BENGALURU : There’s more to sports than its competitive angle, believes AK Abhinav. The Bengaluru-based strength and conditioning coach is now introducing ‘Life of Tri’, a triathlon programme for sports enthusiasts, in collaboration with experts from cycling, swimming and athletics. According to Abhinav, the programme aims to provide triathletes access to a full-fledged team of specialists and guide them through training and competition. “We started off with a triathlon workshop in 2019 to encourage people to take up triathlons. Since the pandemic did not give much space to take the vision forward, we have now established a formal team to assess and train triathletes,” says Abhinav.
The Life of Tri programme aims to help participants, be it beginners or professionals, pursue endurance sports, while also training them on the dynamics of each sport. Olympian swimmer Nisha Millet, cyclist Naveen Raj and athlete Susheel Chand are a part of the programme and will train the triathletes in their respective sporting arenas.
“Sports medicine doctor Srinand Srinivas and I assess the participant’s strength and flexibility. They are then sent to respective sports trainers to get their skills assessed to prepare them for competitions,” says Abhinav. So far, 25 non-professional participants and 40 professional triatheletes have signed up since January. According to Millet, most of the participants face challenges in swimming.
“Marathons are not a challenge anymore. Triathlon is the new gold standard. Swimming is the most difficult to prepare for because the trainees practise in oceans and large water bodies, which require different dynamics. The training first starts in pools, before progressing to rivers and oceans,” explains Millet.
Sushanth Dash, CEO of Starbucks India, who is also training under the programme, says “I have been into long-distance running for the last three years and have done a few marathons. I now want to take my training a step forward. The challenge would be to train for three disciplines instead of just one.”
The training aims to give exposure to all three sports by distributing the stress placed on the musculoskeletal system. “A triathlon is a great pursuit to undertake as it offers diverse challenges and makes you look energetic, powerful and younger,” says Abhinav.