Inspiring Wellness: Interview with Drishti Chhabria, Founder of Orangetheory Fitness

• 30 May 2024

An exclusive interview with Drishti Chhabria, the Founder and Chief Experience Officer of Orangetheory Fitness India

 

By D.Raghavendra for ET TECH X, May 30, 2024

 

Drishti Chhabria, a dynamic entrepreneur and fitness enthusiast who is revolutionizing the fitness landscape in India as the Founder and Chief Experience Officer of Orangetheory Fitness India. With a profound understanding of the diverse motivations behind people's fitness journeys, Drishti identified a gap in the industry that she was determined to fill.

In this exclusive interview with ET TECH X, we delve into the extraordinary journey of Drishti Chhabria, a maven at the intersection of fitness and experience design. Drishti’s narrative unfolds as a testament to her entrepreneurial spirit, leadership prowess, and an unbridled passion for empowering individuals on their wellness journey.

 

What inspired you to establish your fitness center?

 

The motivation for embarking on a fitness journey varies greatly from person to person. It could be spurred by a health issue, a desire for more energy, the need to engage in activities with loved ones, a wish to shed pounds for a special occasion, or simply to feel healthier and fitter overall. However, it seems that the health and fitness industry predominantly emphasizes external goals such as achieving a certain weight or attaining a specific physical appearance. Recognizing this gap, I am dedicated to refocusing attention on internal well-being alongside external fitness. My own fitness journey began with a focus on addressing health concerns, but I soon found myself ensnared in the pursuit of aesthetic ideals. I realized the importance of prioritizing holistic health—both physical and mental—and returning to the original motivations that inspired me to start my journey. At Orangetheory, we prioritize training the body's most crucial muscle: the heart. Through heart-rate based training, we concentrate on cardio and strength exercises to enhance heart health, improve muscular strength and endurance, and achieve optimal body composition. My passion for health and fitness, combined with a desire to positively impact others, led me to establish my own fitness studios. I am committed to motivating individuals to enhance their health and fitness, both internally and externally.

 

What unique features distinguish your fitness center from others in the industry?

 

In a landscape dominated by traditional big box gyms and personal training in India, I aimed to introduce a revolutionary approach to working out. By offering science-backed methodologies in group fitness settings, our goal is to transform how Indians engage with exercise and lead more vibrant lives. Our workouts, crafted by experts, leverage heart rate-based training to deliver tangible results and ongoing progress in each session. With our proprietary technology and heart rate monitors, we track your performance and display real-time statistics on screens throughout the studio. This not only allows you to monitor your progress but also enables our coaches to ensure you're training optimally without overexertion or underperformance. In addition, our coaches provide personalized guidance on form within the group setting, ensuring a safe and effective workout experience. At Orangetheory Fitness, our coach-led, science-backed, and technology-tracked approach yields measurable results, not only physically but also emotionally and mentally. Our members report improvements in sleep, metabolism, confidence, mood, and overall quality of life. What sets us apart is the efficiency of our program; with just 3-4 one-hour workouts per week, we help you achieve your fitness goals without requiring a significant time commitment.

 

Could you highlight some of the most sought-after programs or classes available at your center?

 

Our most popular workout is what we call Orange 60. It is a 1-hour strength and cardio class that incorporates cardio on the treadmill, strength training on the weight floor with various equipment along with total body rowing on our water rowers for a total body workout. During the Orange 60 classes, we focus on our 3 pillars of fitness – strength, endurance, and power, to provide you a perfect balance for overall improvement of your health and wellbeing. The goal of an Orange 60 is for members to train through our 5 heart-rate zone training program to help them achieve their fitness goals by training in the desired heart rate zones. We also have specific classes dedicated to only strength and only cardio, called Strength 50 and Tread 50. These are specialized to help our members achieve specific goals of their own. For those looking for marathon training or weather-proof endurance training, the Tread 50 allows you to come in and focus on the treadmill only. For most people, the perception of fitness is based on what we must lose – lose weight or lose body fat percentage, but we focus on what you can gain with the Strength 50. Gaining muscle, strength and confidence are what we should be measuring to achieve long-term goals and a healthy relationship with fitness.

 

How do you cultivate a supportive and motivational atmosphere for your clients?

 

In our studios, building a strong community is a priority for us so we go above and beyond to cultivate an environment where our members are like one big family. From the moment someone walks in, we know every individual’s name and fitness goals from day one to help motivate them and assist them in the long run. We hold specialty events and workouts within the studio to motivate our members to support each other in group workouts as well as be consistent in their fitness journey. We celebrate birthdays, milestones, personal records, and progress on the day-to-day to keep celebrating our members and build a positive environment. Beyond the studio, we host community events such as “Member Mingles” for our members to get to know each other and our OTF team as well as participate in marathons or local runs together. We believe that one of the biggest motivators for members is a sense of belonging and being around like-minded individuals, hence we strive to create a community where not only does our staff support our members, but the members support each other. Members keep coming back for a sense of belonging, rather than competition which helps build accountability and push each other to stay committed to their goals.

 

 

What guiding principles do you adhere to regarding achieving and sustaining a healthy lifestyle through fitness?

 

Fitness is about how you feel, not how you look. I believe it’s important to adapt to sustainable habits that help you feel good and focus on your internal health. The external results you are looking for will automatically follow once you focus on healthy habits. I believe it is better to start small and stay consistent for a long time, rather than trying to achieve habits that are hard to sustain. Balance is key, and the key is to not let the bad days outweigh the good. Of course there are days where we can’t make it to the gym or eat clean, but the goal is to follow a sustainable routine 80% of the time. My philosophy is to at least incorporate some basic exercise or movement for health benefits, especially to prevent yourself from developing any diseases or health issues.

 

How do you stay abreast of evolving fitness trends and adapt to meet the changing needs of your clientele?

 

Innovation is in our DNA, as we have always been pioneers of innovating in the fitness industry such as using wearables or tracking results in real time through our proprietary heart rate technology. We always strive to adapt to evolving fitness needs, but the goal remains the same – to help people live a healthier, vibrant life. For example, this year, we launched new class types in India such as Strength 50 and Tread 50 to help our clients with more offerings that fit their needs. Our workout programs evolve every month and are innovated to change up the exercises and routine based on customer feedback from our app and customer needs. Further, our technology tracks data and allows us to innovate the customer experience based on trends that we observe. We strive to reduce the barrier between people and their struggles in their fitness journey. In whatever we do, we always aim to listen to our customers and help them to pay attention to metrics and fitness for functionality and health to shift the attention from the weighing scale and physical exterior.

 

What advice would you offer to individuals contemplating a career in the fitness industry or contemplating opening their own fitness center?

 

No matter what competition already exists in the fitness industry and no matter what experience you may have, you should always follow your passion. If you are passionate about impacting lives and helping people improve their health every day, then you are on the right path to enter the industry. No matter what you chose to do, the goal is to stick to your “WHY” because of which you originally started your career, and you “why” you got into health and fitness in the first place. Through my own struggles with my fitness journey, I was passionate about helping others with similar difficulties and every day that is what motivates me to innovate, improve and improvise with my business. Finally, my advice would be while passion is enough to help you achieve your team, integrity is a value that is hard to find. Stay true to yourself and have integrity and transparency with your team and your customers always to be able to build a successful community. Believe in your passion and hold yourself and others accountable to a high level of integrity.