NEW DELHI: The top weightlifters of the country are currently at NIS Patiala and chief national coach Vijay Sharma has had to deal with a multitude of problems — from muscle loss to a decrease in muscle endurance due to athletes not being allowed to train. And despite this, he is trying to keep up the athletes’ spirits.
While the IOA and sports ministry are planning to restart training in a phased manner, the coach says that it will take some time before the lifters can start full-fledged training.
“The usual training methodology will need to be changed. A lot of factors will go into determining how we restart. Due to long period of inactivity, all my lifters have suffered muscle loss and muscle endurance has gone down. Too much too soon can adversely impact training, leading to injury. We need to gradually build momentum,” he said.
There are three girls and six boys at the Patiala centre, which includes Tokyobound Mirabai Chanu and Jeremy Lalrinnunga. There has also been a change in diet. The earlier routine of special diets tailored to suit athletes of different sports has been changed into a general one which will alleviate the tendency of athletes putting on weight.
“Weight gain is an issue but the current diet will ease some of that. General bodyweight exercises are the norm now and I urge all of them to continue doing those inside their rooms.” Mirabai agreed with her coach and revealed what sort of training they are undergoing currently.
“I earlier requested officials and TOPS as well to resume training, saying we are ready to maintain social distancing while training. At the moment, we are unable to train in the hall but we try to do as much as possible in our rooms as it is important for us to stay fit. Normally, I train twice a day, keeping focus on my fitness and upper body strengthening with dips, push-ups and squats,” she said.
There is also the mental anguish of seeing top competitors from China and Korea continue to train. Sharma said that it is difficult to explain but is nonetheless trying to keep the spirits high.
“They come and tell me about the top lifters in China, Korea still training and how that is affecting them. I know how worrying that can be but I keep reminding them that we have got time on our side, if we remain positive and not let our focus waver, we will reach the destination ultimately.”