Ahead of International Women's Day on Tuesday, Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma reveals her fitness formula and offers a lesson in gender equality

Fitness Formula
Fitness, for me, means to simply be the stronger and healthier version of oneself. It's very important to treat your body right, which means nutrition and training your body. These two components form my fitness formula. I am regularly at it as it not only helps me stay healthy, but also makes me feel calm. So, I think it's very important for everybody to have a daily fitness routine.

How I keep fit
The way I keep fit depends on the kind of film that I am doing. When I have to look a certain way, I have to learn or train in a particular way. For example, I play a sportsperson in 'Sultan', so I'm training to gain mass and muscle - and it's mostly weight training now. Normally, though, my training is more functional. I don't really cycle, I jog and run on days that I do cardio for a minute or so, then come off for a minute and start again. Coming from an army background, we had a club close to our colony and I used to swim a lot there as did the other kids. It used to be a huge part of my life.

I'd like to try
I have never run a marathon and maybe it would be something that I would like to try. I would like to prepare myself for it and give it a shot when I have free time.


My three principles
For me, the three principles of fitness are: to be consistent, eat right and know the program that you are doing really well. That's really important. It's important to know that because, for me, that is also the way I motivate myself. Some years ago I had no interest in going to the gym and training because I think the motivation was superficial (looking a certain way), but now I train to be fitter, stronger and healthier. So, now, I feel the motivation is what gives me a kick. I want to get up and go to the gym and train everyday. It's important to know the direction you're working towards.

Keep diseases away
It's important for everyone - women, men and children - to be fit. It's very important to treat your body right. You can avoid any ailments or diseases then. I think prevention is better than cure. So, staying fit is what everybody should do. I understand that it's difficult for working men and women to come home and workout. I know it's easier for me to say this as it's part of my work to stay fit, look a certain way. Even then, when I'm working 14-16 hour stretches and don't have enough sleep, I still motivate myself to go back to the gym and do at least 20 minutes of some kind of physical workout. I think that is something everyone should try and do.

Just respect women!
Women's Day, Valentine's Day... I actually don't believe in these days... Mother's and Father's Day are sweet enough. I think being respectful towards women, treating them equally and not judging them on the basis of their gender. That itself would be a way in which men and women can celebrate one other. It's very important for women to respect other women as well. When you treat each other with respect and as equals - man or woman - it leads to a better and more evolved society and community.