Canadian beach volleyball player Melissa Humana-Paredes doesn’t slow down—even her weekends are busy and full of activity. Humana-Paredes, 31, shared a video of herself going through a typical day at home. At one point, she is seen wearing Lululemon gear, doing a sound bath meditation. “💫weekend reset 🌀 when does your week start? Mine starts today 🙏🏼. A few things I do to set myself up for success to start the week strong,” she captioned the post. Here’s what Humana-Paredes’ health and wellness routine looks like.
Humana-Paredes essentially never stops training. “There’s no secret,” she told Vienna Major. “For me, it took a bit of time to return to peak fitness after the off-season but once you’re back into a rhythm and routine it’s just like riding a bike. For me the key is putting the work in during the off-season in the gym, running and training. It’s important to prepare right – any athlete will tell you that… but nothing can prepare you for the real thing of an actual game.”
Humana-Paredes prepares for a game by mentally switching off once her training is completed. “So I often listen to music. And not necessarily pump-up music, but feel-good music,” she told Genuine Health. “Sometimes that means I’ll be listening to slow jams before a big game because the environment can be so stimulating that I need to get out of that world for a second and just chill. Lately, I’ve been caught listening to podcasts and tuning into other people’s lives. Anything that can make me smile and/or can take me away from my reality for a second means I’m in a good mental space.”
Humana-Paredes is enjoying plenty of self-care these days. “I have been doing a lot of Pilates,” she told Volleyball World. “I went to some incredible musicals in Toronto, binge-watched ‘Captains’ on Netflix (so good!). I have been spending time outside in nature, cold-plunging in the ocean, and a lot of interior decorating for the new place.”
Humana-Paredes keeps supplements with her at all times, finding them especially useful when she’s on the road. “It’s so hard to maintain my strength during a long season of travel and competition,” she told Genuine Health. “It’s inevitable that I’ll lose muscle and strength over the course of the season but the key is to prolong it as long as possible! It’s something I take very seriously. There’s only so much I can do when on the road especially when the food is unpredictable so I have to travel with my Genuine Health’s advanced gut health probiotics for everyday balance and fermented organic vegan proteins+ for recovery. My secret weapon for lean muscle maintenance is Genuine Health’s fermented BCAAs + creatine!”
Humana-Paredes is inspired every day by her family. “As Chilean immigrants, they sacrificed a lot to provide me with a better life than they were dealt,” she told Genuine Health. “I take a lot of things for granted, like freedom, but they have shown me what’s possible with proper work ethic and taking risks. I would not be living this life in our beautiful country if it weren’t for the risks they took when they were my age. The one thing I don’t take for granted is the opportunity to represent Canada on the daily and I owe it all to them.”