When vegetarian Madhavan almost got Arnold’s 20-inch biceps

The actor revealed that even as a vegetarian, he managed an 18 and a half inch bicep when Hollywood Arnold Schwarzenegger had a 20-inch bicep when he did his first film.

For his new film Saala Khadoos, the Tanu Weds Many actor R Madhavan went to the US and worked out extensively to prepare for his role. And believe it or not, he says he even built biceps which came close to the biceps’ size of Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger!

Madhavan says Arnold Schwarzenegger had 20-inch biceps when he did his first film, and when he did Saala Khadoos, being a vegetarian, he managed 18 and half inches. (RAF Industries Tooniversal Company | Thirukumaran Entertainment Y NOT Studios)

“I learned different ways of working out. I learned a lot about my body. Let me just say that Arnold Schwarzenegger had 20-inch biceps when he did his first film, and when I did Saala Khadoos, being a vegetarian I managed 18 and half inches,” said Madhavan.

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“I had reduced for Tanu Weds Manu but this (workout) was an exciting thing for me,” he added.

Asked why he went to the US for training, he replied: “Because had I been here, I would’ve just eaten ‘dahi chawal’ and ‘puri bhaji’. I went there because you need to put yourself into a mental state before you get the physical state right. I first learned boxing when I went there.”

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“But then I realised that in the film, I’m not doing boxing and that I have to do more training so I started training. And that’s when I realized that if you have to do boxing for even 40 seconds, how much preparation -- strength, stamina and energy -- you need,” said the actor, who plays a boxing coach in the forthcoming film.

Watch Saala Khadoos trailer here: