He wants to build Health and Fitness Centers around Rwanda

At 28 years, Nelson Mukasa is an established Physical Fitness Trainer who is considerably developing his skills in different communities around Rwanda. He trains doctors, ministers, military generals, diplomats, expatriates, CEO’s, kids and all sorts of people. He specializes in Aerobics, Taibo (Billy Blanks is popular for this technique in his movies), physical fitness, stretching techniques, abs strengthening, swimming, and nutritional training that involves managing the quantity of calories in diets. Mukasa strongly believes that fitness is something that anyone can venture into irrespective of their financial status, location or beliefs. “Many people think that fitness is only for the well-off; this is not true. Fitness is all about having motivation, self-will, determination and a trainer who can guide and monitor your progress,” he said. Mukasa studied a 3 year course in Sports Management at Burawayo Sports College in Harare, Zimbabwe. He then moved back to Rwanda with a dream of establishing various Health and Fitness Centres around the country. “I have big plans of opening a Health and Fitness Centre in every province of the country,” he said. Like the saying, ‘A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step,’ Mukasa is intent on achieving his dream. Mukasa mainly works at his offices at Sanitas Health and Fitness Centre, Kicukiro in Kigali. Additionally, he does fitness trainings at Highland Apartments, Gacuriro, Alpha Palace Hotel and UNICEF Head offices. “Busy people due to their schedules sometimes find it impossible to go for sports. But a time comes when they have to exercise otherwise their health is put at risk. “Due to demand, I have decided to find busy working class people at their office halls. As long as people are interested and organized, I can train them in the evenings at their office buildings,” the young trainer said. Through his hard work and income, Mukasa at no cost has managed to train six other fitness coaches—four men and two women, who are deployed at different training centres around the city. He also facilitates and pays their salaries. “People think that men can only be sports trainers; but training is for any interested person since different people are good at different skills that can be applied during trainings,” he explained. The group of six coaches meet Mukasa twice every week and train through reading fitness documents, notes and through watching fitness DVD’s. During these sessions Mukasa said, they also discuss and share ideas on how to best train their clients. “It’s very important for us to develop our skills as trainers if we want to provide the best services to our customers. I also have to make periodic check-ups while the coaches are training in order to observe and monitor their progress. That is how I seriously take this profession.” At this pace, Mukasa is also working on launching a Fitness CD that will be aired on Rwanda Television. The CD includes different workouts done by the professional coaches and some clients. “Working out doesn’t only mean going to a gym and lifting weights, it can be done at home and that is the purpose of this Fitness CD,” he said. This young trainer strongly believes that a positive attitude should be the essence of every fitness trainer. That’s why he diligently follows his timetable. “I must rest and eat well daily because I want to keep my mind clear and ready to meet all sorts of tired and determined people.” “As trainers, we must motivate and encourage our clients on a daily basis.” Besides working out, Mukasa said he is a single and searching Born Again Coach who loves listening to Gospel music and playing football, his favourite sport—he has a training license from FERWAFA. He said he was raised drinking milk, his favourite drink and enjoys eating rice and any other healthy foods. For more information on fitness, Nelson Mukasa can be contacted on nellymka@hotmail.com. glo.irie@gmail.com