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Train like an Olympian: Laura Wilkinson, diving

Categories: Fitness, Celebs & Entertainment


At 30 years old, Laura Wilkinson intends for this to be her final trip to the Olympics, and does not intend to repeat the last Olympics. She was a big winner in 2000, but didn't end up with a medal in 2004.

She's been training hard to get ready for Beijing -- considering she'll be going up against divers as young as half her age, that's not a surprise. She works in and out of the pool from 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 or 5:00 p.m., breaking for lunch in the middle of the day. A typical day includes stretching, ab and somersault work, drills and technique work in the pool, plyometrics, cardio, and/or weights.

Laura has so much experience with what goes into making a good diver that she has released her own training video, called Personal Best. In it, she shares dry land exercises and stretching tips to become a top diver. For the rest of us, Women's Health picked out a few of Laura's exercises from which we could all benefit, like side to side jumps, shoulder lifts, back lifts, bicycles, and hanging leg lifts.
Even with all the exercise Laura gets, she still has to watch what she eats. "Our sport is not cardio-focused, so it's sometimes tough. We do work out a lot, but you do have to monitor calories a lot too. There are a lot of eating disorders in our sport, so I try very hard not to get consumed by all that." In the last few years she has gone from being a vegetarian to eating chicken and fish, which she feels has made her stronger.

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