Vijay Deverakonda trained for 2 years to get a fighter’s body for Liger, fitness coach reveals how he prepared for scene with Mike Tyson

In this interview with indianexpress.comVijay’s fitness trainer Kuldep Sethi shares insights into how the Telugu star worked to get a muscular body for Liger and look convincing in fight sequences with Mike Tyson.

Vijay, even without appearing in a single Bollywood movie, has become an instant national crush and enjoys a huge following on social media. So how do you deal with his looks and physique? Kuldep, who has also trained other South Indian stars like Chiranjeevi, Rashmika Mandanna, Ram Charan and Varun Tej, shares that the Telugu star has no complexes and is very candid about his training.

He says, “With Vijay, it’s always fun, because he’s a good student. As a celebrity, of course he is a big star, after Arjun Reddy he became an even bigger star. He is very sincere when it comes to training. He trains for his characters as well as for his personal physical health.”

Speaking of Liger, Kuldeep says that Vijay didn’t need to bulk up, but instead wanted a flexible and athletic body. “In December 2019, Vijay signed Liger with Puri sir, we discussed his role and shared details about his character. Puri sir also talked about Vijay’s appearance and told me that he is a UFC fighter, so his body had to look a certain way. If I combine the lockdown period and the ups and downs along the way, then we worked together for two years, otherwise it would have taken about six months to achieve and maintain the physique of him for the film.”

Vijay has worked with Sethi on his Liger look based on his personality and body type.

The trainer shares: “Vijay’s personality is such that we had to work more on his lower body and forearms, we didn’t want his arms and chest to be too bulky like a bodybuilder’s. The body of a fighter is very different from that of a bodybuilder, it is very similar to an athlete. UFC fighters are slimmer, not bulky, we had to sculpt his body according to his weight class and his personality, since he had to be more athletic. There was a closure after we started working together. So we had to keep training during the lockdown, otherwise I would have lost the look we had achieved. We used to exercise at his house.”

“Because of the kind of regime we had, we were able to pull it off. He is a very dedicated person. We did a lot of mobility exercises because flexibility was important for him to play a fighter convincingly. He also practiced kickboxing. He was also on a high-nutrition diet because he was under a lot of physical and emotional pressure, and to cope with it you need to eat nutritious foods that keep you going and help you recover from burnout much quicker,” he added.

Speaking about how Vijay prepared for the fight scenes with Mike Tyson, who is a former professional boxer and even at the age of 56 keeps himself in excellent shape, Sethi says, “He has fight sequences with Mike Tyson, who is a legend. He was in really good shape when we were shooting. Puri sir planned the fight sequences in such a way that we had plenty of time to prepare Vijay mentally and physically. When you are in your best shape, you have mental confidence while doing certain things. So, I was very confident towards the end of our show. He is in the best shape of his life. While making the movie, he looked good, he was too ripped and his energy was on par with any international athlete. Vijay almost worked to make it in a way that he, too, could become one in real life.”

Liger is scheduled to be released in theaters on August 25.