How to be a man's man: Tips from a supervillain!

Love him or hate him, Vivek Oberoi is here and here to stay. The spunky actor offers tips for you, our readers:

Vivek Oberoi has been written off way too many times to take his career obituaries seriously. When he visited Rediff.com's offices in Mumbai recently, he was charming and funny. He'd take a joke just as he wouldn't think twice before taking a dig at you.

Oberoi has had two back-to-back super hit films within a span of a month and a half. Grand Masti and Krissh may have come after a long string of flops, but it seems like for the very first time after he started out Vivek Oberoi may have finally got an opportunity to redeem his career that'd been flagging lately.

It's also possibly why Oberoi has learnt to treat success and failure equally.

In the pages to follow, the actor offers simple life lessons -- from staying fit, to dealing with failure and break-ups, being a gentleman... and on a lighter note, dealing with fatherhood.

Whip yourself into shape

To play Kaal, I had to become extremely lean and for some scenes had to bulk up so the suit would sit well. It was a tough challenge. For starters, you have to be extremely focussed, be it in your workouts or in your diet.

I trained with Viraj Sarmalkar in Mumbai and our workouts would typically include cardio five to six times a week and weight training sessions four times a week.

When I was in Hyderabad shooting with Hrithik, I'd train with Chris Gethin.

Typically, our weight-training sessions would last for about two hours including warm-up and stretches and our cardio sessions would be no more than 45 minutes for six days a week.

45 minutes is an ideal time for cardiovascular exercises. You begin burning fat from 18 minutes onwards and beyond 45 minutes, you usually start burning muscle. So 40 minutes of intense cardio exercises is a good idea followed by five minutes for cooling down. Keep your heart rate between the range of 130 and 140 because that is usually the best fat burning zone.

The other important thing to remember is that simply working out doesn't help if you aren't controlling your diet.

I've been big on micro-nutrients lately, found predominantly in raw food. There's a world of healthy raw food recipes out there that can and must be explored. They're easy to make and it doesn't take a lot of time to whip up a meal.

Vivek Oberoi recently played a super-villain in Krissh 3. In his 11-year-career Oberoi has seen dizzying heights and dreadful lows. After his recent back-to-back successes -- Grand Masti and Krissh 3, Oberoi has got a second shot at fame. He visited the Rediff offices in Mumbai where he interacted with the staff and spoke about his successes, failures, heartbreaks and more.

If there's one thing I've learnt, it's that success is a fickle date but failure is a loyal friend.

It teaches you, grounds you and makes you stronger. My failures taught me to take all the criticism and rise above it.

They have made me stronger and made me more fearless.

I've made all kinds of choices in my life. Some turned out well, others didn't. Whatever the outcome, those choices were mine. I lived my life on my terms.
Live your own life; be fearless; make your own choices. If you can't do that you're living someone else's life, aren't you?

Dealing with a break-up is a very subjective thing. You cannot have standardised tips to get over a break up. But here's what I have learnt from all my break-ups.

Every relationship is for a reason, a season or a lifetime.

All my relationships before Priyanka were either for a reason -- I learnt something from them or for a season -- I had to experience something beautiful and celebrate it.

So the best way to get over a break-up is to put the pain aside, think of it as being for a reason, cherish those times you've spent with your significant other, celebrate those times, put the pain aside and move on.

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How to be a gentleman

A gentleman always respects a woman. There can be no reason to disrespect a woman. Remember that at all times.

A gentleman never kisses and tells.

A gentleman is man's man, someone whose word can be trusted. When he shakes his hand on something, it carries its value and when he says things, he means them.

A gentleman has strength and it lies in the fact that he doesn't need to use it ever.

A gentleman could be in a position to scream and shout but chooses to speak to you politely.

The most important lesson here is to never take morning duty. Always take night duty. You return from work, feed the baby, watch the TV on mute while the baby's music is playing and it falls asleep.

Morning duty can start anytime from 3.30am to 9 am.

There was this one time that I had no choice but to take morning duty when my wife was away. I was fast asleep when my son wakes up, grabs my hair and wakes me up because it was playtime for him!

When wife picks clothes for your baby they are always good. Don't ever suggest otherwise or argue over it.

If she says there aren't enough clothes for the baby, accept it. No exceptions there.

If you think your child looks like you, great! Say it to yourself but never, ever before the in-laws.