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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,

read more. 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. Source

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!

Source

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,

read more. 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? Source

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

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?

Source

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,

Pink: A Bad-Ass on Stage and at the Gym

FitSugar — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:50:05 PST

Pop singer Pink is the January cover girl for Women's Health. In the issue, which hits newsstands Tuesday, she opens up about her relationship with motorcross racer Carey Hart, her lip-synching competition, and how hard she works to look that good. If any of you have seen Pink perform lately, I'm sure you'll back me up when I say that she looks like she's in the best shape of her life. And even though she recently lost 20 pounds and is currently touring, the pop star hasn't strayed from her fitness routine! She said:

On her "man abs": "My man abs? They’re pretty full-on. It’s like that D’Angelo video [for "How Does It Feel"]; he’s got that V. I get a lot of flak for it. That’s where the masculine thing comes in, people saying it’s not normal for a girl to have [those]. But I’m OK with it. I think it’s because I was a gymnast for eight years, from ages 4 to 12. My body was made before my bones were fully grown. Gymnasts are short, stocky, muscular powerhouses."
To find out what else Pink said about keeping fit,
read more.
How she stays fit on the road:"Ever hear of P90X? My brother and his wife are both in the Air Force; they do marathons and triathlons. I went [to visit them and she’s doing P90X]. I couldn’t keep up with her - and she’d just had her first baby four weeks ago. I was like, This is bullshit! I will perfect this thing! So usually, I wake up and do an hour of cardio, then an hour of P90X or yoga, then a half-hour of warm-up [during show rehearsal]. I do that six days a week.”
Her day off: I try to make it a show day so I’m still getting cardio. I have to be able to run up those stairs as many times as I do and be able to sing at the same time. I’m an asthmatic. I have to be on that treadmill singing to get my lungs right."
Why she likes working out: "I like results. I like feeling strong. It keeps my mental floor higher."
Does she have a trainer?: "No. I don’t work well with trainers. [Air quotes] 'Does not work well with others.'"
She knows she’s a 10, right?: "No, no, no! I feel like a seven and a half! I’m not going to lie and tell you when I look in the mirror there’s nothing I don’t want to fix. If they figure out how to stretch me and make me a little bit taller, then maybe I’ll get upwards of eight."

Source: Women's Health/Lorenzo Agius

Cheerleading Leads to Serious Injury

FitSugar — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:00:13 PDT

If you've seen Bring It On, then you know cheerleading is serious business. Gymnastic moves and daring lifts are just as important, if not more so, than the symbolic pom-poms. When it comes to serious injuries, cheering is number one and those feats of daring are to blame.

Cheerleading, at both the high school and college levels, was found to cause the majority of catastrophic injuries in a comparison of all sports-related injuries. The study, conducted by National Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH, explains that catastrophic injuries usually involve spinal cord damage, which is indeed serious business.

According to a report released last year by the National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, injuries sustained by high school cheerleaders in the last 25 years account for just over 65 percent of all catastrophic sports injuries sustained by female high school athletes, and the statistics for college cheerleaders are just as high. This makes women's rugby not seem so rough.

Were you a cheerleader?

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When to Watch: Gymnastics

FitSugar — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:00:00 PDT

After tonight's opening ceremonies for the Olympics, the competition starts almost immediately and gymnastics are no exception. The men's qualifying rounds start Saturday, and unfortunately Morgan Hamm will not be competing. Yesterday he joined his twin Paul, a gold medalist in 2004 games, on the injured list and is out due to an ankle injury. The men's gymnastic team will carry on and I am sure it will prove exciting.

When I asked a while back, you all were most fired up about gymnastics, I thought I would post the general schedule of those events so you can watch or at least set up your TiVo.

To see the schedule read more