‘The secret is to eat healthy’
Even as a professional athlete, you notice age catching up on you slowly. It’s also crucial to understand your own body and plan accordingly. It helps when we challenge our body less.
Honestly, I’ve never been an advocate of the gym. It’s a fact that I have started using the gym only recently. Light weights don’t interest me at all. I tend to do more of heavy weights, but youngsters who are starting with weights must adhere to rules suggested by their trainers.
As a kid I played a lot of football and cricket without being aware of the fact that they would help my fitness as an athlete and hold me in good stead as a cricketer.
In spite of being a wicket-keeper I do a lot of fielding practice. It improves my reflexes. A combination of batting at the nets, running and wicket-keeping, crunches, develops and maintains core muscle groups and keeps them light and supple. I am also conscious about strength. As a batsman I need strong shoulders and I always keep bowling a lot at the nets to keep my shoulders and upper body in good shape.
As cricketers, we’ve been instructed on specific diets. This is another area where I don’t go strictly by the book. I have never dieted much in life. But it’s always better to avoid fatty food as it takes more time to burn those calories.
I like being fit and my profession demands that I do my daily routines. The secret is to eat healthy and try and be calm all the time. I am sure this constitutes half of our fitness.
And my secret to fitness is open — enjoy it!
(As told to V. Balaji)
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