On any given day, fitness expert Basheerah Ahmad might be doing squats with Carrie Underwood, lifting weights with Vivica Fox, or tossing a medicine ball with Steve Harvey.
But Ahmad’s training isn’t just for the celebrities. She has just launched her own TV show on OnPoint, Getting Fit w/ Basheerah. Each 20-minute episode guides a short but intense workout anyone can do at home. Ahmad demonstrates proper form for body-weight workouts like jumping squats, walking squats, and alternating lunges.
In the past, Ahmad has appeared on Dr. Phil, VH1’s “Hollywood’s Hottest Bodies,” the Discovery Channel’s “National Body Challenge,” and The Doctors. At last, she has a show of her own.
Basheerah Ahmad Wants to Globalize Health
All this celebrity exposure hasn’t made Ahmad blind to her roots. As a proud Oklahoma-native, she has worked continuously to empower local youth through mentorship, performing arts and nutritional guidance. Ahmad founded Healthy Now Fitness, a wellness organization whose primary focus is to combat the growing percentage of health disparities for families in Oklahoma City and beyond.
“It is my dream to expand far beyond the borders of the United States to help women and children in third-world countries with issues related to not only physical fitness, but also hunger, and violence against women, especially in those societies that don’t recognize women as equals,” Ahmad explains.
In 2013, she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money to build clean water wells in Africa. And now Ahmad is tackling another mountainous task: fixing a broken fitness industry.
“I don’t like the direction that our industry is taking,” Ahmad reveals. “It just seems like everything is watered down, we take things for granted, and because of all the gimmicks and the tricks, we’re getting away from actually preserving the body and making people healthy.”
For Basheerah Ahmad, Fitness is Not a Gimmick
The way Ahmad sees it, fitness professionals are moving away from scientifically-proven methods and sensible advice for the sake of making money on trendy, gimmicky diets and shoddy workout routines. These diets and routine may promise great results, but Ahmad insists the reality is far different.
“Money should not be a reason for us to compromise our integrity, our standards, and our education as fitness professionals.”
As the keynote speaker at the Health Ministry Academy sponsored by the Oklahoma City County Health Department, she addressed people struggling with self-confidence.
“I kept getting asked the question: how do I find the courage, the confidence, to get up there and make it look so easy?” Ahmad recalls. “But please know it’s not easy for me either. I have failed more times than you can count.”
Confidence is Key for Basheerah Ahmad
The secret to success both in the gym and in life, Ahmad insists, is to never stop trying.
“When it comes to me, I just don’t believe in staying down,” Ahmad asserts. “I believe that whatever God has called you to do, do it to the best of your ability. Not to perfection, because that doesn’t exist, but always do it to the best of your ability. That’s success.”
Her principled approach to health and fitness has helped countless celebrities achieve their own fitness goals – and now she wants to help the rest of the world. Reflecting on her own path and career, she remarks humbly, “I fell in love with having the ability to change people’s health.”
“Getting Fit w/ Basheerah” is available on most streaming devices like Roku and Amazon Fire TV, as well as on Vimeo.
