How to be a Rockstar in 16 weeks!

Wondering how that will happen? Well, my Trainer Manav will make me one! The funda is to do more weights and less cardio. Which is the opposite of what I used to do!

Cardio is a lighter workout and you can be consistent with it almost daily. So I used to do quite a bit of 'cardio' before I began weight training.

Now I weight train daily for 15 minutes and twice a week, for 40 minutes. I'm on a 16-week programme and I'm already feeling fitter and stronger.

But weight training while you are shooting is tough as you have to work for the rest of the day and it takes up a lot of your energy.

The first week, you condition the body so it gets used to weights. The second week, you 'step' into the weight training routine, not jump into it!

I like to cycle, actually I just like to sit! Cycling is better for your joints over a longer period of time. And it's a much safer way of doing cardio, which I do mostly as a warm-up or a cool down.

So what motivates me? Motivation, for me, is just my imagination of myself...of what I want to be and how I want to look after that programme.

Most of the films I'm doing require a specific look and that look is to 'look your best'! I thought I was really looking my best because I was overworking myself quite a bit last year.

I was shooting constantly. But now I've taken time off for myself, to look at scripts and concentrate on my body.

Part of the 16-week programme (in which time my Trainer Manav will turn me into a Rockstar!) is also eating right.

Manav and my Dietitian Anjum say 50 per cent is what you do and 50 per cent is what you eat and when.

So I'm not giving in to temptation. I'm avoiding sweets, I'm being a really good boy. I eat only healthy stuff...nothing fried.

In school, I was heavily into sports. I used to play a lot of football, cricket and volleyball, so I was always athletic and fit.

But now I'm looking at building a bit of good, lean muscle. You can be fit with the six-pack or without the six-pack. It's the amount of body-fat level that you have that counts.

What you see on screen, is not the kind of fitness levels that people have all their lives.
The kind of body-fat level that you need, to be able to show your six-pack, is six to seven, which by the doctors standard is not really healthy.

Here's a tip: Stretches are really important. If you do something wrong during your exercise, stretching fixes it.

The idea behind stretching is to hold the stretch to a certain count and never push it. Most people try to increase their flexibility by stretching. You don't need to do that.

You just have to 'hold' your maximum to a certain point and with time your maximum increases. So STRETCH, feel every repetition, feel every set you've done and you'll achieve what you want to.

I used to do yoga with Eefa Shroff, my Guruji. But I've taken a bit of a break.

I'm going to start soon as yoga is so relaxing. It feels like an hour-long massage!
Yoga increases your flexibility, is good for your entire well being and you feel all stretched.

My Fitness Mantra is simple: Shape your Will and your Body Follows. In fact, my New Year Resolution was - Watch out 2009! Here I come in my new avatar!