Health & Fitness
Calisthenics and mountaineering is an unheard combination, especially in a country like India. But sprinting towards putting the country on the global map in the sport is the 22-year-old Srushti Shah. Shah was merely 11-year-old when she first started mountaineering. Such was the euphoria of conquering a summit that she has always kept running back to it. "I was always a very sporty kid. In school, I used to play football and athletics – short sprints mainly, but it was the mountains that attracted me the most. I started mountaineering when I was just an 11-year-old and have not looked back since," Srushti told The Bridge. It was eventually her love for mountaineering that drew Shah towards calisthenics – a sport she has represented India multiple times, including the recently concluded 2022 World Calisthenics Championships in Latvia. "It was the need for strength to climb mountains that introduced me to Calisthenics. I wanted to build strength but did not want to lift weights, so Calisthenics became my go-to routine to achieve that required strength,".