Dubai Dairies - Part 4

I started swimming at 7, and loved competing, so becoming a professional swimmer was meant to be. I was fortunate that the passion I felt, translated to success and I became one of India's best in the sport. I've recently taken up a new sport - Golf, and now dream of tasting the same success in this as well. My golf coach, Justin Parsons, is based in Dubai, and teaches at the Butch Harmon School of Golf, which trains some of the world's best golfers today. This means I get to Dubai quite frequently, and along with my golf training, because I love to travel, am becoming quite the expert on the many entertaining things this incredible city has on offer.

Given my affinity for the water, it's not surprising that one of the things I've really enjoyed in Dubai is the interactive programme for guests at the Dolphin Bay in Atlantis, the Palm where you can get up close with some of their Indo-Pacific Bottlenose dolphins in a beautiful 4.5 hectare environment.

Maybe it's their seeming smiles, or tales of friendliness that surround this mammal; perhaps it's their incredible intelligence or their emotional connect with humans, but something about dolphins has always fascinated me. As a professional swimmer you learn to live by the clock, and all your effort is geared to getting as streamlined as possible, to building power and reducing resistance, with the goal of cutting that minuscule fraction of a second from your race time. So when you see a dolphin, do a 100 meter dash in just over 10 seconds, something that you know as a professional swimmer, would take the fastest human being about 4 times as long to finish, you're bound to feel a splash of awe and wonder for these extraordinary animals.

With seven interconnected resident pools and three interaction lagoons complete with temperature controlled water, sandy beaches and landscaped gardens, I think these dolphins have it really good, much better than many of the training facilities for pro-athletes back home! So I wasn't surprised to hear that the dolphins at Atlantis have not only reproduced in the absence of a formal breeding programme but also are expected to live much longer than they might in the wild.

Dubai Dairies - Part 3

When you spend more than 1500 hours a year in the water, training as a professional swimmer, there are only two reactions humanly possible – you'll either absolutely love the water or never want to see it again when you're done! Water's definitely my first love, which is why even though I've now switched to a new sport, Golf, I still absolutely love being in and around water. It's one of the reasons I like Atlantis, the Palm, in Dubai, with its huge aquariums, private beaches, pools and marine habitats for dolphins and sea lions, so much. That and the fact that I'm Parsi, which I think makes me a foodie by default. This place has no less than 23 different restaurants, bars, lounges and cafes promising cuisines to suit every mood!

So if you get to Atlantis, which is a destination in itself, here are my top 5 must-try food places:

Dubai Dairies - Part 2

The good thing about being a professional swimmer is the high calorie burn out because of the intense workout, which for me equals enjoying decadent food while touring or on holidays, without too much guilt. This comes particularly in handy when you're dining at a restaurant like Levantine, at Atlantis the Palm, Dubai.

Atlantis the Palm - Luxury redefined

One of the hotel's 23 bars, restaurants and cafés, Levantine is Atlantis' strictly 'Lebanese affair'. With a panoramic show kitchen and an elegant vibe, the restaurant is distinctively Middle Eastern and infused with an explosion of colours and Oriental influences. If you’re craving Arabic food in Dubai, this is a great choice. Though fairly pricey, the relaxed ambiance with its live Lebanese music and dramatic belly dancing makes for a wonderful evening.

Entrepreneurship Lessons from an Olympic Swimmer - Part 2

This is the second in series of articles on lessons for success learnt from a lifetime in sport by Olympic Swimmer Rehan Poncha.

In my last blog, I wrote about two character traits in my approach to sport that seem especially relevant in the context of becoming a successful entrepreneur. The first was having dreams, sometimes so seemingly impossible, that even I doubted I could live them. And the second was being stupid enough to just not accept defeat when it stared me in the face. Today, I want to elaborate on one more lesson that has stood me in good stead as part of my learning from a lifetime in sport. It's about setting priorities and valuing time.

A Stitch in time saves nine

As a swimmer you know every second counts. In fact even a fraction of a second is so crucial when it comes to a race. And as swimmers we work so hard on our stroke, that turn, the kick, that pull, wear suffocating bodysuits and so much more, all with this one goal of getting more efficient and saving time! As an athlete you learn to value time. The time you take to race measured by the clock, the time you spend training to make your dreams come true, the time you have in between to get all the other chores ticked off on your to-do list, and the precious few hours you have free for everything else.

Entrepreneurship Lessons from an Olympic Swimmer

"I never got this far in my dreams", famously said pro-golfer, Bubba Watson on being asked how it felt to win the Master's Championship. Like Bubba, it is these dreams that wake me up every morning to go and train, keep me motivated on tough days to grind it out and keep me believing that someday this effort will help me wake up to living my dream and more!

 

Every stroke brought me closer towards achieving my dreams.

Ever since I can remember, I've had two very strong character traits in my approach to sport, that I'd like to write about today, especially in the context of becoming a successful entrepreneur. The first was having dreams, sometimes so seemingly impossible, that even I doubted I could live them. And the second was being stupid enough to just not accept defeat when it stared me in the face.

5 Tips to Swim a better Butterfly

There's a unique flamboyance in the butterfly stroke, that's not quite there in any of the other strokes, I think. Watch someone swim a butterfly lap in a regular pool and sure enough most heads will turn to watch. Especially if it's swum really well.

But butterfly is probably one of the hardest strokes to train for and to compete in. Most swimmers fear the 200 fly which was my event at the Beijing Olympics, and many more hate a fly distance set in training. However it's my experience, that training in this stroke will help you work muscles that don't get worked on quite as much in other strokes, strengthen your aerobic and anaerobic capacity, and make you a much tougher swimmer mentally as well. There was a certain arrogance with which I would brag about the huge fly sets that I did in training and it was also this confidence that I took to a race, knowing that being able to complete those sets meant I was supremely fit.

So here are five tips from me to help you swim a more efficient butterfly, which I believe will make both training and racing easier. And hey, even if you're swimming recreationally, why not swim this well and make those heads turn!

CHIN UP:

Your head position in all four strokes is of crucial importance. I've said this before as well; your body will always do what your head dictates!

Many flyers make the mistake of coming up too high to breathe because they feel they are struggling to swim the stroke and in that moment of exhaustion or panic overcompensate by pushing a large part of their upper body out of the water when they surface for a breath. Remember that the less effort you make to come up for air, the smoother will be your stroke.

I always tell swimmers to lift their head just enough for their chin to crest the surface of the water as they inhale, letting the water graze past, without allowing any more of their upper body to surface. This is a powerful stroke and using the right technique will help you conserve energy for where you need it most. When you tire through training or in a race, it's easiest to start making mistakes in your technique and I would use the position of my chin as a checkpoint for accuracy of technique, ensuring it seemingly rested on an imaginary cushion - the water -right through the in-breath.

5 Tips to a Better Breaststroke

Hello! This is the third in my series of blogs on stroke correction and I'm focusing today on breaststroke, a stroke many of us begin with.

Every swimmer is built differently, some have stronger upper bodies and some have stronger legs. Strength distribution through the body dictates how a swimmer swims breaststroke, and thus every breaststroker will swim in a slightly different way from his competitor. However here are a few key tips to swim a better breaststroke ! Hope they help !

High Elbows:

Making sure you pull through with a high elbow is most important. A lot of swimmers end up dropping their elbows through their pull, thus losing out on pulling as much water back as they possibly can. Dropping your elbows in breaststroke has a lot to do with weak rotator cuff muscles and I always encourage breaststrokers to do external rotation rotator cuff exercises as a matter of habit so they can maintain the high elbow pull with ease. Remember the higher your elbow, the more water you push back and the further you move forward on each stroke!

Head Position:

Each swimmer likes to exit the water at an angle he is comfortable with. I always have watched that most good breastrokers exit the water both upward and forward as well. By this I mean,they do not chest the water whilst coming up to breathe, an error that novice swimmers do often make. Your ability to hit the right angle can be improved by using your head and eyes as a checkpoint. One exercise that's helpful is to try exiting the water with your eyes still looking downwards at the pool floor.Through all the time you spend above the water, keep your eyes looking at the pool and time you spend breathing will be spent more efficiently, and helping you find just the right angle.

5 Tips for a Better Backstroke

Since I'm doing so much work with swimmers on stroke correction these days, the second blog in my series of tips on stroke correction focuses on getting better in the pool in backstroke!

Head position:

You need a steady head to go through life smoothly, and it's literally as important to have a steady head if you want to swim your backstroke in the best way possible. It's the most important part of your body in this stroke.The more steady you keep your head, the straighter you will swim. No one wants to swim more than the race distance and swimming crooked with an unsteady head will only slow you down, and yes increase distance. A steady head promotes rotating around your spine and avoids lateral movements. One drill that I always did to work on developing steadiness was to place my goggles on the centre of my forehead and swim laps, without allowing them to fall off. Remember, the less movement your head has, the more stable you will be in the water, and the faster you will go.

Rotation:

Learning to rotate around your spine in backstroke is key to swimming efficiently. I would always work on trying to get my shoulder to graze my chin and get it totally under my chin on each stroke.That way my body would be entirely on its side, with my pulling arm digging deep into the water for a better pull.The "six kicks on each side" drill was my favourite, as it helped strengthen my rotational power when done at speed and this also helped me swim better freestyle. In short, swim backstroke on your side, not on your back !

5 tips on how to Swim a great Freestyle

Olympian Swimmer and Arjuna Awardee, Rehan Poncha, often starts his SwimSmart clinics talking about the importance of looking good in the water. Whether you are a competitive swimmer or just swim for fitness or fun…here are 5 quick tips from the ace swimmer on how to swim a great free-style...

Hello! This is one of my favourite strokes and here are my top 5 tips on swimming a great freestyle.

1. KEEP A STEADY HEAD: Your body does what your head decides! In life and more so in freestyle. The steadier your head is, the more stable you will be in water. The dry-land exercises I teach in my clinics help to master this technique of keeping the head steady while rotating from your hips. People are often so worried about being technically correct with their arms and legs; they forget that in this stroke, balance comes mostly from two parts of the body - the head and the hips. So conserve your energy, work on developing stability of the head, eyes looking down at the floor of the pool, body parallel to the floor of the pool, head in line with the spine with the forehead submerged.





2. BREATHE EASY: Great swimmers look very relaxed in water. One common error I find during stroke correction sessions is that swimmers rotate their heads, very suddenly, to one side and also very high for inhalation. This not only destabilizes the entire body, it wastes a lot of energy. I like to ask if the oxygen up in the sky is different from that just above the water. Since its not, why make such an effort? When you do this, your body acts like a see saw, and your legs drop creating a lot of drag. Instead, turn on your side, and let your head rotate gently a little further until your mouth clears the water, and it's as though your head was resting sideways on a pillow. Inhale, and return to the head down position, where you exhale continuously underwater.

Golf Diaries - Scotland

Some moments in life are so dear that we end up cherishing them, holding them close to our hearts, and no matter what life throws at us in our most trying times, their memory brings a smile to our faces.

A month back, my family and I had the good fortune of taking time off together for a ten day break in London and Scotland. Obsessed as I am with my golf and training, I was dying to play the courses at both places.

Golf in London did not happen and that drove me crazy. How did I compensate? I let London and its people see a ridiculously eccentric side of me, executing imaginary swings and doing shadow practice in the most unlikely of spaces...well, everywhere I went really, from hotels and restaurants to the Big Ben and the National Art Gallery!

At the National Art Gallery, London.

Scotland was next and I was really hoping I'd get to play there. It had been ten days since I had last trained and this was probably the longest I had gone without hitting a golf ball in the last two years! 

The Gods gave in as we arrived at a lovely place called Wick, in Scotland. We checked in at this awesome castle-turned-hotel-on-a-cliff-by-the-sea made only more spectacular by the fact that it was minutes away from the Wick Golf Club, the oldest established Golf Course in the highlands of Scotland!