Being a celeb trainer

How did you bag your first celebrity clientRobin I interacted with Kriti Sanon in the lockdown when she had to lose weight post Mimi Her management team had been training with me and they introduced us We started connecting virtually and today shersquos a partner in our companyDeanne Preity Zinta was a very close friend and she was working on Salaam Namaste She had to wear tiny skirts and flaunt a flat midriff so she began to train with me Even today she tells me that that was the fittest she has ever been She was the first Bollywood actor I trainedSahil My first client was Patralekhaa who came to check out the gym I was working at I was asked to show her around and she subsequently began to train with me Thereafter she introduced me to Rajkummar Rao and thatrsquos how my clientele built upDeanne Pandey has trained Zinta and Bipasha Basu among other celebritiesHow is training a celebrity different from training a laymanRobin They have no time because theyrsquore filming for 12 hours a day Theyrsquove got 100 things to do and they need to train and maintain So one needs to build a relationship with them If they donrsquot trust you itrsquos not going to work out at all especially due to the erratic schedule I try to understand their physical emotional and mental needs They keep doing so much to their bodies that it can be tough to copemdashone look for one film and then another for the next So itrsquos not like theyrsquore constantly in a particular shape You need to manipulate the sessions to keep them interestedDeanne Many years ago people didnrsquot exercise regularly It wasnrsquot part of their lifestyle like it is today Back then theyrsquod just train for two months before a movie would go on floors So we needed to accomplish a lot in limited timemdashaddress their nutritional needs conduct medical tests and train to achieve desired results But they were always disciplined Bollywood has always been very aesthetic and bodycentric Even 30 years ago I always practiced in a holistic way Even if the window was short I kept a check on their sleeping patterns and stress levelsAre celebrities more disciplined than laymenRobin Yes because itrsquos not only about the trainingmdashitrsquos also about the dance acting diction and speech Their attention is divided because there are so many aspects that need to be addressed So only when therersquos mutual respect will things be smooth sailingWhatrsquos the craziest thing yoursquove made a celebrity do to achieve a desired lookRobin The sessions we had with Adi Aditya Roy Kapur for The Night Manager were different if not crazy He was shooting for 14 hours a day and Irsquod be in his room at 5 am to wake him up to train and would be waiting for him right after he wrapped up too I knew he was so exhausted that if he sat down to rest he wouldnrsquot get himself to train So wersquod train before he could call it a day Itrsquos not an easy thing to do because acting is physically draining too and we were in Sri Lanka where the temperature was not favourable Hersquod be pissed off with me and I had no chill but we had to get it doneThree days prior to the climax scene we cut out salt from his diet But if I felt he needed a boost Irsquod give him a bit of dark chocolate or do something to keep the energy up Every time we meet we talk about how we wouldnrsquot want to go down that route againA myth about training a celebrityRobin That they are super difficult Theyrsquore not Or that you need to be at their beck and call which also isnrsquot true If you have a structured approach and a good understanding thatrsquos enough to train a celebrity Another one is that you can train only one celebrity at a time Thatrsquos also not true Irsquom working with Siddhant Chaturvedi Kiara Advani Kriti Ibrahim Ali Khan and Adarsh GouravSahil Itrsquos not a levelplaying field Understand that celebrities have access to a lot of specialists including physiotherapists So even if they have a small niggle we need to get the green signal from the physio before proceeding So therersquos a lot of change in the programme This is also due to occupational hazards When I was training Janhvi Kapoor for Gunjan Saxena The Kargil Girl she had been training with a person from the military and had developed some back issues So we had to address those Creating a plan that is practical for the actor regardless of the character she is set to play is also vital Also often they have to achieve a lot in a short span of time and that requires one to understand the emotional toll that the process can take When I trained Shriyam Bhagnani for Sumo Didi we had a short window to train an 85 kilo actor to do a split and nab strength training Often shersquod cry during the process But she got better as we went alongHow do you manage your clientele when you travel with celebrities for the duration of their shootRobin It was important for me to travel with Aditya because a major part of the shoot involved bodyshots If itrsquos not a bodyshot I donrsquot travel We also have a team So I may send somebody with a brief I have programmed everything They just need to execute it Also now we can train individuals virtually Cell phones and gyms are accessible