Fly Fitness Factory recently partnered with Rubies Ink Initiative and Women of Rubies to empower women with basic skills. The women were trained online in different skills such as; Content Writing, Make-up and gele, and skincare.
Fly Fitness is one of the most popular fitness and wellness organizations in the ancient city of Ibadan. Their offerings includes but not limited to personalized training programs, wellness management, supportive community, group training sessions, nutritional guide, diet plans and lots more
Philanthropist and multi-award winner, Bolarinwa Kashif O who founded the company alongside his wife supported the women in a bid to strengthen their goal for wealth creation through poverty alleviation programmes.
Asides running his companies, the duo also give back to the society by supporting vulnerable persons, empowering the youths and organizing sensitizing workshops such as his; “School Is Not Scam” project.
An initiative aimed at fighting miseducation, and helping to reverse the trend that education isn’t ultimately profitable, especially amongst children of low-income homes, In a bid to restore hope, educational value and create a better Nigeria.
Their Fly Fitness Factory gym has become a safe haven for pregnant women, where they are assisted with stressless delivery through healthy exercise, the gym boasts of world-class equipment and it is one of the most visited in the ancient city of Ibadan.
Speaking on the why they supported the empowerment skills acquisition programme, the couple had this to say; “We love to see women excel in their chosen field, we believe that when these women are empowered, life becomes easier for them, we look forward to partnering with Rubies Ink and Women of Rubies for future projects beneficial to humanity”, they said.
Follow Fly fitness factory on social media to know more about their activities
It varies from person to person or conditions but approximately you should drink a gallon of water every day . Maximum activities of human body are dependent on water for their proper functions. There is no one right answer to how much water you need, as it depends on each person and their lifestyle—you may need to modify your fluid intake depending on how active you are, where you live, your health, and if you are pregnant and/or breastfeeding.
Lack of appropriate quantity of water may cause a lot of disorders, so it is recommended to take a proper quantity of water daily.
2. Proper Exercises
Woman Running in City
For a hygienic body daily or interval base exercises are necessary which keep body fit. In exercise walking is the best exercise for heart fitness, overweight, proper digestion, refreshment of mind and proper functions of internal organs. Exercise boosts your metabolism, burns more fat, and takes less time to complete. Exercises depend on situations of person but generally it is recommended to walk two miles daily or as much as possible for an individual. Other exercises like weight lifting, jumping and swimming etc. make the body function work properly.
3. Use of Balanced Diet
Food is the basic need for the functions of human body. The human body needs a specific quantity of different ingredients for function so, it is recommended to use such a diet which contains all proper ingredients like protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and iron. Fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, pulses and food containing carbohydrates must be used in a proper quantity. These things contain the most quantity of diet which a human body needed.
4. Proper Sleeping
A suitable sleeping is the most important thing for a fit body and its absence may cause a lot of disorder and even severe disease if you are adopting all above tips but you are not taking a proper sleep all your body function may disturb. Sleeping time varies from age to age but for child minimum time is 8 hour for a young person minimum 7 and for aged persons 6 hours sleeping is necessary. For pregnant ladies more time is needed for sleeping as compared to normal ladies. Disturbing sleep may also cause physical disorders. Here some more health and fitness tips and tips to sleep better.
5. Taking Rest
All human body organs needed rest for their normal functions human body is like a machine and if this machine is over worked is may lose its balance. Over work both physical and mental may cause loss of health and much disorder. Continuous work and absence of rest is bad for a healthy body. There is no specific time for taking rest but as much rest as your body feels fresh and comfortable is recommended. It is also recommended for ladies and especially for pregnant ladies to take as much rest as possible because they needed it more than a normal person.
6. Entertaining Activities
For proper work human brain and body need aesthetic activities which make your mind work properly that is control center of whole human body. If you have a sound and proper functional mind you may possess a sound body and human body needs such activities which refresh your mind. For this activity visit of pleasure place , meeting friend, visiting clubs and cinemas is suggested.
7. Participating in Sports
In-door and outdoor games are key for a successful life. Games which demand mental exertion and physical energy are important for good health. Especially for ladies, who are less involved in sports activities as compared to men it is recommended to participate in sport activities. Indoor games like chess snooker and cards may increase your mental capability. Outdoor games cover a vast area depending on your interest and physiques are also necessary.
8. Cleanliness
Cleanliness is the part of most civilization’s moral values as well as part of world religions. It soothes both your body and mind. Water is the most common agent used for cleanliness which has amazing positive effects on human mind and body. Cleanliness saves you from a lot of epidemic diseases and makes body fresh. Cleanliness not in the matter of hygiene but in food saves you a lot of worries.
9. Apt Dressing
In the matter of dressing no specific genre can be suggested but the dressing which makes your body comfortable must be preferred. Sometime very tight dressing may make the body uncomfortable and disturbs health as well as your work.
10. Following a schedule
Thing can only be useful and beneficial if they are performed at their proper time and one’ access may not disturb other or they must be given their required time. Food, exercise, sleeping, rest and sport if performed at their proper time they will be effective and beneficial for body otherwise their irregular practice may be futile. So it is suggested to follow a proper schedule.
For someone who once referred to herself as an “exercise junkie”, Ruby Agu does a whole lot more than exercise. She is one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing fitness professionals. Ruby got into the fitness profession after losing 35kg of excess body weight within her first 12 months of a devoted exercise and healthy nutrition lifestyle. In June 2015, she began helping people to begin their weight loss journey – even before she became a NESTA-certified weight management specialist and fitness nutrition coach, an IREP-certified fitness trainer and a Licensed STRONG by Zumba® Instructor.
When Ruby experienced the journey of weight-loss, she began to appreciate all the challenges facing modern women on the same quest and was pushed to solve as many of these problems as she could… by starting her own gym. The founder of the RA-Fit Club and self-described “serial entrepreneur” has had her fair share of trials, with stories of business success and failure alike. A loving wife, doting mother of three girls and a deeply thankful survivor of a few life threatening health scares. Ruby shares her inspiring journey with me in this interview
Growing up
My childhood didn’t prepare me for what I’m doing now, but you can say that I was somewhat exposed to exercise and fitness at some point during my childhood, because we had neighbors that were actually in professions that made it necessary for them to be at the National Stadium in Surulere every Saturday. It used to be fun listening to them narrate their stadium experiences, and sometimes they would demonstrate some exercises to me. I remember doing my first sit-up crunch. I had just finished my SS3 exams, sitting and waiting for results – while adding weight (LOL). One of my neighbour’s sons (who had just become a referee like his dad) decided to take it upon himself to teach me some exercise moves. So, yes, you could say I had a little taste of it, and it was fun… I found out that I was good at it! But it ended there… or so I thought.
Inspiration behind your fitness club
It’s hard for me to pinpoint any single thing, because I have had a string of life experiences that kept pointing me in this direction. I first got into fitness as a profession after I had successfully shed 30kg of excess body weight within one-year of an intense exercise and healthy nutrition lifestyle. After I had been practicing as a fitness professional for a couple of years, I began to feel an aching need to make real contact with people out there who had expressed a need to be trained and motivated directly by me. It became harder to go beyond a certain level of contact with my people by keeping it purely online. At first all I wanted to do was have somewhat a meeting place where my clients could take part in group training sessions… just something small. But the more I searched for a location, the bigger the idea kept getting. And here we are.
Being a coach, nutrition and weight management specialist, Mom and wife
It’s been a rollercoaster ride, and it got a whole lot crazier after we started the fitness club, but love has kept me moving. The funny thing is that I have been in this crazy routine – as in, we’ve not had any sort of domestic staff in my household – for about 7 years! The fact that I worked from home for the most part of it was clearly an advantage – especially after my husband returned to a rigorous 9-5 routine 6 years ago (leaving home before 6am and sometimes returning after 10pm). There have been different phases in the coping story.
Reception
It’s tough promoting fitness to Nigerians, but I’m thankful for the increase in awareness of wellness, fitness and healthy living in today’s Nigeria. At first the club was very scanty (naturally), but in a year, we had over 200 registered members, and about 2-thirds of them are active and regular.
The neighborhood has welcomed us warmly, judging by the camaraderie we get from our members – who now see themselves as part of one fun-loving fitness family.
Harsh realities of weight loss and fitness.
For starters, you will have to give away all your big clothes (LOL), and don’t go shopping until you know you’ve hit your target weight… or gotten close. And this can be an insane experience, especially if it takes years of bouncing up and down the scale to get there (which it usually does). But seriously:
It takes time so one needs to be patient and requires taking a firm decision, being dedicated and disciplined – with both exercise and the things you eat or drink.
My Inspiration
I know it sounds cliché, but I am inspired by love itself. I generally want things to work out for everybody – and sometimes that is perceived as a weakness – but that’s how I always remember myself to be. I’m also deeply inspired by well-told stories in movies and international TV series – especially sitcoms, medical, legal and investigative drama types (Grey’s Anatomy, Bull, NCIS, Hawaii 5-0, Criminal Minds). It’s amazing how much family, friendship and pure love are written into these stories. I feed off that too.
I have a lot of people who have inspired me for years, and still do from all over the world, and here in Nigeria as well. But the one person who stands out for me in this sense is Maje Ayida. He has steadily grown his fitness brand in Nigeria, and he practically hand-held me into the level of “fitpreneurship” that I am at right now.
Reward
Oh my gooodnesss! I mean, I love a huge pay cheque – trust me, I do – but I’m going to go cliché on you again by saying this: My greatest reward is and has always been the smiles on the faces of my clients, and the testimonials they share with me when they are seeing progress in their fitness and health. I can’t explain how awesome it feels when a client walks into my office (or calls me on the phone) to say “mehhn, Mrs Ruby, I’ve started dashing out clothes o! They’re now too big for me” or “Ah! I went to see my cardiologist today and he has reduced my BP meds!”. Or even the cutest one ever, “Mrs Ruby, my butt is taking shape o!” LOL!
Challenges
I think that social enterprise leans heavily on education, which in our world today can be translated as content. Sometimes it is hard to keep up the pace of bringing this knowledge to your audience, and it has to be verified content, because you are putting your brand behind it. Ever since I started the RA-Fit club, both my blog and my social media content took a hit, because I used to be a lot more active in these spaces, sharing inspiration, tips and advice on exercise, nutrition, and lifestyle in general. I am working hard on getting my groove back, so that I can bring my wider audience into the excitement that we’re experiencing in the RA-Fit family.
Projects and Activities
I had a health scare in 2014. In summary, I had a surgery by which I survived a close shave with something called endometrial hyperplasia. This experience led me to do a lot of research into female reproductive cancers. In October 2015 I held GyFest, a small gathering of women to shed light on truths about gynaecologic cancers, and to encourage women to speak up… and to speak up fast – whenever they notice any changes in their body. Don’t ignore the signs. Speaking up early saved my life. Running the club has opened my eyes to the fact that so many women are going though a lot of health-related issues, and they keep it to themselves. This year I intend to make GyFest not just an event but a movement, because I’ve learned a lot within the past year about the need to inspire more courage in women.
Giving up
It’s hard running a business (and a startup, for that matter), especially in Nigeria’s current economic environment, but because for me RA-Fit is – first – a labour of love, I can break up with the whole idea of it at night, we kiss and make up in the morning, and I just can’t wait to get to work and do what I do. I have always said that this is a calling for me, not just a career. One of the reasons I didn’t set out to start a gym in the early days of being a fitness professional is the capital-intensive nature of it. It takes a lot, and you sometimes need more support than you think… financial, emotional, spiritual and otherwise. I pray now more than I used to, and I thank God every day – even when the challenges seem most unbearable.
Being a Woman of Rubies
I asked myself the same question before this interview… then the easy answer came to me: my name is Ruby perhaps? (LOL). But seriously I sometimes ask myself where I get the courage to embark on some things. I guess it’s in me. I’ve been through a lot in my life, as a child, a student in university, and in my years as a married woman and mother. Somehow, I think my early-life battles with financial and social status put this thing in me that sees to it that I won’t sit back and do nothing… ever. I’ve had friends refer to me as a fighter – maybe that’s what I was created to be.
Advice for women who are finding it hard to lose weight and are yet to embrace fitness goals.
Our tag-line at RA-Fit is “Find Your Fit”. The truth is, sometimes we spend more energy benchmarking ourselves against what other people are able to accomplish in this space. We don’t all look the same. Every woman’s body is framed in one of so many diverse beautiful ways, and if we would just focus on bringing forth the particular beauty that is ours, then the fitness goals we set for ourselves become more realistic and less scary, because – truth be told – this is not meant to be a one-time thing, it’s a life-long journey. So I would say in short: set realistic goals, take baby steps, be patient and enjoy every stage of you because the next stage will be glad you did.
