Karachi's latest fitness trend looks hardcore, but does it work? We ask an expert

Forget treadmills, forget ellipticals, forget the regular gym equipment you spend hours sweating on — fitness trends have changed.

Enter battle ropes, peg boards, weighted sleds, tyres, sledgehammers.

Celebrities ranging from Victoria's Secret Angels, who look like they were born to use battle ropes, to Keira Knightley, who has a knack for indoor rock climbing, to fitness expert Jillian Michaels, who sheds pounds while letting off steam during sledgehammer workouts are all proof that these exercises are super trendy right now.

Even gyms and fitness programs in Pakistan have caught on now.

They look cool, but do these trendy workouts... work?

We wanted to get the scoop so we got in touch with personal trainer Usman Samir, an alumni of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) in England, who found his passion for fitness and went on to study the art of movement, biomechanics and basics of anatomy.

A fitness trainer for three years; a year of running his own boot camp called Fitness 360 and then leaving it to become a personal trainer, Samir explains why he specifically employs the use of this equipment for his exclusive roster of clients.

"Exercises should mimic movement in real life, they should be movement-based," he says, illustrating that the purpose of the equipment is not only for physical strength and benefits thereafter, but also to aid individuals during daily activities.

The trainer stresses on the need for exercises to have functionality in real life. Squats, for instance, imitate the motion of sitting on a chair, while farmer's walk emulates the action of carrying grocery bags, and deadlifts the movement of picking something up from the ground.

"Our ancestors climbed trees (peg boards), they lifted heavy boulders (tyre flips), they didn't do jumping jacks," says Samir taking a jibe at the fast-growing boot camp trend in Pakistan.

He adds, "I have a very niche clientele, I only work through referrals and it's important for me as a trainer, and my clients — many of whom I cannot name due to security reasons — that I train them keeping many factors in mind, like movement and form."

The key to working out, Samir points out is that "each movement should become stronger. The aim is to perform each exercise with perfect form."

To better explain the use of equipment he swears by, he takes us around his training space in his garden and backyard and shows us how to perform these functional training exercises.

Weighted sled, pull-push

You can follow Usman Samir on Instagram.