Natalya Novozhilova is the “first lady” of Belarusian fitness. It was she who became the pioneer of the fitness industry not only in Belarus, but throughout the post-Soviet space. Natalia not only opened the first fitness club, but also launched a series of aerobics lessons on television that have been on the screens for more than seven years. Let's find out a little more about this amazing woman.
Biography of Natalia Novozhilova
Natalia’s career in sports began as early as school years - the girl actively attended the sports section and became a master of sports in gymnastics at the age of 16. After graduating from Belarusian University of Physical Education, Natalya became interested in aerobics - she got a cassette with videos of Jane Fonda, an American fitness guru. It was her teaching methodology that Natalya Novozhilova focused on, gathering her first group. When Natalya traveled abroad, she was surprised how much higher in level of development are foreign sports clubs compared to domestic ones. She set about trying to open her own fitness club, which would take into account all the foreign developments and many years of experience in the fitness industry.
In 1995, Natalya Novozhilova opened the first fitness club in Minsk under the name Natasha. But in fact, this club was the first in the entire post-Soviet space. In the same year, the first issue of the fitness program “Lessons by Natalya Novozhilova” was released on the screens of Belarusian television. Now Natalia is a world-class fitness instructor, conducts personal training at her club, renamed from Natasha to Bagira, and also teaches a new generation of fitness teachers.
The famous "Lessons ...": the sensational television show Natalia
A television program in which the trainer shows the exercises, and the audience needs to repeat them, was new to the post-Soviet space. The aerobics of Natalia Novozhilova appeared on the basis of the videos of Jane Fonda. Each series of "Lessons ..." was a full-fledged workout - Natalia provided an opportunity for many people to practice right in front of the TV screen. The program was released until 2001 - only about 150 issues. In several interviews, Novozhilova mentions that for all its impact and popularity, television did not bring her any income, but, on the contrary, constantly caused regular expenses on equipment, operator work, and even clothing for filming. In fact, the existence of "Lessons ..." in the practical sense was justified only by the constant advertising of the club Natalia. But the love of viewers and the popularity of fitness was a generous reward for the constant cost of filming.
After seven years of continuous work, Natalia determined for herself that the potential of the TV show had exhausted herself, and she wants to devote all her time to the club. Unfortunately, most of the materials have now been lost: videos from television archives have deteriorated or lost over time. Nevertheless, working on television is one of the most interesting stages in the biography of Natalya Novozhilova - how many people finally got up off the sofas and at least started doing home exercises. Natalia refers to this period of life and work on television as an educational mission for the benefit of the people.
How old is Natalya Novozhilova?
Although Natalia is a public figure, most sources do not have extensive data on her life. One of the main secrets of the biography of Natalia Novozhilova: how old is this woman really? In a 2010 interview, Natalia mentions that she recently celebrated her 55th birthday. So, in 2018 she should be about 63-64 years old. But the real age for Natalia Novozhilova absolutely does not matter: she herself repeatedly mentions in numerous interviews that she is in fact “two times twenty-five.” Natalia also often jokes that she wants to change the numbers in her passport - instead of 1955, indicate at least 1965.
Family and personal life of Natalia
For a long time Natalia was married to the head coach of the Belarusian national water ski team - Viktor Novozhilov. It was Natalya Novozhilova’s husband who advised her to launch her own television program and provided the necessary acquaintances on television. Subsequently, their paths diverged - according to Natalia, the husband was completely immersed in work, not paying enough attention to the family. Natalia, for a long time, tried to maintain a relationship, plunging into a quiet family life and devoting herself to household chores. But her restless energy eventually made itself felt, Natalia divorced and went into her own business. From Victor, Natalia has a son. He graduated from the Faculty of Law and is now the director of the Bagira fitness center.
Bagira fitness club: creation story
Natalya Novozhilova’s fitness center is located right in the center of Minsk. The name "Bagheera" was invented by the son of Natalia, for whom the favorite book in childhood was "Mowgli", and the favorite character, respectively, was Panther Bagheera. The idea of ​​a full-fledged fitness center with a specialized space for each of the directions, cozy dressing rooms and personal programs for clients, Natalia spied on in Switzerland. There, she and her husband, in their youth, visited with a family friend who had his own fitness club at their disposal. Natalya borrowed the subscription scheme, which is now used by most fitness clubs, from there.
Despite the difficult time (the very mid-nineties), Natalia managed to gather as many as 400 people for a presentation lesson, although only a hundred guests were expected. Natalya Novozhilova herself believes that such an extraordinary success is the result of proper advertising, word of mouth, as well as simple human curiosity: after a long informational isolation, people were actively interested in any new products.
Bagheera these days
Bagira was initially positioned as an elite club. And now, when the passion for fitness has become rampant, in Bagir they work with clients in mini-groups, which allows trainers to pay enough attention to each of those who come to class. It is impossible to get to a training session without a preliminary medical examination.
Natalia says that Bagira is oriented towards mature and self-sufficient women - from 35-40 years old and older. It is after forty that most of our compatriots begin to believe that life is over. Natalia is trying to deal with this stereotype with the help of promoting sports and a healthy lifestyle.
There is also a school of instructors in Bagheera, which has already trained more than two and a half thousand fitness teachers. Full halls are always recruited for info lessons from Natalya Novozhilova, and new-made trainers from this school are always waiting with open arms in other studios. Not only fitness instructors are trained here, but also yoga teachers.
Fitness as a lifestyle
Two to three workouts per week is good for starting and recovering. But in order for the energy of youth not to leave you for many more years, you need to fundamentally rebuild your lifestyle. It is difficult to answer the question of how old Natalya Novozhilova is, precisely because her every day is full of motor activity.
Natalya usually starts the morning with a jog - for her this is not only a way to wake up and cheer up, but also a time when she can plan the upcoming day. During motor activity, the brain works very clearly and clearly - in this state it is very easy to make decisions, and, as a rule, they turn out to be correct.
Be sure to have breakfast: Natalya is more likely to skip dinner than breakfast. Often, she immediately combines breakfast with a business meeting in a cafe. Natalya emphasizes that playing sports alone is not enough - you must definitely review your diet. She herself repeatedly claims in an interview that if she continued to eat as she was at thirty, she would now weigh 50 kg more. Now she is very selective about food, follows a diet, not allowing herself to be sweet, greasy and starchy, rarely eats meat, and before each peeping into the refrigerator does 25 squats.
In general, Natalya trains every day. Her workouts can last from 20 minutes to 2 hours. Ideally, there should be a lot of sports in the life of a mature woman, because the metabolism slows down with age, and it has to be constantly dispersed.
And Natalia also recalls that there must be a full sleep in the daily regimen. She herself tries to sleep in the cold, believing that this way the body recovers faster. Sleep disorders not only slow down the metabolism, but also affect our emotional state - a person becomes more irritable and nervous due to the fact that the nervous system does not have time to recover.
Not a single sport: where does Natalya draw inspiration
Soon, in the biography of Natalya Novozhilova, it will be possible to indicate that she is not only a well-known fitness instructor, but also a poetess: she is seriously interested in writing poetry and is even going to release a book. In an interview, Natalia mentioned that she also plans to release a book based on her sports experience. The title of this book will be “Sixteen Minutes” - that is how much time in the morning a woman should devote herself and her body daily to look good, Natalya believes. In addition, she is engaged in vocals, painting, reads and travels a lot.
Natalya believes that the appearance and maintenance of youth directly depends on your lifestyle. The happier a person perceives the world, the more he finds reasons for a good mood, the better he looks, and people around him perceive him young, beautiful and cheerful. If you rephrase the famous dictum, then this healthy mind gives a healthy body. It is noteworthy that this connection nevertheless acts in both directions: playing sports also contributes to the restructuring of the hormonal background in a positive direction and normalizes the emotional state.
Fitness Guru Exercises
Natalya shared these exercises in one of the video blog issues of her friend Ekaterina Begun, a well-known media person in Belarus. This short issue was completely devoted to the popular topic "How to lose weight by the summer." Natalya showed several basic exercises that help to significantly improve the figure and accelerate metabolism after hibernation, which is the most important element of the entire preparation for the summer season.
The first exercise is for the hips and buttocks - this is a lunge squat. Starting position - while standing, take a step with your right foot forward, leave your left a little back, hands on your hips. Start to fall down, bending the right knee to an angle of 90 degrees, but without touching the left knee of the floor. If you fall to the floor, the muscles will stop working, because the body has found support for itself, and you no longer need to maintain balance. Try not to tilt the case, and keep the press all the time in a light tone. Repeat 10 times on each leg, and then do a few more approaches 10 times - Natalya recommends bringing the amount to 50 on each leg (taking into account all approaches).
The second exercise is for the abdominal muscles. Starting position - feet shoulder width apart, arms bent at the elbows, in the hands - on a dumbbell. Start turning the body left and right around the vertical axis. The knees can bend slightly to make a light squat. This exercise also needs to be performed 50 times.
Natalya proposes to supplement such a twist with dumbbells by tilting to the sides. Slopes are also performed with dumbbells. Starting position - legs wider than shoulders, arms at the seams. Lean to the right, as if trying to put a dumbbell on the floor, while bending the knee of the right leg and pulling the left hand from the dumbbell to the armpit. Repeat to the other side. Naturally, also at least 50 times.
The third exercise (Natalia's recommendation on how to pump up the buttocks) is a classic squat to a level parallel to the floor. Starting position - legs wider than shoulders. The first thing the movement starts with is that the pelvis is pushed back, as if you are trying to sit on a chair behind you. Squat to the thigh level parallel to the floor. This exercise can also be performed with dumbbells - while doing this, your arms will rise from a position along the body to a position parallel to the floor at your lowest squat point. This exercise strengthens not only the buttocks and thighs, but also promotes the development of muscles in the lower part of the core.
In another interview, Natalia showed an exercise for breast augmentation: you just squeeze your hands in front of the chest, with your elbows apart. You should feel the tension of the pectoral muscles - it is best to do this movement as you exhale. If you repeat this exercise regularly, then the chest will tighten pretty soon.
Facebuilding: Face Charging
This is another reason why the question of how old Natalya Novozhilova is in her biography most often remains an unsolved mystery. Natalia trains not only her body, but also the muscles of her face. Special exercises for the facial muscles are called face-building. This system is built on the regular repetition of certain facial movements.
Natalya demonstrated several exercises that she herself performs regularly in one of the YouTube channel releases. It is advisable to perform all of the following movements in front of the mirror:
- Lips duck. Several times we stretch forward the folded lips, as if we say “oooh” - this helps to tighten the cheeks, effectively at the lowered corners of the mouth.
- Lower jaw forward - slightly extend the chin forward parallel to the floor. Exercise tightens the skin of the neck and décolleté well.
- Exercise for the upper eyelid - put your index fingers on the brow and in surprise raise your eyebrows up, while squeezing your fingers on the forehead.