Fitness to me is: The attunement of your mind, body and soul

The Bollywood body I envy the most: I love being envied instead. I wish I could borrow some height from a few of my female colleagues, but nothing else! I’m pretty happy with what God has gifted me. I have my dad’s physique, especially his arms and calves

The international body that I would like to have: Madonna’s

The Bollywood hero with the fittest body: Salman and Hrithik Roshan. Salman has been there for so long. He has always had the fittest body

My fitness regimen: When I’m not shooting, I do kick boxing. It really helps me to lose weight on my thighs and arms but I end up losing too much weight in the right places (laughs). I also practice the Odissi dance form that helps me a lot too. There’s one item called Tallavi, which is like a complete cardio. It’s a beautiful dance. I love my dance sessions. I think when you work out a lot, you tend to bulk up; and when you give your muscles rest for a month, they shrink and you start looking lean. At least that’s how my body works

My diet: I love eating but I don’t overeat. Actors have difficult schedules, so we can’t afford to starve ourselves. I try to have at least four meals a day. I eat a small meal at three-hour intervals. I’m a vegetarian and love egg bhurji and rasam rice

The body part I love training: I love doing squats and shoulders

The body part I hate training: My abs. My lower part is not in the best shape

My best body feature: I love my calves. They are not skinny. They are naturally gifted Punjabi calves

My worst body feature: I sometimes get very unhappy with my arms. When I put on weight, it shows on my arms

I started exercising after watching: Madonna. I had her poster in my room and I always dreamt of getting arms like hers

The best compliment I have received: Right from my school days, people have always loved my butt

I started working out: I have always been very athletic. I was in the soccer team for seven-and-a-half years. That was quite a workout but in your school days you end up eating canteen pakodas and stuff so the baby fat remains. I really started working out when I did the title song of Chura Liya Hai Tumne

My first workout was: Awkward. I never thought I would enjoy going to the gym. My friend persuaded me for six months and dragged me to a gym. I didn’t really like the fact that there were so many people. I was very conscious since I’m an introvert. Today, however, I’m addicted to my workouts

My gym: Right now I work out at home

The best gym I ever worked out in: Virgin gym, Cape Town. I worked out there during the shoot of Cash. It was a huge, two-storey gym. We didn’t want to leave that place

My personal trainer: Satya has been my trainer for the past four-and-a-half years

Relationship between fitness and health: I think they go hand in hand. If you are not healthy, you can’t put the required energy into your workouts and if you don’t workout often, you will end up getting joint pains. You will become non-flexible

Relationship between fitness and good looks: There is no relationship. Good looks are just a phase according to me. Bodies change. You put on weight, lose weight. Good looks to me are in the person’s character. You may be the hottest looking man but if the heart is not clean then you go and take a hike (laughs). I think all women think like that, except for those who go for the looks and end up in trouble

Relationship between fitness and self confidence: I felt much more confident after I started looking fitter because I could wear the clothes that I had always wanted to. You start walking with more confidence, like how they say — seena taan ke chalna

My workout partner is: My mirror.

Mauli Singh (Bollywood News Service)

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