My mom was a national sports player when she was in school and college. I’m filled with awe when I look at her everyday. She is in her 50s right now and she just does not get tired. When I look at her, I always wonder if I’d be as active and fit as her when I grow older.
I used to be a very active child when I was in school, till 8th class at least, we used to play and run for at least 2 hours everyday, and then I moved to India. Most schools here did not have playgrounds, and everyone was focused on JEE Prep leaving little time for any kind of physical activity. I had a pretty sedentary lifestyle till I started my undergrad. My undergrad years were pretty fun, our campus was huge (750 acres) so we walked and cycled a lot. I used to workout in the gym that was available at my community in summers. And then, we graduated and started working, back to having a sedentary lifestyle. I really started missing my childhood days where I felt so fit and just really energetic, so I wanted to do something to feel that way again.
Luckily, there was a cult.fit centre about 400 m from where I lived in Gurgaon, so I bought their subscription and started working out. I really loved working out at cult.fit and would actually look forward to my next workout session. But what made working out at cult.fit so awesome and fun? And what pushed me to work out regularly?
The Vision
Every human being wants to be fit and energetic. But at the same time, a lot of us find the process to achieve this really hard. Cult.fit’s mission is to “Make Health Easy”. The product is structured around making “hard workouts” fun and easy. They help you believe that a fitter version of your current self can exist if you put in some effort.
It was “expensive” (Worth the price)
I paid 11490 INR for 3 months, it kinda burnt a hole in my monthly savings, so I decided I would not miss a single class no matter what.
The Variety
Cult offers 8 different types of workouts so you are learning new styles every session. You will never find a class boring. This was quite important to me, as there were times in the past where I used to do a lot of cardio but eventually got bored and stopped working out because my body got used to it and the workouts did not seem as challenging.
The Scarcity
You need to book your class at least 2–3 days ahead, you will not get the workout you want at your chosen slot otherwise. So your brain actively reminds you to book your classes on time and you actually start looking forward to booking and attending those classes.
Really strict!
Late for the class by 10 mins? Forgot to bring in your yoga mat? Forgot to wear the right shoes? You won’t be allowed to workout on that day. This makes you a lot more disciplined and conscious when you are having a workout session booked.
The Penalty and the pain that comes with it!
Sometimes, you just don’t feel like getting up from your bed because you are snuggling with your blanket, you feel lazy and then you eventually end up missing a class. If you miss a class that you booked, the credit for that day as well as an extra credit will be deducted from your account. You will not be able to attend 2 classes because you missed one class. Trust me, it hurts a lot, and also, you will not miss a class again because of laziness.
Amazing vibes at the Centre
The walls at the centre are filled with motivational quotes about pushing yourself. You automatically get into that zone where you want to hit your workout goals for the day.
Some quotes: “Keep your eyes on the goal”, “Impossible is not a fact, it is an opinion”, “Keep pushing yourself”, “You are in a NO Excuse zone”, “You are stronger than you think” etc
When you feel tired while working out, all you have to do is just look at wall that is in front of you. You will end up pushing yourself and finishing the session.
Social Motivation
At cult, you are working out with almost 20–30 other people. You will have people who are old, who don’t look that fit constantly pushing themselves to finish the session for that day. When you look at them, a thought automatically pops in your brain “If they can do it, I can do it too!” and that helps you stay engaged during your workout and finishing all your exercises.
The Instructors
Your instructors are very well trained and really strict. Based on your profile (age, health issues and capability), they suggest variations that will help you meet your fitness goals. They are also very vigilant through out the session. They will always ensure that you are pushing yourself and completing all exercises.
The way the session ends
After the cool down period, everyone claps for themselves, and the entire group comes together and shouts “We are Cult”. The trainer then also takes a picture of everyone present in that particular session as a memory. It makes you feel good, as if you have achieved something and that you are part of a small community that is working towards achieving their fitness goals.
Post workout Bliss ❤
The workouts at cult push you beyond your expectations of what you think you can do. You almost work out for 45 mins in one session. You start feeling a lot more energetic, active and light within just one week of working out. And you start wanting to feel that way every day. So this motivates you a lot to stay consistent.
Being able to share my achievement
After every cult session, there is always a group photo that is taken. These photos are automatically made available on your app. I used to keep sharing these with my family on Whatsapp after every single session. It was simply because I genuinely used to feel like I achieved something and my family also used to appreciate that I was being regular at working out and taking care of myself.
Fitcash and the little store.
Post each workout, you get fitcash as a reward for working out. The amount of fitcash that you win varies from session to session. I have not been able to understand the algorithm behind how fitcash works so far but post every workout, you will definitely login to your app to check how much fitcash you have won for that session.
There is also a little store at every cult.fit centre where you can redeem your fitcash for energy bars, fruit drinks, protein shakes etc. I love their energy bars, I would actually wait for my fitcash to accumulate so that I can redeem them for the energy bars at the centre.
Pause Days
You are going on a trip with your friends. You are sick. You have weekend plans. There are times when you can’t workout during few days. Cult.fit gives you an option to pause your subscription (30 pause days for a 3 month subscription) so that you don’t have to worry about your money getting wasted when you are not available to work out.
I haven’t been to cult.fit for a really long time now because of the pandemic. I went to their centre for a month in January 2021 when the daily new covid cases were at 10,000. Their centres are well maintained and they take a lot of precautions to ensure people are safe while working out. But then the second wave hit and now health experts are talking about the occurrence of a third wave. A lot of my friends and colleagues have lost their loved ones so I really do not feel like going out because of the fear of the consequences on my family if I catch covid. I really miss working out at cult.fit and hope that we will soon get to a point where all of us are vaccinated and things could go back to “normal”
