Photo Credit: WomenTalkSports on Flickr.com
Abby Wambach has been one of the world’s premier soccer players since she came out of the University of Florida in 2001. Soccer is a very physical and taxing sport, and for Wambach to be running at her best at the age of 31, it requires countless hours of exercise everyday. While in season, Abby’s strength and conditioning coach Calvin Poston must tone Abby’s workouts down to ensure she doesn’t get burned out before her games. This doesn’t keep Abby from getting a great workout though.
Wambach’s day starts in the gym. While Poston can’t utilize every exercise in his bag of tricks during the off season, he finds other ways to keep Abby on her toes. Poston often has Abby stand on one leg to perform many of the exercises, including squats and curls. This allows her to focus on stability, which is critical in sports like soccer.
Before Abby hits the field for practice, she goes through a stretching routine that many of us would consider a workout in its own. She starts out with a few laps around the field to get her blood flowing then moves on to dynamic stretching. These stretches and warm ups include high knees, downward dog (stretching the calves), and spider-womans (from push-up position, swing one foot forward to the outside of your hand so you are in a deep lunge). After the warm-up Abby does some plyometrics, usually in the form of hopping around and over cones. After all of this, Abby is ready for practice. Practice is another workout on its own!
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