Simone Biles is pure Olympic gold – in her low cut workout gear. In a new social media post the celebrated gymnast shows off her amazing figure in a black leotard while posing for a selfie. She has been heating up the Olympic Games Paris 2024, dazzling fans with her impressive routines. How does she approach diet, fitness, and self-care? Here is everything you need to know about her lifestyle habits.
Simone has been very candid about her mental health struggles as a result of being a gymnast. “I’ve always been in therapy [and] I’ve always been an advocate for medicine,” Biles told Vanity Fair. “If you need an inhaler, take it. If you have anxiety, take it. I’m no stranger to medicine.” Years ago Biles was prescribed Lexapro for anxiety, and she continues to take the medication today. In her book, Leap Year, author Jill Steele, a former gymnast, highlights some of the unique mental health struggles that young athletes cope with.
Simone focuses her diet around consuming lean protein and lots of fiber. She starts her day with Kellogg’s Red Berries or egg whites. For lunch she has “either chicken or fish so I get the protein,” she told Women’s Health. Then, 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.” For dinner, “I like having a good fish, like salmon, and rice and carrots,” she says.
Simone maintains that cross training is also part of her routine. “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 about how she keeps her body ready for gymnastics.
Simone also strength trains. “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. According to the Mayo Clinic, strength and weight training help reduce body fat, preserve and increase lean muscle mass, and burn calories more efficiently. Strength training may also help you:
- Develop strong bones
- Manage your weight
- Enhance your quality of life
- Manage chronic conditions
- Sharpen your thinking skills
And, like most gymnasts, Simone makes sure to stretch “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!” Even if you aren’t an Olympian, you should consider adding stretching to your routine, as it keeps the muscles “flexible, strong, and healthy, and we need that flexibility to maintain a range of motion in the joints,” says Harvard Health. “Without it, the muscles shorten and become tight. Then, when you call on the muscles for activity, they are weak and unable to extend all the way. That puts you at risk for joint pain, strains, and muscle damage.”