No equipment, no sweat! Kidambi Srikanth doing squats, crunches to stay fit during lockdown

Kidambi Srikanth has been home in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, since mid-March. It's the longest he has been home since he became a successful badminton player.

The World No.14 says that he has been following his training routine with some variations and minimal equipment during the lockdown.

“My trainer sends me a daily fitness programme, which I follow strictly at home,” the 27-year-old tells ETPanache. “I do bodyweight exercises with the goal of maintaining at least 60 per cent of my fitness for when I am able to step back on the court and resume full training.”


Srikanth focuses on a variation of push-ups, including normal push-ups, diamond pushups, Spiderman push-ups and clap push-ups. “These increase the intensity of this simple exercise and work on my arms, shoulders and back that are most utilised in badminton,” he says.

He adds, “I do squats for my upper legs. I love adding variations to this exercise to work further on my quadriceps muscle. The frog squat, squat kickback and squat with side leg lift are great. I also do burpees that have explosive power to help build my legs. I do box jumps as well as crunches to build my abs and overall core.”

The former No. 1 in men's badminton is hoping to make the top eight to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. He had suffered a knee injury last year because of a strenuous tournament calendar.