Exercises celebs swear by

Which girl does not aspire to have a super toned body like Deepika Padukone, or which guy doesn’t want to look like the hunk John Abraham? The super-fit celebrities are often role models for others to get in shape. This takes us straight to the topic of our interest; exercises or workout regime celebs swear by and do them with dedication.

Katrina Kaif: Parkour and Pilates

And how does Katrina take care of her killer abs?  Pilate is the answer to building your strength and flexibility along with developing bone density.  However, she also does a lot of cardio, Parkour and a mix of martial arts to keep her figure the way it is.

• Pilates: Pilates is similar to yoga. But unlike yoga which focuses on flexibility and broad group muscles, Pilates focuses on core strength.  It is perhaps for this reason, this form of exercise offers all what one needs i.e., strength, flexibility, staying power, coordination, and balance with a lower risk of injury. Emphasizing on correct form instead of burning calories, Pilates exercises require you to involve your whole body.  You need to concentrate while doing this as it is more detailed with many variations of each core exercise which gets harder as you go by.
• Functional Training: Functional training is a bunch of exercises developed around the routine activities of our daily life. It greatly reduces chances of any injury and is easy to follow. When you aim to do functional training for body building, you need to incorporate weight bearing activities which focus on your abdomen and lower back core muscles. This form of exercise gives the strength and flexibility you need.

Salman Khan- Cycling

When we talk about fitness and exercise, we have to mention Sallu bhai, Salman Khan, who follows the basic exercise regime- cycling. A onetime total fan of gymming, today Salman Khan cycles around Bandra and wherever he is shooting to keep fit. Besides walking, this is the easiest and fun way to keep fit (and not to mention cheap).

Alia Bhatt – Pilates

Let us now turn our attention to our youngest Bollywood sensation Alia Bhatt.  While mom is deep into Ashtanga yoga, daughter Alia is into Pilates training hard to keep wooing those hearts.

Deepika Padukone: Pilates and Functional Training

Just like our Bhatt girl, our ‘Jawaani Deewani’ Deepika Paducone is also a Pilate fan.  Earning an image of an action heroine after “Return of Xander Cage”, Deeps combines strength with fitness and works out hard to maintain the body we all love. Of course, genes take some credit as she grew up playing sport, but to retain the sculpted figure, she includes kettle bell swings and kettle bell press apart from Pilates.

The stunner used to play badminton professionally until Bollywood beckoned her, and is still seen with a racket in her hand when she is not gymming. Today she is also into functional training which helps develop strength and mobility. It involves exercises that improve your movement in routine activities like pushing, pulling, walking, running, etc.

Akshay Kumar: Parkour

Black belt in Taekwondo, actor Akshay Kumar is well known as a fitness fan. Our “Rowdy Rathore” who has always been into martial arts to keep fit, has newly embraced a new exercise technique ‘Parkour’. It is a form of workout that involves a lot of free body movements, jumping and leaping which is unlike what you do when you work out in a gym.  It is fun too. Remember children climbing, leaping or jumping up the wall…that is Parkour. Didn’t we all do that when we were children??

• Parkour is the set of activity like running, jumping, and climbing that aims to get you from one point to another with speed and without equipment. Developed from military obstacle drill, you have to use your body to navigate, lift and give you that heave-ho you when you jump up the wall. You have to use your hands for support and swing your legs high over the wall to get you on the other side.

Priyanka Chopra: Gym, Yoga and Strength Training

Our Quantico actor Priyanka Chopra has undoubtedly one of the most beautiful figure as well as striking legs (no wonder they were subject to so much controversy and interest) is known to maintain her figure by following a strict diet and a workout routine that is a combination of gymming and yoga.  She does yoga for flexibility and focuses on strength training than weight training.

• Strength Training: Strength training is a type of exercise specializing in the use of resistance to bring on muscle contraction which builds the strength, endurance, etc. Properly performed, it can give significant benefits and improve overall health and well-being.

John Abraham: Plank exercises

The hunk John Abraham’s credits his hot sexy body to a disciplined exercise regime and a strict diet.  His fitness secret is revealed in crunches and leg raises for his abs, the paired muscle which goes vertically on each side abdomen, cross crunches and leg raises for internal and external angled muscles and plank exercises to develop muscles in the frontal and side abdominal wall.

• Plank exercises: It is one of the best exercises for your core because it builds what we call ‘isometric strength’ (without changing the length of the muscle) to help shape your waistline. Such exercises work on muscles in a static position exerting muscle tension without actually moving. Depending on the type of plank you decide to try, you can also shape your back, arms, shoulders, hamstrings, etc.

So, get the see the gist of your favourite idols workout…which one will you try?

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