Transcript for:
Gunjan Talks Podcast Notes: Shivam Bhatt on Fitness and Transformation

You trained Ranbir for Animal Movie. Those who have seen the movie can see how drastic the transformation was in Ranbir. So what exactly you did with him? So we finished Jhuti Mehmakar and then he was at 71 kgs. And then for Animal he was at 82. So we've put on 11 kgs.

That also took us a good one year. This is the same thing that it won't be overnight. But when you see it after a year, you become something else. Even the kids now, they look like...

They see other people with bodies and biceps and abs and they say, yes, one day this will happen. Not today, not tomorrow, it's not going to happen next month. And in between every set, you see a little bit of light sector, something is coming. First, one month, two months, just spend on getting your technique right, your form right.

It's okay to have a protein shake in the next two hours also. If I don't take it within 10 minutes, then my body won't be able to function. Recently, a study released, a report came out in which Indian protein brands had a staggering 70% of those 36 arms.

Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of Gunjan Talks. In today's podcast, we have talked about some things about fitness that you might not have discussed with anyone before. How are weight loss and weight gain different? Workout. How to start?

What to do first after going to the gym? What should be the right format of exercise? How much strength training? How much cardio? Pre-workout?

Post-workout? How to do it? Should I do it in the morning or in the evening? I literally loved this entire conversation and there is just so so much for you to learn today. In fact, I would say that if you didn't listen to this podcast, you missed a lot.

And for this conversation, we have invited a very special person today. Ranbir Kapoor's lean physique and Jacqueline's figure Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, even at this age, he is the man behind it all The personal trainer of Ram Charan, Sushmita Sen, Tiger Shroff and many more actors Please welcome the celebrity fitness trainer, Shivam Bhatt Okay Shivam, welcome to Gunjan Talks Very excited to have you here today and thank you so much for joining in. Thank you. Pleasure. And it's fun to be here.

Let's see what we have to share. Yes. So I'll give you a quick overview of our audience, the listeners who are listening to us today.

They are health conscious people, particularly about their diet, lifestyle, fitness. They already understand a lot, want to do a lot and want to know more. So the agenda of this podcast will be that after listening to this conversation, If they are making mistakes in their lifestyle or in their workout, then we can fix them immediately. And we can understand some other small principles and basics which they might not know. Alright, so, whatever their goal is, be it weight gain or weight loss, but we will clear the principles and basics today.

Simple is the best and I think if the foundation is strong, then in the future, goals will be easily pass. Absolutely. So, let's start from here.

We talk about weight gain and weight loss because half of the people want to gain weight and half of the people want to lose weight. But there is a general notion and it is believed that to lose weight means to eat less calories and to gain weight means to eat more calories. However, it is much deeper than this.

It is not just this much. So what is the difference? What is the difference apart from calories if someone wants to gain weight or someone wants to lose weight?

So first of all, it is important to understand that when... weight loss or weight gain, what is he trying to say? Weight can also mean body fat.

So when someone wants to lose weight, it could be body fat, it could be water weight, it could be muscle weight. Earlier there were many nutritionists in this industry who were not wrong because weight loss is a very important aspect. If someone is actually overweight and if they want to lose weight, if they want to improve their health, then the weight loss will end half of their issues. If they lose weight. But the right way of losing weight is very important.

So when people come to me and they ask me or they tell me that sir I want to do or I want to go for weight loss. So I tell them that. Let's rewind a little. Do you want to lose weight or do you want to lose weight?

You have to improve your body composition. Right. Body composition means, we take two things into consideration here.

One is your body fat, the other is muscle. Yeah. People have to lose body fat and increase muscle. True. So ideally, people should say, whoever they are going to, whether they are going to a nutritionist or a fitness coach, that I have to improve my body composition.

Hmm. Yes, as I said, there are many cases where people are actually overweight and obese. Body composition will come later for them.

First, they need to lose weight on an immediate basis, on a priority basis. So, they can go extreme. Like we saw in the shows, Biggest Loser and all these fitness shows, they were actually obese people.

So, their first priority was weight loss. Right. But somewhere or the other, he did weight training because if you do weight training, your muscles will keep on increasing.

And with that, you will also be doing calorie deficit, you will be doing your cardio, so there will be weight loss as well. Then of course, once you reach a point where you feel that I have lost a lot of my weight, body fat weight. Right, right. Now I can focus a little bit more on body composition.

So if a thin person comes to you and says that you have to gain weight. So clearly he wants to gain muscle. He doesn't want to gain fat.

So body composition is the number one thing that everyone should understand. And this is not only known by your wing scale. Because it is very important to understand that some people have a very heavy bone structure.

So suppose there are two people weighing 70 kgs. Same height, same weight. They will stand. On a wing scale, both have 70. But if you look at body composition, one can have 8% body fat, one can have 30% body fat. Weight is the same for both.

But whose body composition is better? Whose body fat is 8%? Clearly, if we take out 8%, then lean muscle mass is better.

So, there are two or three different ways of body fat or body analysis, body composition. weighing scale is definitely one because if you're trying to lose weight or you're trying to gain weight as long as that needle shifts you know something is working at least it gives you an overall idea correct correct so you'll be on a calorie deficit you'll do your cardio You might expect to lose 2 kgs in a week. But if you are doing weight training, which is the right way to do it, maybe you won't lose 2 kgs, but maybe you will lose 1 kg.

But you will be like, this is wrong. But no, if you take your tape measure, you will lose an inch. Because you are losing body fat. If the water is getting less, you will automatically lose an inch.

Your body weight will not drop that much. Because at the end of the day, When you go to a party, you don't go around with a weighing scale. People when they see you, they tell you, you're looking good. No, no, how much weight do you have?

Okay, then you're looking fine. No one says that. So it's more about how you look.

When you go for weight loss or weight gain, you have a certain idea in your mind that I want to fit in this outfit. I want to wear this dress or I want to wear a tight fit t-shirt. Clothes is again a thing. So as long as you fit in the kind of choice of clothes you want to wear and you look good in it, you've achieved your goal.

So how can a layman measure this? For example, our hip to waist ratio. Correct. So that more or less, the waist circumference that we normally see in or we keep that as a measure of progress in really overweight people. If their waist circumference is too high, then that's a problem.

But for the normal person, that's not the only criteria. So, one is wing scale. One is tape measure.

Okay. The other is vernier caliper. These are all homemade things.

You can get this vernier caliper on Amazon. You get this vernier caliper. And you like measure the thickness. Correct. Skin fold.

Skin fold. And if you... You don't have to use the formula there. Formula is also there online.

Everything is very easy. You just have to put in today. The apps are there.

You just have to put in the numbers and it gives you. You don't have to do that. No problem.

Numbers don't lie. Yeah. You just have to take a pinch of your lower back, upper back, abdomen and just...

Leave it at that, note it down. Next week when you do it again, it should reduce, no? So you don't really have to calculate your body fat based on a vernier caliper. You can use the vernier caliper to still show you progress.

Aaj kal bohot saari gyms mein body fat analysis machines bhi hai. Machines aate hai. Machines ki ek baat hai ki none of them are accurate. Chai hai aap hospital mein jaake DEXA scan karo, ki aap machines use karo, sabse maingi wali bhi, they are not accurate. Lekin, every machine that you use, And as long as you're using the same machine every time, the first time you use it, it becomes your benchmark.

That's why I tell people not to use weighing scales at different places. You use one, buy one for your house, and measure on that. Why will you show some other weight at home, or in your gym, or in a hotel, or there. So again, it kind of confuses. So stick by it.

There is a way to judge the progress, but even with the body fat analysis machine, use that reading as a benchmark. This is showing me 20% Oh my God, no 20 ka actual mein 15 bhi ho sakta hai, ya 25 bhi ho sakta hai, the machine is not accurate. Toh usme bhi thoda sa error hai.

Because our body is not that simple. Body fat or muscle. Till today, they have not found a way to actually measure muscle. They cannot because it's not that simple.

It's a very complicated process. So for the average person, weighing scale, tape measure, vernier caliper, these three things. Will tell you the reality of your... Will tell you reality but will help you judge the progress. That whatever you are doing, you are doing it right because the numbers are moving.

But like I said, it is important to understand that weight loss or weight, you don't have to go on weight, you have to go on your body composition. You have to reduce your body fat and you have to increase your muscle. Right, absolutely.

There are some people who have this problem that their weight is not moving. My inches are losing but my weight is stuck. So even I tell them like a lot of my clients, They come up with this thing that my weight is not losing but my inches are different. I say that's a very good thing.

Exactly. It means you're building good muscle strength, muscle mass and you're still losing inches. You're losing the fat. But it's not their fault because this is the conditioning that we've grown up with.

We don't care what number we get. When we were growing up, we didn't have social media but we had fitness magazines. We had our mother and fathers at home.

who were also talking about body weight and not in such, I mean, we were not talking about it in such an extensive way, but they were also mentioning it. So, somewhere or the other, that conditioning is in our mind that until weight will not fall on the weighing scale, we are not progressing. Very true. So, that is a matter of conditioning and fair enough, but that conditioning somewhere or the other, we will have to break it with science and logic. Absolutely.

So a wise person will not say that I want to lose weight or gain weight. He should always say that I want to fix my body composition, I want to reduce my fat percentage. Talk like this. I wish that everybody spoke like this because so many people, even after speaking, they still...

stuck on that but okay I mean it is our job it is our responsibility to keep educating people absolutely somewhere one day we will understand at least the listeners who are listening to us will take this in a more particular way hopefully actually so talking about putting on more weight and losing weight. Now you trained Ranbir for Animal Movie and there was a drastic difference I mean all of us who have seen that movie can see how drastic the transformation was in Ranbir. So what exactly you did with him?

So I started working with Ranbir we worked together for three years. So when he approached me it was just after COVID when the lockdown and everything was over. Or he was about to start shooting Toh Jhuti Mehma Kar where he had to play a, it was a rom-com, he had to play a normal hero, young guy, beach body, abs, ripped.

So at that time, we had to just focus on, because he hadn't done that intense weight training before. She did it a long time ago, but during lockdown, gyms were closed and everything. So she couldn't do weight training there. The body, I mean, of course, the pictures are there online.

He was not very conditioned. So somewhere we had to start building that muscle again. Okay.

That muscle had a little hardness, a little density. We didn't have to look like the animal yet. Okay. We just had to build muscle.

And then somewhere when your muscle seems conditioned, they also say that for men, around 40-42 is when you achieve muscle maturity. Okay. But muscle maturity will also come when you are already doing weight training for 20-25 years. Muscle maturity means that your muscle fibers are clearly visible. The muscle looks hard, it doesn't look new.

Like if you look at an 18-year-old or 20-year-old who is doing weight training, you will see that there are muscles but you can tell that it's new. So to build that kind of muscle maturity because he's done some weight training before. we had to keep that intensity up.

So different kind of weight training programs push him on the intensity. And he was ready for it. The amazing thing about him is when he knows he has to do something and he has to look certain way for a role, then he's all in. Then he doesn't, I mean, he loves to ask questions from his own knowledge and curiosity. But he will never ask you the question in the wrong way.

Okay. So he's always with you on the plan. He's with you on the program because they've of course done their research and they trust your judgment.

So that's why I think he was an amazing student, love training him. So for you, false looking really defined, looking really hard. So initially it was all about weight training because we had to build that muscle. And the body shot was planned also in a way that after 9-10 months we will do that body shot, when the body will be visible. So you set a target that in 8-9 months I can create that defined muscle, that physique.

That's the power of training, right? That's the power of structured training. Structured training, that's a...

I would say a power of experience. That you know that if after 9 months you want to look like this, then you always work backwards. So with clients too. If a client wants to attain a body transformation in, see, 3 months, it's possible.

It's a little unrealistic. Like Ranbir didn't give me 3 months. He gave me plenty of time.

9 months, almost 10 months to work on him. So we work backwards. If you want to do this, then okay.

Okay, so... From so and so month to so and so month. This is what we do from then we do this then we do this So there was a proper structure we follow and this was or you have a job shoot charlatan To notice going to bar again to shoot can you must come and training we can you for Sona be a so It's a lot that he has to also as a client juggle So can we can we we don't get an entire hour to train can we can we we get only 30 minutes to train 40 minutes to train And you have to make it work in that 30-40 minutes also you have to make it work.

In fact, in order to get that body, you need to invest like a lot of time in the gym. See, investing time in the gym is correct, but investing in the right kind of work. I keep telling people that if you are putting effort or time in the gym, then please take help of a personal trainer, take help of a professional. Exactly. Because...

If you lift weights, your body is going to be made. Body doesn't know any better. You can see any labourer on the road who does either digging the road or a farmer. He looks ripped. He looks like he just got out of a gym.

But he has never done a bicep curl. So if you lift weights, your body will be made. How fast and efficiently it will be, you will be able to reach that soon.

That journey shortens because you don't waste time on unnecessary things. Correct. Or at least you avoid making mistakes which an expert can do. From day one, as you said, you had 8-9 months of time, so you did the reverse engineer.

Correct. That we have to achieve this body, for that it will be 8th month, 7th month. Correct.

You broke it down. And it is very important to have a realistic goal. Exactly.

You see… Vinda also keeps telling, I also keep telling, that if a client and a professional are working together, their goals should be aligned first. One needs something else, the other needs something else, that will never happen. Clarity of goal is very important.

Of course, you don't know what the body is exactly going to look like, but there is a vision somewhere that this is what I need my body to be like. So I always tell the clients as well, go online and choose a realistic image. Which you think you want to have a body like this.

And then we can work towards it. You saw Ranbir in Jhuti Mehmakar and you saw him in Animal. Two different people. Two completely different people.

So, the training was different for both. It was very important to have that vision. That I have achieved this. Now, in Animal, this is not the goal.

In Animal, I don't look as defined. I need to look a little bit big and like a beast. A little bit more different.

Yes, I need the abs and everything. It should look like a... conditioned, strong, structured body. But it shouldn't look like that. So then you have to work towards that.

And how much time it took for him to look? Again, it was... So we finished two Jhuti Mehmakar and then he was at 71 kgs in two Jhuti Mehmakar during the body shot.

And for the animal, he was at 82. So we've put on 11 kgs, 11 to 12 kgs because after putting on, you have to cut a little bit so that the body can look a little defined. So, that also took us a good one year, I would say. So, we shot the body shot right at the end.

Before that, you can see in the movie, there was no body shot. In every shot, there is a suit, a shirt. At the end, when the body is shown, that gives us time. Enough time to work on it. And gives us time to do it in a healthy way.

Exactly. So that the body, because one thing I will never do. or I will at least try not to do it. I mean, if the situation is like that where you can't help it, that's a different thing.

But the client's health should never suffer. The goal, okay, it will come. Even if it doesn't come, the health should not suffer.

Because this is not their only priority in life. There are so many other things that a person, not only a celebrity, but a person has to do family, job. Just as a human being, you need to be healthy while you do a transformation. Exactly.

Shivam, is it possible for a... Let's take example of... Let me take an example of a man who does a job.

He goes for 8-9 hours to work, to travel. After that, he has a family. After that, he has a good physique. Because everyone dreams of having a good physique. If I go shirtless, I will look good.

If I have a physique like that, then is it possible? I know the answer to this, but I want to hear it from you. Is it possible that he works for 8-9 hours, then he has family time, some personal things, even after that, he can achieve this physique? It is possible.

Maybe in 3 months or 6 months it will not be possible. Maybe it will take 1 year, 1.5 years, 2 years. But...

Because this transformation, three-month transformation, three-month challenge, 40-day challenge, 21-day challenge, these people have spoiled people's perspective. There is no transformation in 21 days. There is no transformation in three months. Especially the category you are talking about. It's okay if you work.

See, even with the celebrities. When they know they have to achieve something physically, like an aesthetic thing, they try and take a break between two projects. So they can focus only on that.

But as I told you, I started working with Ranbir for Tu Juti Mein Makkar the day we started shooting for the movie. So we didn't have any off time. work in between the schedule. He was also working 12 hours. At that time, he got married.

So again, house, family. So you had to spend that kind of time. In between that, you have to work out. So everybody can do it, but it takes little time. So give it time, be patient.

Just like I was discussing with Vrinda. The consistency and patience play a very important role here. I sometimes think of watching kids in the gym.

And of course we were also in that stage. I remember when we went to the gym the first day and we were doing biceps. We couldn't even see the bicep in the mirror.

But somehow we did it. Even the kids now. They see other people with bodies and biceps and abs and they say, yes, one day this will happen.

Today it won't happen, tomorrow it won't happen, next month it won't happen. And in every set, we see a little bit of light, something is coming. But it requires immense amount of patience.

But think about it, this is not something that they were taught. We were never taught this. We have learned through practice and there are kids.

who are experiencing this through practice. Otherwise, people would stop training. Leave it, man.

It's not going to happen. Who will wait for 2-3 years? If it happens tomorrow, tell me. Otherwise, I don't want it. But I have seen, Shivam, a lot of people start with full passion that this time, they have to build their body.

They have to go to the gym every day. But after 3-4 months, they start to look a little. But gradually, they lose interest because the amount of effort that it takes to build their body, with respect to the amount of result that they get.

The effort is so much and the result is so gradual. This is the same thing that it won't happen overnight. But when you see after one year, you will see something else. But that one year, one day, those 365 days that you have to work hard, that comes somewhere and after 150-200 days, it gets lost. So, as I was telling you that recently we've got into the investing aspect.

So, this word, compounding interest, I'm pretty sure you also are aware of what it means. I think bodybuilding and weight loss, weight gain maybe, compounding interest, it plays a very big part. You put one rupee every day, the bank balance doesn't go up. But then it compounds.

After one month, the second month, the third month. Then after some time, you actually see, you see the body also takes time to change. But once it gets kickstarted, then it is a scientific fact that the results that come in beginners take a lot of time to reach other people.

Results come in beginners faster because it's a very new stimulus to the body. So the body actually shows. And what you are saying is right. Initially, you are motivated, you do everything.

But somewhere that motivation has to turn into a habit or a discipline. Like I honestly used to think there is something called as motivation, but I don't think there is anything called as motivation. Motivation doesn't last long. It doesn't. As long as you can justify what you're doing on a priority basis and know that this is something that you need to do.

It is good for you. See, of course, a bodybuilder's incentive will be different. A normal person's incentive to build a body will be different. There is a difference in intensity between the two. But both are doing the same work.

So even for the normal person, as long as after 4 months he realizes that it's not going to be 2 hours. Let me come back to an hour. But that consistent work will eventually get the results.

So is it like, you go for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, as much as you can do. At least be consistent. Don't break the routine. Be consistent and know in your mind realistically that if you're doing half an hour instead of one and a half hour, then the results will take a little longer.

Don't expect that you'll get a result in one and a half hour. That will not happen. Exactly. So being realistic and we as coaches, we as trainers, we need to educate people that your result is directly proportional to your effort.

And effort also matters in a way where depending what kind of program you're following. As I told you, you go to the gym, lift any weight, your body is going to be made. Muscles will grow.

But it's a structured program. You're following a structured nutrition plan. Your form, your technique, all these things matter.

Technicalities, the litigations. Correct. And this is, I think, where... beginners need to be very careful yeah yeah because our skills social media pay it NASA information hey it means are a coaches hey it's difficult to identify it's difficult to identify name but again simple example may suck or the term up a great bodybuilding competition page okay 10 people are standing on the stage For me, I think everyone is a gold Everyone has an amazing body, amazing shoulders, back, chest, legs, calves They've got everything Yes, I don't know proportion wise who gets the first or who gets the second But they all are amazing And the crazy thing is that they all have followed a different program Who can tell that no, my program is the best This program suited this person. This program will suit this person.

But they stuck with that program. Exactly. Today we will do crossfit for two months, then we will do animal flow for two months, then we will do kettlebell for two months, then we will come back to weights, then we will do planning for Mount Everest for two months.

There is no consistency in your program. So where will the results come from? Very true. Muscle is to be increased but they are doing functional training. So goals versus actions are not aligned.

And this is all because of, again, it's not their fault. They are not a professional in this field. But at least take professional guidance or consulting.

A professional, what kind of a program should I follow? You want to lose weight but you are just lifting weights. There is no cardio, no functional training. So how will you lose weight?

We understand a little bit of this in details. However, I understand that this is very... customized, which we have discussed, it is a very personalized thing. But we can give a generic overview to the audience, that if you go to the gym on the first day, how do you start?

Before that, I will tell you a small incident. Now, when you talked about compounding interest, I remembered an interesting thing from my childhood. So, what I used to do when I was a kid, I used to buy a new piggy bank on my birthday every year.

And I used to fill that piggy bank all year round. I used to buy a new piggy bank every year. So if I get a relative or someone from somewhere, who pays money to Indian families, I'll put it in that.

If I get something from somewhere, I'll keep filling that piggy bank. And on the next birthday, it was made of clay, I had to break it and then I was happy with so much money. You could have held it for a year.

Actually, the excitement was that when we'll break the clay on the next birthday, it would be so much fun. That curiosity, excitement that after a year, the reward we were going to get, I would wait for it for a whole year and consistently fill it. In fact, I used to look out for chances that I saved 10 rupees and went to the piggy bank.

So the way I think we used to do that in our childhood with our piggy bank, so maybe that same patience is required for your workout and your fitness. No, you are absolutely right. Like I have been a national level swimmer and I have been a national level swimmer for a long time. I started competing at the age of five.

Subhay saade chaar bhaje, dad used to wake me up. We used to go for swimming, swimming practice. Waha se school, school se wapis, tuition, tuition se wapis swimming. Then going for swimming competition.

So one day dad, one day mom, this, that. But somewhere that discipline of waking up in the morning, playing that sport, going for that practice, I feel kahina kahin wo discipline is... That is the reason why I was able to stick with a workout plan.

Trainer to, I mean, as a fitness coach, I became a fitness coach in 2003 or 4. But from when I passed out of school was I think 99. 99 to 2004. Am I right? Am I saying it right? Yes. Yes. To that it was normal training.

So it requires patience and discipline of doing it every day. Correct, but it also comes from our childhood. So even for people who are watching, if your children are playing a sport or not playing, then push them towards a sport.

Because sport is, I feel, the one of the most important things that can give a child or give a person structure, some discipline, some patience. Teamwork, communication, everything. Everything. And that builds a habit.

Exactly. If you do it for 15 years, then that habit of waking up in the morning is formed. So somewhere it stays. So I discussed with Vrinda about human patterns.

So this is like another way of saying it. That our pattern becomes of being disciplined, consistently doing something. But you'll be surprised. College, I think it was. There were a lot of my friends who were actual, like I was not selected in sports.

In cricket I was always a, I don't know what do you call that person who bats for both teams. A middle-aged man. I was that.

I didn't know how to dribble in basketball, in soccer I used to only be the goalkeeper. I was only good in swimming, that was the only thing I knew. But there were other kids also who were amazing in sports. But after school, once they entered college, somewhere they lost.

the drive to be fit or the drive to exercise. And it just vanished. So I feel that when you get that freedom, at that point, if you can hold on to that habit, then that makes all the difference. How you held on to that habit? I have no idea.

I started working out in school only. I think the 9th standard, dad got me a boxing bag. And I started boxing.

And dad used to go to the gym. So I was a little impressed with him. Then of course there was Silvers'Salon.

There was Rocky. There was Arnold. So somewhere he used to take small dumbbells and do pull-ups at home. I think Rocky was an inspiration for a lot of people. Correct.

That was definitely an inspiration. But I think when he started in 9th standard, we weren't allowed to enter a gym. Till we were 18. Today things are much different. Thank God for that. But when I turned, I think, 17, I finally got to enter the gym.

And it was like, wow, I've reached. But point being, either there will always be, there has to be someone to push you towards that right path. Or by God's grace, you're always in that right path.

I think I was, for me, it was by God's grace. I was, chose that path. Now if someone wants to start working out, or those who are working out, they should know some basic concepts.

First of all, how many rest days should be there in a week? How many days are there for us to work out and how many rest days should be there? Rest and recovery is a very important aspect that many people neglect. People think that the more work I do, The more hours I spend in the gym, the faster the results will be.

That's wrong. When you're working out in the gym, there are two phases in the body. One is the catabolic phase and the other is the anabolic phase.

Catabolic phase means where things break. So when you're exercising, when you're training, when you're lifting weights, your body is actually in a catabolic state, which means all the cells, the muscle tissues, everything is breaking down to release energy so that you can train. Right. The anabolic phase actually happens when you eat and when you sleep, when you rest. So that is why, of course, your nutrition is number one priority after training, making sure that you eat the right kind of nutrition.

Okay. And getting the right amount of sleep or rest is important. Because only then your body, whatever you have trained, there the muscles will be repaired, there will be recovery, there will be growth. Yeah.

Otherwise, you'll just keep wondering, I'm training six days, seven days a week. I'm doing so much. Why isn't my body changing?

Also, fatigue, again, it slowly, slowly builds up. If there's no rest days, eventually, or maybe due to other aspects of life also, people can go through chronic fatigue. Then it hits a point where your body just never recovers. Really?

You wake up tired. You're always tired. There's no energy in your body.

And that takes a very long time to recover from. So it should be done in a regular interval. So normally we say three days on, one day off.

Yeah. For a lot of people. Some people say, sir, I'd like to spend time with the family on weekends.

Okay. Then train from Monday to Friday. Take the Saturday, Sunday off. Is that okay?

Like if they train for five days regular and then they... See everybody's body is completely different. There are many athletes who work one day, rest one day, work one day, rest one day. There are many who work out only for two or three days a week and their body responds.

So this is just a personal choice or it depends on our goal gap. For the average person, at least two days of rest. is good also depending on the intensity if you are training very hard then i would suggest that every third day or after every three days you take a day off if you're a beginner you're not really reached that intensity part When you enter the gym, there are three things that you have to focus on. First is your technique and form.

First, one month, two months, just spend on getting your technique right, your form right. Form should be right. It has to be. You don't have to work with a trainer in life, don't do it.

But for the first two, three months, you invest that much time. That at least what you are learning, learn it properly. After that comes consistency.

Which means that your first rep, if I do 100 reps, your first rep and 100 reps look exactly the same. Okay. Of course, there will be muscle fatigue.

But range of motion. But range of motion, the form, the technique should be precise from first rep to the 100th rep. Meaning if I tell you to wake up in the night and do push-ups, you know exactly. By default, your hands go in the right position, feet go in the right position, you're able to do a push-up. Then comes intensity.

Okay. Then you will start adding weights, you'll go heavier, you'll do more sets, you'll do more volume. Okay.

So this form phase and consistency phase, that's not going to be very intense for a beginner. So if somebody even trains for six days, it will be fine. Okay. Again. I don't know the person.

They know themselves better. If the body says that I'm a little tired today, don't force it. Take a break. Take a rest. Some days it's absolutely fine to take a rest.

And it's not like every day you'll wake up and the body will feel great. Some days you won't feel that good. And if you have to go to the gym and give your 100%, So take rest that day. Maybe go for a walk, take massage.

Just do an activity which is not maybe as strenuous. Or maybe just do some deep stretching. Do stretching, do yoga.

Maybe don't do anything. So these are things which as a beginner... But if we talk about generic, if you take a two-day break in a week... It's ideal.

If you go for a workout for 5 days, it's ideal. So I follow Monday to Friday, I am regular. And Saturday, Sunday, I take a break. And that actually resonates me. And I feel completely relaxed.

On Monday, I am equally motivated to hit the gym again. See, because again, you said for me. So for me, this works. Exactly. So that word is very important.

People need to understand that they are... Whatever we are talking about, these are basic foundations and fundamentals. Keeping these fundamentals and foundations in mind, you make your own routine.

Like you said, if that person is working 10 hours, 8 hours shift, 9 hours, whatever, 12 hours shift, and he should spend time at home. Exactly. He might not be able to spend an hour. I tell people, working out for an hour is a luxury.

It is. Not everyone can afford that luxury. And science has proven that if somebody wants the health benefits of exercise, even two to three days of 30 minutes of weight training will give you that benefit. Aesthetically, you might not reach that goal faster. But in order to be fit.

Yes, to be healthy. It will help. So for a lot of people out there, I know.

IT industry, government jobs, there are even entrepreneurs who maybe started their own business. They might not get an hour to train. There is no gym in everyone's building, there is no gym in everyone's house.

Someone has to travel 10-15 minutes easily. So taking everything into consideration. So ideally it is said that if you do any kind of physical activity for 150 minutes or between 150 minutes to 200 minutes in a week, you will be able to do it.

you are like active. 200 you are moderately active and 300 or more you are good active. See, this is a little gray area. If you take your dog for a walk, then that is activity.

But that activity will not give you any aesthetic benefits. So where they say be active, yes, you definitely, and the 10,000 steps that have been released recently, It is mainly to get people to be active. That you are not going to the gym, you are not doing anything, no problem.

Get your 10,000 steps. He has gamified it a little. Correct.

The 10,000 steps definitely will see because health wise, heart needs to work, joints need to work, everything needs to work. That movement definitely causes some benefits inside the body. So that's why it is active.

For the average person, activity has to be there. Movement has to be there. But, that's not the complete picture.

India, as a majority of the population in the world, is one of the biggest populations that is technically not healthy because of no weight training. These are all proper facts which are there. So unfortunate. But... You'll be surprised.

We were in Hyderabad. We were in some really small town and I showed Vrinda a gym. This gym was like a glass door.

It was a very small town. There was this lady training in her silwar kameez and sari and everything. I mean, wherever people want to do it, people do it.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing. There are people who understand. the benefit of weight training, they've experienced it, they've seen it, they can use logic and justified. We just need to get out to the public and say, get dumbbells at home, do some bicep, do some squats. Or it does not even require so many equipments, basic simple dumbbells, a resistant band, will do the job.

And then when you're doing say 15 minutes. of weight training along with 150 minutes of activity and now this 15 minutes can be included in that 150 minutes to baki bacha you go for a walk you go cycle with your friends or whatever you play a little bit of a sport pickleball jobi up okay now you can say that somewhere your physical need to be healthy is somewhere complete somewhere but weight training is a very Very crucial part because muscle plays a very important role in general health, in longevity, in blood pressure control, in insulin sensitivity, in blood glucose levels, maintaining blood glucose levels, heart health, bone density, everything. There's so much more. And this is all muscle. And how will you activate muscle?

By some resistance training. Take a resistance band. You can get it on Amazon.

Basic thing, put them on a hook, do your biceps, do your shoulders. Okay Shivam, tell me something. These days, not these days, but for the past few years, the government has installed equipment in public parks.

Are they of any use? Because I see that many senior citizens go and use them. Do they really benefit from them?

It's better than doing nothing. That's all. No, but again, the people who are going there, we don't know what kind of a lifestyle they're leading, what kind of a work stress they have, whether they're able to afford a gym, they're not able to afford a gym, how far a gym is from their house. So the fact that they're even making the effort to go to the park and use that, whatever so-called equipment, it's still a very good thing. Now imagine if we can get those people and just show them the right path, they would benefit so much more because...

They are disciplined. They don't have a valet parking, music, proper toilets, steam room, sauna, roof, or a boy to wash the bench. But still they are doing all these things.

This shows that they want to do it. They are disciplined also. Everything is there, whatever it requires.

They are going there daily. And this is the generation or the people who wake up in the morning and... With punctuality, with full discipline, they go, they do it.

It's amazing. So just giving them a little bit more. Right.

And even, I mean, these are the things we can be wishful thinking. That if there are those equipments, I've seen them. Somewhere or the other, their biomechanics are a little bit better. Not that much, it's there.

But if you put a basic trainer there. who the government pays or whatever NGO, however it works. Whatever is coming, sir, I will make you do it properly.

You hit 3 of this, you hit 10 of that, you do this. It would just that itself would make such a big difference. Very true. If someone is listening and they can manage to get that, that would be great.

Maybe, I think we can make a video on this. how to use the park equipments. No, but some... Because there's a huge audience who relies on those equipments. But there are some park equipments which are actually quite decent.

They're not bad. They're quite decent. We stay in Bombay.

In front of us, Rajesh Khanna Garden is there. Okay. And there's some very basic equipment. And I'm not kidding.

Every morning when we wake up and we are doing our practices, we see... People of all ages, there are kids, there are senior citizens, there are ladies, old women, somebody's walking on the grass, somebody's doing the Surya Namaskar, somebody's using those monkey bars, atrangi cheeze kar rahe hain uswe. But kar rahe hain. Kar rahe hain. So, I don't think that laziness is an excuse at all, because somewhere they can prioritize their health and justify waking up early.

going to this place, doing whatever is needed. So you can imagine, I mean, if they can do that, then the people who actually have the luxury of time and financial and finance, they can do so much more. Now coming back to the gym workout, yeah, then home workout. Okay, so gym workout versus home workout.

If you can't go to the gym, can you keep a few equipments at home and meet? Absolutely. I mean, we all are proof to it. When lockdown happened. When lockdown happened.

Yes, there were some people who, you know, definitely gained weight or whatever. But there were some people who got in the best shape of their life. People ran a marathon in their balcony.

Oh, really? You can imagine, there's such a small balcony. They ran half a marathon by counting the steps. Oh, amazing. So people, see, the human being is a super intelligent, super adaptive species.

Plus there are so many exercises that we can do with our body weight. Exactly. So my thing is that as long as you're following a good program, a structured program, as long as you're following a structured eating plan, you will see the results. Yes, home workouts do have some limitations. Suppose I, even we trained at home, there was no other choice.

Of course we had a little bit more weights and we put a squat stand and everything. And after a point, I needed the machines. I needed heavier weights.

Now we can't get that at home. So then when lockdown ended, we moved to the gym. So people who know what to do, home workouts are fantastic.

But if you want to do a little more, then of course the gym is also there. So I don't really see which is better. Both are amazing.

It just depends on your goal a little bit more. The gym would probably work a little bit better for you. compared to the home workouts, but otherwise they both are amazing.

Being inconsistent with the gym is, I mean, I'll put it the other way around. Being consistent with home workouts is much better than being inconsistent with the gym workout. Is that true? We talked about habits.

If exercising, like I tell people, I love working out. I don't like working out. I love working out. But at the same time, I used to be the person that if one day I missed, I used to go crazy.

I used to get irritated. I used to get frustrated. Okay, back then. Yes, back then. This is probably three, four years back.

Okay. But somewhere, because of all the mind practices, all the practices which Vrinda gives, all the pranayams and everything, whatever we've been doing, somewhere we've realized that if one day you don't go to the gym, there's nothing wrong. it's absolutely okay but the habit will make you train whether you are in the gym whether you are at home you will find a way but you won't obsess about it that if it's not possible there is no option it's okay not a problem but if you can like say whenever we go on a holiday we try and make sure that there is a gym in the hotel But now, like say we go for a trek, we did the Annapurna base camp or the Everest base camp.

You can't expect a gym over there. Of course. So mentally, you also have to kind of prepare yourself that 12 days, 15 days, there won't be a gym.

So be okay with it. That is also very important. So wherever it's possible to make arrangements, you do.

You do that. But you don't go out of the way, making everything weird. and obsessing about it that is wrong so home workout if it didn't happen no problem means if it didn't happen at home then you did it at home if not at home then at gym one more question which i get very frequently is should i work out in the morning or in the evening to which what i tell my clients and my audiences that when it suits you then do it if morning workout doesn't suit you and you wake up forcefully then you won't be able to sustain likewise That suits your lifestyle and routine.

But I want to hear from you what is the technical like Is there anything like Morning workout is better than evening workout? What's your say? So, one or two different perspectives hai.

One toh definitely try and be in sync with nature. Yeah. When you wake up in the morning, your body is naturally ready to push.

Okay. So ideally if you can work out in the morning, nothing like it. Another thing, if you work out in the morning, wahan par na koi phone calls aane wale, na koi work meetings hai, toh you kind of, you know, it doesn't come in between of anything. Yeah.

Now, working out in the evening, I've read somewhere this whole genetic testing and everything. I don't know how much I agree with it or don't agree. We'll read about it more and see.

But it says that some people respond to exercise better in the morning. Some people respond to it better in the evening. That can be true.

But what it doesn't say is how late in the evening. So that evening could either be 4, 4.35 or it could be. Then I think after 7 o'clock is night.

It's not really evening. Yeah. And whatever your genetic code is, I'm pretty sure that as a human being, your body actually starts winding down towards sunset. Naturally, it wants to start going to sleep. So at that point, if you are going to force it to go completely against the rhythm, the body is not that weak.

It's not going to say, no, I'm not going to do it. It will still do it. but you'll have to face the consequences of that.

Then erratic sleep because see, you've done a workout, your nervous system is all fired up, your sympathetic nervous system is all fired up. Now for you to come back and relax and everything, it takes too much time. You're not doing any practices to do that either. Neither are you doing that. So automatically when you go to sleep, you're not going to get the best sleep that you could.

So do it in the evening. Around, I would say, maybe latest, maybe 6 o'clock. Depending on what time you are going to sleep. But again, you also have to consider lifestyle. So some people, unfortunately there is a very big population who works at night.

It's probably the worst thing you can do for your body but there is no choice. In that case, your morning becomes your evening. Exactly. In that case, you change things around and you do all the other things that will help you negate the side effects of working out, of staying up late at night. Like take longer, deeper sleep.

Deeper sleep, you do your pranayams, you do all of that because at the end, because this you can't ignore. You can't say I'm not going to work at night because I don't feel right. You don't have a choice over there. But at least for the time being, while you're doing a night shift, till something better comes along, till then you can do your meditation, your guided meditation, your pranayama, whatever mind practices you have to minimize the side effects, you can do that.

Yesterday only I spoke to a client of mine, this new client. And he... Has a had a break of one and a half year. He wants to get back into it, but he used to work out in the evening Okay, so I said now that we're starting fresh. Let's try something different I Said firstly that we're not gonna start with the full workup For this one week.

I just want you to go down in your building and just walk for 10 minutes But in the morning he anyways wakes up at 630. Okay, so he said that's not a problem I'll plan my day according to this. I said great you have the flexibility of that. That's good.

It's not like he's waking up at 11 and then saying I'm going to plan everything. He woke up quite early. I said, let's do that. Let's do that for a week.

Let's just wake up in the morning, go down and walk only for 10 minutes. And he's a proper marathon runner. I said, in a week, in a month, a marathon or 10K, 12K, maybe not going to happen.

But let's at least begin. Let's start with small steps, something. Because when you're starting something new, the body and the mind both need to be comfortable.

If you give it more changes, it will shake. He messaged me in the evening saying, I did it. I woke up at 6.30. I woke up at 6.15. I woke up 15 minutes earlier.

And I went down and I walked for 10-15 minutes. And it was great. Tomorrow I'll probably walk for a little bit longer. When you make people understand with the right logic and the right points, they understand.

And when you give them small things to do. Gradual shift. Gradual shift.

Slowly. Like I told him, you have paid for the program. We're not starting the program yet.

We'll start it in a week's time. But first this week. Because I'll tell you, go to the gym from tomorrow.

You'll say, I haven't worked out in an hour and a half. I used to work out in the evening. It's too much. That's where half the people who join a gym, beginners, they go overload of information. Give me one thing to do at a time.

Diet bhi karna, ye bhi karna, ye bhi karna, aise bhi sohna, aise bhi sohna, cold shower bhi lena, ye bhi lena, steam sohna. Main gar pe thik. Tabhi wo break hota hai.

Tabhi wo do teen mahine ke baad jo break hota, wo iseli hota hai ki itna kuch nahi ho paala. As a coach and as a trainer, ye kahi na kahi hai. It's our fault too that to prove ourselves, we used to give them everything.

No sir, you will do this too, you will do that too. And they do it. One, two days just to make sure that they don't upset you.

But third day they are like, sir, no, sir, some work has come. So there is another study which supports morning workout. This study says that your chances of...

Skipping your workout reduces if you do it in the morning. Because obviously, if we are doing it in the morning, then in the evening, there are many times when plans get made. It gets skipped. You have to stay in the office for a long time.

Correct. Multiple reasons. But in the morning, it's your time.

Of course, it's your time. I agree. It takes a little bit of effort.

It's not difficult to snooze. And it's not difficult to snooze 10 times. But what is it? in which effort is not required.

Effort is required in everything. And once it becomes a habit, then it is there for life. Initial push is always required.

And once you overcome that initial push, then it's like, okay. So it's fine. And then even if one day you miss, and you feel like sleeping in, it's alright. It's not a big deal.

A while ago we were talking about workout structure. In which, You mentioned that if someone wants to lose weight, but they are only doing strength, not cardio, then how will the result be? So again, we cannot define the proper structure because it will depend on everyone's body type and goals. But if we talk about a big structure for a person who wants to lose weight, then what structure should there be? For a beginner.

So this is a structure that I have been following, which is my online workouts for the last three years. This is the structure I've been following and people have lost weight, they've lost body fat, they've also gained muscle, I'll tell you how. And in general they've been very fit and beginners have joined it, intermediate people have joined it, advanced people have joined it.

Simple. First is your warm-up. Warm-up is absolutely important, whether you're doing a 10-minute workout or an hour workout, warm-up. is something that you can never miss.

In warm-up, you will put such exercises that mimic the main exercises or the muscles that you're going to be using in the main workout. Warm-up, of course, gets your heart rate moving, gets the body temperature a little warm. We already know all this, but doing more full-body kind of warm-up, so simple things like, say, downward dog to upward dog, thoracic rotations, leg swings, banded rows.

very basic things that target the back, target the chest, legs, all of this. Okay. Okay. After this, I make them do activation. Activation is something where we, when we train, we forget to use the smaller muscles in the body.

Like when we do shoulder, chest, triceps, all these exercises, we don't really train the rotator muscles, which are inside, which are actually responsible for the strength and the stability of the joint. We do front delts, rear delts, side delts, but we forget about them. When we talk about the lower body, we forget about the muscles in the hips and the glutes. Very important. So mobility plays a role.

Correct. So like the small loop bands, resistance bands, with them very simple movements which work the smaller muscles. Again one or two rounds of this. 3-4 exercises.

Then we go to the functional aspect. We do a 12-15 minute of functional. Not more than that. Functional is very important because functional is responsible for you to burn as many calories as possible.

When we think functional, we think high intensity. Intensity of course is different for me, different for you but My 70 or 80% intensity is the same as your 70 or 80%. So we expect that for those 15 minutes, you will push your body at around 80 to 85% of your intensity. Whether you're a beginner, intermediate or advanced.

Okay. Functional like mountain climbers and jumping jacks. Yes. So in that functional workout, we can either do weights like dumbbell thrusters or kettlebells. swings, renegade rows, something which works the whole body together.

What is the purpose of doing functional before we start? I'll tell you. So, there is no rule like that.

But, in a functional workout, when your body is a little bit stressed, the adrenaline is responsible for activating or engaging the fat or breaking down the fat. So, the fat that you have, to break it down from the cells and move it into the blood, You need a little bit of adrenaline. You need a little bit of stress.

So that little bit of high intensity actually helps with that. Okay. Now, the fat has come into the bloodstream.

From the bloodstream, it will go into the muscles. There, it will work like energy. Then after that, we do weights.

Where we do, again, 12 to 15 minutes of weighted. So either one day we'll do upper body push, one day upper body pull. One day legs, upper body push as in chest, shoulder, triceps.

Next day lower, then back bicep traps. Again for 12 to 15 minutes. Just for 12 to 15 minutes.

12 to 15 minutes. So how we do it is I give them three rounds, 40 seconds of work, 20 seconds rest. 40 seconds of work, 20 seconds of rest.

So this work-rest ratio automatically becomes a little bit more functional, becomes a little bit more of a circuit. the intensity also comes. And here is where I tell people that every round try to increase the weight. So if you start with 10 kgs, next round probably go to 12.5, maybe go to 15. There is no problem if the reps are less, but push on the weight.

Focus on the weight. Focus on building that muscle, focus on the strength. And after that, 5 to 6 minutes of abs, upper abs, lower abs, side.

basically holding static holds, isometric holds. If you add everything up, one hour is done. In that one hour, you did core, cardio, functional, strength.

And for people who don't have an hour, I tell them no problem. You do one thing. You take out functional from the workout.

Do everything else but weights. Tomorrow, do everything else and functional. then weights, then function, then weights.

So different ways in which you can also approach this kind of a breakdown. But in this workout, you have become functional, which will help you burn more calories. You have strength, which is helping you build muscle.

Muscle will help you build your, increase your metabolism, which will help you again burn more calories. Your core has been done. In the end, five to six minutes is enough for your core because... Your core is anyways working in all the functional movements. If you do farmer's walk, that is also core.

See because core, people think that core is abs. Core is not your abs. Core is basically how you hold your body and especially your spine together. So this entire midsection, the entire muscle, including your lats, including your middle back, upper back, sides, abs, everything put together. So when you are doing the pallof press, You stand straight and you push the cable front and back.

Because the cable is trying to pull you, but you're resisting that pull. So you're working your core. When you do a Swiss ball plank, Swiss ball is unstable, you're again working your core.

And then you do farmer's walk, sometimes by the side, sometimes up, sometimes one hand up. So different variations of doing your core exercises as well. It is also said that we can actually engage our core while doing the strength workouts. That you are doing. So if I am engaging my core in each and every exercise, the job is done.

So you are engaging your core, but your focus is still on the movement. Yeah, that's true. So you can't completely pay attention to the core.

Correct. As a habit, the person who... working out for 5-10 years, as a habit he will keep the core engaged.

But not a fresher. Not a fresher. So, even explaining to him what the core muscles are. Like I told you, three things, form, consistency, intensity.

So, first two months just working on that form, do plank, there should not be back arch in the plank, this is the core, this is how you are activating. Once you get that idea, when you know that when I am doing a squat, this is where I should feel the muscle. when I'm doing a bicep curl or when I'm doing a side raise this is where I should feel it that is very difficult for people to think initially and then breathing also and then breathing so it's a small it's a slow process that is why you give them individual aspects as well that is why in strength training when we do the strength workout their main priority is on breath so I can Keep telling them one breath, one rep. One breath, one rep. If you're doing one breath, two reps, your breath is out of order.

Yeah. When you're doing strength training. Every time you exert, you breathe out.

Functional training, you can't focus on breathing because your breathing is going to be out. There you just focus on the form and the intensity of the workout. Right, right.

So literally in this one hour, in these five different aspects, you've covered everything. So starting from warm-up for 10 minutes. I would say 5 to 7 minutes.

5 to 7, okay, a quick warm-up. Quick warm-up. Then functional for 15 minutes.

Yes, then activation after that, activation is again 5 minutes. Activation before functional. Before functional. Which is mobility. Correct.

Activation for 15 minutes. 5 minutes. 5 minutes.

So, isn't that like very quick, 5 minute activation? But enough to engage the muscles. So, whichever muscle you are going to train today. Correct. So, I normally give them 2 upper body and 2 lower body muscles to engage.

20 reps, side walks, abduction, glute bridge, glute march. It will be done in like 5 minutes. 5 minutes. It's functional for 12 to 15 minutes. And then strength for again 12 to 15 minutes.

And core for 5 to 6 minutes. Core for 5 to 6 minutes. And then cardio also. No, this is all about cardio.

Actually, this is all about cardio. And if someone has time and need, then they can always add some cardio maybe later in the day or maybe after I would not recommend after this kind of a workout because we are already very tired. We have done for 5-10 minutes to relax but if we can do it in the evening then that's fine. And how long should the cool down be? So cool down we normally do again for two minutes where we just want to do absolutely nothing but just sit and no but not even sit just breathe.

Just relax your, bring your, like everything. Because the main point over here is that while doing all this workout, you've raised your cortisol level so high that it is very important to lower that cortisol level. And the only way you can do that is by breathing.

So 2-3 minutes, if you can sit for 5 minutes, a lot of people do that. If you can do that, try not to lie down because then that restricts the movement of the lungs. So if you can sit, you can't close your eyes, don't close, just stare at a point in front of you. But just... Focus on the breathing.

And then we of course, in our gym we used to tell the people few things too as affirmations when you're doing that. So few things that we used to say, one was be thankful first to your body. Because we end up taking our body for granted.

We put so much... We put so much jumps, this jumps, that jumps. Yeah, we put so much stress on it. Correct. Thank you for bearing with it.

Yeah, to do everything that you made it do. So thanking your body, if you are in pain, then you can move your hands, thank you knees, thank you legs, thank you shoulders. Then we say thank you to the breath.

People know that if you are cold, you have asthma, how difficult it is to breathe and exercise. So thank you for moving that breath so comfortably. And then lastly we say thank you to the universe. There are many people who got punctured in the car and couldn't come to the gym.

You came to the gym, you did the workout, there was no issue, everything is fine. These are small things but they are so important. And when we become aware of this, then the workout becomes more like...

A complete workout. Otherwise, you talk, socialize, lift weights, drink water and leave. I think, I feel that by doing this, by applying it after 5 minutes, you will get more results.

You will get 100%. It's not scientific, but you will get 100%. It's difficult to explain, but yes, there is some logic behind it. So, I personally, I didn't know, I was talking to you and thinking that you must be doing something right. I practice meditation.

practice it immediately after my workout session. A, because I don't get time otherwise. So, I relax there after the workout. And I meditate, deep breathe, do everything there for 5-10 minutes. Second, the main reason is to calm down my body, calm down my nervous system.

But I don't have that deep... No, but you will be surprised. So, our guru, Yogiraj Guru Nath, so he's been a...

He's been a... college level bodybuilder. He's been a boxer. He's been a swimmer.

He has a small gym in his ashram, which Vrinda had given her, multi gym, which he had in the house. We've taken the gym over there. Till today, he's 80 and he still does very basic exercises physically to keep his back fine, to keep his muscles.

A couple of months back, he called us. He said, What are you guys doing? And we said, Guru Nanak, nothing. He's like, come.

He's in Pune, we're in Bombay. He said, come to Pune. We'll go to Decathlon.

I want to buy a bench press. And AT! So, point being, that even when some days when we have gone to the ashram, or he's come to Bombay and he used to come to the gym when we had the gym, after he did his session, he used to actually sit and go into sadhana because he's never explained it. I'm pretty sure Vrinda can explain it better, but I felt that high that you feel after a workout, that happy feeling, that high feeling, it actually helps in getting into that quiet state much faster.

Right. So if you're saying that you do your meditation and you feel good, I think you're doing the right thing because he does it and we've done it with him and it's a very different feeling. Of working out, getting that energy up, feeling that high in the mind.

Feeling that high, exactly. And then just closing eyes and sitting down. It somehow just literally takes you there much faster.

I am able to connect with myself even more. It really feels that I am able to feel more connected. I don't know why. Because of all the rush that happens inside the body. Think about it.

Your nervous system is fired up. Your adrenaline is fired up. Everything is like...

alive. So what you're feeling, what you're experiencing is already heightened. So if you actually channel that energy towards maybe breathing or you're at the center of the eyebrow, whatever meditation you're doing, I think it works because so snipers and army people do it. Their heart rate is through the roof, but they're so focused. that they just don't move because that they have to take that decision so they the heightened heart rate also allows you to focus and of course then slowing down and then during the meditation as it goes on then that's when you slow down the heart rate and you again feel the same so i think that it makes sense yeah now i'll have even more conviction while doing it okay so this was about the workout routine that you have shared i think that was amazing at least now people have a clarity on how do they start.

The moment they step into the gym, exactly how much time do they spend doing each of these things. Now let's talk about a very important thing that goes along with the workout, which is supplements. So pre-workout, during workout even people take, like keep sipping something, BCAA, this and that. And then post-workout, protein shakes.

What's your take on all these supplements? See, supplement is something, when we were simple. When we used to give exams in school, we used to ask for extra supplements because the main page was over.

So supplement is literally something that you take because you're not able to get it in your normal diet. Amazing metaphor. Amazing.

Even though I failed a lot of times, even though I never took that many supplements, I used to just take supplements to make it feel, Hey, today I took a lot of supplements. What supplements did you take? I said, just three. I said, I have ten.

I said, shit, I wrote something wrong. So, that is what a supplement means. But, I have taken a pre-workout.

But I have realized that pre-workout also, it makes you feel that jumpy. Makes you feel, gives you those tingling feelings. And that is what the chemicals in the pre-workout anyways make you do.

But, I don't take any pre-workout now. I have not taken it for a very long time. If you think about it, if you enter the gym and you actually start your warm up, you are actually ready. So the purpose of warm up is to make your body ready. And the purpose of the warm up is also because no one enters the gym, oh come on let's do it.

Everyone enters the gym, a little slowly and then starts. And I have experienced this so many times. I go to the gym and I'm not feeling that. energetic, I know I can train really well, but I'm not feeling that to begin with. So what I end up doing is I end up taking three or four exercises, which I really love doing.

So for me, my two most important exercises for me, which I really like doing to get into that zone. One is leg extensions. One is on the cable.

I do some external rotations. And I'm not lying, but by the time I finish those, I'm ready. So you can try that next time you don't feel like you don't feel the energy or that craziness when you're training Choose two exercises as a warm-up, which you love doing Yeah, I'm not saying choose deadlifts and squads and everything machine based something which can Which can allow you to breathe normally, but also Lift, wait a little comfortably, which you like doing.

And I promise you, within 10 minutes, within 5 minutes, you'll be ready. Because that pre-workout is, it's okay. I mean, you don't really need to. You don't really need to. I mean, you can take it.

You can feel it a little. I think everyone experiences it. That's okay.

But you can't depend on it. For me, music does this magic. A very important thing to say about music. You might not like that, but.

okay so should I say what I was going to say no no of course please no no you continue first so once I enter like once I start doing my workout while I do the stretches and warm up I'll put my like music on and play my favorite tracks which boosts me up and then I'm all in the form then you keep the music away or you keep listening to it that depends what mood like on my mood yeah How's the mood? Sometimes I work out on Mohammad Ram. We've done that. We've worked out on... Mostly Punjabi music always charges me up.

We worked out, I mean, of course, in our gym, because the gym was ours, so we worked out on Om Namah Shivay and Krishna Das and all of that. I can't expect to do that in a public gym. But I do my workout, like sometimes, on some days, I do my workout on Shiv Tandav Sutra.

that gives a different level of high and some days soon you'll reach that point where you won't use music at all i'll of course give you a reason for it i'm not just saying don't use it because it's not whatever but i'll give you a reason but talking about supplements so pre-workout is okay intra-workout is i feel somewhere it's needed okay but it depends who who's taking it depends how intensely they are training you So someone taking BCAA, EAA, amino acids are very important. We'll talk about it when we cover a little bit more about nutrition and protein. But amino acids, see, again, all these things, no, they just add the cherry to the cake. They're not the cake.

You can't expect to go to the gym and fill your bottle with pre-workout, have that. Then you have your creatine, then you have your BCAA and lift five kgs. So what's the cake?

The cake is the actual effort, the training. So once you've got to that point where you are literally giving your 100%, you're lifting heavy, you're lifting hard, you're sweating, then you want to see that little bit extra in your training. That's when you take it. Otherwise, lemon water is also fine. Water is also fine.

Electrolyte is also fine. I have juice. people say people like hey sugar juice I said yes because if I'm doing heavy squats and I you and you train like how I train you need glucose you need the sugar yeah that makes sense that makes it exactly now if you take it then of course then that's the thing to worry because you're just walking around and talking to your friends and doing a little bit of cardio then that's an issue but watermelon juice orange juice I think I feel these you juices for me work really well.

I, of course, add a little bit of creatine in it. BCAA works all right, but if you want more electrolytes or something, then there are electrolytes in the market, which are like magnesium and zinc and potassium and sodium. The electrolytes is what will help you even better because what people don't realize is that when they sweat, they're actually sweating electrolytes.

You are sweating water, but you can't replenish that water, that electrolyte while I sweat with just plain water. so you can have nimbu pani with a little bit of pink salt or you know stevia or normal sugar if you want but that will actually benefit you more than just plain water is it okay to sip coconut water along with your because that also has a lot of electrolytes yeah coconut water has potassium you can do it I just feel that coconut water over a period of time becomes tastes a little weird so I don't know if in an hour it will be fine hmm But otherwise, during workout, this works best. Try not to have, I mean, I've tried it. And some people do having a protein shake during a workout.

But I think, will that not hinder the performance? It hinders, yes. Yes, absolutely.

But like say if, like again, as an advanced person, if you're lifting for like 90 minutes or two hours, then instead of protein, then you can have, again, you need sugar. You need energy. With that, if a little protein, then maybe a protein bar or something, that would probably be better than a protein shake because a protein shake becomes a little heavy. So maybe a protein bar can be good, but that is again only for people who are really training with high intensity for a long duration.

Then you need to sustain that energy. Otherwise, someone who's working out for 30 minutes... 45 minutes or an hour doesn't need anything during the workout.

So as a beginner, you don't need to have anything during or before your workout? I don't give my clients any supplements at least for the first 6 months. Okay.

If they are a beginner. Okay. Let's come back to pre-workout.

So what can people actually consume before they go for their workout? For example, a lot of people take black coffee or an apple or a green tea. Are you talking from a hydration perspective or energy perspective? Energy perspective. So before the workout like a pre-workout meal you can probably have any simple sugar, simple carbs which is going to give you energy more instantly rather than some complex carbs.

A fruit is good, a fruit is good, maybe a banana, maybe a date but still have it at least 30 minutes before. Don't enter the don't eat the banana and a date while you're entering the gym. That's not really going to be instantaneously. Give it a little time to go into the system, mix around and then basically do its thing. So I feel 30 minutes is good.

But only if see another thing you need to realize is that are you feeling the low of energy because of food or because you're mentally tired? A lot of people cannot distinguish between the two. That's very important. I'm tired. I think I'll just have a banana.

No, but you've actually had a long day at work or office and you're mentally tired. You're not physically tired. The physical body is feeling the tired because you're mentally tired.

So for that, you can probably do some pranayama, which will get your heart rate up, which might make you feel better. Could listen to some music, which will kind of get you into that zone. But food is not going to do that. Because again, the reason why people end up eating extra calories and what they are designated by the nutritionist is probably because of this, that they feel tired and they feel, I think it's tired because I don't have energy.

How can you not have energy? You've just had lunch at 3 o'clock, at 6 o'clock if you're going to train, how can you not have energy? You've had a good meal.

So people need to, this is where... That little bit of self-study, self-awareness, understanding of yourself needs to be there. I feel very hungry after dinner. Are you crazy? How can you feel hungry after dinner?

I mean, you just had a big dinner. Pause. What is it that I'm feeling? Am I actually feeling hungry or am I feeling peckish? And I want to eat something sweet.

Have a glass of water. Maybe that hunger will go away. Sometimes it's just the thirst.

People confuse the thirst with the hunger. Correct. And sometimes it's just confusion. And I think this is one thing what Vinda has also helped me is in taking that pause.

Take that pause, just think what is it exactly. And then you can kind of get to the real point. Otherwise you'll just end up doing things what you feel but it's not the truth. So before workout, check with yourself whether is it like energy depreciation or mental tiredness or physical tiredness.

If you're mentally tired, then take a pause, breathe and then head out. Yes, if you've not eaten in the whole day, then of course you're going to be low on actual physical energy. Then definitely eat something and wait for 30 minutes and go to the gym.

Is a peanut butter toast a good idea? It's fine, but it depends if peanut butter works for you, if it suits you. I mean. Simple things. You can.

There's nothing wrong in that. You can. If you feel that you can have the peanut butter, you won't get any kind of gas while you're training.

Because, see, what we need to understand is that two very different systems are at play. One is your muscle skeletal system. One is your digestive system. Both need all the blood flow they can get. So if you're going to eat something, now the blood flow is directed towards your digestive system.

Then you're going to go and start lifting weights and expect the blood flow to give you that pump, which is again blood flow in the muscle. Now you're taking, now this also didn't happen completely, this also didn't happen completely. That is where all the digestion issues also start to happen. A lot of it.

Same thing the other way around. You've just finished your workout. Even after the workout, what people don't realize is that they've done the workout, blood flow is in the muscle, that pump is coming.

Now straight after that, they want to have a protein shake. First of all, it is wrong to take it immediately. The anabolic window that people talk about, it's okay to have a protein shake in the next two hours also.

That gives you enough time to relax. Reduce that pump, get the blood flow back to the system, go freshen up, shower and then sit and eat. That means it is not recommended to take protein shake immediately after your workout? Think about it, I mean it doesn't make logical sense. If I don't take it within 10 minutes, my body won't be able to function.

Because again, this is somewhere, we have seen people taking it, heard it somewhere. But science has improved, logic has improved. Now when you put the facts together and put all the information together, it just doesn't make sense.

People say that your anabolic window, in which you should be able to consume your next meal, your post workout meal, is roughly two to three hours. And maybe sometimes even longer, depending on who it is. Okay. I mean, what is Lassit, what is She here, what is Pia here, it just doesn't make any sense. So give the body a little rest, let it relax, go home and then sit comfortably and have it.

I'm asking this because mostly people do their workout in a hurry. Like if they are doing it in the morning, then there is a rush. They don't do it in a hurry, they do it in a rush.

They do it in a rush, they eat in a rush, they do it in a rush. After the workout, it happens that you have to run, you have to get ready, you have to run to the office. So...

That's why this is what I've observed. It happens quickly. Workout, protein drink.

Go to the office and drink. So there should be some time, at least 30 minutes, 15 to 30 minutes gap. Correct.

I mean, see, we are doing everything for ourselves, for our body. Yeah. Why will you do something which is contradicting to what you're trying to do? At least in the right direction.

Correct. The more it happens, the more... If there is no other option, then that's fine.

Talking about protein shakes, it's not just a word. There is a world of protein shakes. And now more and more because of the increasing health awareness, there are more and more protein brands.

And there is always a buzz, there is always a news. around protein shakes, whether they are healthy or not. So protein shakes again as a supplement. And now there are plant proteins, all kinds of proteins.

So first let's understand what protein is. In school we have all studied that protein is the building blocks of life. But what is protein?

Protein when broken down is amino acids. There are nine essential amino acids. and the rest are non-essential amino acids.

The body already manufactures non-essential amino acids. You don't need to take them from outside. The body cannot manufacture non-essential amino acids that you need to take from outside.

Animal products, including meat, milk, curd, all of this is said to be a complete protein because all of them have all the nine essential amino acids. Complete profile. Now these nine essential amino acids, what are they?

They are basically, literally the building block of life. If you take amino acids and don't eat carbs or fats, you will survive. Leucine, isoleucine, valine. You see these three amino acids on every protein box. They are responsible for basically building muscle, repair.

There are amino acids which are responsible for your metabolism, energy expenditure. There are amino acids which are precursors to dopamine, serotonin, cholesterol, testosterone, estrogen. So having your amino acids is your number one priority. When you add all these, it is known as protein.

So protein is very essential. If someone is able to get protein or complete protein or the complete... amino acid, nine essential amino acids through their food, absolutely fine.

Now when we say that ideally you need to get 0.8 grams per pound of body weight, we are talking about normal healthy individuals, not overweight individuals. For an overweight individual, you will calculate your goal weight. Okay. No can eat it with their food. In India, for sure.

That is why you add a protein shake to it. The other benefit of protein shake is that because it is already broken down protein, it gets absorbed in the body much faster than eggs or chicken or lentils or any of that. Within 15 to 20 minutes, that protein gets absorbed into the body and goes where it needs to go and does what it needs to do. That is why a protein shake is important.

important. Take whey protein or plant protein? Well, if you are a vegan, for whatever reasons you choose to be, have a plant protein. Is it equally good as whey protein? It's not equally good.

Whey protein is definitely better, but plant protein does the job. It does the job. There's no harm in taking plant protein. Whether it's pea protein, again, depending on your maybe food allergen test or whatever if you're allergic to pee or whatever then you won't be able to have then you'll have to have whey if you are allergic to whey then there's no other choice but to have plant protein so also what protein suits you there are a lot of people who are completely non-veg but they prefer having plant protein because it just works more easily on the body so it's completely person to person but both work but if you're trying to get the amount of protein that you need to get for your goals whether it's weight loss, whether it's muscle gain, protein is equally important.

You mentioned that you don't suggest supplements to your clients for at least first six months. Does that also include protein? No.

Protein is not included in their diet. Protein is completely complete. So it is required from the first day. So supplement they can take and it's absolutely healthy. It's not normal.

Yes, there were cases in the past where dilution and its But if you go with a trusted brand. Recently a study released, a report came out in which Indian protein brands. No comments. I've also seen that people, some people they develop allergies with protein. So they get acne from protein or they get bloating from plant based.

See that happens with peanuts too. But it is important to take. So what can they do?

They want to take it but... So ideally what they can do is do your food allergen test first. Okay.

That will at least find out which foods are 100% nono. There are many different types of proteins in the market like whey protein, isolates, plant protein. There are some people, you will be surprised, who actually will benefit from carnivore protein.

And not from plant or from whey. Really? Oh. But now, of course, that is their choice whether they want to do it or not.

But based on their blood profile and based on their food allergen test, carnivore protein will work very good for them. Then there are a lot of different proteins made in the... There are a lot of people who even have raw whey.

So, there is no taste for it. I mean, there are places that do supply them. And that works great for them.

So, there is a solution. If it's an extreme case, there are very few extreme cases. But there are solutions even for those people.

Okay. So I think the first thing to go with is to get the food allergen test done. If you think that you have allergies and you break out in acne.

Because, I mean, touchwood, I have been on protein since the day I started training. It's been more than 20 years. And there are days when I have even four scoops of protein.

Stomach is absolutely fine. There's no bloating. There's no gas.

There have been protein shakes that I've taken where it's a scoop. It's. So even figuring out.

And that is again back in the day when you didn't really know which were the good brands of the brands are not even there in India. Now there are some really good brands in India which are manufacturing in India. So. Not promoting any brand, but your preferred suggested. So I've in the past used Avatar.

There's GNC. There's Kyorveda. It's a plant-based brand.

Tastes very good. Ace Blend is a good one for plant protein. My protein is good.

So there are a lot of them which are trustworthy. brands. Again, I keep getting collaborations for all these proteins.

So I say, I'm doing it today for this, tomorrow for that, what will the public say? But my point is, I'm not saying this is the only brand. Exactly. I'm saying out of the hundred brands, these are There are some which are good. There are some which are good.

They all are doing the same thing. All right. If I'm, if I'm collaborating for a GNC or I've been a brand ambassador for Aftar for four years, I've done collaborations for GNC.

There have been other brands in the past as well. They all are good. So there's nothing. So if somebody wants to choose, here's your five, six brands, which I can say are actually good.

Now you choose which works for you. So this was about protein now. Talking about other supplements, common supplements like multivitamins or just for energy endurance for example, the Indian herbs, Shilajit, all these things, you recommend any of these supplements? So multivitamins, see today the food has become, I don't know but I feel that the quality of food has reduced. whether it's salads, whether it's grains or whatever it is, the quality has reduced.

We cannot disagree with that. So somewhere you would have to supplement it with your normal vitamins. And there are a lot of different vitamins in the market which work.

So even if when we talk about electrolytes, you can take your electrolytes. There are a lot of brands which basically come up with effervescent tablets of your electrolytes. Your calcium is there.

If you're a vegetarian, you definitely need to take B12 because B12 is missing in all your veg food. So omega-3. Omega-3. Again, see, omega-3 is not about veg or non-veg.

It is people feel because it's fish oil, it's an issue. But it's very important. The fatty acids from omega-3 are actually very, very beneficial to the body.

So you can include it. But again, it's not. Sir, can you give me one tip for weight loss? That is not one tip. You will say that I eat Shilajit, aloe vera, wheatgrass, turmeric, etc.

I drink two drinks at night. Weight training? Yes, I do weight training once or twice a week.

Then how will it work? You will say that you give me all the herbs and Ayurvedic things. So, Ginger lemon tea or yeti or woe tea or cava or yes, up.

He Lunga. I'm not sub detox. Come on.

We're not coming though peg 30 ml. He said 90 ml a Back to definition change okay So how I mean it it doesn't work that way you can't expect it to work if you are Completely doing things opposite and I feel people choose because this is the easier option It's an easier option to take a shilajit, take this green tea or, you know, eight liter lemon, lemon warm tea in the water in the morning, then to go in the gym and actually work out for an hour. That's way harder than doing this.

So if supplements will only work if you actually put in the work and the effort. Weight training is the biggest stimulus. the most important stimulus you can give for any change to happen, as long as if you're eating the right food and you're taking the supplement. If you don't take supplements, if you're a healthy person with no medical issues, no issues, and you don't take supplements and you still train and you eat your normal food, you will still be fine. But you want to improve your health and you're already living a healthy lifestyle.

You wake up early, you do your pranayams, you go to bed early, you eat your three meals at the right time, you have a routine to follow, you're working out. Okay, fine, you enjoy a drink, social drink, Saturday or Sunday, whenever you go out with your friends, you have a social drink, no problem. Now with all of that, if you take your supplements, it will work. So in order to take your health to the next level, these can certainly help.

Correct. But not doing other things right and just relying on all these things is not a good idea. Definitely won't. This brings me to another very important aspect. So we have covered workout, we have covered supplements.

Now the diet part. In diet especially we focus on protein only. Protein from the dietary sources, natural sources.

In that also we talk specifically about vegetarians. Because after non-vegetarians they still have a lot of options. In veg, there are many options to say. There are vegetables.

There are certain grains also. But they don't have, what we were talking about, complete protein profile, complete amino acid profile. So how do vegetarians, what do they do to keep their protein on point when it comes to diet?

See, we are lucky in a way that the Indian food or the Indian way of eating has so many different varieties of vegetables and lentils. I mean, it's plenty. Yeah.

It's plenty. But if you are going to have, if you expect to have 20 grams of protein in the meal from your lentils, you are going to have so much lentils. Exactly.

That's the point. Which means your carbs are going to go out of range. So for a vegetarian, whey supplement though is 100% mandatory.

Even if they are not working out. Because even if you are not working out, protein is necessary. But then what you can do is somewhere you can reduce the amount of carbs that you are having.

So then have different kind of vegetables which are low in carbs. Rice, okay, rice you want to have. There is absolutely no problem in rice.

Have your rice. Reduce the food a little bit. Somewhere you can... Something has to be compromised.

So complement it with the right protein sources. Like have more of protein-based sources in your plate. Lesser of the carbs. Lesser of the carbs. And add curd.

Curd is absolutely fine. Chhaas, lassi, all these kind of things are fine. And if you actually want to eat a little bit more, then go train.

Burn some energy, burn some calories and then come and eat. Everyone is not interested in making a body and getting a six-pack. I've had clients in the gym. who literally love food but they will come to the gym and train train hard and I asked why are you doing it? I am very fond of eating.

I am already a little fat. I don't want to get any fatter. I am here to make the balance.

and that's that's okay yeah is it okay like to have a guy There is no fitness goal. He just wants me to be maintained. I will work out hard but I will eat what I want.

I will not think about diet. According to this equation. There are many people who who live to the age of 100 after drinking a packet of cigarette.

There are many people who even after taking a cigarette they end up with cancer or something. Try not to take a risk. Try not to make accidents happen. That's probably something I can say.

Yes, I will eat everything. Let's see. Don't take risk.

At least, okay, calculated risk. I know that maybe something can happen, so I'll try and avoid it. But saying that I'll train, but food I'm just going to eat, whatever. You don't need to have three Gulab Jamuns or four Rasgullas or an entire cake.

Have one, no? Coming back to veg protein sources, there's always... a noise about soy, especially for men.

And like, as it said, that soy contains phytoestrogen, which mimics the estrogen, which is a female hormone, which is why if a male will have a lot of soy, they may develop some characteristics or male boobs or things like that. So is it the fact? So people can develop gynecomastia either when they have too much androgenic activity happening which is either on steroids or something like that or they can develop gynecomastia if they have very little very low testosterone as well so the soy somewhere the estrogen can behave again it's it's not that if you have it it's going to happen it can happen the chances of it happening are there okay but if it's not like you're having soy day in and day out Maybe one of your meals, maybe two of your meals in the whole week are soy.

I don't think that's going to harm you at all. So in moderation, if you're having it and still doing your training, still your diet is pretty clean. I think you should be fine. But there's no harm in keeping a check on it. You can always get tested.

If soy is a big part of your diet, maybe get checked every three months, every four months. Just to make sure. That the estrogen levels are fine in the body.

They're not rising or whatever So don't overdo it and then observe your body and there are there are some very easy telltale signs also of estrogen So you can be aware of those as well So, I mean you'll get more details from your doctor about this But if you're having then just be aware k agar aisa kuch feel ho raha hai toh shayad ho sakta hai Get it checked stop the sore you'll be fine It's not a complete no-no No, I mean, look, nothing is a complete no-no. As long as you can have it in a little bit of moderation, you're doing other things right and you are aware of what it could do. So from complete no-no, that brings me to the next thing which I wanted to discuss with you. And as you and I both call it the treat meal, but as people usually call it cheat meal, what is your take on that? The treat slash the cheat meal.

I love a treat meal. Why not? It's good.

So how frequently the treat meal should be taken? Because see, there are some studies which say that the treat meals support your metabolism, slow down, that doesn't happen. And then it supports you mentally, psychologically also. However, on the other side, there are some people for whom this Vinda Gaam is not good because of the momentum break. Or they associate guilt with overeating.

Or the momentum breaks and they feel that they have eaten. So, these are two different types of people I have seen. So, mental temperament plays a very important aspect not only in the treat meal but even in training.

So, like the clients come to us. There are some clients who need to know about workout. I have a client who says, sir, send me a workout by evening because I have to mentally prepare myself for the workout. Okay.

There are many clients who say, sir, it doesn't matter if you send me a workout in the morning. There are many people with whom I train offline, they are like, don't tell me the workout, just come and make me do it. So mental temperament, understanding human psychology is very important when you're dealing with humans. Yeah. So I think it's important to understand that.

treat kar sakte hai. Chahe wo diet hai, chahe exercise hai. To ye treat meal ka bhi jo Fundai, I mean, what you're saying, we call it refeed. Okay. It's a refeed.

So refeed means you keep them on a calorie deficit for 3 or 4 days a week, you control their calories, and then on the 4th or 5th day you give them a refeed meal, which is to have maybe 500 calories more. Of course, try and have it from more healthier options, but if you want to add some cake or some sweet, then you can add it, there's no problem. It works really well for some people.

Why doesn't work for some people because India a hotel military wallet. All or nothing zero hundred. I'm just going to stay on track and I'll do. Somewhere living on that aspect is also not ideal because. The more flexible, adaptive and at ease you keep your body, the better your body will be able to respond.

Because if you don't have any option and you have to eat that food, then you will be hungry. If you eat it, you will be guilty. Like we discussed earlier, man is very adaptive and very flexible if he wants to be.

So it is important to be that little flexible when it comes to the treat meals. Other thing is be like us. Eat one piece of chocolate every night.

So that binge eating will not come. Because a lot of people do this. We've done those 21 day challenges and we've done all of those.

A lot of people do it. But the scary part is that some people after the 21 days, they go all out. Give me a minute. So now I can eat. Now I can eat.

And there is no problem in that. If you eat more than one night, there is no issue. It doesn't stop after one night. Then it comes back to square one. And that is why a lot of people who… And then they bounce back.

Correct. They put on even more weight. Correct.

So those people who do crash diets and extreme weight loss diets, the numbers are what, almost 75 to 80 percent people end up gaining the weight back. Because, you know, the diet that you eat, you don't have to eat it. You can eat they don't have that mental temperament yet.

If they work on their mental fitness, then maybe yes, they can transform to a person who can eat in balance. I tell people quitting is very easy. No, I don't want to do it.

Keeping it in front of you, taking a bite of it and then not saying it, that is the hard part. Try doing that, no? Why do you want to quit? It's a chocolate you only it's not like you don't like chocolate you love chocolates have a piece But stop at that piece name. It's a piece per car.

Ninja. Oh but look What there's no reason but it is nothing but a psychological reason. Hmm.

That's the game of willpower Will power understanding discipline everything I think plays Role together for you to say I will eat one piece. I will have it slowly, small bites, let it melt in the mouth and then I'm done. Okay, one more piece.

But you won't eat the whole thing. If you can do that, then that's great. So then that treat meal only goes away. Treat meal for us is what? One pani puri or sev puri on a Sunday.

Not because of anything else, it's that it's a Sunday. We're sitting at home, we don't probably have clients that day. So in the evening we probably have a sev puri or something. Or in the afternoon, it's anyways a day off.

So with eggs we probably, not she, not Vrinda, but I'll have like a French toast or a pancake or something. That is fine, but it's one pancake. It's not like a treat. It's just that it's one day you want to eat something different. And that's why you do it.

But... You don't feel that you're being... I mean, lacking something in your life.

No, not at all. I think that, I think if everybody stops posting about treat meal, cheat meal, all of this, within a month, everyone will forget about the concept only. They will look at it on social media and they want to be a part.

I also ate a treat meal today. Look at my treat meal. I didn't eat anything from it.

I just put a photo of it. There are a lot of people. I know whom you're talking about.

No, no, but there are a lot of people. who do that. We'll put so many photos.

Clearly, you have not eaten this. And people are like, can he eat this? Can I eat this?

Why not? But his body is being made, not mine. True.

So, on social media, I mean, it's all. People, allow themselves to get carried away. So Shivam, you also train a lot of celebrities and one of your celeb clients is Jacqueline also.

And Jacqueline as we know, she is one of the fittest actress in the industry. How is she like the fittest? Is it her genes or her lifestyle and her like hard work?

Hard work is 100% there. I mean she is... very clean in her eating. She's very clean in her lifestyle.

Okay. Only goes out when it's really important and has to. I don't think I've ever heard her talking about drinking or any of that.

She sleeps early. She wakes up early. Okay.

Okay. So... Is she like very particular about her diet and...

See, being in this industry, you have to be. If you want to be at the top of your game, no matter which industry it is, if... If it's an industry where your looks, your aesthetics matter, then you have to be at the top of the game.

Like I know Tiger as well. I mean, that guy is, when it comes to his food, when it comes to his training, he's amazing. And you can see it.

You can see why. It's visible. So those who know what it requires, they do the work and they're there.

So, I mean, yes. And of course, genetics do play a very big part. You can't ignore that aspect. Genetics do play a part.

I haven't gone through a genetic chart, but definitely from the time that I know her, probably 12 years or 12 or 13 years when she came to the gym for the first time. Since then, she's always been the same. But she's always been doing something or the other. If we have taken a little break in between, she's done something or the other.

She's always been there. Because I think another aspect of that is that she's always done it as a child. So when you do it as a child, it becomes a habit.

Like for Tiger, he's been in martial arts and all of this since he was a kid. So for him to go and flip around and jump around is fun. And he enjoys it. He doesn't find it as work. So a lot of people who've done it their entire life as children find it very easy.

to continue that process. So I think she's definitely one of those people. Does she follow the similar kind of a workout routine which you just explained? No, so I mean, it depends. See, she's already very thin.

She's already very slim. So I don't really need to make her do any functional. Okay.

She's quite active on her feet as well. So when we train, we only focus on like proper weight training, getting her to lift. heavy weights and she's strong she's able to lift okay so that's the kind of training that i do for her so once somebody has lost all the extra body fat there's no need to do regular functional or regular cardio they can just stick to the resistance part and absolutely i mean like for myself i don't do functional every every day i probably do functional once a week usually on a saturday or something we keep it for functional same for a lot of my clients as well i make them do weights throughout the week uh if they are already thin and then maybe a saturday is when we do the functional And cardio wise, if you're anyways moving around like those, like we spoke about the 10,000 steps, 10,000 steps, if you're physically active, then means you're quite active. You're moving around, you're using the steps and all of that too.

That's the whole point. So if you're thin and you're lean and you have muscle and less body fat, then you don't really need to do that much of functional or treadmill or whatever it is. I was asking this for myself because I don't enjoy cardio a lot and I love doing strength. So you put cardio in strength.

Cardio as in after every set do one minute skipping, one minute mountain climber. Or like we said, make that same weighted workout a circuit. Treat it like a cardio because what does cardio mean?

Cardio is anything that engages the heart and lungs. And if you're doing five exercises of weight training, say you're doing a bench press, a seated row, a shoulder press, a bicep curl, a tricep, 15-15 repetitions of each with minimal rest. By the end of the fifth exercise, you are going to be huffing and puffing. So you are working your lungs and you are working your heart. So cardio is already done.

When is the right time to change your workout routine? Like you're doing a specific kind of exercises like for shoulders or legs. Push you're doing certain exercises for pull you're doing certain exercise legs you're doing For how long you should continue doing the same kind of exercises and when is the right time to change those?

So my USP has been I've never repeated the same workout ever We have a few benchmark workouts. When we used to do CrossFit, there were some benchmark workouts which would test your strength or speed or power or whatever. But besides that, every workout has been completely different. So there is structure.

Monday is push, Tuesday is pull, Wednesday is legs. That structure is there. Plus, the structure is there that this week, we're going to be doing more volume.

This week, we're probably going to be doing 8 to 10 reps, but heavy weight. This week, we're going to be doing giant sets. But every single workout will be completely different.

You'll never repeat the same workout ever again. That is just to create the variety in the workout? See, exercises can be the same.

I mean, the movements can be the same. But the permutations, the combinations... are all completely different. And how about the movements, like the real exercise that they are doing? I keep changing them.

Again, depending on certain people are very well coordinated. So if you give them a few different exercises which require a little coordination, they are able to do it. Some people are not so well coordinated, so for them you will keep the exercises a little bit more simple. Simpler and same.

Correct. Simpler and same. In general... All my exercises are very simple. I mean, if you think about it, when Animal made the body, in the pumping iron picture, there was only one pull down.

There was no grip or anything like that. There was only one grip and he made the body on that. He did the pull ups and push ups.

He didn't do any thrusters on the Boso ball, nor did he do any squats on the Boso ball. Don't start on that. I don't understand. Why do people do this?

So understanding your client, understanding your goal, understanding the purpose will help you in the right direction of putting the right exercise forward. True. If you are playing a sport or preparing for a role where you have to balance on the skateboard, then you... Swiss ball use karoge, apne balance ko better karne ke liye. But agar us cheez ki aapko life mein zarurat nahi hai, aur aapko sir balance pe kaam karna hai, then you'll just do ek padasana.

You'll even probably just stand on an uneven ground. That is enough to trigger the balance aspect in your fitness. You don't need to make it complicated and complex.

That is my belief, that keep it simple. So even with all the exercises, all the plans, I try to keep it as simple as possible. Because when it's simple, you'll be able to perform it better. You'll be able to put the right kind of intensity in your workout. You'll be able to see the results much faster.

I have experienced it. When you don't understand the movement, you're like, just forget about it. And I've experienced that with clients also very early on in my career.

Because these are things you learn as you... grow in the profession. You think everybody can do it, but everybody can't do a certain movement.

And if they can't do it, they get demotivated and they don't want to train, they don't want to come to the gym. You'll end up losing a client. That happens a lot of times. Yeah. So just give people something simple to do.

Something that does not require them to use too much of their mind. Just enough that I'm doing bicep, I'm feeling it on the bus. I don't have to worry about how I'm standing, where my other arm is.

So try to keep it as simple for them as possible. Since you've also been training Amitabh Bachchan, what differently you do with him because he's like a senior person. So any tips for people like who are above 60, he's above 80. But tips for senior people like how...

can they keep themselves fit? He don't do anything differently besides keeping the intensity low. He still does one hour of training with me, then he does 30 to 40 minutes of Pranayam with Vrinda.

Either sometimes before or sometimes after the training. What kind of training, what kind of workout? Chest, back, bench press, seated rows, biceps, everything. So he's got the machines. Very few movements we do more freehand, like bicep.

Otherwise, the machines work perfectly for him. But we train everything. So every day we do the full body. 2 sets, 10 reps, depending on how he's feeling.

If he's had a tiring day, then just maybe one set. If he's feeling good, then maybe two sets. And I let him decide that. So I tell him, I said, sir, if you're feeling great, do one more set.

I'm not feeling so good, just do one set. And he does, but he does religiously and the amazing thing about him is that he's got his routine set. He doesn't want any change.

See, because for him, at this point, it is all about health. It is about wellness. It is not about the aesthetics.

People also need to understand whether you're 60, 80 or 20, aesthetics is a byproduct of how you train and how you eat. It will happen. By this time, by this age, you have already developed your aesthetics. Now is the time to focus on the overall wellness. Correct.

And I mean, it's not that he's doing, I mean, even we've all seen Kalki or going to see Kalki. He's playing, he's doing his action in it. It's not like he has to show off his body or anything.

I mean, he's Mr. Bachchan. He doesn't need to show off his body, but he needs to be fit. He understands the importance of. being able to move and having being fit in the joints being fit to be walking around even doing the basic stunts he needs to be there that's what sets him apart and still being a great actor at the age of it he's 83 years his acting is of course next level i mean no i'm talking about the discipline and routines like following vinda knows him i mean vinda has known him for more than 20 22 almost 24 years so she's the one who introduced me to mr bachchan you and said that and it was amazing of him to even say that okay yes i don't mind come from tomorrow let's train let's see so if mr bachchan is doing it at this age like if he's still doing bench presses and whatnot then i mean our parents or grandparents we are very sensitive about them the muscles it's a very good saying either you use it or you lose it muscle is not going to be with you Because anyways after the age of 35 or 40 If you don't train Every year You already start losing a little bit of muscle Till the day you are alive If you don't train So the only way to keep your muscles from wasting away Is that you train And people don't understand this In old age One of the biggest causes of death is falling When old people fall Hips, knees, ankles When they get injured Or they do to get them repaired or to heal them takes a lot of time and a lot of the times when they are in the hospital treating them they end up getting something else so muscle has a very important aspect in it in our muscles there are two, one fast twitch and one slow twitch muscle fibers slow twitch fibers are responsible for strength, fast twitch are responsible for explosiveness and power, for moving really quick so when you fall, to be able to move really quick and balance yourself You need good fast twitch fibers. So you need to train a little bit more speed, a little bit more power.

And even when you're doing normal training, they're anyways getting worked. And then once you step to break that fall, to balance, to hold your body from falling, you need the slow twitch fibers. So if you're 40, 50 or whatever it is, don't train for anything else.

Just train so that you don't fall. That is super, super important because we all... know people, we've known people, nannies, dadis, whoever, that when they've fallen, it's very painful and it takes them a very long time to recover.

And some people don't even make it. So for old people, I would probably say that this should be your biggest concern and don't train for anything else. Just train so that you don't end up falling. And even if you fall, at least the muscles are strong enough to help you. not get injured in a very drastic way.

Very, very important, actually. Super important. I can't think of anything else.

If people ask me fitness, I would say fitness for me is being able to grow old without any dependence and be able to just at least go to the toilet by myself. I think that everybody wants. Absolutely.

Should want. Absolutely. In a nutshell.

In a nutshell. Yeah. So we'll close this conversation with a quick rapid fire. So these are. Very quick questions and maybe just one word or a one-line answer.

Morning workout or evening workout? Morning. Free weights or machines?

Both. Okay. Most effective cardio? Burpees. Burpees.

Oh, they are killer. Ranbir or Jack Lee? Ranbir or Jack Lee? Both.

Pick one. Skip. Preferred workout music genre? I know that you have a long answer to this.

Indian chants. Indian chants? But why did you say that you should reach to a level wherein you are not listening to the music?

The point is that when you're working out, you want to focus on the muscle. So if you're being distracted by the music that you're listening to, then you're not able to focus on every single rep and the muscle that you're using. So you should feel the muscle being engaged. Correct.

So just from the no distraction perspective. I think in that case, this genre must really help because... No, but it's still music, so it's still a little bit distracting.

So I'd rather not listen to anything and just focus. on the muscle. Okay.

Okay. Good. Nice answer. And best exercise to improve posture? Overhead squats.

Overhead squats. Okay. So where you basically just hold a broomstick, just hold a PVC pipe or a broomstick above your head.

And do the squats. And just do the squats. So that helps you elongate the spine, bring your shoulders in a better position, help with your shoulder stability, shoulder balance, your core strength. So your entire body is being engaged.

Entire body is working because you're holding the weight above your head. Okay. So let's close it with the biggest fitness myth that you've come across. I would probably choose two.

One is that women need to train differently to men. That's a myth. But if you're not losing weight, just keep dropping on calories or go in a further deficit.

That's a myth. Perfect. Great. Amazing.

I loved it. I hope you enjoyed it too. Yes, yes, yes. I did. So I hope that you found today's podcast very fruitful.

And which is the one thing that you haven't learned today? Do comment and tell us. And we will keep bringing more such podcasts on this channel. So if you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, then subscribe. See you in the next podcast.

Till then, fit raho, hit raho.