BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

IT’S been over three weeks since all national training sessions have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

However, that hasn’t stopped our national athletes from staying at the top of their game.

We at BruSports News had a chance to catch up with some of them recently to know about their routines.

Muhammad Isa Ahmad (pic) - Swimming

It’s a good move from the government and I think I’ll still swim because I have a swimming pool at home.

I'll also probably do short intense workouts with a rowing machine and work on stroke technique outside of the water.

I will probably still stick to working out twice a day - one in the morning and afternoon.

Obviously it will be different without the guidance of coach and working out alone but I know what to do to keep myself fit so when we do get back into training the shock to the body isn’t too dramatic.

Athletes like me and Chris (Nikles) have dedicated our life to swimming training and sacrificed time away from school so in circumstances like these, we still have to do our part and train by ourselves if we have to.

So swimming is our job and we’re still willing to work even though we have to stay at home. There’s a lot of things you can do at home that will aid training even if you don’t have gym equipment or a swimming pool.

Hjh Anis Sabrina Hj Yahya - Fencing

As for now my coach (Rocky Poerawinata) told us to keep our fitness condition. I can’t do fencing training at home but mostly likely just doing an hour’s exercise a day and been eating well as usual.

Classes also got cancelled. so we will be waiting for our lecturers to give out online classes.

For warmup, I’ll do skipping for like 15 minutes, some core exercises and stabilisation, mostly body weight workouts.

I have also been doing footwork just a little but haven’t been doing handwork for fencing specifically with the weapon

Md Firdaus Ar-Rasyid Md Idris - Athletics

I’m just eating healthy and doing my own activities in the afternoon at home.

Diet is a bit difficult so I do have my cheat days once in a while. It is not exactly cheap to buy or make healthy food everyday too.

I already started on my weight management from the SEA Games last year but only barely got to 70kg.

I have also set my target body weight to be at 75kg by this year since my height is 177cm and my ideal weight is 70+kg.

Currently I’m at 69kg and if I can hit my target then I’m sure I can gain more power and speed.

Anisah Najihah - Pencak Silat

I’ve been doing cardio and maintaining a healthy diet as always.

I’m still still practicing my routines because if don't practice it for more than a week, it feels stiff.

For the time being, for sure the amount of time spent will be less than the usual training programme.

For example, I normally train six days a week with a total of 2-5 hours per day. But now since all training has been cancelled and to make sure I stay fit, I need to workout or do cardio at least 2 hours per day.

That includes doing my routines as well. On top of that, I have to consume a healthy diet as well.

Hyde Nathania Hijium - Taekwondo

Since we were told to stop our training at the gym for a while, we are asked to do our self training at home.

For me personally, it’s a bit hard. Well, i can say it’s a challenge because of the limited space at home.

We’re now trying to make use of the space that we have and use whatever equipment at home that can help us with our training, to maintain our stamina and performance the best that we can at the moment.

Also since we are all doing everything (training/school) at home, the bed is always there close to us so that’s also one of the reasons why I said it’s quite a challenge.

Being at home is the only place where I (can) rest, since most of the time I’m usually out for school and training.

So yea, fighting with myself in terms of keeping and building strong mentality and spirit.

I do simple cardio training like squats, planks and seat ups and we’re also doing our artistic routines.

The cardio training helps with our stamina since delivering our poomsae requires lots of strength and power.

As for the routines, we have to do them everyday, for at least twice a day with like, minimum of five sets in the morning and five sets in the afternoon/night to maintain our performance.

The longer break we take from it, then we have to start all over again from the basics, since our poomsae routines are very detailed so starting all over again would be a struggle. No one wants to start again after putting in so much work.

Basma Lachkar - Wushu

I will run for 30 minutes in the morning then in the afternoon practise some movements and techniques in the backyard.

After that sometimes I will do some physical endurance and got for a run a little.

Most of the time I will do my school work since there are online classes. But I think it is one of the advantages because of more recovery time.