Simone Biles is sparkling in her swimsuit. The gold medal winning gymnast flaunts her flat abs in one of her latest social media posts, wearing a sequin bathing suit top. “Would you believe me if I said 40mph winds shut down the pool party,” she captioned the Instagram snap, looking absolutely gorgeous. How does she stay so fit and healthy? Read on to see 5 ways Simone Biles stays in shape and the photos that prove they work—and to get beach-ready yourself, don’t miss these essential 30 Best-Ever Celebrity Bathing Suit Photos!
Simone puts her mental health before anything else. “As an athlete, you need to protect your mind and your body, rather just go out there and do what the world wants us to do and potentially injuring yourself. I had to put myself above all else,” she told Good Housekeeping in September 2022 about her decision to withdraw from the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. “I learned that it’s okay not to be okay. If you don’t do what is right for you, then you’re not going to enjoy your sport, and you’re not going to succeed as much as you want to in whatever arena you’re competing in.” She added that she has no regrets about the decision. “I’m happy that I prioritized my mental well-being.”
Simone maintains a healthy diet that keeps her fueled for her intense workouts. For breakfast she might eat Kellogg’s Red Berries or egg whites. Lunch, “is either chicken or fish so I get the protein,” she told Women’s Health. Then she grabs a “quick snack” before another workout. “Pre-workout I love drinking Core Power; it’s a recovery drink. And then a banana and peanut butter because bananas have potassium, which helps with muscle cramps.” “And then,” for dinner, “I like having a good fish, like salmon, and rice and carrots.”
Simone also does cross training workouts. “We swam twice a week—almost a mile! I swore I was going to drown, it was so hard, and then we would run. And the year before that we would bike 10 miles outside once a week. If we didn’t bike, we would run a mile before practice, and as soon as we finished the mile we’d have to go inside and do a beam routine. My legs were absolute jello. But it got easier because the cross-training helped. This year we haven’t done [cross-training] because we’re just calming it down,” she told Women’s Health.
Simone also does a lot of strength training. “I like doing legs because those exercises come pretty easily to me. I have good, powerful legs, so I can do conditioning and they won’t be too sore. But stomach conditioning, I don’t like it at all! It’s my least favorite. I like laughing better for an ab workout than actually doing abs!” she told Women’s Health.
Simone emphasizes the importance of stretching. “We have a routine that includes running and then a stretch for every part of our body. So we’ll stretch before practice, but especially afterwards, because then you’re tense and you need to stretch those muscles down. It’s very important to keep your body flexible so that you don’t get injured,” she told Women’s Health. “My favorite stretch is splits because not a lot of people can do them. And over-splits is when you put your leg up on a mat so it’s higher—and it just looks cooler!”