Avid tennis player Kartik becomes near-impossible to beat after his “miracle” body transformation

I feel like I'm at the peak of my health and fitness. I’m more confident and all my friends and family have noticed. My trainer has been a miracle worker for me.

An eye-opening health check made it crystal clear that Kartik's condition was a matter of life or death.

Doctors had grown concerned for his well-being in his 30s as he hurtled down a one-way street towards obesity.

The father-of-two had a long history of binge eating, hitting 115kg at his heaviest a few years back.

That was the wake-up call he had needed. Heeding the warning of his GP, he managed to drop down to around 80kg.

While Kartik had done plenty of the hard work himself, he found it difficult to keep up good eating habits and regular exercise.

Having recently turned 46, he wasn’t happy with his physique and began to gas out whilst playing tennis matches.

But all that changed within 15 weeks training with Ultimate Performance…

Weight training has left him at the peak of his powers, both mentally and physically. He’s the fittest person at his tennis club and still has energy to burn in the final set.

10kg down and still getting used to compliments from family and friends, here’s how Kartik did it…

What motivated you to start personal training with Ultimate Performance?

In general, I would consider myself quite active. I've been playing tennis since I was five years old, and I've kept myself as fit as I can throughout my life.

There have been instances where I've lost that, but now I'm here. The first time I was in the US, I was extremely unfit, even though I played a lot of tennis.

Then there was a period of six or seven years when I stopped everything. I stopped exercising, I didn't play tennis, I was eating unhealthy food and drinking a lot.

I remember my weight being around 115kg. I was obese. When I went for a health check in my early 30s, my doctor informed me that I wouldn't survive if I continued down this track.

That was the dawn for me and one morning I got up and started marathon training. I lost a lot of weight doing that and, fast forward to when I arrived in Singapore, I thought I was healthy.

I continued playing tennis, my weight was around 79kg. I got results, but I couldn’t maintain them and I returned back to an unhealthy lifestyle in terms of eating and drinking.

I continued playing tennis and running, but nothing was helping me lose weight past that point.

I was struggling to finish tennis matches, I would cramp up and my body was tired.

I was drinking far too much; I would go home and have a bottle of wine, a few beers, and not eat.

Meeting Ultimate Performance got me into a regime and routine of eliminating the things I needed to cut out and I took it as a challenge.

How did you find everything at the start of your transformation journey?

My trainer made it very clear that things can change, while making it very clear that this wasn't a silver bullet, but you told me that you'd stick to your end of the bargain and push me to the limit.

I had to keep my end of the bargain too, which meant cutting things out.

The first two weeks were very hard, my mind was playing tricks on me.

But the time I took to get away from all my bad habits was well worth it.

I'm down at 69kg now, my body fat is 11%, and now it's very hard for somebody to beat me on a tennis court.

Have you noticed a difference to your playing ability when out on the court?

I don't lose points or get fatigued easily. I can continue a two-and-a-half hour match in the blazing sun, no questions asked.

I feel like I'm at the peak of my health and fitness. I feel more confident in life in general, my friends and family see it, so you've been a miracle worker for me.

I've played a guy four or five times in the past and I had never beaten him.

He would always win because he knew my weakness. The last time we played I beat him hands down.

He approached me and said that something had changed about me. He said I don't get tired, I return his shots much easier, and it's because my body reacts better and

I've changed the way I think about the game. People now have to be really good to beat me so my overall physical strength has shown on the court.

What achievements inside the gym have stood out for you following this 15-week process?

When I first started, my trainer asked me to do a pull-up and I couldn't even do one. It was embarrassing.

I remember my trainer saying that one day I'll hit 10 with a [weight =5] weight attached to me. I laughed, and I didn't think that was even remotely possible.

Now I can do three sets of 10. With deadlifts, I started with 40 or 50kg and now I can do 100kg-plus, which is an achievement for me.

What makes me even more proud is that my son told me that he was impressed after coming in to see what I was doing.

Do you have any words of wisdom for those contemplating following in your footsteps?

This isn't a magic factory. You've got to put in the effort, and it comes with a lot of discipline.

You will get the right people, who will keep their end of the bargain.

There will be a lot of temptation, so if you don't put in the effort, it's not going to have an impact, regardless of how much time and money you invest.

It's a two-way street.