Inputs on the growth of the fitness industry in India and how workout supplements are a huge industry to explore for the millennial in India despite the orthodox diets and habits!

A need to stay fit has always been one of those things Indians have known to incorporate but never seen as a priority. That has changed over the last decade effectively. Indians, the young and the seniors have begun to have a more serious outlook towards a healthy lifestyle. They take up the need to have a fit, active routine as an imperative step to sustain, lead better lives and more like a passion or hobby.

Following this revolution, the fitness industry has seen an immense transformation over the same time. In the past, this way of living was only embraced by a select few between the age groups of 25-40 but now people of all age groups embrace fitness in their own way. The evolution is now beginning at the early ages itself with the increase of sports as part of education for children, helping them understand the importance of fitness when they become adults, starting from the get-go. This continues their momentum on continuing with the fitness journey into their life. In addition, people over 40 have begun to realize that as they grow older, staying fit helps them keep various diseases away, allowing them to not only live longer but also allow healthy ageing. This has created tremendous opportunities for people working in the fitness industry since there is a dire need for good fitness trainers for such a large population. Also, India, being a relatively young country where the average age of the country is below 28 years, it helps to have people enter the fitness industry overall.

Increasingly, we see that people are a lot more educated and informed about fitness in general. In the past, there have always been various misconceptions about incorporating this in your lifestyle, which has changed immensely now. One of the most common notions people had, like the worry of gaining all the weight back after one leaves gyming or stop working out has changed as they realized that adjusting one's diet and lifestyle to match their workout is extremely important and effective through awareness, spread of the industry and so much knowledge readily available out there. In

addition, people were always concerned about getting injured in the gym. They have realized the importance of proper techniques or using a guided approach to achieve their fitness goals.

Earlier there were gyms where people would just go and work out on whatever machines available with little to no knowledge of the purpose, usage and techniques. Over the past decade, people's expectations and approach have changed on the types of workout that can be utilized in their daily routine. They are more educated on using run-in, cross-fit, functional training, playing sports in addition to the traditional gyms that have been out there. These newer types of workout are embraced readily by everyone since they involve some sort of personal equation with fitness.

There are many industry stalwarts leading education for people to understand fitness and nutrition in daily lives. This is often conducted by various nutritionists and panel experts with seminars in various cities in India. In addition, with the advent of the digital revolution, social media is playing a very important role in people's and businesses' outlook and acceptance towards fitness. Today, people are getting their information from various influencers and experts in their channels online easily and in a trustworthy manner. They impart tips on all the topics revolving around various aspects of fitness. All this has heavily influenced the growth of the industry overall with various facets and varieties of workouts and fitness regimes gaining traction and recognition.

And with such a strong emergence of the fitness industry, health supplements have followed, playing a pivotal role in achieving the fitness goals set by an individual. We all can acknowledge one thing that even though we understand the need for proper, balanced nutrition, it can get difficult to implement in our busy lives. We often end up making less than ideal food choices due to various reasons. This is where health supplements come in, helping us cover the goals by making it convenient to get the right macros to achieve the desired goal within our routines.

Again, with such widespread knowledge out there, old habits of poor diet choices have been slowing down and the requirement of a nourishing diet, even for maintenance and not just achieving a specific body type has emerged, especially amongst millennials. And in tandem with the active lifestyle, overall the need for health supplements has become prominent, effectively enhancing the supplement industry in the country.

The industry as a whole has grappled with a lot of myths, misconceptions in the past which we have seen changing in recent times, notions about whey protein affecting the kidney, poor digestion, 'natural is the only way' etc. including the lack of vegetarian options in a country where a majority of the population are non-meat eaters. A wave of new technology in the industry promises effective results, negligible side effects and the across-the-board availability of vegetarian options now. Thorough quality checks, lab results and detailed information that is now readily available these days have helped remove the reservations people have had about the supplements, in turn, urging the industry to boom over the years.

An industry effectively growing at over 25% CAGR annually is bound to increase with more awareness coming in. A healthier India will continue to contribute to success in various aspects and the right nutrition will help to achieve that goal. I feel confident that this industry is on a strong footing and we are leading in this fitness revolution.