Supplements are no substitute for food

Muscle Blaze (weight gainer products for body building) conducted a talk on fitness by Mr Universe 2012, Mr World 2015 and a winner of many other titles including Mr India, Sangram Chougale, last week. In addition to sharing his successful journey as a professional body builder and his debut in Marathi film industry, he also gave away tips to follow while pursuing body building.

Originally from Kolhapur district of Maharashtra, Sangram Chougule comes from a middle class family. Both his parents were teachers and bodybuilding happened by accident.

“My father always wanted me to be teacher, but I never considered it. I moved to Pune to pursue Aeronautical Engineering degree in 1999. It was at the same time that I was joined a Gym, but only for fitness.

In 2006, I won my first competition, yet it wasn't until 2010, when I won my first Mr. India title that I decided to become a professional bodybuilder.

The climb to the Mr Universe position was tough and involved a lot of hard work. “The Turning Point in my career came in 2011 when I won my first international medal - bronze in Mr. Asia competition that was held in Bangkok.

The same year, I bagged another bronze medal as Mr. Universe in Malaysia. In 2012, I set a target for myself – which is - I would win whichever competition I participated. I worked for it, lost up to 16 -17kg weight and won the most precious title in bodybuilding - I was crowned Mr. Universe. That was the most memorable day of my bodybuilding career. I then went on to win all the biggest titles in India.”

In same year (2012) he launched his fitness club ‘PHYSE’. “There are 9,200 people who workout at my place. There are 12 branches of the club.

People say that there is no career in body building. But I do not agree. I successfully started my gym with lot of facilities where you can train yourself, join yoga, zumba, take dance classes etc. I am also planning to open a gym in Hyderabad”

In 2013, an injury tore his leg muscle due to which he stopped competing for two years. “That was the worse phase of my career. I went into depression at that time.

But my wife, family, and friends believed in me and motivated me to bounce back, due to which I won the Mr. World title in 2015, and all the other major titles in 2014 & 2015, including Mr. India.

I am glad I set an example that one should not give up in any way. The year 2014 was made even more special because that is when my daughter was born. She is my lucky charm,” he relates.

Now Sangram is testing the turf in film world. He relates “I got a call from director Prasad Appa Tarkar for acting in his forthcoming Marathi film 'Dambha', which is being written and directed by him. This will be an action packed film and I got a role as the lead hero of this film. I plan to continue acting in films.”

“Our target is to spread awareness about fitness and good quality products. Because, we see many stores giving away cheap supplements to the builders and people who work out.

That causes side effects to their body. You will not build a body by just using supplements; main thing is food. Any extra food that you need is called supplement. Eat food that gives you protein, carbohydrate and fat.”

He says it's wrong to skip meals and then do numerous crunches because that would result in only muscle loss. Everything is important, food is as important as workout. “For muscle eat protein and for energy, carbohydrates.”

Giving message on general fitness to his fans, he shares, “If you don’t join a gym, then do atleast half an hour workout everyday at home. Most importantly, if you’re doing exercise you should also have nutrition – eat healthy food.”