Fuel the Olympic Fire: How star wrestler Bajrang Punia trains and what is his 'desi ghee'-filled diet?
The wrestler booked his ticket to Tokyo 2020 in September 2019 after winning a bronze medal at the World Championships
Bajrang Punia is one of India's medal hopefuls in wrestling at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. He is India's finest in the 65 kg weight category.
Encouraged by his father, he started wrestling at the age of just seven at Virender Kumar's akhada close to home near Jhajjar, Haryana. Training at the facility where Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt, both Olympic medal winners from the state of Haryana, used to train, Punia has now become one of the premier wrestlers in the country.
He has won a bronze in the World Championship in 2019 and has finished on the podium in every elite international tournament.
In 2021, he won the 65kg title at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event in Rome and has been in fine form after returning to the mat post the break due to Coronavirus.
He will be one of India's biggest hopes at Tokyo 2020. Let us have a look at his diet and training regimen to understand the secret behind his success.
What does Punia eat?
Milk and dairy products make up a huge chunk of Punia's diet. Apart from having three-four litres of milk every day, he adds desi ghee (clarified butter) to most of his meals. This helps him to gain micro-nutrients such as Vitamin D, B1, B6, B12 and calcium. The high-calorie intake keeps his glycogen level high which is essential to produce Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) -- which powers anaerobic exercises. During training, he has dry fruits or nuts like almonds.
For lunch and dinner, he focuses on having pulses, salad, curd chilli-garlic chutney and bread dipped in ghee. Apart from this sometimes in the morning, he might have two glasses of spinach, carrot and tomato juice.
His favourite is besan ka laddu (gram flour) and Puran Poli which is a type of Indian bread stuffed with sweet lentil and jaggery. He also likes to cook in his leisure and during lockdown, he would even cook for his family.
"I make roti, dal, raita and halwa. My speciality is besan ka halwa,” he stated to ET Panache.
How does Punia train?
Most of Bajrang Punia's training sessions include drills to develop power, strength, balance, agility, and endurance. His most preferred exercises are bicep curls, battle ropes, skipping, and rope climbing.
Additionally, it is equally important for him to do bodyweight exercises like pushups and squats. While doing push-ups, he sometimes asks someone to sit on him to make the exercise more intense. Once a week, he also goes for a long-distance run as it increases endurance. He uses tractor tyres to do strength training apart from sweating out in the gym.
"You don't become an athlete just like that, it takes years and years of work and dedication. Exercises like dand (push-ups) and baithak (squats) have been a part of my routine ever since I started wrestling. These desi exercises are meant for the core wrestling regimen and are meant to test our body's physical fitness to the extreme," he revealed.
To beat the restrictions imposed during lockdown, he had set up a small gym inside the house which helps him in his cross-fit training. He also has a stationary bike on which he trains at least twice a day.
“Power and balance are critical for a wrestler. Body-weight exercises are the best to do while you are at home. Meditation, abs, plank hold, squats and yoga too are helpful. Within each, there are a number of variations, each with its own benefits,” said Punia.