The Training

Spending a total of 13 months on a strict training regime of 3 hours per day and trained by Satyajit Chaurasia, Aamir not only packed on pounds of muscle mass but his arms grew from 12 inches to 16 inches and his chest expanded from a measley 38 inches to a whopping 44 inches. Wow!

With Aamir stressing the importance of sleep (atleast 8 hours per day) and a strict 40-40-20 (carbohydrate-protein-fat) diet the transformation was nothing short of exceptional.

For all of you Indians out there this should serve as not only inspiration but excitement at the possiblity of what good nutrtion, hardwork and lifting weights can do for you.

Check out the pictures and videos below for full details of his workout.

More Aamir Khan Ghajini Pictures

Ghajini Workout Videos

These are the official videos from his 13 month training period showing not only the training he underwent but loads of before and after pictures and specific details and comments from the actor himself.

You see no amount of hitting the gym or cardio work is going to kick it if your nutrition and food intake isn’t right. Working out how to eat for lean muscle mass gains is one of the most important aspects of bodybuilding however it’s also one of the most commonly misunderstood, so here’s a breakdown of how it works and what you should be aiming for.

5-6 Smaller Meals Per Day

Firstly if you’re still consuming your meals in 3 sittings (or even worse 1-2 sittings) you’ve got to stop. Say goodbye to old habits and start eating 5-6 smaller meals per day. Timing is key so sit down and plan your day from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. Split your day into even sized blocks and consume your meals on time.

You should be eating every 2-3 hours and the meal portions should be of a moderate size. Not too small but not too large. The trick here is to never let your body go hungry, because if you do there’s a high chance you may binge out on a high sugar soda or even worse a twinky!.

Portion Size

Most people I train are very quick to grasp the 5-6 meals per day concept. However this doesn’t seem to apply to the problems associated with portion size. Your meal sizes need to be right otherwise you may simply be eating too many calories or even worse not getting enough.

Most nutritionists and bodybuilders work on the basic principle that each meal consist of a fist sized portion of carbs and an equal fist sized portion of protein. If you combine this with some water (always drink plenty of water) and 2-3 almonds or a half teaspoon of olive oil for your fat quota and you have a pretty balanced meal. The variety of food available to you is huge however there are certain types of carbs and fats you need to avoid. We’ll look at that next.

Bad Carbs

If you’ve got the above locked down you’re doing great but to get ripped, thick edgy muscles you need to get your carbs right. White bread, white rice, white anything has to go out the window. Replace these with good carbs, wholemeal bread, potatoes, brown rice, grains and fibre filled vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, beetroot and the rest of natures glory. Not only are these carbs slow release but they’re packed with healthy nutrients our body needs.

I’m always amazed to see people eating 6 times per day and even getting the portion sizes right but then getting the types of carbs wrong. I can’t stress how important it is to get the carbs right and the best way to figure out if a product is suitable for your needs is to read the nutrition label on the back.

Flip over the packaging and look at the carbohydrate stats, most products will list the overall grams of carbohydrates per 100g as well as the infamous “Of Which Sugars” heading. This heading is criticial because those sugary carbs are pretty much fat once they hit the body. We don’t need those fats and a simple test to see if you can eat the item in question is if it carries more than 10g of sugary carbs per 100g you gotta ditch it.

If you think this is being too picky. Think again, we had a client who for years couldn’t achieve the look he wanted until he fine tuned his carbs. That was the only thing he changed and he went from a bloated looking muscular belly to a ripped tight six pack body.

Bad Fats

Fats are evil right ? Well they are and then again they’re not. The simple fact is that we need fats for many of our digestive and cell processing capabilities. Fat’s are essential but we just need to strip out certain types of fats. Again a quick look at the back of a food product can help. Saturated fats are the real evil and if your product has over 10g per 100g of saturated fat then you’re better off chucking it in the bin.

For my own training I use almonds, olive oil and peanut butter to bridge the fat levels. Olive oil especially is great for your heart, joints and many other bodily functions and all you need is a 1/4-1/2 teaspoon mixed into your salad, or even cooked meat. For example one of my favourite meals is grabbing two fillets of salmon and lightly frying them in 1/4 teaspoon of olive oil. A Tasty meal with great protein content and filled with Omega 3 oils for a health heart. Who said eating for health had to be disgusting!

Final Words

Eating correct is essential for any type of body transformation and if you follow the above tips there’s no reason why you can’t achieve your goals for a leaner, healthier, more muscular body. Just get rid of those sugars man! and don’t forget to keep checking those food wrappers, it’s a good habit and one that you’ll thank me for afterwards.

Magic pill or serious training, you decide by checking out an interview with him shortly after the release of the movie Blade Trinity.

Ryan Reynolds Workout Interview

The question has come up a lot, so I’m gonna give you the detailed version. The first time I lifted a barbell for BLADE was the end of July, 2003. I had to be ready to go by mid December, however when we shot the scenes in question it was January, 2004, so, basically, 5 months.

The Basic Nutrition

The Diet: I ate something pretty much every 2-3 hours, never “stuffing” myself, but never letting myself get hungry. Tons of water throughout the day.

Breakfast - 1/2 cup egg whites and 2 eggs. Oatmeal - no sugar, a *protein bar 2-3 hours later. (the best oatmeal is this stuff called McCann’s Steel Cut Oatmeal. It takes about a half hour to cook, but you just make enough to last a couple weeks. add apple sauce and cinnamon to improve the taste.)

Lunch - Chicken and veggies/brown rice. a *protein bar 2-3 hours later.

Dinner - Fish or chicken with salad and vegetables. balsamic vinegar for dressing. couple more Optimum Whey Protein Shakes throughout the night and right before bed.

A Typical Days Food

Typical Diet

Breakfast - 2 eggs, some “good” fat like a spoon of almond butter or slice of avocado, and 1 cup of oatmeal with applesauce

Mid Morning Snack - Protein bar

Lunch - Albacore tuna wrap or chicken and salad

Mid Afternoon Snack - Protein shake (whey and water), protein bar, or apple and almonds

Dinner - Broiled fish or chicken, brown rice, vegetables, and salad

Evening Snack - Protein shake

No Carbs At Night

While eating a protein/carb mix every 2 hours all day, I’d wind up having about 8 - 10 “tiny” meals instead of 3 big meals over the course of a day. No carbs at night, but plenty during the day. This kind of diet kept my blood sugar even and gave me the requisite energy needed for the physicality of the role.

“Never do any of that carb-starve crap,” Reynolds says. Instead, watch the clock. He ate most of his carbohydrates post-workout, and none after 8 p.m

The Trainer

My trainer (and Jessica Biel’s) was a guy named Darren Chapman. He’s one of the most inspiring individuals I’ve ever met. A member of the UK’s Olympic bobsled team, he’s as adept at the nutritional training as he is the physical training. Also, a great guy that doesn’t mind me calling him every swear word ever heard in any language. He showed me how important the process of visualization is. Visualizing the transformation I had to make, I believe was key to making it happen. With this information, I began training as though preparing for the olympics.

The Workouts

Workouts were about 2-3 hours. Generally starting off with around 500 - 1000 sit-ups. Then heavy weights for bulk. I’m a pretty scrawny guy so we cut cardio entirely and just focused on bulking up. Weight training involved a variety of exercises too numerous to mention at reps of about 8-12, for 6 days a week. After the first week I was longing for the sweet release of death, but soon enough got really into it.

I’d work one body part per day, as in: chest day, back day, shoulder day, leg day, with arms mixed in. Don’t know what I was benching. I remember it wasn’t anything to brag about.

Ab Exercises First

“If you hate your workout, you’re not going to do it,” explains Reynolds. Customize your fitness plan to meet your needs. He found it “meditative” to do ab exercises first instead of last.

Abs - Lower abs are the hardest muscle to develop. Most males store their fat in the lower abdomen. The trainer had me using one of those exercise balls between my legs, lifting up and down, using my arms to anchor myself. I’d also put a 15 pound dumb-bell between my feet, and do leg raises while lying on the ground, also, any library will have an exercise book filled with illustrations of ab workouts.

The Suppliments

I gained a lot more muscle mass when I went on creatine,” says Reynolds. He also took L-glutamine, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), whey, and a multivitamin.

The main thing I learned about this whole process is how important food is. Transforming your body quickly is a genetic ability, but can also be traumatic. Eating properly is 80% of the equation. Most people think it’s the other way around.

I learned that 80% of building muscle is diet. We got the food down to a science, making sure I was getting enough calories to gain mass, but not fat. A lot of oatmeal, eggs, protein bars for snacks, chicken, fish or steak for dinner.

I ate a lot of small meals all day long. Lots of protein, but plenty of carbs, too. I really don’t believe in that no-carb stuff. It’s probably not good for you and it makes you pretty cranky.

Still Working Out

When asked on whether he’s maintained his physique, “No way! It was nice to be able to take a break. But just as I’d gotten used to being lazy again and sitting on my ass all day, we had to re-shoot some scenes, so they sent me back into the gym.

I’m glad, though, because I ended up finding this nice gray area, where I still work out four or five times a week and enjoy it, but it’s not to that extreme level.”

Muscle & Fitness Magazine Interview

With Ryan possessing the best abs in the business, in a recent interview in Muscle & Fitness Magazine Ryan’s Trainer was quizzed about his great looking six pack.

Ryan Reynolds - It’s ridiculous. “Muscle and Fitness” magazine was interviewing our trainer.

Jessica Biel - They wanted to do a story on our training. They said, “Well, we’re really interested in Jessica but we’re just not so sure about Ryan because of the ab implants.”

Ryan Reynolds - They thought it was just prosthetics on my stomach!

David Goyer - He’s got like an 18-pack instead of a 6-pack.

Ryan Reynolds - It’s true. They didn’t believe it.

Jessica Biel - They really thought he had ab implants.

So There You Go

If you ever wanted to know how he did it, then there’s the plan all layed out for you. Of course following that plan word for word probably won’t work for everyone you have to mix and match and figure out what works best for you. Certainly training 6 days per week is a tough ordeal if you have to work full time and get a full nights rest, but for those that are dedicated it’s certainly possible.

Oh and check out this cool video interview.

Don’t Get Intimidated

To say that stepping onto the gym floor for the first time can be a little intimidating is abit of an under statement. The amount of people who give up due to simply seeing all of those already pumped up giants lifting pounds and pounds of weight can itself make you wonder why you’re there in the first place. A feeling of stepping in too deep may creep into your mind and very soon after emptying out on all your initial enthusiasm you find yourself dissappearing from the gym for good.

Now despite the dismal picture I’ve painted above, don’t fret because help is at hand, and the reason I say this is because conquering the first few days (or weeks) of your gym experience is all about being in a strong mental state and knowing what you’re going there for.

You’re new to weight lifting, you have no muscle, you have nothing to be proud of. Accept that within your mind and accept that every single Hulk lookalike you see on the gym floor began exactly where you are. Starting with a clean mental state and accepting you have everything to gain (because you have nothing to begin with) is exactly how you’ll get in touch with the iron at the gym.

Week 1-2 - Keep Things Simple

When starting out you need to keep things simple. Depending on your background the objective of the first few days is to a) familiarise yourself with the equipment and exercises b) to build up some basic stamina and strength so that you develop a strong platform to launch your bodybuilding legacy!

Go into the gym, head over to the cardio section and spend 5-10 minutes on the bike, rower or stepper. Do this confidently, and really warm up your body parts so that you’re ready to hit the weights area.

Once you’re warmed up, head over to the weights section and work out whatever you’ve decided to work out. Aim to do 1 warm up set, low resistance (in many cases this could just be the bar with no weights) and then hit 3 sets of 10-15 reps on your specific exercise.

The objective in your early days is not to lift heavy but to lift with some resistance. Don’t over do yourself and lift within your limits. Remember you’re new and there’s nothing more unsightly for experienced bodybuilders than seeing a newbie lifting more than his muscles can handle.

In most cases when someone is new, and they’re trying to lift with good form and technique you’ll actually get the more experienced trainers coming over and giving you tips or advice. That’s a definite bonus if you intend to keep coming to the gym.

Week 3-6 - Step Things Up A Little

Hopefully you’ve passed your first two weeks, you’re getting comfortable with the people and surroundings in your gym and you may even have seen some small improvements in shape and or size. The point is you’re in the gym and you’re ready to get going.

My first tip here is not to forget the original tips given to you in weeks 1-2. None of those ever get old so stick to them however, your first 2 weeks of muscle soreness and development have earnt you the right to step up your training. Since you’re new to training you’ll probably be on a high as you’ve seen constant strength and body improvements. Use that high to step up your routine and increase the weights you were lifting by 10-20%.

I would suggest dropping the rep count to around 10 now but sticking to your 1 warmup set and 3 workout sets routine. Depending on the amount of days you’re hitting the gym try to hit 1-2 body parts per session and focus on lifting smoothly and strongly.

Read, Read, Read, Then Try

If you’ve gotten this far and managed to make it through to week 6 then you’re no longer a newbie in the gym. You’ll have probably made some friends by now and people won’t be staring at you anymore, since you’re a familiar face, so keep going and don’t give up.

The only last tip I always give newbies is to start reading about the sport you’re getting invovled in. Hopefully you were already doing this but keep doing it, because you’re going to need it. The way you workout in the early weeks is simple, your body wasn’t used to any resistance work so even the light/medium resistance you’ve been applying over the last few weeks has delivered massive changes to your bodies exterior.

This is good but don’t expect the changes to keep coming. It’s at this point you need to accept that the first few weeks your body was nice to you, but afterwards prepare to see it’s stubborn side. The rate at which your biceps have grown or your calves have exploded won’t continue. Your bodies going to be more stubborn going forward so prepare to accept that, and the only way you’re going to combat that is reading about how others have tackled certain problems and trying them out on yourself.

You see bodybuilding is and always will be a game of personal will power and experimentation. Everybodies different and you hold the key to unlocking your development. Once you have the key it’s a matter of discipline and execution but until you figure your body out, you better keep reading and experimenting.

Final Words

Pick up a subscription to a monthly bodybuilding or fitness magazine or even better head over to bodybuilding.com, there forums and community are a gold mine full of inspirational pictures and articles. If you ever lose hope head over to the bodyspace profiles on bodybuilding.com for an instant motivational chargeup. Good luck!

No one can do the training for you, no one can force you to train or even make you stick to your training schedule. Putting yourself up to the task of keeping your body running at peak performance by closely following a diet and general lifestyle complimentary to bodybuilding is also up to you. There are no best friends, family or relatives you can send to the gym to do your benching and squatting so in that respect we have to acknowledge this is a one man game.

A bodybuilder’s discipline shows both in his training intensity and consistancy. Thus, every training hour has to be well used; if possible, every single minute you spend at the gym has to be working in your favour. And that being a fact of life, your greatest motivation will always have to come from yourself. However despite the nature of the sport being an individual one it doesn’t mean that you have to BE alone every time you do it.

Teamwork

Training with a partner is not only completely sportsmanlike, but also recommendable and sometimes even necessary. There is of course no right way to train and some do prefer to do it alone but there are also many who claim partnership and teamwork are essential parts of growing and developing in your sport (be it an individual one).

It’s evident there are and always have been a vast number of bodybuilders who rely on a trusted partner to help them in the performance of specific routines. In fact having a training partner whose experience at the gym exceeds your own can prove to be extremely helpful, particularly in the early stages of a career in bodybuilding.

The elder’s guide and regulation can act not only as a discipline backup in those times the less experienced think of quitting during the middle of a given set but can and will provide an inspirational framework for the newcomer. A partner, coach, teacher, friend can correct bad training posture, poor technique and other problems that you yourself could never bare witness too. Teaming up with a partner if done correctly could well be the best thing you’ve ever done.

Leveling Up

Both in medium and advanced bodybuilding workouts, a training partner can become essential to correct routine development as well as helping the trainer to overcome his own standards by giving some extra muscle as an aid for getting those last repetitions finished in a proper way.

Usually, training with a partner also means that you don’t find the time to “relax” as the session’s work-out rhythm can be constant and intense. Exchanging and encouraging words as a sort of “stamina lever” in order to get the utmost benefit from their efforts and time in the gym can really be a huge benefit.

Professional bodybuilder and actual Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman, for one is a faithful example of fructiferous training teamwork, having not one, but three exercise collaborators: amateurs Gus Carter and Curtis Fails and professional female bodybuilder Vickie Gates, whom recently won the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic contest. Oh and by the way Schwarzenegger himself has always been in favor of using teamwork whenever the specific need for it may arise.

A Partner Is An Equal

One thing to have in mind whenever choosing a training partner despite their level of experience is to pick someone whose weightlifting routine doesn’t greatly exceed yours in terms of how much weight they’re lifting.

Working out alongside a partner who’s doing similar weight levels to you not only makes teaming up more fruitful but helps you to share and work through certain sticking points in your training.

3 Tips For A Good Training Partnership

1. Be Mindful Of Your Goals - So you’re training with an immediate goal and a long-term goal. So is your training partner! Chances are, long term goals won’t get anywhere in the way of your partnerships. But if you’re aiming for say, cuts, and you’re training partner’s aiming for power in the immediate, there might be a conflict. Always get immediate goals discussed and cleared up before getting into a shared workout session.

   That means you’ll both know which steps, reps and how much weight goes where and when. Agreeing on specific goals will strengthen the partnership and give you complete certitude of where you want to go, and how.

2. Know Your Limits, And Stick To Them - Even though your training partner’s task (as yours is to him) is to encourage and give you that extra motivation that’ll make every rep and session more fruitful, there’s always the fear of appearing somehow weaker or looking diminished when you see your partner recovering from daily body stress a little faster than you do.

   You must not let such feelings get to you because every human has his/her own rhythm, and there’s always someone who’ll take less time than you to regain their forces. The point here is know your limits and work effectively with them. There’s no need to give up on your partner simply because they’re improving faster than you, rather it’s an opportunity for you to figure out what you can do to level things up. It could be more sleep, more protein or something completely different.

3. Speak Up, Don’t Be Shy - A workout partnership should always be open and honest. For example if your partner gets “trapped” into a routine or a flat method of training it’ll be your duty as a partner to help him get out of that rut. Sometimes speaking up can be awkward but you have to do it and your partner has to be comfortable with receiving as well as giving feedback.

   Try new approaches and rep systems, and always keep an open mind for new things. You must always avoid stagnation at all costs and if your partner seems unlikely to follow your eagerness for combining exercises and trying different weights and routines you’re both going to be affected by it.

   Professional bodybuilders worldwide are always on the lookout for new and exciting challenges, no matter how many medals they may have won. That’s the attitude which got them there and that’s the attitude you and your partner should have!

Suppliments - Good Or Bad

A bodybuilder’s nutrition orbits around two principal aspects a) your basic food intake and b) your suppliments. You need both to really make gains and one without the other would be like hitting a brick wall.

Dietary habits must guarantee not only a proper loading of calories but the complete spectrum and variety of nutrients and macro nutrients your body craves for to create true muscle mass. This means eating a good mix of fruit, vegetables, meats and plenty of fresh water. Don’t underestimate how important water is when it comes to bodybuilding because if you do you’re likely to suffer.

If you’re food eating is great then maybe you’re missing out on your supplementation. If you’re one of those people that think supplimentation is a dirty word or only steriod junkies use them then you’ve been living on a different planet these past 10 years.

Not only is supplimentation essential for the delivery of all those nutrients and substances that aren’t normally or easily available in food stuffs, but let’s face it with todays modern food production techniques natural foods just aren’t natural anymore and they certainly don’t carry the same nutritional purity they did many years ago, making supplimentation even more essnetial today than yesterday.

We Are What We Eat

Sure the above is a totally made up phrase, but for many it’s a concrete truth. Looking after a well muscled physique means a significant percentage of our success will most surely depend on our dietary choices. Even the hardest training routines will never translate into shredded muscle mass if we don’t pay attention and find a balanced way to feed ourselves.

So let’s remind ourselves of the basics once more. Are you consuming the necessary amount of calories per day ? Is your diet balanced with a health amount of Carbohydrates (needed for energy), Proteins (needed for repair and growth) and Fats (to help absorb and utilise the stuff before).

We’re not going to lay down any specific plans for you but take a look at your food intake and give it a good run over. Ask a friend to analyse what you’re eating and ask them what they think ? You may simply be eating the wrong stuff or too little of it.

A Complex Nutritional System

Yes basic factors such as morphology, training approach and your short/long term objectives are all formative factors when designing an effective diet but don’t over complicate things. A nutritional system doesn’t have to be rocket science; focus on the basics and remember that the relationship between muscle size and the amount and quality of food we ingest are directly related. If you’re looking to gain mass and aren’t eating enough, then simply put you’re not going to grow.

Sitting down and designing a nutritional system that works for you is something you’ll thank yourself in the months to come so don’t delay, sit down and do it today (will take you an hour max).

Remind Yourself Why You’re Eating

Outsiders to bodybuilding often get estranged and even annoyed because of the many meals we builders seem to require on a daily basis. Like it’s all “eat, eat, eat; gym; eat”. The problem here is that sometimes we ourselves stop eating those smaller regular meals because we forget why we’re eating that way in the first place.

So just in case you’ve forgotten or even better your little sister or skinny brother in law ever happen to give you grief about all the meals you’re eating, lets clarify that essentially all the eating is designed to hit three main objectives:

• 1.) We’re trying to keep our body fueled up so that we can benefit from a constant level of energy.
• 2.) We’re aiming to achieve proper food assimilation. We can only digest and absorb a limited amount of nutrients on each intake, thus it must be distributed multiple times throughout the day.
• 3.) We need more food than most people do, due to the demanding levels of load and training we apply to ourselves.

And that’s it, remind not only the people around yourself why you eat but remind yourself because if you’ve forgotten, wake up and apply the above for maximum food gains.

Organic Vs Processed Vs Suppliments

Nowadays, the procedures involved in the commercialization and distribution of food are so complex that you gotta re-think your eating strategy. With so many chemicals applied either during the growing period or the cleaning and/or packaging of products, you have to wonder if the food you’re eating is really giving you the benefits it’s supposed to.

For most foods it’s highly likely that most of the nutrients and vitamins that would hopefully be found in that food may never really make it onto our dinner tables. Thus, we find ourselves facing a significant reduction in quality nutrients in natural food stuffs. We need these nutrients as part of our daily balanced diet so where do we seek them.

Well some say go organic others say make use of modern day suppliments. In the end the choice is yours but do think about how you’re going to get those all essential vitamins and minerals for your body. They’re absolutely needed and you need to weigh up how and where you’re getting them because most modern day food aint gonna cut it.

Protein, Protein, Protein

Make no mistake if you want to grow and build solid muscle you need protein, and not just some of it, but a whole truck load of it. The gains achieved by individuals not supplimenting with a protein shake or other protein based suppliments will see gains reduced by as much as 50%. There’s no point training and pumping that iron if you’re not going to feed yourself the means to repair that muscle.

Final Words

Make sure you’re eating enough, and once you’re eating enough make sure you’re eating the right stuff. Follow these simple steps and you’ll see yourself getting stronger and bigger in no time.