The workout plan
I sport two looks in the film — the bulky soldier and the lean runner. I stand 5' 9" tall and weigh 66 kilos. To bulk up, I had to gain an additional eight kg. And later, I lost 10 kilos to become 64 kg for Look 2.
What it took: I had to first correct my sleeping pattern. No late night parties. I was in bed by 10 pm and up by 5.30 am. I trained for two hours, three times a day.
Athletic training: At 6.30 am, I'd start my athletic training with coach Melwyn Crasto at Priyadarshini Park. It involved one-and-a-half hours of sprints and flexibility exercises. Because running has a neuromuscular component, I was taught drills that break the anatomy of running and help coordinate body movements. Referred to as the ABC of running, these drills isolated the phases of the gait cycle — knee lift, upper leg motion, and pushoff — and helped me become a near professional runner. The 'A's involve exercises that work on the knee drive, 'B's on leg extension and 'C's helped with pull through. When Milkha ran, his right hand would bend inwards. Crasto helped me get it right. By the end of each session, I would complete 12 sprints of 100 metres.
Functional training: After resting for six hours, it was time for functional training (working against gravity with your body weight; climbing up a rope or hanging from a height) and abdominal exercises for 1.5 hours. This ensured flexibility. I'd pack in 12 sets of ab crunches. One set included 200 repetitions, which means I did about 2,500 repetitions in all.
Weight training: At 6 pm, I'd spend two hours doing a combination of Hypertrophy Strength Training (HST) and Tabata. This was for the first six months. HST induces the fastest muscle growth over an extended period without the use of steroids. It involves increasing the load on muscles consistently with every session. This ups activity within a muscle cell, making it sensitive to incoming nutrients for repair. Every day, I'd work on my legs, back, then...
