Former Indian Fitness Coach Opens Up The Myth Of Weight Training

Apr 10, 2020 at 7:23 PM

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Former Indian Fitness Coach Opens Up The Myth Of Weight Training

The novel COVID-19 or coronavirus has stopped the world’s regular busy schedule. Like the other sports, cricket has also been affected due to the coronavirus outbreak. While many countries, including India, are going through the lockdown period to beat coronavirus, the reputed Indian fitness coach Ramji Srinivasan has talked about how the players can maintain their fitness level even most of the present time staying at home.

Fitness is a very important part of life. In physical sports, including cricket, fitness becomes a very crucial part. While MS Dhoni-led Indian team achieved many successes in international cricket, Ramji Srinivasan was the Strength And Conditioning Coach of the team between July 2009 to October 2013. During his tenure, Dhoni-led Indian team won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy 2013.

Srinivasan has claimed that anyone can maintain the top fitness even staying at home. He has denied the massive importance of weight training to maintain the top fitness. Talking about this, he took the name of some successful Indian cricketers and clarified that they were never obsessed over weight training.

Ramji Srinivasan
Ramji Srinivasan (Image Credit: Twitter)

Srinivasan told IANS, “Trust me, you can maintain top fitness even at home. Just need to know your body and what works for you. I just don’t get the obsession over weight training these days. Yes, it definitely works for some athletes, but it is not the only road to staying fit and healthy. I have been with the Indian team when it had some brilliant cricketers, but more importantly, smart people who knew what their body needed.

“I never saw a Sachin Tendulkar, Dhoni, Virender Sehwag or Rohit Sharma obsess over weight training. Yes, they did hit the gym, but there was a reason when they did and not because they would lift heavy weights. The likes of Sachin would work a lot on their wrists and shoulders. Let’s keep Dhoni aside because I honestly believe he was a natural. You cannot go through a career like his and with the workload he had and still count injuries on your fingers.”

Srinivasan also said that everyone needed to work differently to stay fit. He also talked about the fitness of the former Indian left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan.

Zaheer Khan
Zaheer Khan (Image Credit: Twitter)

He added, “The problem is that we tend to forget that what works for someone doesn’t necessarily work for the other. You cannot generalise. You would again be surprised to know that Zaheer Khan was another cricketer who knew almost every muscle in his body. He knew exactly what he wanted to train and how so that he has the right strength in his hamstring and lower back to help him deliver.”

I knew how to keep them at the top of their fitness game: Ramji Srinivasan

Srinivasan also shared his experience on the Indian team fitness during the successful ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 journey. Though around half of the Indian players were over 30s at that moment, there were no major injuries during that tournament, except the left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra’s injury.

Sachin Tendulkar, 2011 World Cup
Sachin Tendulkar (India) is chaired around the field by teammates as they celebrate winning the 2011 ICC World Cup (Photo by Hamish Blair/Getty Images)

Srinivasan claimed, “You had briliant guys there, but then, if you check the statistics, around 7-8 of our starting XI were in their 30s. It doesn’t come easy. But these guys trusted me and I knew how to keep them at the top of their fitness game. The only injury we had was Ashish (Nehra) breaking his finger. To play in that heat in India and to be injury free, must have done something right (laughs).”

Srinivasan also praised the Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who is one of the greatest fielders at the present moment. He claimed that Jadeja loved to run and sprint while his gym training was at the basic level. According to Srinivasan, weight training can also be helpful but it can hurt hugely in the wrong movement.

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