Professional cheerleader and wrestler Gabi Butler is giving a shoutout to her Navarro College cheer team. Butler, 26, shared a video of herself wearing gray shorts and a black sports bra, getting tossed into the air and doing a handstand and flip. Seriously impressive! “Something about them Navarro boys 🔥😮💨👏🏽 ,” she captioned the post. “The most talented girl 🤩,” commented Liv Morgan. Here’s what the Cheer star’s training and wellness routine looks like.
Butler refuses to diet, focusing on strength and endurance. “It is very common in the cheer world for girls not to eat as much … it’s very sad,” she told Muscle & Fitness. “They will not feed their bodies in the way that they should, because they are afraid of being too big to get into the air, or won’t be lifted, or become a top girl. I personally feel like I’m strong, confident, and feel very powerful with my body. To me, if you have strength, then it doesn’t really matter about being super, super tiny.”
Butler’s practice sessions go on for hours, twice a day. “A normal practice runs for about three hours, and sometimes we will have two practices per day,” she told Muscle & Fitness. “On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we’d normally train from noon to 3.30 p.m., and then we would also go again at night from 7 to 10 p.m.”
Butler’s workouts are heavily focused on plyometrics and strength training. “Competitive cheerleading puts a lot of stress on the body,” her trainer Marc Bowron tells Shape. “That’s why I structure Gabi’s workouts to target key principles such as strength, power, and endurance. It’s important for everyone to enjoy their workouts, be creative, and have fun with it with a specific purpose in mind. Too much structure can lead to boredom and loss of enjoyment.”
Butler knows how important sleep is for an athlete. “I say that recovery is so important, and I feel like I’m terrible [at making the most of recovery time], but recovery is key for a great athlete because it’s just as important as training,” she told Muscle & Fitness. “I feel like my best recovery is getting a good night’s sleep. Also, feeding your body good things. I treat my body like a car, so I make sure I’m getting the right nutrients and that I’m eating enough.”
Butler is dedicated to her training routine and never skips a session if she can help it. “Gabi is a fantastic athlete to work with,” Bowron tells Shape. “During the exercises, she is focused and locked in, and during her rest or after the session, she is always laughing and having fun with me or others around her. Her energy is always extremely high, positive, and she’s always committed to doing better at each session.”