Fitness
Toni Storm On How She Stays Fit For WWE
TRAIN for HER caught up with the first-ever Progress women’s champ fights to stay fit when the odds are stacked against her.
How did you get into WWE?
I watched WWE as a kid and I was hooked. My favorite was Shawn Michaels. I was born in New Zealand, so I packed my bags, said goodbye to my family and friends and moved to England to hone my technical grappling skills.
How do you keep fit?
I often find myself wrestling night after night, so body conditioning is a very important aspect of my career. Those who dismiss pro wrestling as ‘fake’ should think again. If you rely on a hotel gym, you could be lacking some equipment and your workout time can be limited, especially when there is a lot of intense travel, so you need to plan ahead.
Try and find the one to suit your requirements. To adapt to the knocks and bruises I pick up, I focus on strengthening the muscles around my neck with rotation movements, chin to chest extensions and protraction and retraction exercises, a strategy widely used by MMA athletes to help prevent neck injuries.
I also do bridging and headstands. I do this in the dojo when training in Japan, but I also do this at home or in the gym. It’s the best way to keep my neck strong.
How do you relax?
Relaxation is the key to recovery. I try and get as much rest as possible. I supplement with amino acids and keep my diet clean, and I also love saunas… sometimes, the best way to feel better is to sweat it all out! After a recent success in Japan, the WWE suggested I enter the Mae Young Classic, a 32-woman tournament in Florida and broadcast around the globe via the WWE’s streaming Network.
I got the chance to visit the WWE’s state-of-the-art Performance Center and gained more experience of strength training. It was surreal. I love to lift and those guys are insane! I reached the semi-finals, and while I didn’t lift the trophy, I won over fans and critics. There are a lot of ups and down as a pro wrestler, but I wouldn’t change it for anything.
What type of diet do you follow?
In 2016, I signed a contract to wrestle in Japan – a place many Western wrestlers find to be a cultural and mental challenge due to the language barriers and different foods. To add to the challenges, I lead a vegan lifestyle. Japan is an intense place to be, but it’s also one of my favorite countries.
It is largely a meat-eating country, so if you don’t eat meat, you are tempted by a lot of carbs such as rice. I really love rice, but you do have to limit yourself when eating it all the time. Since many foods contain meat and the ingredients are usually written in Japanese, I stick to safe choices like Tofu, which thankfully they have everywhere.
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