Live Well Sports and Health Festival Olympic Athlete Interviews

Hey friends, happy Tuesday! As you know I was invited a few weeks ago to by Grafica Group which is a social media marketing group to come out to The Live Well Sports and Health Festival for The Summit Medical Group which uses them for marketing and social media. I got to review the event and conduct some interviews with Olympic athletes Tim Morehouse, David Zhuang, Grant and Ross James, and Grace Luczak.

I totally jinxed the weather on Friday saying I hoped it would be as nice on Sunday as it had been all week. Sunday was terrible, completely gray skies rainy and cold. But that did not stop the festival and everyone still came out and had a great time. They had events indoors and outdoors so you could always take a break form the rain and warm-up inside which was nice. They had tons of games, activities, and sports for all to try and everyone seemed to really be enjoying themselves!

I first got to meet Tim Morehouse who is an Olympic USA Fencer and won Silver in the 2012 Olympic Games. He has competed in 3 Olympic Games so far. He started fencing when he was 13 and saw a sign to join his school's fencing team. He fell in love right away and has now been fencing for 22 years! This past year he has opened up 5 new fencing schools around the county and loves to share his passion with the youth of our nation. I asked him what his training is like and he said he trains for 6 to 8 hours a day doing a variety of weight lighting, speed work, fencing (obviously), and also mental training. During his down times from training he gets his fitness in my still fencing a couple times a week, but he also loves bike riding. His #1 healthy living tip for the average person is to just move everyday. Find something you love, may that be basketball, biking, Frisbee, whatever, just have fun with it and don't make working out a chore since it does not have to be!

Next I met with the rowers. Grace Luczak is on the US Women's 8 and is traing for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. She started rowing in highschool and finds that having the goal of competeing in the Olympics has motived her the most. She said rowing is a full time job. The team does 2 to 3 workouts a day, 6 days a week. 1 to 2 of those workouts is stricting rowing, but they also do weight training and the Erg (the rowing machine). I asked her how she fuels for all of these workouts and she says it is hard to get enough calories. So he go-to treat is Ben and Jerry's! But she also eats a healthy whole colorful diet and includes lots of grains. Some of her teammates are Paleo but she finds that diet is not for her. She said the team had a awesome summer and won the World Championship (setting a world record or 5.54 on the 2000m course!) which is the goal every year except on the year the Olympic Games are held. She is so excited to finally be preparing for her dream in 2016. Grace's #1 healthy living tip was also to find something you love! She suggests dancing, haha! But really living a healthy lifestyle is about finding what you love. if you don't love it and don't enjoy life everyday then you won't be able to stick to your healthy habits and actually make it a lifestyle. (P.S. She was so tall! I had to look way up to talk to her, haha! But all rowers are have to be pretty tall except the coxswain needs to be super light and tiny and leads the team in the front of the boat.)

The other two rowers were twin brothers, Grant and Ross James, who are on the Olympic Men's 8 and competed in the 2012 games. They were in charge of the Erg machines they had set up for the attendee's to try and they got me on one! I have alwyas wanted to try the Erg in the gym, but never knew how to use it and I know it takes alot of practice to get the hang of it, but what better way to learn than from two Olympic rowers! Now, most people think rowing is all in the arms, but that is wrong, it is all about the legs and the push off. If your arms are killing you by the time your done and your legs feel light and free...well you know you did somthing wrong, haha! It was fun though and I would totally incorperate rowing into my rutine. It is a great machine cardio alternative from cycyling or the dreadmill. Try it out if you get the chance, but try to find a a gym trainer to show you proper form first!

(Hardcore!)

(I bet if I did this for more then 2 minutes I wouldn't be as smiley, haha!)

Grant and Ross's #1 healthy living tip was to remember the amount in amount out principle. They don;t have a problem with this since their training is so demanding, their amount in won't be too much for their bodies. But if someone who isn't active is taking in to much fuel that they don't need then they won't be seeing the results they want. You need to learn to fuel for your activity level, not someone else's or what you think is the perfect ideal. Listen to your body and because we all need something different! Last, I got to chat with David Zhuang, who is a former Olympic Table Tennis player. David was born in China where table tennis is the national sport, so it only made sense to get involved at the early age of 8. He has now been doing table tennis for 40 years! However he no longer competes and his focus is completely on his students. They train 5-6 hours every day both with physical exercises as well as mental. He is extremely proud of his students who have won 6 golds in the Junior Olympics of the years!

I had such a great time talking to the athletes and hearing about journeys! Team USA is made of such motivational, healthy, driven, and kind individuals. I am so glad they represent our nation at the Games! I would like to thank Paul Graham for offering the opportunity to me, as well as Anne Picone and Nothailah Badawi who work for Grafica Group and were my liaisons and brought me around to all the athletes. I would also like to thank Tim, Grace, Grant, Ross and David for taking the time to speak with me! (Plus extra thanks to Grant and Ross for showing me the Erg!) I loved meeting you all and best wishes to those of you going for gold at 2016 in Rio!

So tell me:

If you were able to meet any Olympic athlete (former or current), who would you pick?

Did you ever dream of going to the Olympics as a child? I always remember whenever the women's gymnastics would come on I would start flipping around the living room doing cartwheels, back-bends, round-offs, handstands, etc. They are so beautiful and strong!

Ever try the Erg (or rowing machine)? I actually seriously thought about getting into rowing the summer into my Junior year! But you needed to know who to swim and run and due to my asthma running was not an option at the time and I don't have proper swim training. :/