The Higher Education Review

Being trusted gym setup consultants in the late 1990's, Kaizzad Capadia and Devaki Khimji were providing gym setup consultancy services. Taking up turnkey projects for setting up gyms and providing the gym with qualified Human Resources, were parts of Kaizzad and Devaki's regular work. While contributing to the fitness industry with ingenious consultation, Kaizzad and Devaki realised that there is not enough qualified manpower with knowledge on fitness sciences. For this purpose, at first, Kaizzad would run training programs for a group of fitness instructors that duly worked in a gym. However, by the time the training program got over, a few instructors would drop out, which became unfeasible for Kaizzad to conduct training for just a few instructors. From there Devaki came up with the idea of K11 School of Fitness Sciences (K11 SFS) for providing a steady stream of human resources on a regular basis for the gyms that they set up.

Kaizzad along with his wife Kalyani Capadia, the CEO of K11 devoted their entire time and resources to the development of K11 SFS to make the fitness school a global leader in the fitness science domain. The MOU signed between REPS

With regards to the fitness scenario in India, there are 2 perspectives - The Fitness awareness amongst the general populace and the Fitness Industry ecosystem. The general populace is ever increasing its awareness of personal fitness. Everybody nowadays seems to be concerned about their health and well-being, which is a good thing. This can further be validated, by the countless products suddenly out in the market related to Health, Wellness, and Fitness. Every street now has a gym or a Fitness Centre; restaurants now are dedicating special sections for Health Foods on their menu.

On the other hand, in the second case, up until very recently, the Fitness Industry remained unregulated, with regards to education in Fitness Sciences.

INDIA and the Sports Sector Skill Council (SSSC) under the NSDC, has managed to bring order and regulation to the industry. REPS INDIA is the National Register for Exercise Professionals affiliated to the International Confederation of Registers for Exercise Professionals (ICREPS). It recognizes only those qualifications that are audited and accredited as per the International Standards laid down by ICREPS. K11-SFS provides a Diploma in Personal Training that is recognized by REPS INDIA." Says Arjun Garewal, Head of Marketing for K11 SFS.

"Kaizzad and his wife Kalyani Capadia, devoted their entire time and resources to the development of K11 SFS to make the fitness school a global leader in the fitness sciences domain"

Trusted Source of Fitness Science Education
Spanning over multiple locations in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad; each school of K11 SFS has audio-video integrated classrooms with a faculty-student ratio of 1:40 for immersive learning and well-equipped state of the art gym floor that qualifies as a practical lab with a faculty-student ratio of 1:6. Integrating these learning methodologies, K11 SFS is ensuring vocational education in fitness sciences is taken as seriously as formal education. Everything taught at K11 SFS is based on the universal philosophies of efficiency and optimization.

To add to the above infrastructure, CEO, Kalyani Capadia, is driven to make K11 SFS a technology-driven company, and to this end has chosen state of the art CRM; has come up with K11's own Assessment App, and is now in process of developing a customized ERP for K11. All this leads to the smooth functioning of K11, thus impacting positively the experience of students at the K11 Schools.

"Diploma in Personal Training (Recognized by REPs India), Certified Personal Trainer for Special Populations, and Certified Sports Nutritionist are the courses available at K11 SFS. Diploma training course in exercise science provides comprehensive theoretical and practical, vocational education. The course equips the students with the knowledge base and tools to professionally practice as a qualified, certified 'Personal Trainer' in the Indian fitness

industry, as well as the Fitness Industries of the UK, UAE, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland & Poland" explains Arjun.

For the longest time, K11 SFS has been the largest human resource provider to the Indian Fitness Industry. The fitness science school has a special placement assistance cell that liaisons with the industry to provide job opportunities to graduates. Fitness First, Cult Fit, Anytime Fitness, Talwalkar's, Transform, Nitrro Bespoke, MultiFit, Snap Fitness, and 48 Fitness, I Think Fitness, are just some of the large gym chains that rely on K11 SFS for qualified human resource.

Workshops on personality development are conducted by K11 SFS that help students to present their best selves at the interview sessions. Another facility provided by K11 SFS is a business application ­ Knack Business App. This application is developed especially for freelance fitness professionals for managing their business in an effective manner. Knack removes problems regarding payment barriers, invoice generation, discrepancies in a number of fitness sessions and many more. Knack makes the Fitness Professional look like a true professional.

In an ever-changing industry scenario, K11 SFS has been able to carve out steady growth due to the teaching of undeniable science. What K11 aims at having is direct portability for diploma holders anywhere across the world, for which ball has already been set in motion by K11 SFS diploma being recognized by REPS India. K11 SFS diploma holders are eligible to be a part REPs India register and work in the fitness industries of UK, Ireland, UAE, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Arjun Garewal, Head of Marketing
Arjun completed MBA from IIPM Mumbai and joined Kraft Entertainment as Marketing General Manager. He has served as Senior Executive ­ Special at Seventy Seven Entertainment, Manager Client Servicing at Percept and Head of Marketing at Blue Frog Media. Arjun gained marketing expertise in fitness & entertainment at Smaaash Entertainment where he worked as Head of Marketing. He joined K11 SFS in 2017 as Global Head of Marketing.