Sania Mirza put on 23 kilograms when she was pregnant with her son Izhaan Mirza-Malik and one a half years after the birth of her baby boy, she is on the road to represent India at the Olympics.
Sania Mirza, in an Airbnb session on Tuesday, shared that it is her rebelliousus attitude that helps her take her comeback a notch above.
"I am a bit of an internal rebel because if somebody tells me I can't do something, then I have to.
"My motivation to exercise comes from my love for tennis and to do something that no one has from this part of the world," Sania said in the Zoom session.
Sania shared that though she wasn't surprised when the Olympics got postponed due to coronavirus, it was "a bit of a bummer" because she was preparing for it as part of her comeback.
"Losing in the Olympics in Rio was one of the most heartbreaking moments in my life, I didn't think I would play another Olympics. But when I was making a comeback, I thought I could play in the Olympics and try and win a medal. One and a half years is a long time in an athlete's life and we can't stop age. I will be 34 next year and hopefully I am as healthy," Sania said.
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Sania revealed once she started preparing for her comeback to tennis, she lost 26kgs in four months - losing two kilograms per week.
"It showed me mental strength, what it took for me to not eat a samosa when everyone else and it was all worth it when I see it now. It's important to take out 20-30 minutes in a day for workout.
"The exercising also helped me not to get into postpartum depression and all."
Sania also said that working women in India and the subcontinent are regular what they can do and what they can't and for her initially, the comeback was "as basic as losing weight".
"Most working women can agree with this that we are told we can't do so much even before we can't. Something as basic as losing weight was a struggle. I wanted to not just to feel healthy but also to be able to play tennis again. I didn't know if my body was allowing me or how I would take it mentally.
"The first tournament I played in two years and won (WTA Hobart Open in January, 2020) surprised me, along with others. That win ranks on top for me as I was able to juggle between all my roles - from a wife to a mother to a daughter."
Sania Mirza performed a 20-minute workout to show the exercises that helped her lose all that weight in just four months.
She started with stretching and then performed the following exercises: basic jump with hands behind the head (40 seconds), high knees (40 seconds), jumping jacks (40 seconds), crisscross legs with punches (40 seconds), Lunge and up (15 on each leg), regular lunge (12 each leg), shoulder taps in plank position (20), lunge position jump (10 each leg), hip twist in plank position (20), sumo squats - squat and kick (7 each leg), bilateral legs (12 on each side), jumping jack with hands up (25), squat-kick-jump (8), stand and plank jacks (6), mountain climbers (20) and round the verse squats (8).
The session was a part of Airbnb's a five-day summer festival, featuring more than 100 Olympian and Paralympian Online Experiences.
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