Our Bollywood actors have always endorsed fitness and the importance of having a fit body. While six-pack abs is synonymous with almost every actor now, there are few who still stand out of the lot and are termed the fittest of the fit. One such Bollywood hunk is Hrithik Roshan. Take his name and the first thing that probably comes to your mind is his Greek godlike looks and his chiselled physique. Marika Johansson, Hrithik’s diet trainer and personal trainer to his entire family tells Kriti Saraswat

Since when are you coaching Hrithik and his family?  

I started working with the Roshans last year in January during the filming of Krrish 3. I mainly helped out with teaching Hrithik’s chef how to cook the diet food he and his sister had to eat and I also came up with recipes of healthy Indian food options. Along with his nutrition I also train and diet coach his entire family.

What does his current regimen consist of? 

He is now doing weight training, crossfit and cardio which is the best combination for achieving the physique he now has. His mother, father and sister are all doing the same.

What diet does he follow to complement his workout?

He is now getting ready to start shooting for a new movie called Bang Bang and is eating the same food as he did for Krrish 3. He eats 6-7 meals per day, each of which consists of very simple food in the right ratio. They consist of good protein sources (chicken, beef, egg whites, fish and protein shakes) and good carb sources (brown rice, sweet potatoes, oats, whole wheat pasta).  He also consumes healthy fats such as omega oils and nuts. 

What kind of workout do you recommend for the Indian body type? 

I always suggest weight lifting no matter what body type you have. Train with different muscle splits, add functional training for building and strengthening the body and then do cardio for fat burning. I really don’t like to see people spending hours on the cardio equipment and never doing weights. I try to make  people understand that while cardio just helps you lose weight while you’re actually doing it, when you weight train you continue to burn calories throughout the day. You also achieve a stronger and more toned body. It boosts your energy levels and also improves your overall health. 

Do you have any quick tips for our readers? 

• I would suggest try to train with free weights as much as you can to learn how your muscles work. Get back to basics such as squatting, bench press, dumbbell presses, deadlifts – they have always worked and built the best bodies in the world.  
• Make sure you train the whole body not just your favourite parts.  
• Educate yourself about training and diet. 
• Train 4-5 days a week and add some functional training to your normal weight lifting to help prevent injuries and also strengthen and shape your core.

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Apart from her acting abilities, Chitrangada is also the news for her svelte figure and good looks. So what keeps her so fit despite the hectic schedule both on and off screen? According to her, there is no set mantra to fitness. One has to work out, eat right and get proper rest in order to maintain oneself. She herself is not a fitness junkie, but an enthusiast who likes to keep in shape and exercise regularly. Being an army man’s daughter, she was always into one or the other sport since childhood, swimming being her favourite. Though film shoots restrict working out all the time, Chitrangada tries to work out three to four times in a week. She once confessed that she preferred her current body to her modelling days as she now has some curves.

Her usual fitness regimen includes cardio-based exercises which last for 40 minutes. She does not train with heavy weights but keeps the rep-cycle as high as 40 reps per exercise. But before this, she warms up with a jog or cycle and basic stretching exercises. Other exercises in her workout include squats and lunges, step-ups, leg press, extensions and curls and upper body and arms. She cools down by doing stretches again.

Singh’s diet is simple yet nutritious to keep her in shape. It is low on fat and high on proteins – she has five meals every day. Breakfast consists of egg whites, oats and nuts. Lunch and dinner is of grilled fish with vegetables, brown rice and bajra roti or bread. She snacks on fruits, chocolate bars and Oreo shakes after her workouts and indulges in bacon with fried eggs once every week as it’s her favourite.

If there is something this dusky beauty is finicky about, it is her water intake. She reminds herself constantly to drink enough water and thinks it is one of the healthiest habits one should have. Now you know the secret to her gorgeous skin and lovely figure. She is surely one of B-Town’s hottest and fittest and our favourite too. Here’s wishing her a very happy birthday!

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Vidyut recently confessed that he owed his fit body to kalaripayattu, an ancient Indian martial art form which he mastered at a very young age. He also went around the world to take part in various martial arts competitions representing India. By the time he was 11, he’d been to almost 30 different countries for tournaments.

Vidyut’s fitness regimen includes training early in the morning from 6 am to 11 am and then again from 5 pm to 9 pm. He does a mix of martial arts, kalaripayattu, gymnastics, jiu jitsu (a martial art and combat sport) and parkour (similar to street gymnastics with the aim to move as quickly and efficiently from one obstacle to the other using only one’s body), at times creating innovative combinations by mixing different art forms. Surprisingly, he does not spend too much time in the gym and only goes there for strength training. He is a pure vegetarian and so eats four meals a day. Though he is not a follower of a strict diet, he believes in having a balanced yet tasty meal. He does avoid aerated drinks and oily food.

His fitness mantra is a simple one – religiously do any physical activity that you love and it will make sure that you stay fit. It can be anything from swimming, badminton to kick-boxing.

Here is an actor who is truly inspiring when it comes to fitness. It is indeed refreshing to see someone who has a body so fit but does not follow the tried-and-tested gym sessions and diet that we usually hear about from most actors. Instead, he practises what he loves doing – martial arts, which not only keep him fit but also very agile and flexible. 

Read fitness secrets of other Bollywood stars like Arjun Rampal, Ranvir Singh, John Abraham and various others. 

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She’s a big fan of the low-carb high protein diet and the 5 meals a day theory. We present her daily dietary chart:

Breakfast: Oatmeal and fruits

Noon snack: Brown bread with egg whites and protein shake

Lunch:  Dal, veggies, roti and grilled chicken or fish

Evening Snack: Brown bread with egg whites

Dinner: Soup, salad, grilled chicken or fish

For in-between snacks she munches on dry fruits and carries fruits while she is travelling to avoid hunger pangs.

Her exercise regime consists of everything including weight training, yoga and pilates. When she gets the time she plays squash and or swims. She followed this routine for a year and lost 30 kg.

Although now she can afford to eat whatever her heart desires she still sticks to a strict regime, indulging only occasionally. She starts her day with a tall glass of lukewarm water and follows it up with another glass of warm honey and lime water. She also drinks a lot of fluids throughout the day like coconut water, cucumber juice and buttermilk.  

Read about her cousin Arjun Kapoor’s weight loss regime as well

Find the culprits

Identify what causes your weight problems – Huge helpings? Bedtime snacks? Bad food choices like samosas, potato chips and desserts? If you have trouble identifying the correct cause, try keeping a food diary and write down about every bite you’ve had during the day (even those two spoons of bhujia and that piece of chocolate at office count). Film actress Neha Dhupia says, ‘Watch what you eat and don’t binge!’

Start with a healthy & filling breakfast

Whether you prefer eggs, yogurt, poha or oatmeal, getting a healthy breakfast under your belt sets the tone for a day of weight control and fewer calories overall. In fact, research shows that people who start their day with breakfast make healthier choices and have a lower body mass index in general. If we skip breakfast, we tend to make unhealthier choices at lunch. It’s as simple as that. For John Abraham, his diet’s main attraction lies in his breakfast because he believes in eating ‘king- size’ breakfast which usually includes a big glass of fresh juice, six egg whites, slices of buttered toast and ten almonds.

Eat less but eat more often
Instead of two to three larger meals a day like people would normally eat, start eating 6 small and low calorie meals throughout the day. Spread it out evenly for the time you wake up till about 8 pm.  Kareena Kapoor strictly follows this rule to maintain her fragile body. Post her morning tea/coffee, she indulges in her breakfast of a bowl of muesli with nuts or two parathas and yoghurt. Her lunch and dinner consists of chapatis with lots of green vegetables and dal. In between, she digs into a slice of cheese, roasted chana or groundnuts, a fruit etc.

Relish your food completely when you eat

More often than not, we are used to watching TV when we eat our food. This distracts us from the body’s signals to tell us when we’re full. The result is overeating and of course, obesity. Sit at your table and eat. Better still, sit cross-legged on the floor and eat – it aids better digestion. Look at each morsel of food that you put in your mouth. Smell it. Feel it. Let all the senses work together to help you digest it better. Celeb dietician Rujuta Diwekar advocates this to all her clients.

Stay away from fast food
Fast food packs kilos on faster than you’d think and slows down the weight loss process. Even the stuff labeled as zero-fat and low-cal aren’t really good for weight loss. Go the Salman Khan way, who chooses clean sources of protein like chicken, egg whites and fish as opposed to sugar and processed food. Salads and pulses are his sources of carbohydrates.

                                                            Avoid eating after 8 pm

Make it a regular practice to have your last meal before eight in the evening. This way you don’t end up binging on a snack before dinner time. If it’s too hard to resist, have some herbal tea or brush your teeth after dinner immediately so as to switch your mind off from the idea of eating. And yes, make it a habit to sleep early to avoid late-night temptations. Now mommy-to-be Shilpa Shetty confesses, “I always eat at least three hours before I go to bed so my body has the chance to work off the calories”.