WWE Star Natalya Neidhart gives the same energy to training as she does when fighting in the ring—no wonder she’s such a force to be reckoned with. Neidhart, 41, shared an intense picture of herself wearing black shorts and a sports bra, holding on to ropes. “My home away from home. @thedungeon2.0,” she captioned the post. Neidhart has developed a fantastic training and diet routine over the years—here’s how she does it.
Neidhart’s workouts are balanced and doable. “I don’t do crazy amounts of cardio. I don’t lift extremely heavy weights. I don’t beat myself up if I have a cheat meal,” she told Bar Bend. “If I can only get to the gym three days a week, that’s fine. If I get to the gym six days a week, that’s even better. I used to beat myself up if I had a cheat meal. The next day I’d be doing crazy amounts of cardio trying to burn off what I ate the night before. Now, I feel like I’ve taken all that pressure off myself.”
Neidhart focuses on Olympic lifting at the gym, with her favorite move being the clean and jerk. “You’re lifting weight off the ground and you’re throwing it up, so you’re giving your body a whole-body workout,” she told PEOPLE. “And it definitely imitates us throwing people down in the ring!”
Neidhart’s preparation for competitions is understandably intense. “The days leading up to Wrestlemania we really watch what we eat, and I hit the gym no matter what,” she told PEOPLE. “When you’re walking out in front of 70,000 people you want to look your absolute best, because it’s not just those people that are watching you live, it’s 170-plus countries around the globe that are tuning in.”
Neidhart keeps track of her food for accountability. “When I kept the food journal in my iCloud notes, it really made me more accountable,” she told Bar Bend. “Then I would try to cut off my eating past 8 p.m. It really helped me lose weight and keep it off. I don’t need to have anything big and heavy past 8 p.m., and then when I’m on the road and wrestling, I try to keep that same thing in mind. If I need something after a match I’ll have a protein shake, or some cottage cheese, or a Greek yogurt.”
Neidhart is a big fan of taking supplements for health and beauty. “I’m always looking for really good supplements for my hair, for my skin, for my nails, and for my brain,” she told Bar Bend. “I love fueling my body with the best of the best. I’ve only had one surgery in 16 years. I’ve been wrestling for 16 uninterrupted years in the company, and I feel like all these vitamins and supplements help me so much. They keep bones and ligaments strong.”