Shadowing Practice: Virat Kohli: Disgusted by who I saw in the mirror - Learn English Speaking with Video
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And then I saw myself in the mirror and I was like, you can't look like that if you're an international cricketer.
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How bad did the eating and training get?
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I remember I was not disciplined at all in terms of my eating and my fitness.
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I mean, I can't even relate to that guy anymore that I was in those years, you know.
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You look like a different person.
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Yeah.
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You see pictures.
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Yeah.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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So I myself feel like it's some other guy.
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So I played IPL from 2008, 2009, 2011 and then 2012.
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IPL 2012 was, I was playing for India, I was playing for the national team at the highest level
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but I hadn't got the success that some of the established players did.
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And IPL 2012 again had a really really bad IPL season and my eating habits were horrible in that season.
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Very, very bad.
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And I remember coming back home and I came out of the shower.
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The team didn't do well.
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I came out of the shower, I looked at myself in the mirror and I was like...
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That's the time it hit me, you know.
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And luckily everything that's been bad in me...
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Somehow I get that calling myself that you need to get it right.
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Like there's hardly anyone coming and telling me, you know, you're really messing up.
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It just comes from within.
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And then I saw myself in the mirror and I was like...
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You can't look like that if you're an international cricketer.
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You know, I was like, how the hell are you going to continue like this if you don't take care of yourself?
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Boom, from next day onwards, I just changed everything about my diet.
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Hitting the gym two hours a day, just taking a day off in a week, eating proper lean food.
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I got away from all kinds of junk.
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I did not have a cheat day at all.
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and within eight to ten months I lost about six
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or seven kgs and then from then on it became such an addiction because I saw the results on the field.
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I felt quicker, I felt lighter, felt more focused and then I was like, man, this is the path I want to walk.
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There was a period in which you cut out all distractions for a year and a half.
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What did that entail?
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I wanted to get back into the team so badly that
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That period It was before all of this happened This was
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when I played for the country And then I was left out
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And for 13 months I wasn't selected again
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And then it became sort of a madness That I want to get back up
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I want to get back into the team And then those 13 months
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I was like I was so focused I was so focused
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that I want to get back I want to get back into the team.
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And my performances were such that the selectors could not ignore me after a while.
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So eventually I got my chance again.
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And luckily I've never been out of the team since.
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Well, because it was around, I think, 2011, you said it dawned on you that if you wanted to be among the best players in the world,
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you needed to do what a lot of people were not doing.
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Yeah.
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Explain that.
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This was actually end of 2012, actually, when we came back from Australia,
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and I figured out the difference or the gap that we have with other countries.
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And I thought if we don't change the way we are playing
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or I don't change the way I'm playing or the way I'm training or thinking or eating, I can never be among the best players in the world.
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And there's no point in just competing if you don't want to be the best.
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So I wanted to be the best version of myself.
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And then I based everything around that vision.
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And then my training, my diet, my approach towards the game, everything changed.
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And I know that I wasn't the most skilled sports person when I came in, but the only thing that's been constant is working hard on myself and my game.
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And that was the time I realized, well, if the Indian team has to be the best team in the world, we need to go ahead in a certain manner.
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Why do you think you started believing in yourself more around then?
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Because I thought, I didn't feel that, you know, when I walked into play,
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there was any kind of fear or respect in the opposition corner.
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So I felt like I don't want to walk into the field thinking or the opposition thinking, this is just a pushover.
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Don't worry about this guy.
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He's going to do no damage to us.
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And he's just playing just like another player in the team and stuff.
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I wanted to make an impact.
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I knew that I have the ability to make my team win.
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And I wanted to be that version of myself where if I walk in, I wanted teams to think like, we need to get this guy out or else we're going to lose the game.
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So I thought if I can't have that impact on my team, then I'm not doing justice to where I am.
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And if I don't want to be that guy, there's something wrong in my head.
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Either I've accepted being lower than what I should be or I just don't have enough drive in me.
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So I said I'm going to unlock my max potential and achieve what I should be.
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So how did you go about changing your diet?
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Well, I figured out a lot of things myself, things that felt right to eat.
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And you know when you eat something whether it's healthy for you or not.
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So I never approached a nutritionist.
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I thought, okay, fine.
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I know the things that are not healthy, not good for you to eat, and I'm gonna figure my way out myself to lose weight first.
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And then I went so extreme that I had to meet someone
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because I got so lean at the end of it that I felt like there's something wrong.
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I need to probably speak to someone.
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So what did you do that got you so lean?
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I kept eating boiled food.
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I kept eating stuff that had no oil, nothing.
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I was eating steamed vegetables, and I got so, so thin that I started feeling weak at a point.
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You know, I got so mad about it, but then I had to strike a right balance.
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And then my trainer helped me to speak to someone and then get my diet right.
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Like, how did it change you?
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So, in the World Cup, just now that we played, every game my energy was 120%.
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And my recovery was so fast, I could, like, we traveled the next day.
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After every game, after a full hectic game,
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my average distance covered in a game was 15 kilometers and I would just come back,
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do my recovery treatments, travel the next day to another place
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and as soon as we reached there I was ready to train again and I just couldn't believe it.
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I was like I have so much energy, I can do gym sessions in between, I can do 10 games in such a short span of time with each game at high intensity
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and I never experienced anything like that before.
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I had no stiffness in my body, I had no niggles, I had no problems in recovering, no stomach issues, nothing at all.
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And I was off dairy as well, you know, raw dairy and meat.
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And I was like, this is unbelievable.
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I could never imagine that changing my diet would help me in such a massive way.
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Training.
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Why did your trainer make you lift with only a stick, basically, for the first month and a half?
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He made me lift with a stick because he told me that, firstly, he asked me whether I wanted to get into powerlifting.
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your cleans and your power snatch and all those kind of things and deadlifts and stuff.
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So I said, yes, of course, I want to move on to the next level because I feel like, you know, it's becoming stagnant what I'm doing and it's not taking my game to the next level.
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And he was like, so this is what comes with it.
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If you don't learn the technique, if you want to jump into it right now, you'll snap a muscle and then you'll be out for a long time.
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The stick is so light, it's annoying after a while to just keep going on with the stick
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because you feel like you just want to do something in the gym.
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But he said trust me the day I tell you to lift you'll see the difference
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So I did it for a month and a half
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and the first time I did a lift was a 20 kg Olympic bar
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and 5 kg plates each side
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so from 30 kg I went to 55 kg It was like a span of seven days It was
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so quick because I knew the technique
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And then my body could take the load and he said
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if you didn't know the technique You would have gone into the hospital right now
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because the movements are so tricky to do
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but I'm so glad that I learned those fitness routines
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because I clearly remember the first time I did it we were playing a game in Sri Lanka
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and I was I was feeling I was running behind a ball to stop it
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and I just felt so much power in my legs I was like I got
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so amazed by the speed I was able to generate
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while in that movement I surprised myself I was like it's all
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because of that training and then I got hooked on to it How did it impact hitting the ball further?
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Well, it just improved my power overall.
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So I was doing a few lifts before I would go and play.
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So I was literally game ready when I sat into the team bus.
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And I would just go on the field, just have fun, just jog around a little bit.
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No warm-up, nothing, just stretch a little bit.
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And I was ready.
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And I experienced that I was hitting the ball about 15 meters further than I did before.
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Purely because my legs and my core became so strong without me knowing it.
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and you get so much more confident because you feel like you can play the way you want
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because you can clear the boundary and you're not going to get out.
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So that's a totally different freedom altogether.
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How often are you in the gym now and what do the workouts entail?
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They differ from in-season to out-of-season.
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So in-season, for example, in the World Cup just now, I did very few lifts because when you're running so much,
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the trainer believes in doing a lot of unilateral stuff, just strengthening the muscles focusing on small muscle groups
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when I came back now my routine is eight sessions of heavy proper power lifting
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so and then they have few supplementary exercises on the days alternate days
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so I'm I'm actually quite focused in terms of what I want to do
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even while so we we are setting up the stuff for another place we're moving into
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and the first thing I asked the architects was where can
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I put a gym in the house what is the dimension
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like you know put them in touch with the trainer what are the machines
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that you want me to have in the house figure out
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the area do the dimensions give it to the people and all that process is happening so
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I'm very precise in terms of my training you
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so what are they gonna put in a whole lot of different things a few machines
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that have come in new a lifting platform for sure
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which I've been using for a while now a few machines
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which are specific a glued ham machine
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which works on your hamstrings really well a couple of other machines
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which work on your calf muscles and then a lot of different things
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which like i'm getting the new treadmills which give you resistance training
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and you know the ability to sprint within your house the impact
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that you have on on a field and stuff like that
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so yeah it's quite interesting to be involved in those things Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 163 sentences and 2129 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:04. The speaker talks fast, about 192 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| muscle noun | /ˈmʌs.əl/ | A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement. |
| trainer noun | /ˈtɹeɪnɚ/ | A person who trains another; a coach. |
| mirror noun | /ˈmiɹɚ/ | A smooth surface, usually made of glass with reflective material painted on the underside, that reflects light so as to give an image of what is in front of it. |
| technique noun | /tɛkˈniːk/ | The practical aspects of a given art, occupation etc.; formal requirements. |
| lean verb | /ˈliːn/ | To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating. |
| fitness noun | /ˈfɪt.nəs/ | The condition of being fit, suitable or appropriate. |
| spin verb | /spɪn/ | To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction. |
| routine noun | /ɹuˈtin/ | A course of action to be followed regularly; a standard procedure. |
| dairy noun | /ˈdɛə.ɹi/ | (also dairy products or dairy produce) Products produced from milk. |
| dimension noun | /daɪˈmɛn.ʃən/ | A single aspect of a given thing. |
| luckily adverb | /ˈlʌk.ɪ.li/ | In a lucky manner; by good fortune; fortunately. |
| ignore verb | /ɪɡˈnɔː/ | To deliberately not listen or pay attention to. |
| thin adjective | /ˈθɪn/ | Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite. |
| establish verb | /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/ | To make stable or firm; to confirm. |
| select verb | /sɪˈlɛkt/ | To choose one or more elements of a set, especially a set of options. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come back verb | To return to a place. |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
| come back from verb | To become successful, confident or effective again after an injury, setback, failure, embarrassment, etc. |
| cut out verb | To refrain from (doing something, using something etc.), to stop or cease (doing something). |
| get back verb | Return to where one came from. |
| get out verb | To leave or escape. |
| leave out verb | To omit, to not include, to neglect to mention. |
| mess up verb | To make a mess of; to untidy, disorder, soil, or muss. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | that's been · I've never been · I've accepted |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was not disciplined · was left · wasn't selected |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 46 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thin /ˈθɪn/, altogether /ɔl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/, strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: dimension /daɪˈmɛn.ʃən/, establish /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/, addiction /əˈdɪkˌʃən/, distraction /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/, nutritionist /njuːˈtɹɪʃ.ənɪst/
- Long words — get the stress right: intensity /ɪnˈtɛnsɪti/, unbelievable /ˌʌnbɪˈliːvəbl̩/, altogether /ɔl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/, nutritionist /njuːˈtɹɪʃ.ənɪst/, powerlifting [ˈpawə(ɹ)ˌlɪftɪŋ]
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like muscle, trainer, mirror.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.