Daria Wieliczko, Zuzanna Kościuk The Life of a Professional Athlete: Is It All Sweat and Tears?

A newspaper reporter has asked a professional athlete, Ernst Vendermeyer, about what it is like to be the best.

Is it really all sweat and tears?

I won’t lie to you, it often really is, but I wouldn’t change my job for the world! 

Oh, really? Why not?

Because I love my job, even if it's hard. I enjoy every moment of it. Plus, I have a lot of mental preparationmental preparationmental preparation.

Mental preparation? As in: how you feel about yourself?

Well, yes, but not only. If you want to think about being a professional, you need to work on your physical strengthstrengthstrength and your mental strengthmental strengthmental strength at the same time, every day.

Okay, so how do you do it?

If you focus on the details, you will see that a professional athlete’s job is no piece of cakepiece of cakepiece of cake. You have to follow a strict daily routinedaily routinedaily routine and a regular workout planworkout planworkout plan. Also, there are health check‑upshealth check‑ups [health check‑up]health check‑ups, consultations with nutritionistsnutritionists [nutritionist]nutritionists, psychologists, physiotherapistsphysiotherapists [physiotherapist]physiotherapists, and the list goes on. My life is very busy but it’s very rewardingrewardingrewarding, too!

Then what does your daily routine look like?

I get up at 6 o’clock every day. I start the day with a little bit of stretchingstretchingstretching. Then, I eat the first meal of the day. It consists ofconsists of [consist of]consists of foods such as whole‑grain cereal with nuts and fruit. Then I go to “work,” which is my training. First, I work with my coachwork with a coachwork with my coach. When I practise, I start with a bit of joggingjoggingjogging, then I move on to really intenseintenseintense workouts. This eats up all my energy, so after that I allow myself to have a full meal. My typical lunchtypical lunchtypical lunch consists of proteins and vegetables, for example, salmon with broccoli. In the afternoon, I come back to exercise. I do various training sessionstraining sessions [training session]training sessions, depending on my needs and the weather. Then I go back home and have dinner. For my typical dinnertypical dinner typical dinner, I usually have two sandwiches and some vegetables. I don’t go out with friends, have parties, or drink alcohol. I simply go to bed. After all, I want to be on the podiumbe on the podiumbe on the podium!

1 Źródło: Zuzanna Kościuk , Daria Wieliczko, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.