WWE star Zelina Vega is showing off the impressive results of her intense training routine, on social media. Vega, 33, posted highlights of her life recently, including a stunning snap of her posing in gray sweats and a matching sports bra, looking strong and toned. “Thank you all for the bday love yesterday. Means more than you know. Never know what helps fuel a person to keep fighting. Or just to simply not feel alone. Love you guys. Now, back to work💪🏽,” she captioned the post. Vega works hard to stay strong and ready for the ring—here’s how she does it.
Vega does plenty of HIIT workouts mixed up with martial arts. “I workout probably, like, six days a week,” she told Muscle & Fitness. “My husband [Malakai Black] likes to make these, like, powerlifting routines for me and then we also mix it up with Muay Thai. So, it’s a lot of different things that I feel like helps me a lot in the ring, whether it’s strength-wise, speed-wise, so yeah, it’s tough but you gotta fit it in.”
Vega enjoys a vegan diet, and brings her own food on the road. “It is very difficult to eat though, I will say that, because you are just so busy running around all the time,” she told Muscle & Fitness. “Like even with [media calls], I completely forgot to eat, but I learned this from Dwayne Johnson: He had a timer on his phone that showed ‘OK, it’s time to eat’ and he would stop what he was doing and he’d make sure he gets his meals in, and then he would continue doing what he was doing.”
Vega appeared in the Street Fighter 6 video game as a commentator, and would love to expand to other games. “I’ve always loved Mortal Kombat and Tekken 2,” she told Screen Rant. “I think what’s cool about the fighting game community is that I think we just kind of support all games. It’s not even just after one, that’s all you can ever be. But also, I would love to be a part of something that has to do with Naruto or Demon Slayer or something like that, because I’m such a big anime head that I’d love to kind of blend those two. Because obviously, I’ve played Naruto and Ninja Storm, stuff like that. So in some ways, I’d like to find a way to blend the anime gaming space there.”
Vega is thrilled about the increased diversity in the wrestling world. “It has always been important to me. I’m Puerto Rican from New York,” she told TV Insider. “We’re all very proud of who we are. My family, I’m proud of them and feel like I’m representing them. I’m also representing the culture while I’m doing what I’m doing. I want that to reflect well on all of us as Latinos and Latinas. You think of Eddie [Guerrero] and Rey [Mysterio], but I wanted people to initially, especially in NXT, to think of me. That was a huge thing for us.”
Vega has a moving ritual before she gets in the ring for a fight. “I have a moment where I talk to my dad,” she told HOLA! USA. “I call my guardian angels. I go through my list: my dad, my uncle, my grandfather. I mean, even my little puppy that I lost. So I get to talk to them and tell them to be there with me because, without them, I wouldn’t be where I am. And even though they’re gone, I feel them making sure that I’m safe in the ring. I always say, ‘Make sure I’m safe, make sure I remember everything, make sure that the fans love it.'”