Audrey Vaz is a fitness coach, a personal trainer, a BB Pro Instructor, and a MAT Pilates Instructor. Her transition into fitness is one exciting story as she hails from a non-fitness background. She was an MBA HR and has worked in the corporate for two years before she took a leap of faith into fitness as a career.
Fitness has been something that was always in check for Audrey even while she was working in the corporate. Coming from a small town, Audrey has set her foot in the fitness industry revolutionizing fitness with her thoughts. Read more about how Audrey took a leap of faith into an industry that was alien to her.
Interview
Questions and answers
Being an MBA graduate, how did you get into the world of fitness?
For a very long time, fitness has been my passion. Even when I was working in the corporate, I used to take time out for fitness. But I never thought of fitness as a career. The corporate 9 to 5 job was something I knew I couldn’t sustain for long. I thought about it a lot, and one fine day I took this giant leap of faith and decided to quit the corporate.
I researched a lot before switching my domain, and once I ventured into fitness, I excelled at it and finally, I could make my passion my profession.
Do you think that fitness can be fun? Many get discouraged, thinking the process is too difficult, what would you like to say them?
It is about understanding the connection with your body. By inculcating fitness in your lifestyle, you can make it fun. It shouldn’t seem a burden to you or something that you have to take out time for. It shouldn’t become a liability. If you take the stress and do it because you have to, you will never enjoy it. That is when you start losing interest. You should know how your body and mind coordinate and how it responds to the workout. You should feel all of it and embrace it. Fitness has many facets; it is just not hard-core working out. If you enjoy dancing or aerobics, you can do that too. You don’t have to stay inclined to only one form of training or a strict regime.
Seeing your Instagram, one can guess your knack for writing. Tell us something about the same.
A knack for writing comes from one of my other interests. I use to love writing short stories when I was in college during my free time. I like capturing things and jotting down my thoughts on paper. Writing helps me evolve as a person and helps me stay calm and composed.
Can you tell us about how it was working with Multifit?
I was a former employee of Multifit, and it has been amazing so far. It had given me the correct platform to start my fitness journey as a profession. My first job in the fitness industry was with Multifit, which was a beautiful story in itself. I had very good exposure, and I started conducting functional training, and I got my certification from there.
It was beautiful all in all, but I had to take a step further for myself, and I left Multifit 3 months back, and I am on my own presently.
How has your journey been as a personal trainer and an entrepreneur?
I am a personal trainer and a group instructor, and I have clients all over the globe. I have been conducting functional training from across the world. I am targeting the kids and the old aged. I want to open a partial workout center for the old age people. Massage is a partial workout, and it is for people with impairments, people who cannot work out, and the old aged people; having my massage center has been a personal aspiration.
Has the lockdown been harsh on your fitness goals? Tell us something about your lockdown regime.
It has not been harsh, but it has been different as I do not have access to equipment. My body did undergo a lot of changes when it comes to muscle building. I did lose a bit of weight. My lockdown regime has still been beautiful because I have continued to work out. I do bodyweight training, and I also train people, and apart from that, I have my fitness routine and weight training. I am not as muscular as I was before the lockdown, but as I mentioned, fitness has different versions, and I am happy with the new normal.
How has the lockdown helped you improve your hobbies like dancing?
I love dancing, singing, reading, and many other things, like going out on a road trip. Earlier I used not to get time to do them as I had a job that kept me busy the entire day. I feel so much alive these days as I get to reconnect with nature, work on myself, and do things that I always wanted to do. This makes me feel even more beautiful, and I can say that this is the brighter side of lockdown for me.
What is something that you wish to convey through your fitness?
Do not take fitness as a liability, and do not pressurize yourself and go overboard. Incorporate it into your lifestyle and trust the process. The wait is worth it. Do not give up if things do not work according to how you wanted to. Certain things take time. Understanding your body type and working accordingly is very important. At the same time, do not stress yourself up or develop body image issues if you cannot perhaps lose or gain weight.
What place does fitness hold in your life?
Fitness always rejuvenated my body and mind. Even when I had a busy schedule, I used to take time out for fitness. I was never a fitness freak, and I was the laziest kid in school. I was never enthusiastic about working out. It so happened that as time passed, I evolved and indulged myself in games. I started playing softball, and I was a state-level player at that time.
Gradually I got the hang of how fitness can state your state of mind and physical transformation. I started feeling the changes in my physical and mental state, which is how I got interested in it. Since I have made fitness my career, there has not been a single day when I have thought about switching to something else. At present, I don’t have shy away from having a conversation about fitness with anyone. I can say that fitness is deeply engraved in my mind, soul, and heart.
What's your take on the use of anabolic in fitness?
The use of anabolic is very subjective. I cannot say that I am completely against it. Anabolic is an entirely different facet of study. Anabolic is a part of fitness as there are courses and studies on how to use it and where to use it. I am not a certified steroid coach, and I won’t say steroids are bad, but half knowledge is harmful. But if you are prepping for any world championship, your body will demand certain things and have to be under a certified expert if you are taking them so that you don’t have any adverse effect on your body. But if we talk about general fitness, I would highly suggest people to not indulge in anabolic.
There is a myth that joining a gym at one's early teens can stunt growth. Is it true? Do elaborate the same.
It is not true. Whichever age your training at, supervision is very important. It is just that if you train them at an extreme level, they might have a risk of injuries, and so supervision is important. Growth is dependent on the division of cells in your body, and joining a gym at an early age doesn’t stunt growth.
What is your future vision? Where do you see yourself five years down the line?
I want to be someone who would train and pass on more value to many more people and train more kids. I want to have my setup, my gym. I do not believe in doing great things but doing small things in a great way.
Quick 5
1. Favorite cheat meal: Pastry
2. Hardest exercise: Push-up
3. A place to relax: Nature
4. Your idol in the fitness industry : My father
5. One pointer from your bucket list: Skydiving