Muscle Pumping

We’ve always wondered how Hrithik Roshan maintains his smoking hot body. We finally found the answer, from the man who helped him get it – his fitness trainer Kris Gethin. We caught up with Kris at the launch of his new book – The Bodybuilding.com: Guide to Your Best Body – and had a quick tête-à-tête about Hrithik, fitness and bodybuilding.

Excerpts from the interview:

How did you transform Hrithik’s body?

In short, what we did is increase the number of meals he had in a day from three to eight! This was mainly to give him enough energy for our tough workout regimes. My other focus was to manage his injuries. He had suffered a slipped disc and myalgia (muscle pain) in the knee and we needed to work with and around those problems. To overcome this we did a lot of Cross-Fit and functional training. The results that you see today (Hrithik was present in the book launch, looking absolutely gorgeous) are after ten weeks of hard work and dedication. He is a very easy person to work with mostly because he is very committed to his regime. Maybe that’s why he is so successful as an actor, he always gives his 110% in every endeavour.

Your book talks about a 12-week Drastic Transformation Plan (DTP); could you tell us more about that?

The book contains Hrithik’s 12 week training regime, along with a nutrition plan. A large part of the book is about finding the right kind of motivation. What I have seen is that people want to exercise, but are lost when it comes to finding the right kind of motivation.  I believe that the key to achieving this is transparency. The more you tell people about your goals the more likely you are to stick to them. Another great way is to connect with like-minded people. If you can’t find a group of people around, you can always find them online. There are lots of online communities.

Another unique feature of the book is that we have included a number of studies on people interested in getting fit on a site called BodySpace. We researched how people went from a phase where they were unfit, to a tipping point where they were the fittest they have ever been in their lives.

When it comes to the nutritional plan, does one need to stop eating Indian food to follow this plan?

No, they don’t have to stop eating Indian food all together, but they do have to stop eating fried foods, fatty foods and a lot of starchy carbohydrate rich foods. I’m not saying cut out carbohydrates completely, but more portion control is really the key.  A good idea is to not have the standard three meals, but to split them up into smaller, more frequent meals. Remember that you have to balance the carbohydrate and protein proportions well to get that perfect body.

India has a large number of vegetarians, what kind of diet can they follow?

There are a number of things vegetarians can do to incorporate proteins into their diet. Foods like whey protein powder, low fat paneer, soy or tofu. There is really not much difference between a vegetarian and a non-vegetarian diet, the same rules apply, but smarter eating options are necessary to see results.

How can a person get motivated to work out?

For starters, a person can probably get a friend to join him/her during a workout, and if that is too difficult, they can make small changes in their own exercise regime. Start with smaller repetitions of the same exercise and slowly increase the frequency.  According to me the key to success is to write down what your goals and what you have achieved. Once you know what you are aiming for, it will become that much easier to achieve it.

 In my book, there is a section called the ‘flowchart’. In that the ‘F’ stands for your fixed goals. These are goals like losing five kilos or maybe fitting into a particular pair of jeans. The ‘L’ stands for limitless goals. They are goals like wanting to have more energy to play a sport or play with your kids, and finally how to you get there. The end of the chart is ‘W’ for weaknesses.  The idea is that when you have all the statistics glaring at you, you are more likely to stick to it.

So how easy or hard was it for Hrithik to work out during his shoots?

It is extremely hard for an actor to stick to a workout regime and diet. Their jobs are not the typical nine-to-five ones. There are times when shootings would start early in the morning and end anywhere past midnight. I have worked in a number of countries, but Bollywood is the only industry where I see the actors working very hard on their bodies. Irrespective of what is going on, they make it a point to eat at a particular time and work out at a particular time because I told them to. For a person like Hrithik it was difficult, because he is a person who puts other people’s needs before his own. He found it really hard to say no, but I found that the more he concentrated on himself; he was able to give more as an actor, father and a person in totality.

What fitness tips would you give to beginners?

I would say it is important to find a support group and secondly people should not go looking for the next fad diet or weight loss expert. If you are following a regime do it diligently and see if it works for you. More importantly, stay consistent; it is the key to staying fit. 

Like what you read? You can read more about Hrithik’s fat to fit story and excerpts from Kris Gethin’s book here.

First Published: May 27, 2013 at 9:05 AM