Beauty...
Be your own
kind of beautiful
Be your own
kind of beautiful
By Mollysims.com
What do you get when you have an athlete and model in one person? Gabby Reece. The former volleyball player joins us today to talk all things training like an athlete. We loved hearing how her workouts have changed over the years and have differed from her days as a professional. We were really curious about matters such as cultivating perseverance, getting into the right mindset, and mental resilience. It’s one of those things, athlete or not, we can all learn from and apply both to our workouts and life in general. She shared that muscle is our best friend, we shouldn’t be scared of using weights, and the #1 thing we can all be doing for our health. Can you guess what that is? If you’ve been in a workout slump recently, hopefully, this inspires you to get back on it. It’s never too late.
“I do Monday, Wednesday, and Friday land training. I work from about 120 exercises total, but each time, I do high-intensity workouts of about 12-15 of them. I don’t want to do the same things each time because that’s boring. The goal of these workouts is to have worked some cardio, strength training, and balance improvement. Women say “I’m afraid I get too big,” but do not be afraid of a dumbbell. Time under tension, muscle is your best friend. I don’t think you need to work out for an hour. I think you need to be consistent. I think if you sort of really were serious with yourself and said, “I busted my ass for 30 to 45 minutes, four or five days a week,” that’s a pretty good start. The food you consume and getting to bed are everything. Get to bed, because you only really recover at night. If you’re eating pretty well, stretching, and walking, that’s already pretty good.”
“I drink coffee with a bunch of fat in it. I use the Laird Superfood creamers and I use real coconut oil because the MCT upsets my stomach since it’s a derivative. That will get me through until lunch. Then, my diet is just plants and animals. I don’t snack a ton. I know this is hard, but I try to eat dinner three hours away from when I’m going to bed. As for fasting, it’s 24 hours. Those 12-hour windows of eating and not eating are caloric restrictions, not fasting. That 12-hour window is not fasting. Many women don’t perform better fasting, they perform better fed. I think to the best of our ability, consuming healthy fats and protein is really good for us.”
“One thing that we haven’t talked about that’s super important for your health is breathing. It’s number one, and I would be irresponsible if I didn’t bring it up, because most of us, including myself, don’t breathe well, especially when we’re in an athletic event. If you can consciously be breathing, unless you’re sprinting, keep your mouth closed. Do not breathe through your mouth. If you’re mouth breathing, it’s usually just going into your chest. It’s short and quick, which means you’re stressing yourself out. If you go slow into the nose, down into the belly, the belly has to be soft. Then the breath moves up to the lower part of the lungs, and the ribs and then opens and rounds in the chest. Then when you exhale you bring your belly button gently to your spine through your nose. If you do that for two minutes you’ll be calmer.”
