Robin Behl isn’t your typical celebrity trainer. His path to fitness wasn’t paved with hypertrophy splits and mirror selfies, but with street fights, mountain summits, and Shaolin discipline. Today, he’s one of the most respected names in India’s new wave of performance-focused celebrity fitness, with clients like Adarsh Gourav and Ibrahim Ali Khan relying on his methods to sculpt bodies that don’t just look good, but move well too. His own story is a staggering one: part fighter's tale, part survival narrative, and part movement philosophy manifesto.

It’s a bit of a wild ride. Behl spent six years in film—mostly assistant work with Dharma Productions—before a solo trek to Everest Base Camp in 2016 changed the trajectory of his life. There, he fell in love with nature and the physicality of movement. What followed was a whirlwind: a stint as a professional rescue diver, months of training at the Shaolin Temple in China, and a volunteer period in Greece working on strength and conditioning with refugee kids. All of this happened despite a prior knee surgery in 2014.

In 2019, while training at a franchise gym in Bombay, Behl met Karan—now his co-founder at Tribe—and after months of travelling and prize-fighting, a fractured tailbone finally prompted him to say, “Let’s try.” They posted a video on Instagram with the phrase “DM to join the Tribe,” started with two beach classes a week, and when COVID hit, pivoted to three online sessions a day, joined by Karan’s now-wife Anushka. Friends and strangers from across the world joined in, and within six months, over 250 people were logging on regularly. That’s when Behl realised this wasn’t a side hustle—it was the future.

In this candid conversation, Behl shares key insights on sustainable fitness, post-injury rehabilitation, movement philosophy, and what it really takes to train modern-day actors for physically demanding roles. Excerpts:

Sounds like travel really shaped your path. How did that continue to influence your direction in fitness?

Travel taught me everything. There’s no better educator than being out alone, figuring things out. I eventually got a reply from one of my teachers I’d been chasing—Al, from Ido Portal’s team. He told me, “Come to Mexico.” I packed everything and left during the pandemic. Stayed for over a year. Trained, surfed, fought, did jiujitsu. Taught online Tribe classes from there, too. Then I had a major knee injury—couldn’t stand up. Ended up having double knee surgery in 2022. I was 26.

That intensity—do you bring it into how you train others? What’s your philosophy as a coach now?

I’m more selective now. I need to work with people who are fully in. Training is like a relationship. You can’t just show up and disconnect. I want consistency, communication—if I’m training with you for an hour or more per day, even what you do with the rest of the day is important to me. Even with someone like Ibrahim, we began at 7 AM sharp. He hated it, but he showed up.

You’ve worked with Ibrahim Ali Khan and Adarsh Gourav. What’s the difference in training them?

Ibrahim has great genetics—he’s got those Patadui genes, the height and the body structure. Adarsh, on the other hand. had to work harder. But he’s a madman—totally locked in. He trained even when I was bedridden, FaceTiming me so I could coach from my pillow. That kind of discipline pays off. 

One thing that’s great about Ibrahim is that he’s grown up playing sports, so he always had that athleticism. What he needed was structure and discipline, shifting his mentality. Like it or not, if you’re a professional actor, you need to mould your body. What I’ve aimed for is to keep him in a certain ‘x’ amount of shape, so that when a movie comes in, he’s just three weeks away from being a swimmer, or a chocolate boy… whatever it is. When you get to that level of fitness, you’re thinking better, performing better, feeling better and thinking better—all aspects of life.

It took three months of him showing up at 7 AM every single day, and then I let him come at his own time.

What about designing fitness plans for specific film roles? How does that work?

It depends on the character. For Adarsh in Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, he played a trainer. Funny thing; he mimicked my body language—my greetings, the way I count reps. I had no idea until I saw the film. We trained for very specific moves—muscle-ups, L-sits, handstands.

Ibrahim needed more posture work. I designed his workouts to build that tall, confident stance he required in Naadaniyan. But again, I want them to be movers. Not just big guys who can’t function. If they want to crawl on the floor or play football, they should be able to.

How should a regular person approach fitness, especially if they’re just starting out in their 20s?

Start with intention. Even now when I go to jiujitsu, I set an intention—to leave uninjured, to execute a pass. Train with awareness of your body’s needs. And get professional guidance. There’s too much toxic advice online.

Fitness isn’t just about showing up—it’s about what you do. And if you’re injured, build back with love. Challenge, don’t threaten. Rebuild trust in your body.

You’ve mentioned how male body ideals have changed—how do you see that shift in your younger clients?

It’s evolving beautifully. People don’t just want to bulk up anymore. They want to move. Strong arms mean nothing if your spine’s messed up. Now there’s more focus on mobility, longevity, and function—especially in film. Even the actresses I train, who are mothers—they need to move, lift, crawl with their kids. I’m all for regular lifting—but with a balanced approach. A body that works on screen and off it.

And what about nutrition? What do your clients struggle with most?

Understanding their body. We start with blood work—fill in deficiencies, then work towards fat loss or muscle gain. But most people just hit YouTube and go with generic advice. Real results come when you align your diet with your body, lifestyle, and goals.

What kind of mindset do you take when working with a client who’s had an injury, but still wants to regain their fitness?

First, I need to rebuild their confidence. The idea is to challenge them—not threaten them. If someone’s coming off an injury and I make them run on day one, and they can’t do it, that becomes a traumatic experience. The next time I ask them to do it, the fear’s already there. So I have to approach it differently—gently, with love—but still make sure we get the work done.

There’s a client I’ve been working with for two years now. He’s a cancer survivor, just post-chemo when we started. He’s the father of a close friend, and when they asked me, I didn’t even think twice—I said, “Of course I’ll be there.” For the first two months, I’d go to his home. All we did was stand up from the sofa and sit back down. That’s it. Post-chemo, your muscles are gone. You lose hip connection, stability, your whole biomechanics fall apart. So the plan was simple: stand up, sit down, maybe take a short stroll in the living room.

The key is to meet them where they are. There’s always fear, always hesitation. You have to go to that place with them.