Karthik, 22, hails from Tirunelveli. His father is a businessman who manufacturers aluminium utensils, mother is a home maker and his brothers help his father at work. Karthik himself is pursuing an MBBS and is looking forward to becoming a plastic surgeon. Karthik also has another dream – to get extremely fit and develop a six-pack body. He says he was inspired by Sylvester Stallone in Rocky.
So, he put his head down and with single-minded dedication went about the business of getting fit.
Karthik exercises every single day for 60 Minutes. He does five days of weight training and jogs five kilometres twice a week. As too much of running and jogging leads to fat loss as well as muscle loss, his aerobic activity is limited to 25 per cent and the remaining 75 per cent is devoted to his training regimen.
Karthik enjoys training with free weights at the fitness studio and is always game for challenging workouts. His six packs were achieved not by just training the abdominal muscles heavily. In fact, the exercises for the abdomen were only a very few.
His major workouts included the traditional push ups, pull ups, squats and lunges in different planes and with variations at an advanced level.
The only props he used were dumbbells, barbells, swiss balls, kettlebells, balance boards and plyometric boxes.
Not a single machine was used.
Karthik has also motivated many of his gym buddies to set a goal and workout regularly.
He is really very happy and proud of his six packs and says that now the challenge is to maintain it.
Karthik is always ready to listen, learn and practise whatever it takes to improve his fitness.
He makes sure he gets a proper eight-hour sleep everyday.
He understands that ‘hot’ bodies are truly made in the gym as well as in the kitchen.
So, he eats sensibly and is very conscious about his calorie restriction too. He finishes his dinner before 8 p.m. every day without fail and doesn’t eat a thing after that. This is very important in order to maintain low body fat levels.
His parents worried about his obsession with exercise and diet but his creditable performance at college reassured them that he was as serious about his MBBS degree as his fitness goals.
As he is going to become a medical professional in the future he says that it his duty to be a role model for living a healthy and active lifestyle.
I hope Karthik’s example of tremendous focus and dedication motivates all of us to get fit and healthy.
His Diet :
Morning : A multi grain porridge cooked in milk for breakfast.
Mid Morning : 4 eggs ( no yolk ) and a fruit.
Lunch : Fish or chicken with a roti and a bowl of vegetables.
Evening : A protein shake.
Dinner : A bowl of mixed fruits.
He also carries a box of dry fruits with him to college and snacks on that if his lunch gets delayed. He has given up white sugar and aerated drinks. He always loved milkshakes and biryanis, but realised that if he wants every definition of his muscles to be visible, he has to keep his body fat low and that is possible only if he follows a proper diet.
Bhaskar is a fitness professional. Read more about fitness on his website >www.60minuteworkouts.com