England striker Alessia Russo is sharing some highlights of her daily life both on and off the pitch. Russo, 25, posted pictures of herself with various friends and family, including one snap of her walking with Arsenal teammate Kyra Cooney-Cross, both players wearing their blue and green official kit. “Life lately 😊,” she captioned the post. “Super cute,” a fan commented. Here’s what Russo’s “strong not skinny” wellness approach looks like.
Russo incorporates ice baths as part of her wellness routine. “I like to have an ice bath on matchday minus one, but a lot of people hate ice baths,” she told Dazed. “I’m not saying I’ve mastered my body and how to deal with things, but you learn as you go and take it in your stride. I know what makes me feel good. I listen to the same playlist every match day: ‘Doin’ This’ by Luke Combs and a real mix of RnB, country, and rap. Then just before kickoff, I jump seven times. I don’t know where it came from but it just stuck.”
Russo keeps her game day routine simple. “I used to be really superstitious actually, but now I feel like I’m quite laid back with it all,” she told Women’s Health. “I always have music on, so, as soon as I wake up I’ll put my music on. In the morning I like to have some porridge, and then just chill out, relax, watch something on TV, have some beans on toast.”
Russo overhauled her diet and nutrition to focus on being as strong as possible, rather than focus on being as thin as possible. “I wanted to make sure I hit really high protein [levels], but it was also about really low calories,” she told Women’s Health. “So [my diet] was high-protein, but I was sacrificing all the carbs and the fats… and then that would be my calories for the day. I was at a low point with my food and with my weight. I wasn’t strong enough; I wasn’t robust. [Now] my body is still a huge priority. But I understand I need to eat a lot more than I thought I did at the start, and now I don’t want to be skinny, I want to be strong. Food plays a huge part in how you feel and how your body reacts.”
Russo is glad the FA will now offer tailored health support for female players. “It’s definitely an area of the game that’s growing quite rapidly at the moment, because the men’s game set the standard for so many years,” she told Stylist. “Now the game has grown for women, I think it’s really important that we recognise that tailored care is something that we as players need. Our hormonal fluctuations and being on our period is a natural part of us as athletes, but it can be tough to deal with. Hopefully these new plans will help us to feel and perform better going forward.”
Russo loves to dress up and enjoy self-care pitch. “You could ask male footballers the same thing: they like to get dressed up and get their hair cut all the time,” she told Women’s Health. “Just because we play a sport that’s aggressive and contact [that] doesn’t mean we don’t like to pamper ourselves…[I’m] an athlete, but I’m also a young girl who likes to engage in that side of it as well. Some girls do it with their clothes… everyone has their own little ways to express yourself outside of football.”