Mary Kom has achieved a lot in her glorious boxing career, but the Olympics Bronze medallist swears by one simple rule — Work hard, train hard. The five-time World Boxing champion takes us through her fitness routine in a freewheeling conversation. Get set go!

What does your daily exercise regime include?
I start my training session with a 14 km run. Then I do some stretching, skipping and floor exercises before moving on to shadow boxing, punching bag and speed bag. Often, I spar with opponents or with my coaches as part of this session. For the second session in the afternoon, I spend time in the gym, do lots of push-ups and sit-ups and work on building strength before
moving back to boxing training. This is followed by a small run to cool down, and light stretching.

How did you prepare for Olympics?
One huge challenge before Olympics 2012 was putting on weight, which was difficult given the amount of calories that were being burnt in training and my high metabolism. I trained very hard and very long hours in Pune with Charles Atkinson and concentrated on both my strengths and weaknesses. As far as diet goes, I happily eat anything and generally tend to supplement my diet with nutritional supplements.

Injuries are part of every sport. How do you deal with them?
It depends on the nature of the injury. Some injuries are quite serious and need supervised medical attention and time to heal and there is very little an athlete can do. Fortunately, these are generally few. For me, the more regular injuries are those caused by taking punches. To get relief from this pain, I usually use a pain relief ointment like Emami Fast Relief. All injuries require the right treatment at the right time.

Mary’s Olympics diary
One huge challenge before the Olympics 2012 was putting on weight, which was difficult given the amount of calories that were being burnt in training and my high metabolism. I trained very hard and for very long hours in Pune with Charles Atkinson and concentrated on both my strengths and weaknesses that were identified. As far as diet goes, I happily eat anything and generally tend to
supplement my diet with nutritional supplements.