Vijaya Tupurani is one of Hyderabad’s foremost Zumba fitness instructors besides being an army colonel’s wife, & a doting mother to twins. Her Zumba classes are known to be fun and entertaining, and her students swear by her energy and her commitment, and cheerful demeanor.
Women Fitness President, Namita Nayyar touches the ground with Zumba trainer, Vijaya Tupurani to bust myths surrounding fitness & training.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You started dancing at the age of three and learned Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi besides salsa and hip-hop & finally going on to become a Zumba Fitness Instructor in 2012. Provide us an insight into a series of events that led you to become the ‘queen of Zumba’
Ms. Vijaya Tupurani:
Firstly, I would like to say that it is people’s love that they call me Zumba queen but I don’t consider myself as one as there are many in this country and each of them is unique. Coming to the question, there is nothing specific that inspired me to become a Zumba instructor. I saw one video on YouTube in 2011 where some instructor was teaching their students and that took me to my childhood when I used to do the same pattern of dancing with my friends in between practice sessions. If I have to talk about the year, it might be between 1994 to 1998 when Zumba was not even in existence. More than anything, one thing that stuck with me in this format is my pure love for dancing.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
As an instructor according to you what exactly is Zumba? How can it help people achieve a healthy & fit body? Is there an age limit or any limitations for those who want to practice Zumba?
Ms. Vijaya Tupurani:
The word Zumba is nothing but just a name that doesn’t have any dictionary meaning. It is a name given to a dance fitness format where we incorporate different dance forms and rhythms with a pre-choreographed piece. Just like Zumba, there are many dance fitness formats with different names but the motive of every such format is the same.
Coming to the second part of your question, now I am going to cover the motive behind dance fitness formats. Zumba or any similar program helps in achieving the following benefits:
- Improves flexibility and reduces the stiffness of the body
- improves heart and lung conditions
- builds endurance and motor fitness
- helps in weight loss
- improves energy and cardiovascular health
- helps in reducing depression minimizes stress and
- helps in improving social and emotional health.
With the help of dancing, we burn around 500 to 800 calories per hour and that leads to a good amount of weight loss eventually.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You are a wife, mother, homemaker & and instructor holding shows all over the country. How do you balance your personal & professional life?
Ms. Vijaya Tupurani:
I have always believed in the statement that personal and professional life is like parallel railway tracks. It looks very much attached together from a distance but they never are so for me, my professional and personal life is just like those railway tracks with equal distance maintained. So coming to my life, I follow a schedule very religiously where I m giving my 100% to each section, be it my children, my husband, my personal time, or my professional time.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You have often mentioned your husband’s role “his constant motivation and support” in your success story. Share his role in your success journey.
Ms. Vijaya Tupurani:
Oh yes, he plays a major role in my life. I can only say that he has always been there for me emotionally whenever I was in need. He was not physically present because of his job as he is an army officer serving the nation. It has been almost 10 years that we have not lived together because I am settled in Hyderabad and he is always on the move because of his posting. Nevertheless, he never made me feel he was not there for me. So for me, nobody comes above him when it comes to any kind of support be it a 5 mins phone call or 30 days of annual leave.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
Your daily fitness routine? 5 key essentials for optimum fitness?
Ms. Vijaya Tupurani:
For me, there is no other specific fitness routine other than my classes as it keeps me fit and happy. According to me, the 5 key essentials for optimum fitness which actually I follow are:
- Getting up and sleeping early
- staying hydrated
- regular workouts
- having a balanced diet and
- most important is keeping myself happy mentally.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
Share insight into your diet routine. What foods do you prefer to eat & enjoy? What your breakfast would look like?
Ms. Vijaya Tupurani:
I don’t specifically follow any kind of diet chart. I have never been a person who avoids
basic needs in the form of food. I have always been somebody who works out regularly and eats
something which is homemade. I am a south Indian who belongs to Andhra Pradesh and that
makes me a rice eater so I have never tried to quit rice in my life and whatever I eat is in smaller
proportions. My breakfast is generally a south Indian breakfast such as Idli, Dosa, Uthappam,
sometimes poha, and upma. Believe me, I am a completely old-school person who
doesn’t follow any kind of fancy diet.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
According to you, share 5 myths held by women regarding body weight & fitness. clarify the myths.
Ms. Vijaya Tupurani:
When it comes to weight training, there are 5 general myths:
- Women bulking up through weight training – which I don’t think is true because the testosterone levels in women are somewhere around 15 to 20 times lesser than men so unless women take a high rate of
supplements, it’s impossible for women to bulk up. - Quitting carbs – I have been eating rice for ages, the only time when I had put on weight was during my pregnancy and post-partum which is not because of carbs. I have been eating carbs since I started my fitness journey and I never felt like quitting it.
- When it comes to my kind of fitness, people think that dancing cannot make you fit and it is not for everybody. I have trained more than 5000 people to date the majority of them were non-dancers or as they say “I have two left feet” but I managed to break the myth by making them come back to my sessions and dance and also see better results, both physically and mentally.
- Women get only better results from Cardio – This is another myth that makes many women stick to simple walking and at times running on the treadmill but adding some sort of weight training along with cardio definitely would give you better results. I have done Zumba from the year 2012 to 2017 which was a complete cardiovascular workout but I tried to upgrade myself with my own kind of format where I started using a bit of weight, functionality, and some core workouts to build up strength along with cardio.
- Women should not workout during periods – this depends on every individual woman and their state during her menstrual cycle but working out during periods definitely reduces bloating, mood swings, irritability, and depression. The only thing women have to keep in mind during this time is not to push themselves doing a hardcore workout but light cardio exercises, general stretching, and strength training using light weights definitely help keep them fit and happy.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
What have been your best moments as a Zumba instructor? Has it been financially rewarding?
Ms. Vijaya Tupurani:
I don’t want to call myself just a Zumba instructor as Zumba is a small part of my life. I would rather address myself as a fitness trainer and a dancer. My best moments as a Zumba instructor would be the sessions that I took in Google, Hyderabad. I worked as a trainer in that company from 2013 to 2018 and I can definitely say that I grew as an instructor with my Googlers. I used to have nearly 100 to 120 students in one session which used to make me feel really happy and yes, it was financially very rewarding.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
What are your upcoming plans? Where do you see yourself in a few years?
Ms. Vijaya Tupurani:
My upcoming plans are to grow even better as a YouTuber, set up my own studio space, and help many upcoming young trainers in any way I can. As of now, I am very happy with whatever I have achieved, I just want to continue doing what I am.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
What motivational Quote do you live by?
Ms. Vijaya Tupurani:
My favourite quote has always been “Judge no one, just improve yourself” and I also religiously follow my motto in life “Live, Love, Inspire”.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
Message for WF followers & your fans regarding fitness?
Ms. Vijaya Tupurani:
My message would be very short and simple: look after yourself by adopting any form of fitness regime to be physically fit in your life, don’t compromise on your “me” time, which is very important to be mentally fit, keep spreading love and try to inspire people around you any way you can.
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