Hyderabad: A tragedy occurred in Hyderabad on Sunday, when at the Marredpally playground, Virendra Naik, the 41 year old cricketer of the Marredpally Sporting Club, playing A-3 Division one-day league match, scored 61 runs before he collapsed and died.
This is not the first time such a death has occurred in the sporting arena. Croatian winger Bruno Bobay collapsed during a football match between Marsona and Slovenia, and was declared dead. Dylan Thomas, a 16 year old athlete died while playing a match in Georgia in the United States. It's a warning to all those sports enthusiasts to recheck their physical condition better big games.
The subcontinent is considered a lucrative target when it comes to promoting the fitness and wellness industries. International brands have mushroomed in this space and people are keen on the fitness and wellness mantra being preached.
The question is how much should one work out? And are we doing it the right way? D. Niharika, gym enthusiast says
“I spend at least two and a half to three hours a day in a gym, and it is the best feel good factor.”
Dr Shiv Kumar, Chief of Cardiology in Apollo Hospitals: “The sudden deaths of sports persons during sports activity is mostly because of Hypertrophic Cardiom-yopathy. Forty per cent of these deaths are because of this and other causes are mostly Commotion Cordis Arrythmias. As I see it, before engaging in rigorous exercise programme go for a routine health check-up. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is when the heart muscle grows abnormally thick. There are generally no preceding symptoms.
There are two types of Physical exercises 1) Cardio which is an aerobic and in this action the heart rate goes up, oxygen is used to burn the fat to get energy. 2) Muscle building or muscle strengthening which is Anaerobic Exercises, and in this type of workout muscles are burdened with external weight strain to get strength to that particular muscle, where heart rate will not rise up, so oxygen is not available to burn the fat to get energy, carbohydrates are converted into energy. In this case blood vessels will not become elastic but become more stiff. For fitness you should have both a combination of Cardio and Muscle strengthening.”
Dr Shiv Kumar adds that use of anabolic steroids, growth hormone and abusive use of proteins and supplements, is another dangerous practice and because of this, the kidneys fail. Failure of liver functioning and heart ailments has been recorded.
Syed Hasham Husaini Javed, International Sports Physiotherapist, Sports Authority of Telangana: “When the body is not ready, sports people try to push it more. It's because of the competitive spirit. In this process the tissues get damaged; this is at a professional level. In basic levels the movement of the body is not in proper alignment with the required positioning. Most people come to me because there is lack of regular practice of that game and in competitions they push themselves more and damage their bodies.”
Jeevaraj Yadhav, Nutritionist, says “In most gyms I noticed that the people are illiterate about fitness, training and diet. Seventy per cent of people at gyms use wrong exercise patterns, and most of them want the whole transformation to happen in a giffy. Another problem is the absence of qualified coaches. They have very little knowledge of proper fitness. Moreover, diet plays a major role in any fitness activity.”
