Dipa Karmarkar became the first Indian female gymnast in India’s history to win a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Agartala native became the first Indian female gymnast and the first Indian gymnast in 52 years to compete.
Even after finishing fourth in the Women’s Vault Gymnastics tournament in Rio with a total rating of 15.066, the 25-year-old had no idea that the entire nation would praise her as the champion. Karmarkar managed to land the Produnova vault flawlessly, which is considered the toughest vault usually performed in women’s gymnastics. All of this was achievable only because of her constant training, diet, and fitness lifestyle.
Dipa makes her living according to the time. She gets up at 7 a.m. and eats breakfast by 8 a.m. Then it’s practice time for her. She works out from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. She eats lunch at 1 p.m. and then rests until 3:30 p.m. This isn’t the end of the story for her. Her next coaching session starts at 4.30 PM and wraps up at 8:30 PM, then after she has a meal and calls it a day.
When she is getting ready for contests, she usually undergoes stringent training that includes physical therapy sessions. Her fitness regimen involves a good amount of resistance training, adaptability, nimbleness, dynamic and static movement patterns, and gymnastics-specific exercises.
She jogs for 70-80 meters during cardio. She performs leg muscle exercises to keep her muscles flexible and sturdy. Her post-workout routine includes a lot of flexibility training and tissue massages. Dipa began gymnastics coaching at the age of six, under the tutelage of Bisweshwar Nandi.
Dipa’s diet is framed and balanced, just as it should be for a gymnast. Proteins are an essential component of her diet. On Saturdays, she has chicken pakoras, and then on Sundays, she has fried eggs. That would be the most she could really give herself. She has also relinquished her sweet cravings. Somewhere between training sessions, she recharges electrolytes and power by eating dry fruits and drinking juices and energy drinks.
