Balancing is the essence of life

Witty, loving and a doting father of two are not just the words that define Riteish Deshmukh the best, but his fitness regime does too. “Workout is important, and so is diet,” says the 37-year-old actor who was present in the national Capital to inaugurate the 104th branch of a popular gym chain.

 He believes taking out time for self, family and work, helps in balancing both professional and personal life. Generally seen in multi-starrer films, Riteish will be essaying the lead role of a Banjo player in his next film Banjo. Riteish shared his fitness mantras and the secret as to what keeps him going on. 

My fitness mantra is to have a positive mind and focus on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Diet is most important and I keep away from carbs and junk food. It’s very important to have 8-9 hours of sleep. It helps your body to rejuvenate and feel fresh and fit. It also helps in weight loss. My diet plan is a mixture of fresh vegetables, salads, proteins like paneer etc. It’s very important to eat on time and not over eat. It’s important to have protein shakes, the rights mix of diet from a trained dietician. Lots of home cooked food made with love, helps too.

Balancing is the essence of life. The mantra is applied in all phases of life – personal, professional or fitness. A frequency needs to be set between personal, professional life. One needs to understand, that staying fit is merely not a concept of augmenting beauty. A fit and healthy body means a happy mind and soul. You can jog, take a walk, swim, do yoga anytime anywhere as per the mood no matter where you are. That’s how I stay fit.

I sit with the director, discuss my look, then sit with the team – stylist, make-up artiste, etc to discuss the character and how to fit in. Based on the body type every actor gets to follow a different diet plan. I discuss with family and people to get inspiration too and understand the character. Real life people who are close to the character, really help in thinking how they behave. 

We need to remain fit because that is what entices and appeals to the young audiences these days. An actor’s job is more demanding in terms of fitness. Fitness plays an important role to get the nuances of the character.  We are judged by the 6 packs, lean muscular look as we are inspirational and our fans aspire to have a body like ours.