Demolition Man Vidyut Jammwal debunks 4 fitness myths you thought were true

Vidyut Jammwal, Bollywood’s very own ‘Commando’, demolishes four misconceptions about fitness and training. Here’s his guide on how to carve those vein-popping physique.

If Vidyut Jammwal were to be dropped in a forest, he would be missing from the next few press conferences for his movies and Bollywood parties. But the one thing he won’t be missing out on is his workouts. Chin ups using tree branches, one leg sit ups on mountain tops and parkour all over the trees - basically Jammwal would redefine the term ‘jungle gym.’

We spoke to Jammwal, who went on to dispel many myths and beliefs about working out and diet that are widely prevalent nowadays.

#MYTH 1: Fixed training time

Do you have a set sleeping and waking up time?

Vidyut: I don’t feel you need to get up at 6 or 8 or 4 in the morning, I believe when you wake up, whatever time that is, get dressed, and train. It can be at 12 pm or 4 pm, but you have to train. So I personally don’t have a fixed schedule, the only thing fixed is that when I train, I train - and I train like a maniac.

If someone tells you that your workout routine borders on the obsessive, what would be your reply to them?

Vidyut: First they call me obsessed, or obsessive, and then the same people will call me for training or diet advice. So this obsession is normally a compliment for me.

But wouldn’t you say that you kind of punish yourself, considering the sort of extreme workout you do every day?

Vidyut: I’m a very disciplined guy and discipline is never punishment.

Due to your hectic training schedule, how you manage to meet up with your friends? Do they understand when most of the time you have to cancel when you can’t meet up with them?

Vidyut: They’re my friends so they know what I do. But they know if I say I’ll come, I’ll really come. And it’s not like I don’t go out at all, if it’s a very close friends birthday I’ll make sure I skip my training the next day, or the earlier part of it, but I’ll never disappoint my friends. Sometimes of course the passion of the workout is more than the passion of going out.

However, if it’s someone I know very well, not friends, but someone from the film industry who is having an event or a get together, I’ll go for a little while, but I won’t miss my training.

#MYTH 2: Get off salt

What’s your diet like?

Vidyut: I do not believe when people say get off salt, I do not believe when people say get off water, when they say stop carbohydrates. Carbohydrates is the food for the brain and if you stop that you will be irritated, depressed, angry, you’ll be everything that you don’t want to be. So everyone needs to be on a carb diet.

The only thing is whenever I read interviews in magazines or see them on TV I generally feel they are misleading people. Salt cannot be diminished from our system - it’s what keeps you going. So when you see people getting edgy, uncomfortable, you see they’re not confident, it’s because they’re not eating the right amount of food.

#MYTH 3: Six packs

What is your view on six-pack abs?

Vidyut: I have a lot of actor friends and meet a lot of fitness enthusiasts who all want to look good, but that should not be the idea, once you know how it is to feel strong, woh jo nasha hai, woh looking good mein nahi hai yaar. That strength automatically makes you look good. The agenda should not be to look good but to be stronger than what you are.

People keep asking me you have 8 pack abs? What do you do for it? Yaar every skinny guy has abs- you see a rickshaw puller or even a farmer- they also have abs. But the true sign of strength are the traps. Our whole industry seems to be obsessed with abs. If you see the UFC fighters they have traps not abs, but Bollywood is gung ho over abs.

#MYTH 4: Gymming for ultimate strength

How would you define strength?

Vidyut: You don’t need to lift weights to be strong- people say “Oho maine 200 kilo utha liya, I’m such a strong guy.”

Strength is really misconstrued. Strength does not come from lifting- it comes from lifting yourself up and going to train.

I’ve seen a lot big guys who lift weights but in real life they have no strength.

My definition of fitness has to do with the way you feel- if you get angry very soon, if you get tensed, depressed, and anxious, then you can have 18 pack abs, 160 likes on your Instagram post- but you’re not on the right path.

Will it be easy? No..not at all. Will it be worth it? Absolutely.

With these myths shattered, we asked him about how he deals with injuries.

Jammwal: The journey of training will be difficult but totally worth it and when you reach there you will feel so phenomenal, so calm- nobody will experience what you have - you can’t even explain it.

You must have got injured over these years while training, what is the best way to get back then?

Vidyut: Of course I’ve got injured; injury in training is like saying when you get into the water will you get wet? Of course you will. But every cell in the body has divine intelligence, learn about it and it shall heal faster than it normally would. The moment somebody gets injured, they pop a pain killer. I don’t even think they know what a pain killer does. The injury is still there - the painkiller helps disconnect your brain from that part of your body - so you don’t feel the pain hence you start feeling better. The body heals itself, but when you use a painkiller that mechanism of the body does not come into play.

When you get an injury you really need to rest - it really pulls you down when you’re injured and you can’t train for a while. People need to understand that injury is a normal part of doing such amazing stuff.

Everybody wants to be a beast, until the time comes to do what a beast does. But are you really ready to do what needs to be done? When you get injured are you ready to rest it out completely and not pop pills?

How many pushups can Vidyut Jammwal do in one go!?

Vidyut: I’ve tried about 460 in one go- We were trying for 500 and I had to stop because the person who I was doing it with injured his shoulder. 110-150 pushups are what I normally do without any stress when I go for demonstrations to schools and colleges.

Any closing words?

Vidyut: The journey of training will be difficult but totally worth it and when you reach there you will feel so phenomenal, so calm- nobody will experience what you have - you can’t even explain it.