Kumail Nanjiani Explains How Hard It Was to Get Jacked on Instagram
If you could just turn your attention this way please [pulls out megaphone] KUMAIL NANJIANI IS NOW MORE SHREDDED THAN A BUCKET OF BODEGA LETTUCE. Today, Nanjiani posted a shirtless selfie of himself tagged #thirstyshirtless, and it truly does feature all the muscular food groups: rippling abs, sculpted pecs, popped delts, forearm veins that resemble surgical tubing... Please, witness this sordidly jacked man:
As Nanjiani mentions, he's gone full swole in preparation for The Eternals, a new Marvel cinematic universe film coming out late next year. According to Wikipedia, which I visited for this sentence: the Eternals are literal superhumans—"an offshoot of the evolutionary process that created sentient life on Earth.” Besides Kumail, the film stars Angelina Jolie, Atlanta's Bryan Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, and not one but TWO Game of Thrones-men in Kit Harrington and Richard Madden.
In his gram's caption, Nanjiani also explains how much work he put into getting action-figure arms and shoulders that would make Dwight Howard proud, noting that he wouldn't have been able to achieve his final, Patrick Bateman-esque form without having a career that allowed him the time to exercise often and gave him access to top-flight trainers and nutritionists. To wit:
"I would not have been able to do this if I didn’t have a full year with the best trainers and nutritionists paid for by the biggest studio in the world. I’m glad I look like this, but I also understand why I never did before. It would have been impossible without these resources and time."
Good on him for sharing that reality. While it's fun to gaze—quietly, jealously, hornily, contently—at Nanjiani's physique and imagine it carved from Carrera marble, it's important to remember that his is a million-dollar movie body, and an almost-unattainable standard to set for yourself. Congrats to Kumail on all the hard work. And to the rest of us, here's to recognizing that getting healthy is hard work even when you've got Marvel in your corner.
Originally Appeared on GQ
