Jutta Leerdam is heating up the ice in her workout gear. In a new social media post the Dutch speed skater shows off her amazing body during a skating session. “Back at the Olympic oval ❤️🔥,” she captioned the Instagram snap. “Beautiful,” commented one of her followers, while other simply left fire emojis. How does she approach diet, fitness, and self-care? Here is everything you need to know about her lifestyle habits.
1. Exerting Her Energy Through Sports
Jutta “did a lot of different sports as a child. I played field hockey for eight years and did gymnastics. I had so much energy,” she told Body & Fit.
2. Speed Skating
“I started speed skating because my dad really liked the sport. He wanted his children to be able to skate so we could all skate together in the winter. I really liked to see myself get better every time I went. That was the fun part for me. I enjoyed seeing my dad happy and proud of me, too,” she added to Body & Fit. “I’m focused on my fitness goals, too, making sure everything is in balance,” Jutta added. “I rely on my coach a lot. If I’m not fit enough, or good enough, I’ll find out on the ice. I don’t like to be too confident. You can lose sharpness because of it. I’m an insecure person but I let my insecurities drive me. If you’re a good athlete, you have to be insecure. You need to do better and better. Nothing is ever good enough.”
3. Balancing Protein and Carbs
When it comes to diet, Jutta strives for a balance of protein and carbs. “In the morning, I eat oatmeal and lots of fruit. It fills me up because I’m always super hungry from training. I really have to watch my protein intake. If I take too much I get too muscular. As a skater, I have to be strong but I don’t want to be too bulky,” she explains. “I see food as my energy. I need carbs. I need fat. I need everything. I eat plenty of vegetables and watch how much food I eat in general, but I wouldn’t say I have a cheat day. What really is a cheat day anyway? A burger contains animal proteins and good fats that I can use as energy. I’ll watch the saturated fats, but if I feel like it, I eat it, and I don’t feel guilty. I use the energy to train the next day,” she explained.
4. Outdoor Exercise
When she gets outside, Jutta enjoys biking.. “We cycle a lot in the summer, block training, mountain biking, hours of easy riding. That’s the conditioning part. You need a strong base condition to be able to peak at the right moment. In winter, it’s more skating, weight training, and cycling. I train twice a day. We’re off one day per week,” she said.
5. Strength Training
Jutta spends time in the gym doing strength training workouts. “I have to be strong. I need to work on conditioning, flexibility and strength to be fast and explosive on the ice. This sport is a combination of every aspect of physical fitness. Flexibility, endurance, power. If all of those things are in balance, I feel fit. I used to struggle with being skinny. I wanted to LOOK fit. I was a perfectionist. I saw fat on me and I didn’t want it. I didn’t eat much and everything was super healthy. Now, I’m eating way more to perform. I use food to improve myself as an athlete, not just for looks,” she told the publication.
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