CHENNAI: With evolving scientific studies in sports, training has assumed a new dimension. Integrating sports science into traditional training is slowly adding to the longevity of players. At the same time, it is also giving people new meaning of the sport they had avidly pursued over the years. For a swimmer, this is even more critical as the demands of the sport take toll on the body and by the age of 25 or 26 the form starts waning.
Top swimmers know the real struggle starts after they peak, which is in their teens or early 20s. India’s backstroke exponent and one of India’s premier swimmer Srihari Nataraj knows it quite well that at 25 he is not growing younger. As he gears up for his third Commonwealth Games in Glasgow starting from July 23, the swimmer speaks to this daily from venue about his form and the new training method he has adopted to wade through the rigours of the swimming pool. He has cut down his swimming time drastically and is concentrating on other off-the-pool training rituals. In what could be his last Commonwealth Games, he would want to leave a lasting legacy for Indian swimming behind. Last Games, he finished fifth in 50m backstroke and this time he would like to end on a high.
Taking a leaf out of Australia’s sprint swimmer Cameron McEvoy, Srihari is training less inside the pool and more outside it. At gym, he spends more time in strength and conditioning. Discarding his traditional training where he used to spend hours inside the pool, the swimmer says this has made him stronger and faster and has also improved his endurance.
“For the past few years, McEvoy stepped away from the traditional method of swimming and he's only focused on training race specific and short distances and no overtraining, no unnecessary workouts,” says Srihari. “And he only swims thrice a week and he doesn't cross two kilometres a week. Whereas for those following traditional swimming, the warm-up in each session is around one to two kilometres. Focus on one event, on short sprints and power. He has done a lot of research and he has taken inspiration from athletics where you don't see a 100m sprinter running twenty laps or jogging twenty laps at the slow pace around the track.”
Though it was hard to convince his coach, Srihari says he focussed a lot on the gym this year. “I have gotten a lot stronger, a lot more of the powerful. There's a lot of recovery required with this type of training and so I expect myself sleeping a lot more, find myself doing a lot more recovery work, resting, and then just lazing around. I actually have a lot of time sometimes.”
And like most modern sport, Srihari is using as much data as possible. He says he is swimming with SwimPal (cameras to analyse strokes and biomechanics) in Bengaluru and getting as much data and assimilating it with his training. “My entire focus now is only on one event — the 50m backstroke — and I'm training a very new way. And it's a lot more fun and enjoying. And you know it's just something interesting and there's a lot of data behind it as with this active measurements happening.”
This has also led to change in diet. “I actually can't eat as much as I used to because I'm training a lot lesser,” he says. “I have made some changes and you know I eat according to how much I train.”
Medalling in Commonwealth Games would remain his goal. The national record holder in backstroke believes he can manage a better timing and hopes to step on the podium. “Last time after the first day and the hundred going into the fifty, I thought I would manage to medal. So that's always a goal. This might be my last shot at it as well,” he says, clarifying that he is definitely not retiring but when it comes to CWG, it’s another four years away. And everything would depend on how he feels at that time. After the CWG, it will be the Asian Games where he hopes to leave a lasting imprint.
For now, it is the Commonwealth Games and his 50m backstroke. Though he would be part of the India relay team, the national champion feels he could be the slowest among his teammates.