Mercedes Moné (real name Mercedes Varnado and formerly known as Sasha Banks in the WWE), has boosted women’s wrestling popularity and helped change the perception of the industry. Varnado, who has won multiple championships, has since left WWE to pursue other interests like acting and signing on with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, a company owned by Bushiroad that has a reach in the United States. ‘It’s really an opportunity to really choose things for myself and to really be my moniker for the past 10 years,” she told TV Insider. “To be a boss.” The 31-year-old looks amazing and we take a closer look at her diet and fitness regime. Read on.
To get into fighting shape, Varnado works out often. “We probably spend two hours in the gym,” she said. “If you want to look like me, that’s the way it goes. When I first started I didn’t know how to lift a dumbbell and now my max deadlift is 215.”
It’s easy to get distracted and get off track with achieving goals, but Varnado doesn’t lose sight of her dreams. In a photo sitting in a gym wearing a blue hooded tank top and black post, she wrote, “What you stay focused on will grow. So Focus on your goals, not your fear.
In an interview with Fox Sports, Varnado explained why she prepares her own food when she travels for work. “When I first started (wrestling) I would try and find healthy restaurants which is really hard. A lot only have fast food. Recently a lot of the boys started bringing their own food on the road and I decided to do the same thing.”
The performer likes making her own food because she can control what ingredients are in her meals. “I make ground turkey, ground buffalo, chicken, and vegetables,” she told Fox. “I feel like my body has changed completely knowing what ingredients you’re putting in your body.”
Wearing a revealing pink sports bra and black yoga pants, Varnado posted a series of photos meditating in the woods. She captioned her post, “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”