Adventure Sports- All Answers by Partha

Are you tired of watching videos of people jumping off cliffs, riding on waves, and want to feel the adrenaline yourself? If you have doubts about taking up adventure sports, we have all your answers.

SocialBoat hosted a Live session with Partha Varanashi (@coach_partha) to address doubts related to adventure and extreme sports. Partha is a swimming instructor, a sustainable farmer, and a poly extreme sports enthusiast.

The overarching purpose of the conversation was to understand what it takes to do all that Partha does. And for that Prtha answered several questions that piqued the interest of our audience and community members.

What encouraged Partha’s journey into adventure sports?

Abhiteg wanted to know if there was any particular anecdote that kept Partha hooked to all these extreme sports.

Partha said that it was different at different stages for him.

“As a kid, I was amazed by the physical literacy of animals- they are able to do so much with their bodies. It was very fascinating to me back then.”

However, Partha tells us that at this point he is into action and adventure sports to enhance his thinking capacity, and push his brain to perform actively.

He explains that there are different parts in our brain- the temporal brain (on the side) is for memory, the cognitive part is for thinking, the cerebral is for vision, senses, etc, and the center part is the motor cortex that tells our body what to do, it controls our reactions.

Plus there is muscle memory which is our muscles getting used to particular acts. If we keep taking up new things, we allow our brain to do new things, and the communication between different parts of our brain and the body becomes active.

“10 years ago I did this so that I can look cool among people, today I do it so that I can push my brain.”

Adventure sports and the safety factor.

A question that is on everyone’s mind when we talk about adventure sports is the safety concern. To this, Partha said that he got injured more when he wasn’t participating in extreme sport. He further added-

“All of this needs to be done carefully with all safety measures. Humans have created so much through evolution and technology. There is a bit of danger but safety education is very important before venturing into the domain of adventure sports.”

How to start?

Once the concern of safety was settled, the next question would be how does one prepare themselves to start?

Partha tells us that it is important to prioritize what your body would require. Partha was a clumsy child but he really wanted to do this so he started preparing his body for it.

He mentions the five things that are essential for the body to develop-

1. Agility- It is the quickness with which your body can react to something. It is essential that your body is prepared to react accordingly.
2. Mobility- Mobility is your muscles being capable of handling body movements that are a part of extreme sport.
3. Stability- Stability is achieved when your muscles can connect to each other and communicate with each other’s movements. Partha suggests that one must always choose a workout that connects the muscles of the upper and the lower body, and not work on just one part of the body.
4. Flexibility- Flexibility, of course, is how much your muscles can stretch and how capable your body is of handling the strain.
5. Body Control- To develop this, you must challenge yourself with new situations and try to examine if your body can cope with them.

Develop these five first and then gradually go into different sports and prepare your body.

The first sport for people in urban spaces.

The popular conception is that extreme sport can be taken up only from areas that have mountains, beaches, etc. However, with the developments today, one can even start with adventure sports in urban spaces. For them, Partha had three suggestions-

1. Swimming- Swimming is one sport that is low impact but contributes immensely to muscle development and body preparation. Here, one is suspended in the water and if outside they are 72 kilos, in water it is only 12.  Swimming results in aerobic and anaerobic endurance of the body and 30 minutes of exercise is equal to 12 minutes of swimming.
2. Slack-lining- One step further from swimming would be to get a slack-lining. It is affordable and can be set up anywhere.
3. Balance board- Next, balance board. This is also a sport that prepares your body for extreme situations and is fun too.

Fun, not fear, should be the motivator of sport.

In an interview with ‘The Hindu’, Partha has mentioned that the problem with how kids approach sport is that they hardly focus on driving fun from participating. They give their best because they fear losing. On being asked to elaborate this further, Partha tells us that if we consider India’s share of the population in the world, we are not getting any Olympic medals at all. He adds,

“We are getting our kids into the competitive frame too early- 9, 10, 11. As a result, by the time they are 16, they are already burnt out. By adolescence, they should be made to have fun. Not just in sport, but in everything. Kids should be allowed to love what they do, and not be pressured. Until the age of 12, they should participate in carnivals, not competitions. Like this, they will last in the sport for a longer time and it will result in long-term athlete development.”

We hope you enjoyed our blog post around the different questions about adventure and extreme sports. We know that knowing how to stay safe in these situations is important for many people, so we’re happy to have been able to help you learn about the best ways to do so.

You can watch the full video of the question and answer blog here- https://www.instagram.com/tv/CWkdzncL_5h/

Stay tuned for more such opportunities to ask your questions to our experts.

For more such insights from fitness creators, visit SocialBoat.