Divya Sharma, 27, is a young lady with only 25 per cent vision due to acute glaucoma as a child. But that has not stopped her from being a fitness enthusiast. She has five belts in Karate and she also does regular weight lifting to keep herself in shape.
Fitness is an important aspect of our life. It is said that people often relate fitness just to celebrities and models. Well, what do you do to ensure that you are fit and active? And if you feel that fitness is primarily about climbing the tree, going on long runs, or playing football, then you are wrong. Fitness is about doing any physical activity or exercise every day.
When it comes to persons with disabilities, fitness becomes even a more distant topic. How many times do you hear people talking about fitness and disability? Well, some of you do visit the gym to take pictures or for Instagram stories; but persons with disabilities hardly even think about that too.
The point is, you need to think about your fitter version. Are you fit? And don’t take me wrong, but fitness has nothing to do with your disability. There are always ways that we can work on our fitness.
Since I am a person with vision impairment, people often told me to be careful about things, not to be too active with physical activities, and so on. But early in my life, I realized the importance of staying active. A few years ago, I started martial arts (Karate) and today I have five belts in Karate. Furthermore, this year only, I ran my first 10km Marathon and finished it in an incredible time. Indeed, fitness has always been a companion for me.
Finally, recently I ventured into weight lifting too. Yes, I always wanted that my punches should be more powerful, and so I started weight lifting at home. With the guidance of my elder brother, I have developed a ‘Home-Gym, and I do workout 6-days a week, nearly 2 hours every morning. Daily, I wrap up my workout session even before I start my office work.
Karate Venture
Throughout my growing years, I saw my mom going for morning or evening walks. Gradually I developed a habit of going for a walk with her. I used to accompany her off and on. I feel these bits of walks sowed in me the seeds of some physical activity every day.
I always used to think that my mobility is not too good, and I need to do something about it. I started looking for a karate coach in my city, and it took me more than five-six years to get a coach. Finally, around four years back, I ventured into martial arts. I told the coach about my disability and used to pay them to double so that they can teach me individually.
My coach used to hold my hand and teach me how to punch, kick, and block. Certainly, I faced different difficulties during learning karate, as I can see only a little bit from my left eye. So I initially used to face difficulty in direction. When my coach used to tell me to kick straight, I ended up kicking on my left side as for me, my straight was left.
However, keeping in mind the commands of my coach, I developed my own ways of dealing with these things. What I did was I trained my mind that if when I need to kick straight, I should kick on my right, and when I am told to kick on the right, I should kick extreme right.
I never allowed my coach to be easy on me, and I used to get thirty-forty punches in my stomach during my karate classes. Anyhow, I learned karate for around one and a half years or so. Then my coach shifted to another city, and I was again left without a coach. By this time, I attained five belts, the most recent of which is the green belt.
Karate and Fitness Practice at Home
Since I was aware of the basics and many of the kicks and punches by then, I started practicing different kicks, punches, kata, and blocks at home. I developed a habit of doing cardio every day and it went on like this for a year or so. I was familiar with my back yard, so I used to do all my workouts therein. I always followed my instinct, like, if my heart said that you could do it, I tried new exercises, but if in any doubt, I used to leave the exercises then and tried them the other time in the other way.
Recently, in August 2020, I ventured into weight lifting. I thought that I am already doing karate practice and cardio part, and what if I work more on my strength and toning too? So, with the assistance of my brother, apassionate fitness and weight lifting person, who lives in another city, I started my weight lifting regime. He told me the weight lifting exercises during his visits, and I started practicing them every day.
Then, in my daily workout regime, I knew that I would be alone for my weightlifting and workouts. So, I reminded myself repeatedly that I must be careful about everything when I do weight lifting. I first acquaint myself properly with the weight lifting gears like dumbbells, barbell rod, curly rod, the plates (different kgs), bench for bench presses, and so on. I use all these gears for triceps, biceps, legs, chest, back, shoulders, and abs as per the need.
It is true that people look at the mirror when they do squats, lift the dumbbells, or perform landmine exercises or carry out any other workout for that matter. But in my case, it is not practical. So, I imagine myself doing the activity and hence, stay confident and motivated about my moves.
Secondly, in my first set of every workout, I go slow so that I can examine my movement and comfort level. Hence, I measure how much I can cope up with the specific workout. But primarily, I rely on instinct always, and I am lucky that I never betray myself.
We all can develop our ways of doing exercises and know what can threaten our disability/ health. As an example, I avoid pushups because I know that it threatens my eyes. Also, last month, I realized that I should avoid all the workouts in which I need to bend down my head completely because that may increase my eye pressure (glaucoma patient) which is not good. This realization came when I did headstands a couple of times last month and felt uneasiness in my eye. So, every day I learn, and I get to know about where I need to change, replace and modify.
PETip: Please ensure that your trainer is aware of your condition. And check with your doctor.
Related Reading: Can I exercise if I have hypertension
Finally, we have different sorts of pains, and some pains tell us that we are transforming, and some pains are such that it is a sign of an injury or wound. Every day, I have a sore body and pained muscles because of the workout. But it does not mean that I have injured myself. I can feel that the pain is ‘good pain and not a symbol of a wound. So, there is nobody else who knows your body more than you. Find out what is working out for you and what isn’t. Everybody responds differently to different things, and there is no one way or thing that fits all.
Final Thoughts
I always believe that my ways of learning things can be different, but it does not mean I will not do what I wish to learn. And fitness has been on my mind, and I suggest that everyone should do some physical activity every day to stay fit. After all, if you cannot take care of your fitness, your body will not take care of you. And a positive fallout of physical workout is also a healthy mental health too.
