In the city for a seminar on mental preparation, nutrition, supplements and training, celebrity trainer Kris Gethin, who has worked with the likes of Hrithik Roshan, Arjun Kapoor and John Abraham, and Muscle Mania World Champion and natural bodybuilding icon Ulisses Jr addressed a crowd of fitness enthusiasts on how they can take their game to the next level. Kris also announced that he will be opening his gym in Hyderabad soon and also launched his book Bollywood by Design, with a list of healthy Indian recipes and plans based on religion and region.
Their journey
Ulisses: I have been training for 20 years now, I am almost 40 years old, I started when I was 19. I began with the intention of putting on some weight as I was a skinny kid, so I got into training and started lifting weights.
Kris: I was into cross country motorcycle racing in my mid-20s and suffered a back injury, because of which I was depressed, put on weight and my asthma was getting worse. Then I started lifting weights and soon after, the tension in my muscle loosened up. I did a two-year course in International Health and Sports Therapy.
I worked in a cruise as a trainer and then in a gym in Australia and also started writing, and even bought a Merriam-Webster's grammar book to correct my English. After sometime came up with my own publication, Kaged Muscle. For me, fitness is a therapy.
Training and how to go about it
Training explained
Ulisses: People start training and they want to see results in weeks. Give yourself time, give it like a year or more. What I do is assess my body after every eight weeks. I just don’t want to have bulky arms or big chest, so I keep noting the change in my body and work on the muscles that are weak. I have journals dating 10 years that I used to record my body’s progress. I can train for seven days a week, but that won’t apply to everybody.
Kris: I look at Ulisses and I want to be like him — tall, dark and handsome. But that’s not how my body is; it’s stocky. So my training program is going to be a lot different than his. Also, one of the things that people get it wrong is that they keep changing their exercise every other day.
Sleep is very important in determining that. If your schedule is hectic and you aren’t sleeping well, you will require less training days because your body needs to recuperate. Hrithik Roshan, I train him five-six times a week; but John Abraham, who hardly sleeps, I work with three times in a week.
Supplements
Ulisses: This is an Achilles heel because to have a good body you need the right balance of nutrition and supplements; supplements are nothing but food in a liquid form that the body doesn’t have to break it down. When it comes to supplements, I take them when I wake up and after I work out.
Kris: The golden rule is to never miss a meal; I haven’t missed a meal in the past 16 years. Supplements are derivative of milk protein — they don’t have lactose, sugar or fat, so essentially a good component. I don’t take supplements in the morning because I hardly sleep for three hours and I eat a lot during the night; but I do have them after work out. Thanks to my time in India where I have had a lot of coconut water, I now take my supplement with a mix of coconut powder as it’s very good for you.
Ulisses: My brother was in the army, and before going into the war, they would drink this powder, which is nothing but supplements, with powder because they need that extra energy.
Kris: There is a restriction on quantity. I require 27 gm, but the maximum intake should be 30 gm per day. Intake depends on the body size and the intensity of the workout.
