As the owner and principal instructor of Bhangra Blaze Xpress (BBX), I love the fact that we deliver a wide range of real world and virtual Bhangra classes, Bhangra workouts online and other support to people of all ages, mixed abilities and backgrounds to help boost fitness levels, energy, co-ordination and happiness!

My Journey – How I became a Bhangra Fitness Instructor

Although I’m a busy wife, mother and business owner, I’ve had a passion for Bhangra dancing all my life and having personally experienced the power of Bhangra workouts, it was a really easy decision for me to get trained as a Bhangra Fitness instructor and start delivering my own classes in early 2016.

Being of Sikh origin, I was literally ‘born into Bhangra’.  The music, language, culture and heritage have been strong positive constants and influences since birth.  However, as a young child and during my teens, I battled with my weight, primarily due to lack of movement and overeating.  Things were very different growing up in the 80’s and 90’s; there was no health education in the home and no real access to fitness classes. It was generally socially unacceptable for girls of South Asian origin to be exercising outdoors, cycling around on the streets, going to gyms, etc. Thankfully, times really have changed since then! 

As an adult, I decided I wanted to have a healthier lifestyle and started going to the gym.  But things really started to change for me when I met Michael, my husband. Michael is a fitness fanatic and ex-athlete himself and he taught me about food and nutrition, weight training and toning. Over the years, I’ve used this advice (and help from other fitness mentors) to transform my body.   After having two babies, I worked hard to regain my fitness and it was Michael who persuaded me to go along to a Bhangra Blaze workout class that had been developed by an old friend of his and was being run by one of his trained instructors. I loved it – I realised it was a great way to enjoy 2 of my passions Bhangra dancing and keeping fit! It didn’t take much further persuasion for me to decide to train as a Bhangra Blaze instructor.    I’ve now made it my mission to help as many others as possible achieve similar transformations via my BBX Bhangra fitness classes.

Becoming an online Bhangra Fitness Instructor

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, my Bhangra Blaze fitness classes were extremely popular, with 80+ people regularly attending my 2 classes on a weekly basis. What I’ve learned over the years is that the classes are popular because, as well as improving fitness, they also help boost the self-confidence, self-belief, mental and emotional resilience of my clients in relation to everyday stress, anxiety and the daily demands of life. That’s why the BBX motto is: “Do Bhangra, Be Happy, Feel Free!”  My clients are more like family now and we arrange regular social events so that we can connect outside of the classes and let our hair down!

When Coronavirus hit in March 2020 and the UK went into lockdown, my Bhangra classes ceased without any notice and the original Bhangra Blaze instructor network across the UK was disbanded.  However, I was determined not to abandon my BBX family, so I started to deliver free Facebook ‘LIVE’ Bhangra Classes, every Monday (8pm-8:30pm) to help keep up the spirits, positivity and energy levels of all those attending.  My husband and I then spent several weeks working on a plan to rebrand and re-position the business, so that clients could access my bhangra workouts online (and lots of other support) in their own timescales.

The result of all that hard work (and all those sleepless nights!) is this bbx.fitness hub and On-demand Bhangra Workouts platform.  We’ve tried to give our clients as many resources and support as possible for them to start (or continue) on their own transformation journeys by improving their fitness, health and general wellbeing.  And one of the things I’m most pleased about is that, as well as all our on-demand  resources, we’ve introduced a live online Bhangra class every week so that BBX members can still enjoy the experience of working out together in a a group.  Everything is a work in progress – we will keep adding and updating resources to provide as much value as possible as the BBX family continues to grow.

All we need is the support of our members, so I do hope you will join us and I can welcome you into the BBX family.

See you in the next class!

Bally x