Arjun Rampal

I can bulk up very fast. I can lift heavy weights because, like most people, I started off with heavy workouts. That's stayed in my muscle memory. I feel horrible when I feel my jeans are getting tight. Workouts peace me out.

Even though I always knew I had a good nose for fragrances, the process of creating my own, 'Alive,' turned out to be a great learning experience for me. And the name explains my reason behind it. Smelling good makes you feel alive.

Being fit helps me improve my concentration, my will power and even my determination.

I know what it is to put on weight. But when I got back to my routine, my body knew how to react. That's muscle memory, and you'll be amazed at what it can do.

Almost 70 per cent of your fitness battle is won the day you realise what your body needs and when. I've made my own diets, and I decide for myself what works for me.

I am not metrosexual. I am not macho. I am normal. I don't even wear nail paint.

Everybody can be desirable if they take care of themselves.

Kolkata is special. I have been privileged to spend time in the city and make some great friends there. I like to go there whenever I can.

Who doesn't know about Bollywood? After all, we churn out movies in such great quantities every year! People across the globe know Shekhar Kapur.

As an actor, it's my job to prepare myself for a role. If the character is realistic, one can't go wrong.

If I'm sure of a person and his potential in politics, and if I know he will live up to his promises, I wouldn't mind campaigning for him. I believe in the dictum, 'never say never.' You never know, I might end up joining politics.

Like everyone else, I have my quirks. For one, I have to own only black cars and the registration has to have eights. It's not something I can explain, it's just there. Another obsession I have is smell. I have to smell good all the time.

I think it is easier for thinner people to build on a frame once you get lean muscle. I get bored lifting weights at the gym, and it isn't enough as your body becomes stiff. So I train in different ways such as core training, cardio with weights, playing sports such as tennis, cycling, swimming and running 10 km once a week.

I find 12 P.M. as the best time to work out. During training, I do two body parts a day: chest-back, back-triceps or chest-biceps so that my body doesn't get used to a pattern.

At times, I do Tabata, a high-intensity Japanese training regimen, in which I must do 20 seconds of a specific body part with 10 seconds of rest. This must be done eight times within four minutes. Your heart rate shoots through the roof, but you burn a lot of fat.

I believe that fitness needs to come from within you. You need to respect your body. Only then will you have the zeal to maintain it. For me, keeping fit is a part of my lifestyle.

I used to be an athlete and even ran the 400 metre stretch for Tamil Nadu. I have always been active.

I am blessed with a good metabolism, and as long as I work out, carbs don't add to my weight. If I need a leaner, meaner look for a film, I go off carbs for a bit.

I haven't acquired a taste for green tea, and I don't intend to. I like my coffee black with a little sugar, and it keeps my metabolism up! I don't mind the occasional Gatorade while I'm gymming.

Age doesn't mean anything. Its all in your head. Men get sexier with age. They also get wiser and get experienced.

I look at fitness as a necessity in the same way as how you drink water, eat food, one should look at fitness in a dedicated way. People will look fresh and happy. If you are happy, you in a way look fit.

I've been lucky to get some path-breaking films, which proved to be the turning point in my career. Be it 'Rock on!' 'The Last Lear' or 'Raajneeti,' directors started working in a different way.

I think it is a combination of looks, aura, success, the energies that one gives out, the person you are and the person you feel like that makes you 'desirable.' When the outside world sees you as a man who is responsible for himself and his family, as a man who is fit and sensitive, it kind of ups your desirability.

Physical attributes can make you appealing, but to keep the appeal going, one has to draw from within. You have to be a real person. Your fans and the people you associate with have to be able to see beyond your looks. You have to be a good friend, dutiful son and a good family man.

Born in Jabalpur, I was brought up in Deolali, where my father ran a small business of making fire extinguishers.