Ashley Cain-Gribble In Workout Gear Says "Life's Been So Good"

Olympic figure skater Ashley Cain-Gribble is thriving in retirement, based on her recent social media posts. Cain-Gribble, 28, shared highlights of her life recently, including a video of herself wearing black shorts and a purple sports bra, hitting a baseball in an indoor batting cage. "Life's been so good :)," she captioned the post. "We love to see it," a fan commented. Here's how the athlete is living her best life after returning from professional skating.

Cain-Gribble's skating training was intense and very specific. "There's a lot of sport-specific training that we do but with pairs skating specifically, and being the pair girl that has to be flexible and also thrown around and rotate really quickly on elements, I do a mixture of 2-3 days of strength training with my off-ice trainer," she told Parity. "I also do conditioning almost every day, and a lot of that will be interval conditioning or at a sustained heart rate."

Cain-Gribble still exercises on the ice. "0 to 100 jump exercise 💫 This focuses on knee bend and quickness for the jump since it takes away the full speed," she captioned an Instagram video. "It makes for an emphasis on correct technique and mechanics for the jump to happen efficiently."

Cain-Gribble loves Pilates exercises. "I have to do a lot more conditioning now than I ever have before since I developed asthma [brought on by having COVID-19]," she told Parity. "My whole world kind of shut down and I couldn't do anything. One of my favorite forms of training is Pilates, and that's something that has been really beneficial to my training. It's really helped with my flexibility and my core stability, and I feel like it's helped in preventing injuries."

Cain-Gribble shared a typical workout on her social media:

"Conditioning: 20 sec sprint/10 sec rest x10 (2-3 rounds)

-3 rounds-

Strength:

Med ball slams x 10

Weighted lunges with press x 6 each side

Med ball rotations x 10 each foot (face 1 way then the other)

Single leg rdl with rotation x 6 each side

Core:

Leg raises to bar x 10

Knee tucks x 10

Knee tucks single leg x 10 each leg

Knee tuck twist x 5 each side

Stretch!"

Cain-Gribble takes care of her mental health as well as physical. "One thing I always do before going out to compete is I look at myself in the mirror and say, 'You will do this. You have the power to do this.' It feels weird at first — sometimes when we look in the mirror, we see our flaws instead of looking at ourselves as this strong being — but the more you get used to it, the more power you feel from it," she told Parity. "I also try to get into this almost meditative space so that all of the different energies that are going on around me float away. I'm almost in my own little cocoon."