Biography | Kirit Thakore
In life, the best things to do are the things we enjoy. Inadvertently, we develop skills without even realising that we doing it. It‘s not always natural skills either. In fact, its just the fact that we love what we are doing. Sometimes we start to do things that we don‘t enjoy but as we persist, we become better. As we become better, we begin to enjoy it more, till it becomes a passion, something we just do. People feel our positive vibrations and want to have the same experience.
And so it was with Kirit.
Throughout school, Kirit was never very athletic and often bullied. At the age of 13 he discovered cricket, mainly because of his older brother, who loved the game. Holding the bat seemed a natural act. Unbeknown to him at the time, his older brother was just using him to score the game. He would sit in the cold, the rain, the wind, just to get the chance to have a bat. On the odd occasion a player was absent, Kirit would get a game, till eventually he earned himself a regular place. At 16 he led his school cricket team to 2 finals.
Life can send things your way, that hit you like a thunderbolt and this was the case when, a few years later, Kirit accompanied a friend to a Tae Kwon Do martial arts class. In an instant, Kirit realised that his cricketing days were over and that this was where his destiny lay. (Thunderbolt and Destiny are both key words from the film GodFather).
Kirit rarely missed classes. The surprise was that Kirit was not a natural fighter nor was he naturally strong, but he kept at it. In fact, here lay the foundation for much of his future. His martial arts instructor always believed in leading from the front and never asked the students to do anything that he was unable to do. He always trained in the class training with the students, instead of walking around just telling them.
One great quote spoken by his teacher Sifu Tony Leung
“Judge not a tree by its‘ blossom but by the fruit it bears”
This led me to always be aware of the advice given. If I wanted to be rich, should I be listening to someone who doesn‘t have any riches? Should I listen to advice on how to get lots of customers from somebody who has very few, although they may have some great sounding ideas? Who will understand the pain I feel when losing my mother? Somebody who has also lost their mother and felt the same pain.
This is where Kirit first started teaching. It was terrifying the first time he taught a martial arts class for a new group. Almost 50 people and many of them bigger than him and lots of them looking menacingly, probably thinking “what‘s this little guy gonna show us”. My teacher had faith in me, he believed in me and he was confident enough in his teaching. He said, “just go in there and do what you love”.
Well, at the end of the session, the room was full of smiles and plenty of sweat. My life calling had begun.
Fast forward many years and Kirit had a national fitness company called Shaolin (an area in China where Kung Fu is practiced) SAS (Stretch and Stamina). Eventually just shortened to SAS. He taught thousands of people at many venues and went onto developing many workouts.
Kirit has a love for sweets and fried foods. He enjoys a drink or two. Somehow though, he always managed to stay trim. After class, on many occasions he would have a KFC or fish and chips. He would tell his classes and eventually his partner suggested he put together and eating program that others could follow, based on his own diet.
This gave birth to CMS - Change My Shape. It was an incredible success with body transformations of 1000‘s of people through his direct teaching and online programs. This success resulted in him being chosen by LA Muscle a major supplements company as a sponsored athlete.
At a party Kirit saw somebody do Bhangra (Punjabi folk dance). It was incredibly intense and in Kirits mind, a great calorie burner. This could be a great workout. Unfortunately, having two left feet soon put this idea on the back burner.
At the end of the year, Kirit always did a fun exercise workout and not too long after discovering Bhangra, a student begged him to do a Bhangra workout for Christmas. Kirit is not one for thinking, he often commits then finds a way. This is exactly what happened. He said yes and then thought about what he had done. It was not too long ago that he had tried to put a workout together but couldn‘t as he couldn‘t manage the stepwork.
So here is a another one of life‘s lesson. Say YES to life and commit to others and then stick to your commitments. He practiced and practiced and practiced. No direct lesson from anyone, just self taught from videos etc. Kirit believes that it is much better to do something simple well than do something complicated badly. He took eight basic steps, mixed them with fitness techniques like HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and created BhangraSASise. It was an instant success.
This went onto becoming BhangraBlaze with over 200 instructors teaching these Bhangra workouts. BhangraBlaze performed with some of the biggest singing artists in the world, on some massive stages and even had a 6 episode series on a local TV channel.
Among all this were periods of devastation both physically and mentally, but it was Kirits fitness that always proved to be the best medicine.
COVID stopped the business in its tracks and Kirits life took a new direction.
He had to go back into employment and as all fitness related work was no longer effective he became a Prison Officer. This job was on elf the biggest eye openers in his life. His life skills were perfect for this role.
The thing is, ever since he was in his mid twenties, through fitness, Kirit has always coached people in life skills. It may not have been labelled as that, but it certainly was that. Through the problems he overcame, he was able to relate to other peoples situations. He was able to see other peoples potential, even when they could not. In fact, the tagline for his SAS fitness company was
“We don‘t see you as the person you think you are - we see you as the person we know you can become”.
Public speaking was a natural progression.
His mentor, Les Brown, says that everyone is born into a script and that everyone has the opportunity to change their script. This alongside the fact that Kirit understands hidden messages within films gave him the idea for LifeScript.
“Everyone is born into a movie that we have no control over. What we do have control over is how the rest of our movie plays. That we are the star of our movie”
Regardless of where you are in your life, LifeScript and Kirit will help you make your movie a blockbuster.
