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Row, row, row your boat

Photo: Serish Nanisetti

Racing in water Kayaking is fun and builds the upper torso

Can I help India win an Olympic medal with this?”

“No. You cannot. You have to be under 16 when you start, have a good diet, and you should live somewhere where the pollution is not so high,” says Y. Rajesh.

“But I eat a lot.”

“It is not how much you eat but how nutritious is the diet,” says Rajesh, a SAI-trained kayaking coach, as he takes me to the edge of Indira Park Lake where a clutch of young men practice the skilled boating. We begin with a 200-metre jog, a bit of stretching to relax the neck and shoulder muscles and then Rajesh shows me the basics before we hit the water. Take a bamboo stick that’s about as long as the paddle and with that he shows me the techniques for rowing. Keeping the stick on the head, he makes me do the side bends, and with legs apart makes me swivel on the hip and after that he shows the racing kayak technique.

I am a land-lubber but I hit the water wearing a life-jacket that can keep me afloat even if I am 180 kg. Don’t step into the kayak (don’t call it a boat) gingerly, step into it with confidence, one foot, bend down hold the side of the jetty, bring the other foot onto the kayak and you are ready. I hold the double bladed paddle, measure the span between thumb and little finger and hold the paddle in that position. I hold it with no movement in the right palm, hit the water like a knife with minimal water dispersal at a 90 degree angle from my body, row till the paddle is behind me lift it like a knife and with a slight twirl of the left hand hit the left paddle in the same angle. A few strokes like this and I am racing in the water. Pure elemental joy washes my body (not the water, inner joy). Rowing to the middle of the lake turning it around slowly by stroking only on one side or faster by keeping the paddle flat against the water is fun. It doesn’t just exercise your biceps, but also the latisimus dorsi and the lateral abs.

I am doing this in a sea-kayak or what they call recreational kayak. Racing kayaks are different sleeker, they cut the water like a knife (something to do with the inventors who lived near polar icecaps). But balancing inside them is different. So what if I cannot help India win a kayaking gold, at least I got my workout.

Bottomline: A perfect set of exercises to keep the upper body shipshape and develop lateral abs.

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