From being a childhood football fan to becoming a successful football player and finally setting up his own fitness destination, Karan Sawhney has come a long way. Known across the country for his impeccable skills in the sport, Karan has now forayed into the world of physical fitness, by launching The Tribe along with Robin Behl and Anushka Nandani.
Karan, who played professional football for 16 years in the Indian Super League, Asia Cup and Indian League, started his own gym titled FLC in 2016 and ran it for 5 years until the pandemic hit. In the midst
of it all, he also worked with a number of famed brands like Hugo Boss, Vogue, Aditya Birla, ASICS, Godrej and more. When it came to setting up The Tribe, he drew inspiration from his grandfather, Madhukar Talwalkar. Not only was he the first personal trainer in India, but also started the country’s first gym, ‘Talwalkars’. So, for Karan, fitness and exercise were practically in his blood.
Powered by the belief that fitness not only helps your body but allows you to take on challenges head on and pushes you to keep moving forward, Karan agreed to set up a boot camp by the beach with his friend and co-founder, Robin, for those who wanted to make the change. The duo were soon joined by the third pillar of the brand – Anushka. “When the pandemic struck, I realized that we needed to do something. Fitness is always about moving onwards and upwards and I wanted to make things work for our tribe. Anushka then suggested the idea of going virtual and that was when I convinced Robin and Anushka to make The Tribe a registered company.
Setting this up during the pandemic wasn’t easy, but worth every bit of effort, because I learned so many amazing new things along the way.” Karan says. As they embarked on this new journey, Karan realized that he was using a lot of principles followed in professional football to train the Tribe community. From visualization techniques to practising gratitude, his past skills came in handy and he found himself being doubly focused and disciplined. At The Tribe, Karan is the Speed & Agility and Strength & Conditioning specialist. He trains clients from as many as 17 countries, has trained over 700 people so far and hopes to transform millions of more lives in the coming years. When he isn’t training his tribe or keeping himself fit with routines and sports, Karan can be found watching movies or enjoying a good book.