In his second book on fitness, bodybuilder Kris Gethins shares the importance of training the mind before the body
You must have ogled at chiselled torsos of Bollywood hunks like Hrithik Roshan, John Abraham or Ranveer Singh. But have you ever wondered how they metamorphosed into hottiesIJ If that’s your interest, then celebrity fitness trainer Kris Gethin has many such inspirational stories to share in his latest book Bollywood Body by Design. The bodybuilder trained most of his celebrity clients when they were out of shape. He says that mind, body and nutrition compliment each other for a perfect health. “Bodybuilding is not about the body type it has got to do more with the lifestyle. For instance with John, I was not able to get him to rest, which is equally important, as he was occupied with lots of work. So I got to train him fewer days a week because I needed him to recover. But with Hrithik, I faced different problems. He had injuries because he had very small bones. He already had two slip discs in his back. So I had to be careful and make sure that his workouts were longer because the warm ups had to be extensive,” he shared.
Kris discovered his passion for fitness when he was undergoing physiotherapy for his own back injury. “I used to race motorbikes and I suffered numerous injuries on my back. The weight training helped to alleviate pain and the more I felt better, the more interested I got in fitness,” he said. The passion led him to study health and sports and in 2006, he launched a fitness magazine Kaged Muscle. “I subsequently became a chief editor of bodybuilding.com and then
Kris said that he doesn’t spend years on one client. “I only work with a client for 12 weeks. Hrithik’s transformation took some 10 weeks because he was an easy guy to work with. He wanted me to continue with him because he wanted to be fit enough for Krrish,” he said. It was around that time that he realised that there was a lot of miseducation in India about fitness. He said, “People failed to recognise that weight training and exercises have to be balanced out properly. I exercise 45 minutes a day four times a week and that is regular,” he told us.
According to him, people are freaked about supplements but have poor knowledge. “I have often been asked about steroids and supplements in the same sentence. They are totally different things. While one is synthetic and not healthy, the other is supposed to be beneficial and healthy for you. Protein powders are extracted from milk, dairy, casein or cheese and are without fat and lactose. But there are many who mix it with milk which is wrong. They are all natural derivatives but you have to look at all things logically. There are a thousand supplements out there and if you take all of them you will probably die. You should take the ones that will benefit you and the ones that are essential for your health,” he pointed out.
Bollywood Body by Design debunks many myths that surround fitness, bodybuilding and diet. The book also encapsulates some simple and healthy recipes. “I have tried to share the inspiring and success stories of all the people I have trained directly or indirectly through gyms and personal training,” he said. The 32-year-old judges his clients based on their mental strength and not just by their physical endurance. “I have seen a mother of three getting amazing results while a guy who has no commitments getting bad results. It’s all about the mental application. I always try to get inside the mind first and change the perception. On should not look at exercise only as a tool for bodybuilding but also as an opportunity to do something good and become better,” he said.