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Nastia Liukin's Healthy Living and Diet Tips

FitSugar — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:30:00 PST

The 2008 Olympic Games came and went as quickly as Michael Phelps won his 100 meter butterfly race, and for many of us, a small dose of Olympics withdrawal followed the closing ceremony. Shape seems to have known how much everyone was missing the inspirational athletes that graced our screens in August, and sat down to chat with the graceful Nastia Liukin about her life after winning the gold.

When asked how her life has changed since the Olympics, Nastia told Shape, "It's a dream come true. It's amazing to know that all the years of hard work paid off. It wasn't an easy journey, especially with injuries, but it was worth it. I'm traveling all over right now."

To see her tips for healthy living,

Shape asked the 19-year-old gold medal winner for her best healthy living tips, and she answered, "Don't go crazy about dieting. Eat healthy, but if you want to splurge and have a cookie, then have a cookie. Depriving yourself is the worst! Exercise on a daily basis. Whether you take your dog for a walk, go for a run in the park or just do some ab moves in your living room, it's very important to do something every day!"

Visit Shape to see Nastia's diet on a typical day.

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Do Tell: What Words Make You Think of Puppies and Kittens?

PetSugar — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:30:27 PDT

Although I caught the Olympics closing ceremony on Sunday, other than that I didn't watch much of the events on TV. The one sport I did see was the balance beam finals. You may be wondering what this has to do with PetSugar (other than the fact that both Nastia and Shawn are doggie owners), but just bear with me here.
While I was watching this competition, I was struck by how differently the two girls performed and behaved at the event.

The lithe Nastia was very elegant while performing, and seemed composed and reserved on the sidelines. Shawn the dynamo, however, just looked so friendly and was bouncing around and happily chatting with her coach as the scores were tallied. So here I went with my 24/7 animal-crazed mind, and realized there were some words that I unconsciously associated with cats, and others that made me think of puppies.

Now, by no means am I intending to insult either girl (or the sport of gymnastics), but those words I used when describing Nastia totally reminded me of all the stereotypes of a cat, while those for Shawn made me think of a cute, lil puppy - am I totally off-base here? Are there any adjectives that you associate with puppies, and others that you would reserve for cats? Feel free to say I'm silly in your comments below!

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What's Next For Gymnasts Liukin and Johnson

FitSugar — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:00:00 PDT

Women's gymnastics really seems like a sport for girls. While there were some older competitors, like Alicia Sacramone of the US and China's Cheng Fei who are both 20, it seems a sport loaded with youngsters. So what happens to these women, or girls, after competing at the top? All-around gold medal winner Nastia Liukin and her teammate Shawn Johnson are definitely approaching their futures differently. These girls roomed together at the Olympics and wanted to go gold and silver in as many events as they could, but let me tell you about their next moves.

The 18-year-old Nastia Liukin will be heading home to Texas Thursday with her five medals, one gold, one bronze, and three silvers. She has many ad campaigns in the works, including one for Visa, and you can expect to see her on the Jay Leno show sometime next week. Daughter of Olympian gymnasts, Liukin plans on competing in the 2009 world championships.

To see what Shawn's future holds,

For the near future, Shawn plans on shopping and visiting the Great Wall as well as walking in the closing ceremony. After training with the hopes of a gold medal in the all-around competition, this 16-year-old from Iowa will probably take off her first semester of her junior year of high school to participate in a planned gymnastics tour. She told reporters:

It's hard to think about four more years. After not winning the all-around, it hit me pretty hard, not that I got the silver, but just all my emotions came out. I was training to win gold. I'm just proud of myself that I kept my head up.

Having been riveted to my TV for the last week watching these amazing young ladies tumble, twist, and vault, I will miss them. How about you?

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Women's Gymnastics: Silver and Gold!

FitSugar — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:00:00 PDT

Last night seemed like a redemption match, gymnastics styles. The top three were all amazing, but Nastia Liukin was the best in the all-around competition. She gracefully stepped out from behind Shawn Johnson's athletic shadow and was lovely on the beam as well as the other three elements: uneven bars, floor, and vault. The Chinese gymnast Yilin Yang took the bronze.

On her winning a gold medal Nastia said: "I can't believe it still. I worked so hard for many years for this, I don't know what to say. I couldn't have been here without my parents."

Shawn was gracious about winning silver medal and explained, "It's been a long road, I feel like the baby of the group, to come out with silver is an amazing experience."

Congrats to all the gymnasts and a thank you for creating a night of exciting competition.

To see some great photos from the event, just

View 12 Photos ›

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Do You Think the Chinese Gymnasts Are All Over 16 Years of Age?

FitSugar — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:00:00 PDT

In a close competition, every detail falls under scrutiny.

The US women's gymnastic team, older and wiser than the gold-winning Chinese team, performed well minus a couple of falls and landed in second place. The 20-year-old team captain Alicia Sacramone, who unfortunately fell during both her floor routine as well as her balance beam exercise, tried to keep a positive attitude about winning silver as did her teammate Nastia Liukin. Although the team mostly accepted their defeat with grace, the age of the much younger Chinese team was once again questioned by US coach Marta Karolyi, wife of coach Beyla Karolyi with whom she trained gold medalists Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton. A report was published just before the games alleging that at least two of the Chinese gymnasts are only 14-years-old, making them ineligible for competition. Both of the Karolyis have complained that the stadium officials disrupted Sacramone's preparation prior to competing on the balance beam.

What do you think? Do you believe the Chinese gymnasts are all 16 years old? Or do you think these accusations are poor sportsmanship?

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Five Things About Gymnast Shawn Johnson

FitSugar — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 05:30:00 PDT

In case you missed it, the Olympic games open this Friday, and I am awfully excited to watch. Gymnastics tops my list of events to see, and Shawn Johnson is the gymnast to watch. Not only did she just win a Teen Choice Award for Choice Female Athlete, she also won the women's all-around title in the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Pretty impressive resume for a 16-year-old.

Here are five things to know about Shawn:

Her strength training routine doesn't involve weights; instead, she performs classic calisthenics like push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups.
Shawn is four feet, nine inches tall and weighs 90 pounds ( a healthy BMI, by the way).
She attends high school in Des Moines, Iowa.

For more info and some excellent action shots,

Images of Shawn currently appear on Coke and McDonald's products. A butter sculpture of Shawn will appear soon at the Iowa state fair - quite a compliment in the Midwest.
She works out four hours a day during the week and six hours on Saturdays. Her workouts generally follow this schedule: Half an hour of conditioning, stretching, and endurance training, then 50 minutes on each of the four events. Her workouts end with focused "extra tricks."

View 5 Photos ›

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Shawn Johnson Talks Weight Loss and Learning to Love Her Body

espnW — Fri, 25 May 2012 03:05:26 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from espnW here on FitSugar!

By Shawn Johnson

Shawn Johnson is blogging for espnW throughout her training for the Olympics in London this summer. Follow hers other Olympic hopefuls' journeys on espnW.com.

Four years ago, I was standing on an Olympic podium, wearing a gold medal, and still thinking to myself how I could have been better. It had nothing to do with my performance - it was all how I looked. Back then, I always felt like I could have been a few pounds lighter. But the irony is, when I look back at the pictures, I look unhealthy and too thin. It's easy to get into a trap as an elite athlete, because you're made to feel that you're never perfect, that you can always be better. That's how you improve in your sport, but it's also tough because you aren't satisfied with yourself ever - it's second nature not to be. I'd always think, "Just get a little stronger, a little lighter," until it was completely ingrained in my mind.

Shawn Johnson takes us inside training camp

It's easy for people to blame gymnastics for this mentality, but I feel like the sport has improved a lot. The horror stories we heard from generations ago (think Joan Ryan's infamous book Little Girls in Pretty Boxes), you don't hear at all anymore. But I do believe it can improve further and that good nutrition could be a key to all of this, if it were only taught at a young age. Many gymnasts go into the elite level at 13 or so, and a 13-year-old isn't going to go to the library to read some book on nutrition! She needs to be given the right information on how to eat well. Otherwise, it's not until she's out of the sport that she realizes the damage she's done to her body by not eating enough over the past 20 years.

Shawn Johnson in the driver's seat

I see all the success we have as a country where the gymnasts aren't 100 percent healthy, and I imagine how amazing we could be if we were doing it in the healthiest way possible. I don't think it's a failure on anybody's part; the education just isn't there right now, and it's just not thought about in our sport. My parents have told me since I was little, "You're given your body for a reason. It's OK to be different. Being unique is a good thing." But I always struggled to believe it. I'm stocky, muscular and short, and I wanted to be thin and flexible so bad! My mom would say, "You're not made that way, and you're not going to become that, so you have to learn to accept and love the body you're in." Well, some people are born with that appreciation, and some people have to work really hard to get there. Put me in that second camp.

Read on for more on what Shawn Johnson has to say about body confidence and how she feels in her gymnastics leotard.

An Everyday Athlete Is Still an Athlete

espnW — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:59:39 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from espnW here on FitSugar!

By Risa Isard

On June 23, 1972, Title IX was signed into law, leveling the playing field for female athletes. To mark the 40th anniversary, espnW explore the impact of this landmark legislation.

You might not know me, but chances are you know someone like me. I'm that girl who grew up playing hoops in the driveway with my dad and brother every night after dinner. The one who played rec soccer for 10 years, starting out on a boys team. The one who persuaded her middle-school gym teacher to let her run the monthly timed mile against boys, then wrote her target time on her arm - in permanent marker. The one who took field day just a little too seriously.

The one who is thankful every day for Title IX.

Counting down the best of the past 40 years

Growing up, I wasn't an elite athlete, but I had passion to spare. I ran, jumped, threw, and kicked on a daily basis and eventually I found my calling in high school track and cross country. I was good (I earned seven varsity letters), but not good enough for the next level.

So when I arrived at Duke nearly four years ago, I found myself wondering something that had never crossed my mind before: was I still an athlete?

Answering that question was no easy task. As I read about various elite athletes, I recognized our shared pasts. Like gymnast Jordyn Wieber, I used to pull old cushions into the middle of the family room and do cartwheels, somersaults, and front handsprings. Like many WNBA stars, I was the only girl in neighborhood basketball games. I lacked their natural ability, but I came to realize that we are connected through dreams and experiences. We all began by thinking of ourselves as athletes and scheduling our lives around sports at a young age. That doesn't just go away.

Read on for more.

Shawn Johnson Takes Us Inside Training Camp

espnW — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:04:59 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from espnW here on FitSugar!

By Shawn Johnson

Shawn Johnson is blogging for espnW throughout her training for the Olympics in London this summer. Follow her journey and other Olympic hopefuls on espnW.com.

Say "camp" to an ordinary kid and she'll probably tell you about bonfires and sing-alongs and arts and crafts. Say it to an elite gymnast, and she'll tell you camp is every four weeks outside New Waverly, Texas, at "the ranch" - the national team training center.

Shawn Johnson in the Driver's Seat

The ranch is a lot different than it sounds. Yes, there are animals (camels, peacocks and lots of deer!), but it's also fully equipped with multiple gyms, a row of cabins for gymnasts, a separate row for their coaches and dining facilities. It's an honor to be asked to attend the national team camps, but spending a few days there is also really hard work, especially for a slightly older body like mine. I'm used to it, though - after all, I've been going to camp since I was 12 years old, and I'm now 20.

When we're there, we wake up around 6:45 a.m. and head straight for breakfast. Most of the girls grab eggs and coffee before we go back to our cabins and get ready to hit the gym. National team coordinator Martha Karolyi has an unwritten rule: If you're not 30 minutes early to practice, you're late. So although practice starts at 8:30, we all get there at 8. We get heat packs, get taped and do whatever we need to get ready, then sit in a loose circle on the floor and wait. At 8:30 on the dot, Martha walks out of the office. It's a signal - we stand up, line up and address her. She gives our assignments for the day, and we start practice.

My last camp, three weeks ago, was just a check-in for me. I'm not competition-ready yet, but it was good to be in the gym, working alongside all of the other girls. I'm impressed by them all, but I try not to watch too much because it makes me nervous. I don't want to compare myself to them yet; because of my knee injury and rehab, I'm not where they are right now.

Shawn Johnson Rehabbing, Eyeing London

Read on for more of a day in the life of Shawn Johnson at training camp.

Link Time - Yoga Can Increase Your Sex Drive

Annie Scudder — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:40:15 PDT

Downward Dog your way to better sex - The Frisky
Gossip Girl love triangle: who is better for Blair, Dan or Chuck? - BuzzSugar
11 signs you're on a date from hell - CollegeCandy
Is Prince Harry trying to reconcile with Chelsy Davy - The Daily Beast
What the new Snow White says about women, beauty, and aging - Huffington Post
"I caught my husband looking at porn. Is it cheating?" - YourTango
Meet Johanna Quaas, an 86-year-old gymnast - theBERRY
Gen Y women are more likely to burn out than male counterparts - The Jane Dough
The divorce expo puts a positive spin on breaking up - Newser
Dealbreaker: He's a crack addict - GOOD