Take a lap, on land

People, even sportspersons, managed to get creative with their workouts during lockdown. But when Russian Olympian swimmer Yuliya Efimova put out a video of her going for a swim in her kitchen, everyone was dumbstruck.

Dryland exercises — that’s what competitive swimmers are resorting to in a desperate attempt to not lose touch with their technique during the pandemic, which has kept them out of the pool.

In Phuket, Thailand, India’s Sajan Prakash, who is there on a scholarship from the International Swimming Federation (FINA), has been resorting to some of the same techniques employed by Efimova. While she lay on her stomach on her kitchen countertop, with her upper body suspended off the counter, mimicking swimming strokes, Prakash and his fellow swimmers have been using a railing.

"We lie atop it and one person holds on to our ankles while we practise the strokes, whether it is breaststroke or freestyle," says Prakash. "We do it for 40 seconds, take a 20 second break and then repeat eight times."

To not lose the touch of being in water, they also use an inflatable pool. "We fill it with water, tie a rope tethered to something at one end, tie the other end around us and then jump in and move our arms so that we keep our shoulders moving and don’t lose the ‘water touch’, which is important," he says, adding that they also do high intensity training, theraband exercises, and run to keep up their cardiovascular fitness.

In Chennai, swimming coach Ramesh Jayaraman says he has also been helping swimmers keep fit during the lockdown. "While you cannot exactly replicate what you do in water, you can do some land-based exercises that will help you maintain your fitness levels," he says. "You need to focus on important muscle groups — shoulders, abs and core, and legs — along with general flexibility."

His workout routine includes land-based ones without machines, push ups, pulls ups, squats, and resistance band training. "You can follow the same movement you use in water for freestyle with the help of the bands and strengthen your shoulders," he says, adding that basic yoga stretches also improve flexibility.

Competitive swimmer Maanya Mukta Manesh, who has been training at Ramachandra Medical Centre in Porur, says that before lockdown she used to practice swimming twice a day.

"Now, I do a schedule that is personalised for my body — resistance band workouts for shoulder stability as we do a lot of rotations in swimming, and this prevents injury of the rotator cuff muscles. And also a lot of core workouts — plank, shoulder dab, ball rollout, wood chops — as swimmers use their core a lot to maintain their posture in water," says the 15-year-old.

But, of course, nothing can replace the feel of being in the water and, with gyms open, swimmers are keeping their fingers crossed. "It’s been a long time since I have been in the pool. And I can’t wait to train again," says Maanya.