Stay fit with altitude training

Namrata Purohit

Pilates expert, Namrata Purohit shares a few training insights on altitude traning with Priyanka Bhatt When Namrata Purohit was 16, she fell off a horse and severely injured her knee. She tried many healing methods, which failed and finally, she still had to undergo surgery. But her world changed when she stumbled upon Pilates, the exercise form that healed her. Four years down the line, today, she is proud that she chose Stott Pilates, the contemporary name for Pilates, as her profession. She’s also an expert in Altitude training, a form of exercise, which helps the body metabolise fat faster than it does in any other fitness regime. She is the youngest Stott Pilates instructor in the world, according to Stott Pilates, an international school of Pilates.  ?Namrata explains, “Simulated Altitude training involves training in a room with oxygen levels reduced to that found in the mountains. This increases a person’s metabolic rate by almost 200 per cent. But, it is also believed that for the human body to show results, it needs to work out at an optimum temperature and pressure”. This exercise is extremely safe and is great for weight loss and different medical conditions such as asthma, arthritis and Type 2 diabetes. The temperature and the pressure of the room are not changed. Only the oxygen percentage in the room is reduced. Many atheletes also train at high altitudes before a competition, because with less oxygen, the body produces an increased number of red blood cells to deliver higher amounts of oxygen to the muscles” she says. For those worried about altitude training at low oxygen levels, Purohit adds that people from the age of 10 to 80 years can do these exercises. It particularly helps women–in building their levels of energy, improving their posture and combating the daily fatigue that they face. “The results of altitude training are visible in just a few sessions. Both Pilates and Altitude training has helped people with slipped disc, chronic back pain, breast cancer rehabilitation and osteoporosis,” says Namrata.  Besides working with Aftab Shivdasani, Hazel Keech and Zoya Afroz for altitude training, Namrata has trained the Femina Miss India winners and Bollywood celebrities like Neha Dhupia, Amit Sadh, Vishal Dadlani, Bruna Abdullah and Lisa Haydon amongst others.