Get a six-pack like Emraan

Want to flaunt a six-pack abs just like actor Emraan Hashmi? Here’s his secret.

If you are a fan of the latest craze of six pack abs, you wouldn’t have missed noticing actor Emraan Hashmi’s newly toned buff body. The actor says that he worked on his body for his just released movie Murder 3 as director Mohit Suri wanted him to sport a very athletic look. “Mohit wanted me to sport a six-pack and look slightly beefed-up,” he says.

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To achieve this, his fitness trainer, Pravin Tokas, helped him first lower his body fat percentage. Pravin says, “We did functional and endurance training to get this sporty look. While we wanted Emraan to beef up, we had to be careful to avoid the beefcake heavy look.” He adds, “The function training took his stamina to a different level, and it helped that he was on a healthy diet. His trainer Pravin Tokas tells us everything about Emraan’s fitness regimen that helped him get the look.

The secret behind Emraan’s buff body

Diet

Since we were doing controlled overtraining, one of the major concerns was to manage the cortisol level (stress hormone).I advised lot of Vitamin C rich fruits, and one very potent herb called Rhodiola rosea herb, which grows in the Arctic regions of eastern Siberia.

Carbohydrates

We started with the gluten allergy blood test and discovered that Emraan is gluten intolerant, so we removed gluten and switched to oat bran and green carbs, mostly dark green. We manipulated carbs servings between 50 gm and 250 gm depending on the training volume. Sixty % of carbs were eaten before and after training.

Protein

We used egg whites and whole eggs, mutton and chicken and rotated our protein source daily to increase absorption. We avoided using any protein supplements because I strongly believe that whole food is a much better option than the processed versions.

Fats

Emraan consumed 6 gm fish oil during the first week and then switched to 4 gm daily for the last three weeks. Also, he ate five to eight walnuts daily depending on the training volume.

Functional training that helped Emraan tone up

Training

Emraan was doing angular functional fitness (AFF) developed by me, which is a successful strength and conditioning programme used by athletes. The goal of AFF is to optimise movement among major joints and expose weak links through various functional tests. Think of any activity like jumping running, pulling or pushing. If we look closely, we are functioning though various joint angles. The deeper we squat, the more calories we will burn.

Frequency (AFF)

He worked out twice daily, 45 min each time for seven days of controlled overtraining with four days recovery. This type of overtraining method should only be done under the supervision of certified trainer.

Aerobic

High intensity intervals for 15 minutes about four times a week.

Restorative yoga

For recovery every third day.

Assessment

Everything from training volume to diet and sleep was based on our weekly assessment. We’d go through all the overtraining signs and change our training and diet accordingly.

Supplements

Good Multi-vitamin: these are important as fat loss releases toxins that are stored in fat and your body will need vitamins and minerals to fight these toxins.

Rhodiola Rosea: To get stress levels under control.

No protein supplement.

Zinc, magnesium and B complex supplements as per requirement.

He ate only boiled food for the last 15 days and slept for a minimum of eight hours daily.