Issue Date: September 28, 2008
"You can always find time to exercise." By Dara Torres
The 41-year-old Olympic medalist, and inspiration to women everywhere, shares her secrets to good health.
Dara Torres, at the Coral Springs, Fla., pool where she trains, swam the day her daughter, Tessa, was born.
|
Being a role model for women is awesome. I've worked so hard to be healthy, to look the way I look and feel good about myself. I love to see that it resonates for others.
I get Facebook e-mails and people contacting me all the time, wanting to know what I do, what my regimen is, what I eat, what kinds of exercises I do. They're really, really into it.
For any woman who wants to be healthier, young or old, I can't tell you how fundamental exercise is. It not only makes you look good, but it also makes you feel great and improves your self-esteem.
Training for the Olympics as a 41-year-old woman was much different from when I trained for my first Olympics in 1984. When you're younger, you think you're invincible. When you're older, you listen to your body more. You feel things differently than you did, and you're more apt to injure yourself. It's why I don't train as much as I used to.
"I've worked so hard to be healthy, and I love that it resonates for others."
|
For the Beijing Olympics, I felt like I had to do something different to be the best I could be at my age. So I put together a team of experts to work with me. Obviously, not everybody can do that, but any woman who wants to be in great shape should consider a personal trainer, especially if you haven't gone to the gym in a long time. Just a few sessions can get you going on a great new routine.
My trainer taught me a completely new technique, resistance stretching, and in Beijing, I swam against athletes who were young enough to be my children!
But for me, the key now is about recovery. You want to go to the gym and work hard, but you also want your body to recover so you can continue the next day, and the next.
The important thing to remember is that you can always find time to exercise. If, say, you're a working mom, instead of taking the elevator in your building, take the stairs. You can always try to find little ways to do a little bit of exercise each day or every other day.
And then there's diet. When I wake up, I have this nutritional drink, which I had before each one of my races. It has every single nutrient and protein that I need in a meal. The point is that getting the right nutrition is essential to your health and fitness, even if you aren't an Olympic athlete.
Other than that, I eat pretty normally and don't worry too much, as long as I am exercising. (I admit, I did have McDonald's in the Olympic Village.)
For me, everything now is about my 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Tessa. The first thing I did when I was pregnant was talk with a trainer about what I could do and not do as far as weights. I also spoke to my doctor about exercise. I actually swam the same day I delivered Tessa, before I went into labor. A week and a half after her birth, I was back in the pool.
Exercise was very important to me growing up, and I am already trying to teach Tessa how important it is. The funny thing is, she already loves it.
|
