The Secret of Fitter Body And Faster Metabolism

The Secret to a Fitter Body and Faster Metabolism May Just Be Less Oxygen, Finds Mamta Mody
 

- Gregor Hohenberg

I had been at the cross-trainer for all of six minutes and I was already gasping for air. Physically, my body was in neutral, pushing my legs in a leisurely rhythm. Mentally, I had never been more confused. I’m no gym bunny, but I do not struggle with exercise. This time, my face had given my breathlessness away because fitness expert and Pilates trainer Namrata Purohit gently turned to me to say, “Relax, this is just a 10-minute warm-up,” before casually instructing her colleague, “Another 25 minutes should be good for day one—take it easy on her.” What had I signed up for? And exactly how delusional had I been about my fitness levels?

I was in the ‘altitude chamber’ at Purohit’s Pilates and Altitude Training Studio (Pilatesaltitude.com) that Namrata runs with her father and fitness expert Samir Purohit. For a moment, I had let its familiar appearance fool me. It is not entirely unlike other gyms—a treadmill, cross-trainer, step-board and power plate occupy one corner. But then, there is the TV screen displaying suspicious statistics like, “Oxygen level: 14%. Height: 4,000 metres.” This is what sets the special hypoxic training or altitude training room apart—the oxygen levels here are artificially lowered to provide a more optimum (read: harsher) environment for your workout. Don’t imagine controlled suffocation, but more like rarefied mountain air.