Ex soldier preaching the fitness gospel

Col Sankara recommends exercising for a purpose and eating a healthy diet.
Photo by Esther Oluka

What you need to know:

Lt Col (rtd) Bricks Diamond Sankara is a former USA army officer. He holds a Master’s degree in Sports Science and Physical Education from the University of Greenwich, United Kingdom and manages Fitness 4 Life, a gym in Kampala. He opened up to Esther Oluka on some of the common mistakes people make while working out as well as those they may not know about.

Today, many individuals are running to gyms for various reasons including keeping fit and burning calories to reduce weight. Despite their efforts, some do not realise results. Col Sankara gives insights on why this is so.

Start when you decide to
There are people who buy sneakers (trainers) and always promise themselves to start exercising, but, they never do. They say, “I will start tomorrow, but end up doing nothing even for a year.”

Focus on whole body
The majority of people complain of big bellies and how they want to reduce them. The grievance is from both men and women (mostly those who have given birth). But what they do not understand is that the body is like a car, without tyres, it cannot move. You need to work on every part of your body if you want to see results. It is not all about working on the stomach. Do workouts for the whole body.

It takes time
When you start working out, you put the body through a high intensity mood; therefore, you will notice some unexplainable changes including adding body weight. Give it time. “You cannot enter a gym to exercise expecting to loose weight in one day. It may actually take you about six to eight weeks of different body changes to realise the results needed.”

Food versus fitness
Fitness goes alongside watching what you eat. Understand how many calories you take in and how much you should burn. For example, if you eat a burger, you would need to run a number of kilometres to burn the calories that were eaten.
It is not about avoiding eating certain foods but rather finding time to work out and burn the required calories in the foodstuffs you ate. And for those who are not working out, you cannot be eating anyhow. Watch what you eat.

The common mistakes
I strongly believe that people need to be qualified in order to become fitness experts. Ugandans need to invest in this industry.
Most Ugandans have been eaten up by the corporate bug whereby they begin shunning certain lifestyles after attaining a societal status.


For example, they will stop eating the natural organic foods and instead opt for junk such as chips and chicken because of money. Rather than stay home, they prefer going out to drink with their friends. In the end, such habits affect their health.


That aside, most Ugandans claim to be busy. They love comfort. They have time for other things but not for themselves. They only start working after they have gained a lot of weight or when the doctor has diagnosed them with a lifestyle disease and recommended the need for workout.

If you cannot afford gym
You do not need to go to the gym to work out. You do not need any equipment. You can always walk around your house, play with your children or even opt for the stairs instead of taking the lift.
The decision is always yours. If you value your health, you will always find the time to exercise in any kind of environment. Also, it is always important to remain consistent once you start working out.