Zheng Geping: 48 and hunkalicious

Text & Photos: Shah Salimat

If you want to call MediaCorp artiste Zheng Geping an uncle, go ahead. However, the 48-year-old wants to be called a "fit uncle". The artiste has gone through a radical transformation in the past couple of years from average-looking to hunk du jour, thanks to a grueling fitness and diet regimen that he plans to share in a fitness book tentatively titled STAR FITNESS.

Scheduled to be launched in December, the book will recount Geping's journey as a MediaCorp artiste and his race to being buff in the past two years. Geping brought us into an exclusive gym session on May 31 to show his muscle-pumping routine and sat for an interview where he revealed his motivation to write the book.

"I will not sell myself as a fitness guru. I am still an artist. I'm now 48, so if I can do it, I believe I can show many people around my age who think that they can't do it. That's it - you must be an uncle, have a bald head, a big belly. To me, no, at any age if you work hard, you still can do it," opined Geping.

Geping admits he is only at 80 percent of his optimal body shape and wants to achieve six percent body fat in time for the book's photo shoot in August. Last year, Geping only managed to achieve seven percent body fat. The average body fat percentage a man has is between 18 to 24 percent. One can barely recognize the difference, judging by how shredded his toned physique is.

He has noted positive comments from his fans on his physique but has received worrying comments. Geping said, "People around me say "Are you going to challenge those young artists to be as young as them?" No, I cannot go any younger but by obtaining the results now, it has helped me a lot in my career."

"My fans are getting younger and my role range is wider. I can now be portrayed as a 55-year-old shifu or a 28-year-old buaya (lecher). Hopefully, it will prolong my career. It's not easy because this is a tough league, especially with younger artistes coming in. Amongst the Top 10 artistes, I'm the oldest but I do hope to be back again," said Geping, who revealed that he will act in three more dramas this year.

Geping was skint on details in the book though, saying to this reporter: "The full details will be in the book, so buy the book first!" before breaking into laughter. Nevertheless, we managed to coax out some key tips to getting your exercise regime right from the macho man himself. Here are five tips from Geping on refining your workout regimen to be tip-top.