Bods for the gods

 

 

SRK's got the six pack, John's got the pecs and Salman and Hrithik have a drool factor that could sink the Titanic. And don't forget the red hot Mallika who sends the barometer soaring and Dhoom babes Aishwarya and Esha who sent it right off the charts. The era of hairy pigeon chests and homely love handles has been shooed out by a new breed of star trainers and their protgs. TSI caught up with celebrity trainers Satya, who helped the once chocolaty Saif Ali Khan transform himself into one of Bollywood's beefiest hunks, and Paul, who trains Asia's sexist woman Bipasha Basu. Read on for some user friendly insights that reveal what makes these heavenly bodies shine thus...

Bipasha - the bronzed goddess. How did it happen?

It took a lot of hard work to get into that kind of shape. When Bipasha started training with me, she was very regular in spite of the erratic schedules that she had. In the beginning, she started with cardio-vascular training along with weight training to lose that extra weight. Doing the same, exercises become mundane, so I started training her with different exercises. Bipasha was also very conscious about what she ate and made sure that she had a balanced diet.

The Workout

Apart from the regular cardio and weights, I used circuit training, where we concentrated more on her abs. Bipasha was new to ab-training at that time. After a while her body got accustomed to the routine and so I kept altering her exercise routine. It has been two years since she started and still exercises regularly to maintain this fabulous shape. When she started out, it was cardio-vascular exercises one day and weight training the other. But because she is already in good shape now, we do a lot of functional training with a lot of combination exercises like the 300 workout that actors in the film 300 were put through to get them in shape in double quick time. Bipasha is on that programme now.

The Diet

As it is Bipasha is always careful and has a balanced diet. She is very particular about her diet so I don’t really have to instruct her on what she should eat and shouldn’t eat. She does take my advice on whether certain things are good for health but I never make suggestions about the portions.

Outdoor Locations/While Travelling

When Bipasha is travelling she pretty much does whatever she wants to. She mostly exercises on the treadmill and tries to work out if she has some equipment around. Even if one manages to go to the beach and play, that’s good enough.

‘Bipasha and I’

I think the rapport has a lot to do with the knowledge that the trainer can impart. All celebrities being well educated about fitness, it boils down to how much value you can add. The trainer must also be able to explain why a particular exercise schedule is important. And of course, exercise should be about being able to have fun and burning calories at the same time. There’s no scope for monotony. I think Bipasha is cool and fun loving. She is very serious about her workouts and really enjoys them. She looks forward to her training because it makes her happy. And as for me, of course, it’s good fun to train Bipasha. On how the cute loverboy became a hunky beefcake

Saif Ali Khan had a very average body when he entered the film industry. Since he’s been training with me, it took him a year to get into decent shape and since the last few years, we have been focussing on exercises that specifically aimed to get him to where he is today with respect to his physique.

The WorkOut

I made Saif start with regular cardio on the treadmill and cycling. And then the (weight) training began. We covered two body parts in a day, which meant that six body parts were covered in three days. Day one would be arms (biceps and triceps). Day two was chest and back. Day three, shoulders and legs. He works on his abs and does cardio-vascular exercises daily. I also made him do a bit of circuit training and super setting. It’s good fun and you see the results very soon. The quick results motivate my clients to become regular and to take out more time for workouts. All the hard work has paid off but he needs to maintain his body and for that he does cardio for 25 minutes. Then he does stomach and leg exercises like crunches and leg-raises. And if not two body parts, then later he needs to do three body parts (biceps, triceps and shoulders) so that he can clear-up his backlog.

The Diet

Diet is very important. My basic suggestion to all my clients is to eat every two hours and take small portions. Minimum carbs at night. No sugar. Only three teaspoons of oil allowed in the whole day. One day alone in a week I allow them to eat whatever they like.

Outdoor Locations/While Travelling

When Saif is travelling, he always stays in a good hotel, which always has a good gym. So I’ve asked him to run on the treadmill and if he has any time after that then he does some free-hand exercises, like chin-ups and dips. These are universal exercises and they exercise each and every body part. Just two-three sets are more than enough during a busy schedule.

His clients

Other than Saif, I also have other celebrity clients like Aamir Khan, Hritik Roshan, Ajay Devgan, Zayed Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Rani Mukherjee and Esha Deol and from the business sector, I train Anil Ambani and G.V.K Reddy.