My favorite outdoor activities are running, yoga, and functional training. My favorite indoor workouts are Pilates, kickboxing, functional training, and a lot of different exercises at the gym with and without weights - including TRX.
I think the two most important parts of any athlete's workouts are his leg workouts and his core training.
My training centered on aerobic development, meaning I'd swim longer with less intensity during the majority of my practices. As I got older, I began more weight training, and my workouts went from long at a lower intensity to shorter and more intense.
To combat the monotony of gym workouts, I started playing soccer. I looked at workouts as training sessions. My soccer training includes squats, pushups, resistance-band work, and sprints. Ninety minutes of running became part of my love of the game rather than a chore.
The type of work I do is more like CrossFit, so I do track workouts, and I do boxing workouts. So it's a lot of different things that I do. I don't want to overload the body too much, but when we do the hill, it's not like workouts.
I try and avoid cardio because it makes me lose a lot of weight. Instead, I do resistance training, model fit workouts, and ballet.
My workouts include aerobic exercise for a healthy cardiovascular system; strength training to maintain muscle tone and bone density; core strength exercise for a stable mid-section; and stretching to maintain mobility.
I typically like to train with the mentality of a high-performance athlete. I put in the work and do what it takes to be successful. A typical workout routine consists of sprint-based training combined with strength moves two days a week. Along with the balance of total-body workouts that challenge my core and shape my body twice weekly.
When I'm lifting heavy, doing squats, and doing upper-body workouts, it's mostly about core and stability. But I'll still do deadlifts. I also do tire workouts with these big 600-pound tires, flipping them and stuff like that.
I like to make my training sessions harder than an actual game with very high intensity workouts, lots of sprints and plenty of weight room lifts.
Lots of weight training, squats, a little bit of cardio, but mostly just adding more weights into my workouts. And working out with friends to make it fun. That's always so important.
I normally did isolation/bodybuilding-style workouts. But since coming to the Performance Center, the strength and conditioning coach has me doing a lot of different workouts I've never done before, and it's really shocked my body in a good way.
I love experimenting with different kinds of workouts. It all depends on my mood and energy levels. Some days, it is a gruesome circuit; other days, it is weight training or Pilates.
It's the cross-training that's key. It doesn't let your body adapt to one stimulus too much and it keeps your workouts exciting.
I like weightlifting and cardio workouts, and I'll do a lot of circuit workouts and plyometric as well.
A lot of my struggles with nutrition date back to my swimming days. I was a super-skinny young girl who would go through hours of intense training. Afterward, I'd be famished, but I had a two-hour trip home before dinner. When I did my hardest workouts, I often ate less; I was too tired to think about food.