Don't follow the star workouts blindly!

The hot bods flaunted by B-town stars are great for inspiration, but don’t ape their workouts blindly. We tell you why
In the eighties Jane Fonda came out with an aerobics video and aerobics became a rage across the country and even found takers in Bollywood. Several celebs including Rekha are known to have adopted Fonda’s mantras dished out on videos as their fitness regime.Recently Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Shahid Kapoor kicked up a storm in the brawny-look department with their eight-pack and six-packs and soon acquiring those envious-packs became the dream for every guy who hit the gym with a vengeance. The goal was simple: “Get the cuts like the screen hunks!” John Abraham’s ‘butt’ilicious expose in Dostana sent the girls in a tizzy, while sending the guys to the gym, boosting the gymmers to perfect their derrieres too.
Not to lag behind, the glam babes of Bollywood too popularised their own signature fitness mantras. Size zero queen Kareena Kapoor and the actress with the washboard flat abs Shilpa Shetty made yoga a rage. Bipasha Basu too has been following her own personalised fitness mantra. Asin swears by the ancient martial arts form of Kalaripayattu, while Masumeh is into kick-boxing. For Sameera Reddy it’s swimming that’s worked wonders. Not surprisingly, nowadays just about every celeb in tinsel town seems to have a signature fitness statement, be it Deepika Padukone or Priyanka Chopra.
While most celebs have hit bulls eye with the workouts that work the best for them, the aam junta often tends to ape and follow their celebs blindly. A fact most gym-coaches and fitness instructors across the city would vouch for. “I want a workout like Aamir’s or the same regime that Kareena follows... I want a body like Salman’s or a figure like Bipasha...” are the common requests. However, health experts insist that just like not all fashion trends suit everyone, similarly, not all workout regimes can be applicable to all. And this is something that even our celebs agree to.
Fitness freak and the actress with one of the enviable hot bods in Bollywood, Bipasha Basu says, “Every individual has different body mass, weight, bone density and stamina. These are the key things that help a person decide which workout will suit the best. Every individual needs a different workout depending on the body’s requirement. It’s very important that you recognise your body type and with your fitness instructor plan a work out that best suits you. Most of us also have learnt this by trial and error method, of going through phases where we were struggling to lose weight.”
Sameera Reddy, who finally lost oodles of weight after struggling to shed the kilos for quite some time now, too says that just following any fitness regime doesn’t help. “Just as people are conscious about what they wear, it’s equally important to realise what’s best for your body. After trying out several work-outs I found that what works for me is a combination of swimming and yoga. So, now I stick to that and it has worked wonders for me.”
Even Shahid Kapoor on his way to acquiring his envious eight-packs did not tread the same route as Shah Rukh or Aamir did for their films. In fact, while Aamir’s workout aimed at bulking up the muscles, Shahid’s work-outs were more stamina-building and endurance-based. “My main aim was to build stamina and the eight-packs or six packs are really a by-product. The aim should never be the cuts, but endurance and fitness,” said Shahid. Says Asin, “The idea should be to be fit and healthy. Size zero is not the aim.”
According to Dr Preeti Verma, “Often in a bid to copy the fitness fads made famous by the screen stars, people overlook their own body requirements and body types. Ideally any work-out should be planned keeping in mind your age and weight.” Explaining further she adds, “Following the wrong workouts can cause more harm than we can imagine. It is always better to understand your body before zeroeing on your workouts. Screen celebs should be treated as inspiration not the goals.”
Gym instructor Reema Tyagi says, “The main purpose of any workout is to feel good — mentally and physically. It’s more important to be fit and healthy rather than to get into the size-zero dresses.”
Kiran Bose, a 28-year-old entrepreneur recalls, “About eight months back, I had noted down Shilpa Shetty’s diet and workout regime that she had revealed in one of her interviews. Without consulting an instructor, I started following the same diet, and even the workouts and yoga asanas were not under any guidance. As a result, I fainted during one of my workouts and I had to be rushed to the hospital.” Now, she reveals that since that day she has been very careful of running a new exercise through her instructor before incorporating it in her workout.
Not surprisingly, most of the yoga experts too believe that proper personal guidance is essential. City-based Ashtanga vinyasa yoga expert Dipika Mehta feels that today there are many not so qualified yoga trainers flooding the market, “The west has much more regulated stuff for personal weight reduction regimes unlike India where most of the people are not even aware of their body. People read in books about Kareena Kapoor’s suryanamaskars and start doing the same. What is important is not the number but the alignment while you do suryanamaskars. It is more about not feeling stressed out.”
Not every workout works great on all people at the same time is what people need to realise.
Personal trainer Satyajit Chaurasia feels that it is more about training under guidance. “Will power plays an important role. The ultimate aim should always be a healthy body,” he advises.
Masumeh, who keeps fit through kick-boxing, says, “It is tremendously important to follow a workout that not only suit your body, but mind too. We all have different body shapes, so naturally different exercises suit different people. I am petite, but athletic and I think that a mix of yoga (pranayam) and free running is a good routine.”
(With inputs by Tanvi Trivedi)
Follow us on Twitter for more stories