'I kept eating and eating'

'I ate every two hours for 3 years.'

Aayush Sharma has been winning a lot of attention for his latest release Antim: The Final Truth.

The actor, who made his debut with Loveyatri in 2018, underwent a massive body transformation to prepare for the film where he plays a gangster opposite Salman Khan.

Aayush trained for two years, changed his diet, gained 15 kg and fractured his thumb on the sets.

But all the pain, hard work and sacrifice seemed to pay off when he proudly flaunted a lean, ripped bod onscreen.

The actor and father of two has been sharing snippets from his fitness journey where he is showing acing 100 kg dead-lifts and training his muscles to stay in shape.

In a candid chat with Rediff.com Contributor PS Aaryan Khanna, Aayush reveals how he trained himself for the role in the lockdown, his diet secrets and more...

You underwent a massive transformation for Antim. Tell us how you did it.

The first year was only about lifting heavy and building the strength. The second year was obviously about shaping my body, gaining muscles and getting leaner.

When I got to know that I had to gain weight and muscles, I changed my trainer.

When trainer Rajendra Dhole came aboard, the first thing he told me was that I was to be part of rugged action, like a street fight.

I needed to feel the power in the character.

He told me there are two ways to achieve it -- one where I am aesthetically there and two, where I am genuinely strong in real life.

I choose the latter because as an actor, I felt it was more convincing.

Feeling the power yourself is much better than being aesthetically there.

(In the film), there have been many sequences that I have done myself without any cable work. For instance, I had to lift a person with bare hands and that kind of strength requires you to be strong in real life.

Was it challenging to build your body in the lockdown?

Unfortunately, the lockdown happened and we couldn't start the film. So, that period was also a period of cutting down.

I had to make sure that I was maintaining the gains and looking at the part that I was to play.

I had to take care of very minor things. For example, most of the actors usually train for their upper bodies but my trainer told me that I had to train my lower body more than my upper body.

He wanted my legs be strong as well.

What changes did you make in your diet?

I had to eat a lot in order to put on a lot of weight.

I had to follow a strict workout routine because if I didn't, I would lose weight.

I ate every two hours for a span of 3 years.

I had to eat almost 24 eggs in a day, chicken, rice, etc.

I kept eating and eating.

There is no point in having protein shakes without any raw food. Eating raw protein helped me gain muscles faster.

Were you concerned about being compared to Salman Khan?

I had to look completely opposite to Salman Bhai and my body structure needed to be different from him.