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3 weeks ago | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Ramji Srinivasan |Lavanya Narayanan |Sunil Gavaskar |Jonathan Selvaraj
“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” — Steven SpielbergWhat is it about mentorship that makes many so obsessive and at the same time doubtful? Well, to start, I have been fortunate enough to be mentored by many high-quality professionals and well-wishing mentors at multiple stages of my career.
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Jan 7, 2025 | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Ramji Srinivasan |Ayon Sengupta |Pragyan Ojha |Sai Kishore
When you hit the gym to lift weights, have you ever paid attention to the speed of your reps or the pause between each one? Many people focus closely on exercise selection, load, rep ranges, and rest periods, but most fail to notice lifting tempo. Even many experienced lifters or athletes with years of training experience go through their workouts without realising their rep speed. What’s the deal with tempo?
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Dec 6, 2024 | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Ramji Srinivasan |Dhruva Prasad |Pranay Rajiv |Sunil Gavaskar
Fitness + Recovery = Performance. This is the mantra to follow when embarking on a training journey. It’s essential to train hard, train smart, and recover smart. In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on recovery rather than feeling guilty for missing a session. With technology now widely used in fitness, it’s easier to identify the appropriate recovery time and method to prevent injuries and improve performance. Better recovery is directly proportional to better results.
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Oct 14, 2024 | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Ramji Srinivasan |Ayon Sengupta |Sunil Gavaskar |Neeladri Bhattacharjee
Imagine you’re a Strength and Conditioning (S&C) professional who has been contacted by young athletes flourishing in their sport and ready to take their performance to the next level. To help them achieve that, they have reached out to you through a referral, say, a team that has been impressed with what you’ve demonstrated on social media regarding your competence in helping athletes achieve peak performance.
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Sep 12, 2024 | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Ramji Srinivasan |Jonathan Selvaraj
The term ‘plyometrics’ comes from the Greek words pleion (meaning more) and metron (meaning measure). Plyometrics is a training method that focuses on the stretch reflex of muscles through jumping, bounding, and other explosive movements. It teaches athletes how to exert the maximum amount of force in a short amount of time and is an excellent way to build explosive power.
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Sep 8, 2024 | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Ramji Srinivasan |Jonathan Selvaraj
Despite there being an abundance of ‘experts’ in the coaching profession, it remains to be understood why there is a significant lack of genuine expertise in the Strength and Conditioning (S&C) domain. In the current scenario, one must be mindful and intelligent enough to separate the wheat from the chaff. Not everyone who claims to be an expert truly is one. It’s important to take the time and effort to differentiate genuine experts from those who merely pretend to be.
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Aug 31, 2024 | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Ramji Srinivasan
Whether you are a young S&C coach or a seasoned veteran, a high-performance coach, or an assistant, there are common mistakes to avoid when starting a new job:1. Changing too much, too quicklyIt’s important to plan and prioritise any changes that need to be made. Introducing new processes and protocols should be done in a phased manner, aligned with the team’s and players’ needs while considering the philosophy of the management.
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Aug 31, 2024 | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Ramji Srinivasan |Ayan Acharya |Ayon Sengupta |Joan Mathew Jacob
The value of strength training or any workout is rated by how much sweat they have produced or how sore they are the next day, even today. While it is good to work up a sweat and know that your muscles have been worked hard, this is not the only way to measure the efficacy of your workout. In many cases, this can even be detrimental to your health. There are several important signs one should be aware of to determine if your workout hits the sweet spot and delivers the best fitness results.
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Aug 31, 2024 | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Ramji Srinivasan |Jonathan Selvaraj |Ayon Sengupta |Paul Fein
In a world where athletic achievements are celebrated and revered, many aspiring athletes find themselves on a quest to achieve greatness. However, it’s ironic that so many of them make critical mistakes when it comes to training and recovery. These mistakes hinder their progress, preventing them from reaching their full potential and realising their dreams. Here are a few examples:1. Blindly following someone else’s training programme just because that person is successful 2.
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Jun 25, 2024 | 
sportstar.thehindu.com | Ramji Srinivasan |Ayon Sengupta |Ashwin Achal |Paul Fein
In 1989, Stephen Covey published his highly acclaimed book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This book, which has sold over 25 million copies, explores how individuals contribute to successful organisations by fostering interdependence among staff. With the rapid growth of sports medicine teams, sport has become an ‘arms race’, with team owners often believing that the secret to developing a winning franchise lies in the quality of the backroom staff.
