Rakul Preet Singh: Push, Pull and a Gym of Her Own

Rakul Preet Singh is one of the few Indian film actors whose fitness habits have become a business. She trains six days a week, owns gym franchises and has put her name to a millet restaurant. This piece lays out the routine she has described to the press and the ventures her biography records.

A sporting childhood

In an interview with Mumbai Mirror, Singh said her father is in the army, so she was exposed to running, swimming, karate and lawn tennis as a child. She was also a national-level golfer who played for at least four hours a day. When she started modelling, she said, she traded her golf irons for gym barbells. Her mantra, in her words, is to "approach fitness in a manner that is sustainable and enjoyable".

How she trains

According to the same interview, she exercises six days a week and starts most mornings with a strenuous session. She told the magazine, "My brain doesn't work until my muscles are pumped from some form of exercise." Her routine builds lean muscle and flexibility. Workouts are split into push sessions for chest, shoulders and triceps, pull sessions for back and biceps, and leg-and-abs days. A high-intensity interval cardio session follows the weights, and she finishes with stretching. Because heavy lifting can leave muscles tight, she adds aerial yoga.

She also made a point about strength training that goes beyond appearance. Far too many women, she said, believe they only need to work out to lose weight, but as the body ages people suffer knee or joint problems if they have not strengthened their muscles. She had been training with Joel Dylan Moss of Kunal Gir Fitness Solutions for four years at the time.

What she eats

The interview describes a simple diet. Before training she has black coffee with 5 g of ghee, and afterwards a breakfast that varies between a high-fat day, with two or three whole eggs and vegetables, and a high-carb day, with a jowar roti or dosa and eggs. Lunch and dinner at home are brown rice, dal, vegetables and some chicken. She said she steers clear of gluten and dairy, and does not like fad diets such as keto. Her cheat meals are larger portions of what she usually eats, she said, such as ragi-crust pizza or desserts made with dates. These are her personal choices, and the magazine presented them as such.

The gym business

In 2016 the Deccan Chronicle reported that she had taken a franchise of the functional-training gym F45 in Gachibowli, Hyderabad, launching on 20 February. She said, "I understand only three things, films, fitness and food." Her brother Aman, described as a fitness enthusiast, had moved to the city to help. Her Wikipedia biography now says she has an active franchise of three F45 gyms, two in Hyderabad, in Gachibowli and Kokapet, and one in Visakhapatnam.

From the gym to the plate

In 2024, according to The Hindu BusinessLine, she opened a millet-focused dine-in restaurant in Hyderabad called Arambam, in collaboration with Curefoods, and also became its brand ambassador. She said, "As a fitness enthusiast, I am always looking for ways to consume nutritious food that also tastes good."

What we could not confirm

We did not find financial figures for the gyms or the restaurant, or evidence that her current workout still follows the routine described in the Mumbai Mirror interview, which was published several years ago. The details of her diet are what she said at the time and are not medical advice.

Sources

*Cover photo: KK varma from Hyderabad, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).*