relations firm for a few months, and then in 1999, got intensively involved
in the fitness industry after her father passed away after a massive
cardiac arrest at the age of 47.
According to her, When he was 40, he had a mild heart attack
and had to work out, so I made my parents join a gym to get them to
stay active. It was the lack of fitness in old people that made me think
of starting my own business.
She created her own company, Masala Dance & Fitness, Inc and produced
two fitness videos based on bhangra, the high-energy dance from Punjab.
Thus the Masala Bhangra Workout was born. The first and second
in a series, the videos have become popular and leading fitness and
beauty magazines call her the Indian Jane Fonda.
Her PR background helped her gain popularity and Jain has successfully
marketed and promoted her own workout on Americas KTLA
Channel 5, NBCs The Ainsley Harriet Show, Cosmopolitan magazine,
The Early Show, WB Channel 11 in New York, NY 1 News, CNN Headline News
and BBC.
As for the future, Jain dreams of having her own fitness show, being
a fitness correspondent, and maybe someday, a fitness mom.