Humble Generous Humanitarian - Salman Khan

Perfect physique, humility, king of fitness and a humanitarian at heart is the best brief description of Salman Khan. Fans wait eagerly in every film of his, for Bhai to take off his shirt and flaunt his flawless body. A big personality with a simple heart! Here’s a sneak peek into Bhai’s fitness secrets, diet plan and dedication in taking care of himself and the people around him.

Sport is my Cardio! A good game of cricket with his film crew post shoot, wins over the boring treadmill. From “Prem” we knew in Maine Pyaar Kiya”, to “Sultan”, now “Bharat”, he speaks about his transformations and how a little hard work and a great attitude can make you invincible. Salman Khan opens up in an intimate conversation and takes us back to his old-school roots - lifting tyres and battling ropes.

A BIG PERSONALITY WITH A SIMPLE HEART! HERE’S A SNEAK PEEK INTO BHAI’S FITNESS SECRETS, DIET PLAN AND DEDICATION IN TAKING CARE OF HIMSELF AND THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM.

We’ve all heard it a billion times; starting from your colleagues, to almost everyone from the film fraternity, “A day doesn’t go by without Salman Khan not going to the gym” How do you motivate yourself to go to the gym every day?

That’s true! At first, we used to look up to our seniors for inspiration, because everybody was so fit and it was really difficult competing with them. Now, we’ve reached the senior position and its difficult competing with our juniors now. Our metabolic rate slows down and yes, the intensity of working out And training time has gone-up that much more too. It used to take about 4 - 5 days of only serious training to get fit. But, now, it takes about 4 - 5 months to get in form.
Instead of doing boring cardio, I prefer playing a sport like cricket with my entire team/film crew on the set itself. And the way I play cricket is, no one is allowed to be “Shoaib Akhtar”. The 5 bowlers bowling, non-stop, I’m running, whether, you touch the ball, or, not, you’ve got to run! So, we keep running in between the wickets, for about an hour and more, then, I bowl for an hour. It’s an encore of running whether you hit the ball, or not, you still run.
So, the other guys will get out ”One drop, catch-out”, full toss catch out, if the ball, if it goes outside the set, he’s not only out but, he has to get the ball as well. If one gets stumped out, he is out another will replace him, so if you’re playing then, you plan on not getting out. When he gets out, that means he’s not playing cricket, he’s doing cardio. And then now we have our own gym and our equipment, so, we really can’t afford to be unfit.

As a superstar you had to transform mentally and physically numerous times from “Maine Pyaar Kiya” to now “Bharat” what is your toughest transformation like and how did you cope?

For Maine Pyaar Kiya, my weight was 56- 58 kilos. It was really really tough putting on that weight. For 8- 10 years the struggle was just to put on weight, to bulk up and look beefier, so i used to eat just about anything. I remember on the sets of Maine Pyaar Kiya, I used to eat about “30 rotis” and then bananas, and I never used to put on weight. But, now, I smell food and I put on weight. It’s the extreme opposite now. The struggle is putting on weight and then constantly cutting down. Both the journeys have been hard.
And for Sultan, I played a younger character and then slowly transitioning into the older character quickly. We don’t shoot everything in one go, there’s a time duration of 15 days or more and this is when it gets difficult. Being able to put on 15 kilos and then losing it while playing a different age group for my character, it gets quite tough. And now for Bharat too. It can be a bit painful too for the body, the shoulder gives trouble, then the back gives trouble but still need to “keep on, keeping on”. So, it’s about a good 18 - 20 hours of work every day, it’s hectic.

What are some of the most common mistakes we make while working out?

First is warm-up. Usually, people make the mistake of showing off in the gym, by lifting heavy, without warming-up! No warm up, wrong form, you’re going to get injured. And now the whole thing of cross fit. Cross fit, is a lot of injuries. I mean, I haven’t seen anyone who’s doing cross fit and isn’t injured himself. But, everyone is into the new stuff now, “Cross Fit” but I’m not. I’m into the same old. Like back in the days, we didn’t have any gym or equipment, so, we used to workout with tyres, buckets and ropes. Now, scientifically they made equipment so, you don’t have any injuries and stuff like that. Nowadays, people prefer the gym over enjoying themselves. I would rather workout with tyres, buckets, ropes and more.
There are so many ways to enjoy yourself and “work-out”, while doing it right. Only if you’ve been doing cross fit since you’re a child, its fine. Doing it all of a sudden, could be dangerous and you can also get injured. You see so many people who have ligament tears, so, “your form is really important”. As well as, cooling down and stretching.
Almost 80 % of staying fit depends on your diet. You are what you eat. Basically its 1.5 hours working out in the gym but the actual workout is outside the gym. If your diet is correct And you have a disciplined life, then you wouldn’t spend more than one hour in the gym.

As you said earlier you are what you eat. On a broad spectrum what does your diet consist of?

Everything! I, eat everything. My mother is my dietician And whatever she’s cooks, I eat it. I don’t eat out that much. A lot of people prefer to avoid carbs but, since my work involves so many things such as dancing, acting and meeting people, avoiding carbs makes you lethargic and lazy. I do the opposite, I take about 2 tablespoons of rice and eat it with whichever protein I like. So, it’s like a balanced diet, so none of it is steamed, it’s purely rich “home food” and there’s nothing like it. I don’t mind spending an extra 20 minutes in the gym after. Best way to burn those calories is by doing cardio, before breakfast and after dinner. You should also burn what you eat, both times. If you don’t work out after dinner you can work out in the morning and then after dinner, just take your phone and keep walking and talk. So, when you’re sleeping your body is burning about 3,000 calories.

You’re so graceful, helpful and a giver at heart. You grow And let people grow with you. How do you deal with people trying to take advantage of you?

When I was trying to grow, people let me grow. I was given a chance then, and I think everyone deserves a chance. I’m very grateful to the people who believed in me when I was just starting out as an actor. Yes, people do take advantage at times and think I’m an idiot but, I let it go. This journey so far has been good but testing. Just like in school, while we stood on the line we had to keep one arm distance. I would be careful in giving them a 3rd or 4th chance and wouldn’t trust them anymore. But, I wouldn’t break ties over it though.

You have great skin, it just glows. What is your skincare routine, or, are you genetically blessed?

There is no skincare routine at all. I’m genetically blessed with good skin, it’s all thanks to my Mom and Dad.

Who do you think in the film industry is as fit as an athlete?

I think in girls, Katrina is very fit. Jackie (Jacqueline Fernandez) both of them are as fit as athletes.
And in guys, the whole young generation like Tiger, Varun, Ranveer, Ayush, Suraj and now Zaheer. All of these guys are really fit, they just don’t do body building, they are healthy fit. They play sports, in terms of stamina, they’ve been trained on everything from horse riding to martial arts. So, there’s a bit of stretching, kicking and more, so the fitness part comes in a lot.

You and your siblings share such a beautiful bond with your father. So, what is that one thing that you would like to confess to your dad for father’s day?

He knows just about everything. I don’t think I have anything left to confess. But, one thing me and all my siblings can agree on is, Father’s Day is not just one day, it’s every day. And so is Mother’s Day. Every day is special!

Being human has made such a phenomenal change from helping children in need to educating them. Now, you have another venture known as “Being Fit” where do you see “Being Human” 5 years from now?

So, basically down the line, people shouldn’t know who started the brand Being Human. Being Human should be much above Salman Khan. I want the passion to live on. Now we have the gym, the e-cycles, and the equipment. Unfortunately, we aren’t getting the funding we need, to help more people in need. So, we collect and donate money from all of these ventures into the trust, so we don’t need to ask. We survive, we struggle but, we do whatever we can to sustain Being Human.

Women feel very safe around you. But, there are so many men who don’t give the same vibe as you. So what’s your message to those men?

My message is not to the men but to the women. STAY AWAY from those kind of men!

What is that one home remedy that you and your family swear by?

It’s basically a thought. Whatever bad thing you are doing, cut it down and whatever good you are doing, increase that!