When it comes to becoming his characters, Aamir Khan doesn’t just walk the talk, he bench-presses it, runs laps around it and maybe even gives it a protein shake. Bollywood’s resident chameleon has spent decades reinventing himself with every film, turning dedication into an extreme sport. Remember him putting on papa weight for Dangal, chatting in Bhojpuri in PK or being the most lovable over-aged college student in 3 Idiots? Yes, that’s just another day in the Aamirverse.
But if there’s one transformation that had the country collectively dropping their dumbbells in awe, it was Mr Perfectionist turning into Mr Eight-Pack for the 2008 action thriller Ghajini. Forget the plot, his biceps and abs had their own fanbase.
On a recent episode of Raj Shamani’s podcast, Aamir revealed his workout routine during the time of Ghajini’s making. Turns out, he was working out for three-and-a-half hours a day.
“When I did Ghajini, I used to overtrain a lot,” Aamir said. “I would work out for three to three and a half hours a day, in just one session.”
His routine began with a unique warm-up strategy: abs first. “My trainer Chintu (Satya) and I decided to start every session with abs. That way, warm-up bhi ho gaya, abs bhi ho gaye (we’d get both the warm-up and abs done),” he shared.
On the first day alone, he did 200 repetitions—20-25 crunches, 20-25 hanging leg raises, and similar exercises. But soon, that wasn’t enough. “The body adapts,” Aamir explained. “So those 200 reps started feeling easy. One day I pushed it to 300, then 400… and eventually, I hit 1,000 reps a day.”
This high-volume ab workout took nearly 55 minutes. After that, he’d continue with 90 minutes of strength training—targeting two muscle groups—and top it all off with an hour of cardio. “By the end, I was so exhausted, I would just shower and fall asleep,” he said.
Aamir Khan’s Ghajini physique raised the bar for fitness in Indian cinema. But more than that, his transformation showed the kind of extreme workout sessions actors have to take to train themselves and do justice to their roles. However, experts suggest that these extreme workout sessions can lead to injuries, muscle imbalances or burnout over the time. The effectiveness of such high-volume repetition tends to diminish as the body stops responding. Hence, even athletes make sure to keep moderation in their workout regimes.
