I made Busta Rhymes turn green

Mark Jenkins - personal trainer to Puffy, Missy and Beyoncé - tells us how to get fit without giving up all the good stuff

Mark Jenkins made one of his clients sick yesterday. "Yeah, me and Busta Rhymes went jogging in Hyde Park. We did a couple of hours straight running, then I strapped him up to the parachute harness... and that's when he started to go green."

Although getting Busta to see his breakfast again is taking things to the extreme, it's all in a day's work for Mark Jenkins, the personal trainer who can make hip-hop stars quit the Courvoisier and turn into highly tuned fitness machines. He created D'Angelo's rippling six-pack, trained P Diddy to run the New York marathon and shrank Missy Elliott for the I'm Really Hot video.

It's not a bad track record for a man who was nicknamed 'Suck-in-the-gut' in his flabbier high-school years. Safe caught up with him in London's Hyde Park to ask the secret to his successes.

I'm weedy, lazy and broke, and hate the thought of the gym. How do I get buffed up like 50 Cent?

"Dedication is the single most important thing, followed closely by variation. Commitment can get you started on a new routine, but after a while most people will get bored if they're just running, rowing or simply lifting weights. If you can't afford a gym, use your imagination. Run round the park, do push-ups at home - make changes and try something different each time and you won't get bored. Another way to keep motivated is to train with a partner - it makes you more competitive."

I don't have time to run round the park! and after college I'm too knackered

"You need to get a new perspective. The average person watches several hours of TV a week - then says they don't have any time! Thirty minutes, five days a week, is all it takes to feel the difference, so time is not an excuse. And exercise is going to give you more energy than watching TV."

If I want to get fit, do I have to give up everything I enjoy?

"Not completely - a little bit of what you enjoy won't hurt. But if you're like Busta Rhymes, who's going out partying with girls and whoever every night until four in the morning, you've got to cut back sometime. The trick is to have several weeks of intensity, when you're making a real, conscious effort to be healthy, followed by a week when you'll allow yourself some little treats, but without bingeing."

a late-night doner kebab is out of the question, then?

"I wouldn't recommend a doner - a chicken kebab with plenty of salad would be a healthier option. I used to be a dancer before I got to high school, but I stopped as it wasn't seen as 'cool'. Big mistake! As my metabolism is slow, it didn't take long before I developed man-boobs."

Hmm, I don't know... it all sounds like a lot of work

"Yeah, yeah. Stop making excuses to not get in shape. If you want to do it, you can do it, however overweight, unfit or lazy you think you are. Stop just talking about it and go do it."

Contact Mark at infitness.com

Training in da (Fit) club with Mark.

Busta Rhymes

"I've been on tour with Busta Rhymes and there's this bit in his show when he usually grabs hold of a bottle of whisky and starts drinking in front of the crowd. But the last time he was on stage he looked over and could see me watching so he gave the bottle to a fan."

Missy Elliott

"She hates to work out, so I sorted out her diet and gave her some vitamin supplements. There's still a lot you can do if you don't want to run or go to the gym. Just walking to get the bus every day for ten minutes is better then driving. The problem with Missy is, she never gets the bus!"

Diddy

"We ran the New York marathon together and he was totally dedicated. I'm sure I was on the verge of getting fired, because I was always trying to rattle him, telling him how hard he had to work to get where he wanted! I don't think he's used to people talking to him like that."

Mary J Blige

"We were working out in a London park just a few weeks ago. I try not to use the machines in the gym for doing cardio work – it's too mechanical. What I want to do is teach people how they can train themselves – whether it's outdoors or at home in their apartment."