P.V Sindhu’s Fitness Regime and Diet Secrets

On 19th August 2016, P.V Sindhu made every Indian proud with her achievement at Rio Olympics 2016. She became the first Indian woman to win a silver medal in Olympics. In the final match, the 21-year old gave a tough competition to Carolina Marin, ranked number one in the world.

Sindhu started badminton training at the age of 8 under the guidance of coach Pullela Gopichand. In 2013, she became the first Indian female badminton player to receive a world championship medal after winning a bronze medal in Guangzhou, China.  She won several titles with her consistent performance. Here is what everything you need to know about the fitness secret of this 21-year old who created a history.

Sindhu’s physiotherapist, Kiran Challagundla compiled her fitness game plan and monitored her fitness requirements continuously for assessing the blood composition, body weight, and heart rate. It gave him an idea of how to tweak her nutrition supplements to compensate for any deficiencies.

To build endurance and strength, she was suggested to perform a combination of workouts.  For example, she did two to three sets of ten 400m runs in one day and one 2.4 km run on the other day. Some days, she was even pushed for a 10 km run.  Apart from that Sindhu does 100 push-ups and 200 sit-ups in a day. In a week she does 600 pushups and 2400 abdominal exercises to activate her core and abdominal muscles.

After the six or so hours of training, the day is still not done for Sindhu.  Post practice, she performs yoga, relaxes in the swimming pool and does light fitness exercises. Passive recovery is icing, massage, etc.,” says Kiran.

Coach Gopichand banned junk food and sweets from the sports star’s diet. Sugar was strictly restricted as it can cause inflammation. Each meal was measured before consumption. Kiran emphasizes that to become a champion one should give up the right to choose what he or she eat. If you have a child and nurture dreams of Olympic glory like Sindhu, pay attention to this: “There is nothing like what she prefers. She eats what she is told to.”