Johannesburg - Her clients don”t think she’s human. Some say she’s an alien. Zahra Said just laughs.
The 29-year-old personal trainer knows she’s a pro when it comes to her fitness and suppleness.
It helps that she comes from a family of fitness junkies, she admits.
Her day starts early, she’s up by 4am.
This mid-week morning her first session will start at 7am with a personal training session with Mohammed and Saffiya Peer.
She has clients lined up until 8pm that evening.
They seek her out for her range of skills because she’s a life and wellness coach, a qualified yoga teacher, a qualified pilates instructor, as well as a qualified kick-boxing and karate coach with a 4th Dan black belt in karate.
She drives from her home in Sophiatown to Fordsburg where she will meet the couple at her father’s gym, Solly Said’s Karate and Kickboxing Gym.
The couple have come for their hour-long high-intensity interval training session.
After sipping down a protein shake, Said is ready to get down to business.
“I am up early every morning even if I don’t have an early morning client. It’s part of the discipline I incorporate into my life.
“When I’m training, the time just flies by, because I am having so much fun with my clients.”
She jokes that getting to wear comfortable gym clothes all day is “cool” - it beats being in heels and a power suit.
After her first clients, she’s on the road again to George Hay Park in Parkview to give a ladies’ yoga class.
Said shows her impressive flexibility by executing the Bhujapidasana yoga pose, wrapping her legs around her head.
Her clients just look on, amused at what they’re expected to do.
After finishing the yoga session, Said chats with her clients for a bit before driving off again for a business breakfast meeting. Of course, she eats healthily, munching poached eggs on rye bread with a glass of ice water and lemon.
“I always say eat healthy 80 percent of the time, and 20 percent you can play around with and enjoy some pizza, or a burger or something,” she says. After breakfast Said has time to relax. Her next client is at 3pm.
“When I have free time during the day I go home to take a nap and refresh.”
At 3pm Said is back at her father’s gym, where she has two clients back-to-back for high-intensity interval training sessions.
First up is Zubeida Ayob, followed by Fatima Mukaddam. Said doesn’t just shout instructions and motivation from the sidelines, she does the exercises too. And she has to do her own training as well. After an hour with Mukaddam, she gets stuck into her own circuit training.
“I try and train around four to five times a week. Let’s just say I’m always active,” she says.
She gets very little rest, and even trains and works over weekends.
She also barely has any time to spend with her “amazingly supportive” husband, Jameel Patel.
She has even had to put her dream of starting a family on hold, because her schedule is so busy these days, she says.
“There are days where I hardly see my husband. It’s tough, but thankfully I have a very understanding and supportive partner. Most nights when I come home late, dinner is cooked by my husband. He’s great.”
The sun has set, and Said still has a long evening ahead of her.
She admits she feels tired, but says she is excited for her evening yoga class in Florida.
She is exhausted, having driven all over Joburg today.
Thankfully her husband Jameel is more than happy to drive his wife to Florida for her final session of the day.
She is meeting a group of 20 women for an hour and 15-minute yoga session.
“Normally what I do before my last session is sit down quietly for 10 minutes and regain some of my energy.
Sometimes I’ll sneak in a power nap.
It’s crazy what 10 minutes of sleep can do for you when you’ve been on your feet the entire day.
Said puts on some soothing music, lays out her yoga mat and gets ready for her final class of the day.
Despite the hectic schedule, she says, she couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
“I love investing my time with a client, and getting to learn all about the good, bad and ugly.
“You learn so much about yourself too. Going through all these tests, you learn that you can push yourself to places you never dreamt of going.”
When the clock strikes eight, Said’s day is finally over.
“As soon as I get home I drop everything at the door and sit on the couch and vegetate for a while to allow myself to unwind.
“I’ll be ready for tomorrow, though,” Said says with a smile on her face.
Saturday Star