When we hit the gym, we stress our muscles as we lift weights. This boosts cell growth and tones our body. The entire science of muscle fitness is based on this very idea, which is called hypertrophy. Only wounds heal, and Dr. Minash Gabriel, a physical therapist and celebrity fitness trainer, knows how.
Minash was a Ranji trophy cricketer, whose dreams were shattered due to a bad knee injury. “I visited several physiotherapists and orthopaedic surgeons, who said that my knee injury was irreversible. I kept playing cricket despite the injury and the pain kept worsening. That was when I decided to put away my cricket spikes and wear training sneakers, and later a physio apron, to help people recover from sports injuries,” says Minash, who started his fitness training in 2013 at the F45 Training in Australia.
After a year of training at F45, he was promoted as a master trainer for the franchise in India. “I was managing all the studios of the franchise across the country and built a reputation for myself. I was also studying physiotherapy, first undergraduate and then a five-and-half-year doctorate course.” Speaking about understanding the idea of staying fit, Minash says that it is not always about how someone can lose weight. But about understanding a person’s physiology and their starting point, so that we can judge the middle and endpoints of their fitness journey. For him, fitness training is about building a relationship with someone, and that’s his mantra.
Minash, who has trained Tollywood A-listers Allu Arjun, Mahesh Babu, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Akhil Akkineni, takes immense pride in what he does. “For me, every session is an opportunity to create an impact on a person,” says the no-nonsense trainer, who started working with Mahesh Babu in 2018, when the actor had suffered a severe knee injury.
Apart from Tollywood stars, he has trained and conducted muscle rehab sessions for a variety of clients from different walks of life. “Many IT employees come to me with back and neck pains. In my physio-training practice, I see a lot of sportspersons too, besides people of all age groups and walks of life,” he says.
Today, Minash is the proud founder of Myo Movement, a one-stop solution for physical training at Jubilee Hills, Road No. 51. “I had attended a 32-hour workshop conducted by the European Union of Osteopaths, after which I understood how to sculpt the muscles and provide therapy. These treatments are still new and people are not very familiar with them. But, they are slowly trying to understand the importance. Myo aims to popularise it,” he says.
Minash describes his studio as a lifestyle club because he and his team address all lifestyle requirements. “We have group training sessions which have a maximum of 10 participants under one mentor. The mentor also guides them with nutrition. We also have recovery training, drills, yoga and animal flow training.”
Minash aims to expand his studio by opening a couple of branches this year.