Month: July 2020

Forced to wait another year to compete, this cycling star still keeps the pedal to the metal.

Paid Content from The Vitamin Shoppe®

The coronavirus pandemic has caused major disruptions across all walks of life, including the sports world. But a tried and true athlete overcomes any obstacle and maintains focus despite distractions. True Athlete® sports nutrition from The Vitamin Shoppe® is designed to boost workouts and performance the trusted, safe way: All supplements are designated NSF Certified for Sport® and are rigorously tested to help ensure that they contain no banned substances, unlisted ingredients, or harmful impurities.

The Vitamin Shoppe® and Sports Illustrated spotlight elite athletes who may not be competing for their country this summer but are still getting stronger and better every day.

At age 23, most people are just learning how to make a five-year plan for their life. Chloé Dygert is not most people.

One of the best young cyclists in the country, Dygert has amassed an outstanding record on her bike, especially for someone who isn’t even old enough to rent a car. Cycling fans and even executives love to remind Dygert that her coach, a former gold medalist cyclist herself, rode for the US team for twenty years. So Dygert decided to listen to them and adjust her plans: Tokyo would be one of seven times she would compete—and win—for America.

“So that’s what I’m doing,” she says, completely nonchalant. “I have to do it.”

Bursting with talent and confidence, Dygert already has a silver medal to her name and was laser-focused on collecting gold this summer across every cycling discipline there is at the international level. Road or track, time trials or team pursuit—no matter the course, Dygert shows up ready to dominate.

“I’m here to race my bike. I’m here to win medals. I’m here to compete against the best and be the absolute best,” she says. “Any and every race, I have the opportunity to win.”

Dygert may be confident, but she is also ferocious in training and refuses to back down from any challenge. However, when the pandemic struck, Dygert’s training went on hold and her twenty-year plan got pushed back. Being homebound in her apartment in Boise, ID, would seem like a nightmare for such a competitive athlete. But in her determination to excel in everything, Dygert is also just about the best homebody imaginable.

“Oh, I can turn it off,” she says with zero hesitation. “People ask my coach: Oh, do your riders have a really hard time taking time off? And she’ll say: ‘Yeah, my riders. But with Chloe, you tell her not to do anything and she’ll lay in bed all day.”

To balance out all the competitive fire and determination that makes her an elite cyclist, Dygert is also a world-class couch potato. So when quarantine began and her coach told her to stay off the bike, Dygert had no problem shutting it down.

“I like to watch my movies or watch my TV shows or, you know, order food and be lazy.”

It helps that Dygert is taking time off without rehabbing her body. She has fought through serious injuries multiple times over her career and has always come back stronger and better. And while the most frustrating part of an injury layoff is missing races, with no races on the schedule, Dygert took a more zen approach.

“I calmed down,” she says. “To me, it was just a setback. Everybody’s in the same boat this time, at least.”

Dygert says she leaned heavily on her faith to stay motivated and positive, and looked at the situation as a way to let her body recharge and recover after years of constant competition. She parked her stationary bike on her porch, which overlooks the breathtaking Idaho wilderness, and did plenty of at-home workouts to keep fit. However, that was just a small part of each day. At mealtime, Dygert is all about “high-end junk food” as she calls it, barely able to contain her laughter.

“I don’t know how to explain it! But if I make cookies or something, I can’t use regular peanut butter. I have to use the high-end peanut butter. So I’m a healthy, bad eater.”

For the first time in a while, her daily routine of streaming movies and eating her favorite foods seemed much more like that of a typical 23-year-old, or at least as typical as an elite cyclist can be. Dygert has undergone lab testing to determine the best way to fuel herself on the bike and, believe it or not, actual experts tell her she needs higher than normal doses of simple carbohydrates to perform her best in races. It’s an issue unlikely to garner much sympathy.

“I need sugar!” she laughs. “I do it because I perform well on sugar—before Junior World championships in 2015, I ate like six cake pops before the race and I won. The day before a race, if I have, like, a ton of donuts? We’re good.”

Serious cyclists will back her up, as the worst thing you can do during a race is “bonk,” or run out of energy. Think of it like a flat tire for your body. And for many riders, the only protection is pure sugar.

Now that she has emerged from her cozy cave and is back on the bike, Dygert’s twenty-year plan is back on track too. With a rare blend of ability and tenacity, she is sure to be a fixture for the US at international competitions, starting next summer in Tokyo and continuing on indefinitely. No matter where she competes, Dygert will be hard to miss: She’ll be the one polishing off the box of donuts before the race, and hoisting the gold medal after.

If you want to experience the benefits of True Athlete®, head to vitaminshoppe.com to find supplements you can trust, especially for worry-free in-competition testing. True Athlete® Pure Pre with Caffeine helps boost your energy and increase your performance while training. True Athlete® Balanced Hydration Powder keeps your body hydrated to help reduce muscle cramping during intense activities.

Note: Subject did not use the True Athlete® product line for this article. 

Kept out of the ring, this world-class boxer still stayed in fighting shape.

Paid Content from The Vitamin Shoppe®

The coronavirus pandemic has caused major disruptions across all walks of life, including the sports world. But a tried and true athlete overcomes any obstacle and maintains focus despite distractions. True Athlete® sports nutrition from The Vitamin Shoppe® is designed to boost workouts and performance the trusted, safe way: All supplements are designated NSF Certified for Sport® and are rigorously tested to help ensure that they contain no banned substances, unlisted ingredients, or harmful impurities.

The Vitamin Shoppe® and Sports Illustrated spotlight elite athletes who may not be competing for their country this summer but are still getting stronger and better every day.

No matter your sport, competing for your country on the biggest stage in the world is the ultimate goal. And while many athletes claim it’s the culmination of a life-long dream, boxer Bruce Carrington has the video proof to back it up.

“I have little videos from when I was six years old,” says Carrington, “Saying: I’m going to go, I’m going to take over, and I’m going to knock all my opponents out.”

A decade and a half later, Carrington is still living the dream he first had as a kid in Brooklyn, NY, nicknamed “Shu Shu.” Though it was just a family name at first—mostly to avoid confusion with his father, Bruce Sr.—he still gets announced as “Bruce ‘Shu Shu’ Carrington” when he steps into the ring. But the kid stuff stops once the bell sounds. The now 22-year-old Carrington packs the kind of power and skill that portends a standout professional career. He originally planned to turn pro after earning a gold medal this summer in Tokyo, yet even though competition is delayed until next summer, the golden goal remains the same.

“I just want to be known as one of the greatest boxers to ever put on a pair of gloves.”

Carrington’s path to glory seemed simple. As a top amateur prospect who has trained with the US team for years, Carrington was the top contender to fight for his country in the Bantamweight division. He was even an alternate for Rio four years ago, so when the calendar turned to 2020, Carrington was prepped and ready to head back to South America, this time for a qualifying tournament in Argentina where he could punch his ticket to Tokyo.

But a week before Carrington and his teammates were set to fly south from their training center in Colorado, the pandemic struck. In quick succession, the qualifier was cancelled, and Carrington was sent home to Long Island, NY—already one of the areas hit hardest by COVID-19.

Within days, Carrington’s entire mentality shifted from being hyper-focused on competing to adjusting to the strange, new reality of the pandemic, both as an athlete and a person. Shacked up with his parents and two siblings, with no heavy bags in sight and unable to even use their gated community’s gym facilities, Carrington did almost no training the first month. So just like millions of Americans who struggled to find a way to exercise while trapped at home, Carrington turned to a familiar source for inspiration and motivation: Instagram.

“Seeing all of friends and teammates still working out, still doing what they needed to do, it kept me motivated as well,” he says. “And seeing all the variations they did, all the different workouts. When I try something I’ve never done before and it works for me, I’m going to continue to do it.”

Once he got used to wearing a mask, Carrington ventured outside and got back to work. Cardio is crucial for fighters, so Carrington ran circles around the building’s parking lot—as many hard laps as he could handle in 30 minutes, plus shuttle runs and sprints. Carrington had to get a little more creative for strength training, like doing bicep curls with heavy garbage bags: “Hey, if you have lemons, make lemonade!” he says with a laugh.

He may mean it literally, since Carrington observes a plant-based diet and went through plenty of lemons and other produce while stuck at home. Carrington and his father, Bruce Sr., both changed their diets a few years ago after stumbling on an eye-opening documentary. At first, Carrington dealt with the unpleasant detoxifying effects of cutting out meat, and even questioned if the new diet would be detrimental to his boxing career.

“But then, I felt a total difference in my energy, started training even harder. I was like, how am I losing weight but getting so much stronger?” he says. “I started to realize that a lot of the strongest animals in the world are vegan. Gorillas are vegan, rhinos are vegan, elephants are vegan. And then once I saw how I was performing in my fights, it was a no-brainer for me.”

Cutting weight is one of the toughest parts of boxing, but thanks to his diet Carrington dropped from 141 pounds to 125 with very little effort. For many fighters, losing that amount of weight can sap your punching power and even make you more susceptible to the knockout. For Shu Shu, it’s had the opposite effect. He brought the same natural power and size from the higher weight class down to his new division, and finished 2019 on an impressive five-bout win streak.

“I was just so much faster and so much stronger, and a lot of the guys at that weight, I’m naturally bigger than them. So fighting the 125-pound guys—aw, man. I was bullying them in there!” he says with a laugh.

Maintaining a specialized diet is difficult under any circumstances, but Carrington believes it is important to understand the benefits of what he puts into his body. He’s kept with the plant-based diet in recent years because he sees the positive effects it has had on his training and lifestyle. During quarantine, with stores overloaded and long lines just to enter the market, Carrington would wake up at five AM in order to shop for his family. “It was like a race to get groceries, to get everything I needed at one time to keep up with my diet,” he says. “We just stuck with the game plan.”

A typical training day in quarantine would start with a nutrient-rich breakfast like oatmeal, made with brown sugar, a pinch of cinnamon, and almond milk. Carrington would head outside for a morning workout, followed by a veggie stir-fry for lunch, plenty of TV and video games with his little brother to relax, and a frozen vegan meal for dinner. On some nights, as a reward for all the strict eating and training, Carrington and his dad would indulge in the ultimate cheat meal for all herbivores, be they rhino or human: vegan pizza.

“We get one called the Seitan Bacon Ranch and it tastes so good. They really have this thing down to a science. Me and my dad can each eat a box of pizza,” he laughs.

All that tasty nut cheese and wheat gluten was no match for garbage bag curls and parking lot laps. Now back training with teammates in Colorado, Carrington felt completely prepared for the amped-up exercise and the altitude. And while running outdoors surrounded by mountains is definitely better than dodging parked cars on Long Island, social distancing guidelines mean Carrington still hasn’t been able to hit a pad or heavy bag, let alone another fighter. When Carrington talks about getting back to sparring, you can practically hear the smile on his face.

“I have not sparred yet,” says Carrington. “But I’m definitely looking forward to it. Somebody needs to get punched in the face.”

If you want to experience the benefits of True Athlete®, head to vitaminshoppe.com to find clean supplements you can trust, especially for worry-free in-competition testing. All-new True Athlete® Sport Plant Protein is a vegan-certified way to increase your strength and power. True Athlete® ZMA with Theanine contains a precise formula of zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6, and can help promote faster recovery while boosting your immune system.

Note: Subject did not use the True Athlete® product line for this article.

The Celtic Warrior sits down with Corey Graves to discuss his dominant WWE career this week on WWE After the Bell.

Why does it seem like the NBA is being criticized for a return more than other leagues when they have a clear plan?

I have a question. Why does it seem like the NBA is the only league being overly criticized for returning when they appear to be the one with a clear plan?

I’m not afraid to say it, I’m starting to get excited for the return of the season. I love the idea of games all day. Plus, no late night starts! And who doesn’t want to see LeBron, Giannis, Zion, Luka, Harden and company back in action?

It just feels to me that MLB, the NFL, and even college football aren’t getting nearly the same negative energy when it comes to their possible upcoming seasons and I haven’t seen them take the steps the NBA is, both in attempting to create a safe environment, and in vowing to help players keep a social justice message at the forefront.

I understand there are natural concerns, but we already have seen many test positive for coronavirus going about life regularly. Do we really believe they will be more at risk in a setting specifically designed to keep the league essentially quarantined?

And if they weren’t going to restart now, what will be any different about next season? This thing isn’t going away. Players were given the choice whether they wanted to participate, which was the right thing to do. But plenty are still heading to Orlando to hoop.

Look, I’m not naive, I understand economics are a driving factor here. But we’re all dealing with a reality that is not ideal, and to me, Adam Silver and the NBA are attempting to lead as best they can considering the circumstances. 

Personally, I welcome the league’s return. And I’m ready and hopeful to celebrate whoever wins what is sure to be the most unique championship in history.

One with no damn asterisk attached.