The Girl in the Gym

Zero Bulge

The drive took almost two hours when they finally arrived at the centre.

It was a sprawling estate covered in lawns and dotted with buildings here and there. There was a row of houses on one side and a huge pool right in the middle of it all. There were a cycling and jogging track all along the perimeter and throughout as well. There were not too many people around, and it had the air of an exclusive resort rather than the fitness centre it was.

"Welcome to Zero Bulge, Jack sir," said Prakash with a smile, as he slowed down at the gate. To Jack's surprise, he didn't take the car in, but backed out and started to leave. "Hey, where are you going?" asked Jack, gesturing to his bags.

Prakash stopped and pooped his head out of the car window and said, "Like I said, welcome to Zero Bulge. We don't waste any opportunity to lose any calories here. The whole estate is a no-car zone, except for emergencies. You'll find everyone on foot here, you included." Laughing, he started the car and sped away.

Huffing, puffing and occasionally cursing, it took Jack almost fifteen minutes to get to the reception, luggage, dog and all. And another fifteen minutes to haul it to his room, which was an independent suite on the ground floor. Inside, it was luxurious, but not stuffy. Bud ran circles around Jack until he pushed him to go sniff around the room. Jack was so tired from the walk and extremely sweaty. He started to go in to take a shower when he heard a knock. He opened the door to find a young man in his early twenties, fitted in gym clothes.

"Hi, I'm Abhijit. I'm in charge of showing you around before dinner," he said.

Jack raised an eyebrow and gestured to himself, "I'm totally sweaty. Mind if I take a shower first?"

"Sure, but you'll only get sweaty again. We're walking everywhere."

Jack let out a scoff under his breath and said, "Fine, but I'm bringing my dog along."

"Of course, sir. We are completely pet-friendly, and even have a daycare for pets."

Feeling considerably light-hearted, he followed Abhijit out.

Zero Bulge and Naturopathy centre was more than just an estate, it was a community. It was a well-oiled community working towards the singular goal of increased fitness and healing in all spheres. There were huge sized rooms for gym and classes, smaller rooms for individualised training, an indoor as well as an outdoor pool and many more facilities. Jack glimpsed trainers working hard with their charges. There were almost 70 trainers, managers, nutritionists, physiotherapists and doctors. Everything looked state of the art and shiny. The thing about Zero Bulge was it was so good, that they didn't even need to advertise. They got popular solely based on the word of their clients. They had started as a small gym in the late 90s, and gradually expanded their operation. Their naturopathy centre was in Goa, on a private beach. It had all the ayurvedic treatments as well as a gym on a smaller scale as that of Mumbai's. Everyone who enrolled at Zero Bulge was sent to Goa for a while. Jack was also looking forward to that trip since he had heard a lot of good things about Goa from his Indian friends. The beaches, music and culture were superb there. Whoever had conceptualised the centre had poured in all his creativity into it. Everyone was required to ideate, and all the trainers had undergone extensive and rigorous training themselves. New equipment and new practices were added every six months, after researching them.

There was an equal amount of stress put on entertainment and nutrition. There were no messes, which would make the residents feel like inmates. Instead, there was a restaurant where the residents could choose their meals from a pre-decided menu based on the plan designed for them by their nutritionist. Since a lot of people who visited were vegetarian, the menu was varied. And the platter was designed to suit an individual's taste as well, with no artificial materials. At Zero Bulge, they believed in keeping everything 100 per cent natural. Instead of crystallised sugar, palm sugar or jaggery was used to sweeten anything if required. Sugar-free tablets were also not allowed.