Fab at 40

Men will always be boys. Be it their car, house or bank balance, size does matter. At least till they turn 40.

Then, all the locker-room talk is about keeping score - like how many minutes, calories and kilometres you clock on the treadmill. Or how many pull-ups you grind out.

And with even Shah Rukh Khan - who spent two decades proclaiming he was an actor, not a bodybuilder - showing off his newly acquired six pack, the bar has been raised even higher for 40+ men who're busy bench-pressing, squatting and running their to way to body beautiful.

‘‘By 40, men are settled in their jobs, have a picture postcard family, drive a hot set of wheels, own a house... personal fitness is the next obvious thing to look into,'' says Ajay Chand, a trainer at Delhi's Ozone gym. Chand reveals that the number of 40-year-olds enrolling at the gym includes businessmen and industrialists looking to work off their stress. ‘‘These members make for 40% of total gym users and the numbers are growing,'' he says. Adds Abhimanyu Sable of Pune-based Abs Fitness and Wellness Club, ‘‘I have many clients post-40 wanting a sixpack like Shah Rukh's.'' Of course, other Bollywood stars like Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar have long been fitness icons. And then there's Shekhar Suman who's turning heads with his brand new biceps. But it's SRK's metamorphosis that has really inspired people. The reasoning: If he can do it, so can I.

But be warned, King Khan's transformation didn't happen overnight. According to his trainer Prashant Sawant, Shah Rukh trained and dieted for over six months. ‘‘Shah Rukh has been working out regularly since his role in Don. But to achieve this look we needed something different. I put him on a high-protein, low-carb diet along with special exercises for his chest, shoulders and back. The result is for all to see.'' Can just anyone do it? ‘‘If you really want it and work with a good trainer, you can get it,'' he says.

Source: TimesOfIndia