Akshay Kumar’s definition of athleticism is rather simple — learn to lift your own weight before trying to lift external weights. “And that’s why lifting doesn’t give me the same thrill, or [help me acquire] the physique that I aspire to have. Power-lifting is great for some people, but it’s just not my thing,” shares the actor, inarguably among the fittest in the Indian film industry.

Lack of equipment, however, does not imply that Kumar’s routine lacks variety. In fact, within the span of one week alone, the actor, 55, practices a bunch of varied exercise formats. “I like to mix it up — from shadow-boxing, conditioning, yoga, hydrotherapy, climbing, circuit training, and anything that involves fun and movement, I do it all. There is one thing, though — when I [am on the go], I miss my parkour gym, bars and rings, where I happily swing freely.”

When he is away on his shooting schedules, Kumar makes the most of the space available to him. “If there’s a pool, I’m in it; if there’s a garden, I’m on the grass; if there’s a ground, I’ll be playing cricket and flexing for every wicket. I’ve benefited from every fitness format. I’ve thrived off learning anything I could, from sports, martial arts, stuns, and parkour, to gymnastics, and rock-climbing. I’ve tried everything, including trampolining. There’s nothing that I haven’t enjoyed and benefited from. The key is to move, love life, and respect your health.”

While he makes his routines as enjoyable as he can, even Khiladi Kumar needs guidance when it comes to his training. One of his fitness coaches, he says, always accompanies him on outdoor shoots, because “I spend a huge amount of time shooting abroad, and if I didn’t adhere to my routine, I wouldn’t be cast as a hero thereafter”. He also travels with a chef in tow, who prepares “simple, but wholesome meals”.

“There aren’t many dos and don’ts when it comes to my diet. The amount I eat depends on my training. Eating in moderation is key, and my diet is balanced. Too much of anything is bad, and no one becomes fat, or thin, if they eat in moderation. But, refined sugar will kill us all one day.”

Kumar’s Instagram news feed is punctuated with videos of his training routine at his home gym, with daughter Nitara often featuring in them as she tries her hand at his regimen. Kumar admits that when it comes to his children, he wishes to lead by example. “Monkey see, monkey do! I don’t believe in telling my kids that they have to, or need to train. Showing them how I train is enough [to motivate] them. Thankfully, they both love to train with me, or in their own [space],” says the actor, adding that he believes physical fitness should receive prominence in the Indian school curriculum.

“Starting [to train when I was] young was the best thing I could ever have done for myself, and my kids. Learning to fall, fight, and fly has helped me build the foundation to try anything. I believe sports and martial arts should be compulsory, like education is, and at every school and community centre. It is equally important, especially because our bodies need to experience everything when we are young in order to become whatever we desire when we grow older.”

The actor’s latest effort in blending his love for fashion and fitness is his recently released athleisure wear, Force IX, the designs of which draw inspiration from the aesthetics of the armed forces. “I want people to feel comfortable while pursuing their fitness journeys. Not everyone likes to train in skin-tight clothing, so, I wanted to make something that people from all walks of life could enjoy.”

Hrithik Roshan has six meals a day, most of which are protein based. The actor insists on having minimum oil in his food. His breakfast includes protein shake, four egg whites and a brown bread, while his lunch consists of 5060 grams of chicken breast along with steamed or stir-fried veggies. Throughout the day, he has eight egg whites with an interval of two hours between each meal. For dinner, it is roasted fish (salmon or sea bass) or chicken breast along with steamed or stir-fried vegetables. He has a protein shake after every workout. His cheat sheet only has chocolates - the actor sometimes nibbles on a chocolate bar at night.

Akshay Kumar has a unique way to keep himself in shipshape. The actor, who is fighting fit, stays away from carbs and gorges on special laddoos that are loaded with over 40 different herbs.

Ajay Devgn, who showed off his toned physique in Action Jackson last year, follows a strict no-carb diet. While he enjoys his intake of fish and mutton, the actor believes in organic food and includes fresh vegetables from his farm in his daily diet. He also munches on almonds at regular intervals.

Sonu Sood is another actor who takes pride in his fit body. He allows himself one chapati per meal, brown rice, vegetables and fruits. His only indulgence is egg whites - the actor has two to three of them every day.

Ranbir Kapoor is not your typical six-pack guy, but is extremely careful when it comes to his diet. RK Jr is known to start his day with caviar and a toast, and has small meals at regular intervals, preferably homemade.

Tusshar starts his mornings with oatmeal and whey protein. The actor has six meals a day, with his lunch and dinner including grilled chicken or fish and vegetable salads.

Akshay Kumar, 47, is by far the fittest man in the film industry. He leads an extremely disciplined life and is a fitness freak. Yet, after working out for the past 32 years, he admits that he still does not have more than 4-6 abs. And that is because he has never resorted to any shortcuts for building his body, as he believes in building a strong healthy, long-term body. While many stars flaunt their bodies and show off not just their 6, but even 8 and 10 packs now, for the very first time a fitness superstar breaks the myths behind building a body the wrong way. I would urge all young people, who believe in fitness, to read this story carefully. Excerpts from a conversation with Akshay, where he gives out his fitness mantra for the first time.

I DON'T TAKE ENHANCERS, STEROIDS, POWDERS OR SHAKES
Today, it has become a joke to take enhancers, powders, shakes or steroids. What about those days when you used to have whole milk, vegetables, sweet potatoes and brown rice and eat meat if you were a non-vegetarian? The muscles used to build up and be there forever. When you eat these artificial enhancers, your muscles will die within a month of not exercising. What is the point? There are actors who I know who are writing their regime, basis how many pills and what protein shake to take. You cannot. I remember a lot of people in the earlier days would eat natural food and yet their body was solid. They would take a bath in chilled water, children could take a bath with cold water and nothing used to affect them. Their whole body temperature was so good. Their immune system was so good and they would die at 90-95, unless they met with an accident. Now it is not there. Get out of eating that processed food. Don't fall prey to American marketing. Whatever your mother makes at home is the best. I usually don't go to a gym unless I am travelling and I have to, and I see how you can sell anything to a bodybuilder. Tell him that you eat this hanky and teri body ban jayegi and he will have it. Nobody is thinking. There is no science.

I DON'T EAT AFTER 6.30-7 PM IN THE EVENING
The important thing is, control your diet and food. 6.30-7 pm should be your last meal of the day. I am a Punjabi and love sweets, but after my evening meal, I don't touch sweets. Your body gets used to it. It's also written in our shastras that we should not be eating at night. And there is a scientific reason for it. We need 3-4 hours to digest what we eat. So if we eat late at night, all your body parts go to sleep, except for your stomach, that needs to keep working to digest the food that you have eaten. As a result, while your body gets rest, your poor stomach does not get as much rest as when you get up, you again need to eat. And we all know that all our problems start from our stomach. You need to ideally eat by 7 pm, so that you have given the body four hours to digest so that the stomach gets complete time to rest along with the body when you sleep. Even if you can't exercise, walk everyday and eat by 7 pm and see how it will change your life. If you feel hungry after 7 pm, eat an egg white scrambled or omelette or carrot or soup as that is easier to digest. If I have to go out for dinner, I eat only proteins, no carbs. It may sound stupid, but being a Punjabi, I have a sweet tooth so after I eat my food, I quickly go and brush. One, it is a good habit but more importantly, that little bit of sweet toothpaste gives me that little satisfaction of feeling that I have had a sweet at night.

THERE ARE NO SHORT CUTS TO BUILDING YOUR BODY
Despite practising all my life for 32 years, I still don't have more than 6 pack abs. You need to be patient, you need to experience your muscle growth. Now they just want to pump up their muscles in three months. That cannot be done without resorting to many artificial and harmful things. If your forearms are growing, experience it grow slowly, slowly, slowly. How can your body come up like a balloon in three months? I am happy that I never got tempted, as I know it is unreal. Honestly, I don't even take allopathy, not that it is bad. I prefer to take herbs or ayurvedic. I take what my mother gives me, be it haldi with milk or gargle with hot water if I have a bad throat or eat gud if I am going into a dusty terrain. When you resort to artificial means to pump up, your hormones change, you become hot-tempered, you lose your mental balance and it will also reduce your semen power, so your sex life will go for a toss.

PICK UP YOUR OWN BODY WEIGHT OVER WEIGHTS IN THE GYM
I don't pick up weights at all. At the same time, picking up weights is not bad. It is good, but I have always believed in picking up my own body weight. I believe in picking up myself, in swinging and climbing trees, just as we did when we were children. However, people who believe in body building, it is not bad, but don't eat powders and shakes. Also, be careful of what kind of weight and how much weight you are picking up, so that it does not harm your back. You need a proper instructor to guide you. Don't mess with God's created body.

TAKE A PROTEIN BAR OR SHAKE ONLY UNDER EMERGENCY WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO NATURAL PROTEIN
Everybody requires a certain amount of protein. For instance, I am 80 kilos and require 80 grams of protein. One egg can give me only 3 grams of protein. So I have to eat 10-15 eggs and chicken and other foods to consume the protein I need. I eat every three hours and I try and consume, but sometimes I don't succeed. And while I do not ever take a protein shake, if sometimes you have to take a protein bar or shake, take it, but only once in a while, not everyday. And that too, only when you actually cannot find something natural. Don't make it a habit. Don't go for shortcuts. Don't be lazy.

I DON'T EAT THINGS MADE IN A LAB
Eat brown rice. It is so good for muscles as it is good carb. Eat walnuts, cranberries, almond, milk, meat. Avoid processed foods. I eat anything that is produced on earth.

IF YOU SMOKE, YOU CANNOT BUILD YOUR BODY
If you smoke, your lungs go for a toss. What do you require in a workout? You require stamina. And if you smoke, you will not have stamina as well as you destroy your lungs forever. I get shocked when I see bodybuilders who are smokers. It tells me what a shortcut body they have made and how they have made it. I have never smoked in my life.

TO BUILD 8 PACK ABS, I WOULD NEED TO LEAVE WORK FOR THREE YEARS AND DO JUST THAT, OTHERWISE IT IS NOT POSSIBLE
If I need to build 8 packs, I will need to leave my job and concentrate on only building my body and work out for four hours everyday for three years and controlling my diet, otherwise it is not possible. If you have 8 packs any other way, it means that you have taken shit in your body, be it through supplements, muscle enhancers, recovery shakes or growth hormone shots. It means that you have become bigger, stronger, faster in the most harmful way imaginable. I repeat, it is going to harm a lot of people. I hope people read this, trust it and go the natural way. I have never had more than 6 packs. I don't get them. I know training is hard, muscles hurt and goals take longer to reach, but when you are training naturally that is the best way. You have to understand that. What people are doing is cheating and getting you sucked into a multi-billion dollar franchise where they are teaching you how to build a fake body. I have friends and people in my industry, who are going crazy and people following them, as it is the easy way out. But there is no substitute for hard work.

Watch the 'Lazar Novovic Dear Hard Work' video on YouTube to see the principle Akshay Kumar has followed all his life. Talking about Lazar, Akshay says, “He only picks up his own body weight. You will see that after doing so much, he has just 6 abs and not more. I challenge anyone who has 8 packs with steroids, to do what Lazar is doing in this video.“