Q&A with Olympic Hopeful Alicia Sacramone

from womenshealth.com

We talked with the two-time world gymnastics champ--and found out all about her Olympic-sized goals, the crazy training schedule she follows, and why she always has perfect hair Alicia Sacramone has been the go-to girl for U.S. gymnastics for the past four years. After just missing the '04 squad, she became a world champion on floor at the 2005 Worlds. Last year, she helped the team win its second-ever world gold with a clutch performance on the same event. Now it's finally an Olympic year again and she's looking for even more hardware in Beijing.

What's your schedule like right now?
During the week I have workout every day from 9 to noon, then I get to rest, then back to the gym from 4:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. On Saturday I have one workout from 9:30 to 12:30. I took a year off of school (Brown University) to train for the Olympics, so my schedule is flexible. I'll go back to Brown next year.

I do extra cardio and stretching sometimes, but do most of my conditioning at practice. I do probably 3 hours of cardio a week, and about an hour every day of strength training for gymnastics. More