Speed Skater Jutta Leerdam in Two-Piece Workout Gear Has "Wholesome Weekend"

Jutta Leerdam is getting into the autumn spirit in her exercise clothes. In a new social media post the speed skater shows off her fantastic figure in a crop top and sweatpants during a fall-themed weekend with friends and family – including Jake Paul – in New York. “A very wholesome weekend in the middle of October 💚👶🏼🐕🏕️,” she captioned the series of Instagram snaps and videos. How does she approach diet, fitness, and self-care? Here are her diet and fitness tips.

1. Try Different 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. “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.”

2. Focus on Your Fitness Goals

“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. Fuel Your Body with Healthy Food

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Jutta explained to Body & Fit that she maintains a balanced diet of lots 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. 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. Go For a Bike Ride

Jutta also 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. Aim for Strength

“For me, it’s mostly physical. 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.

Dutch speed skater Jutta Leerdam is taking advantage of the stunning Colorado landscape to go out hiking with her dog. 25-year-old Leerdam, who is dating Jake Paul, shared sweet pictures and video of herself wearing black leggings and a bright pink hoodie, going up a trail with Paul, against a dramatic mountain background. “Colorado hikes,” she captioned the post. “Our wittle family,” Paul commented. Here’s how the professional athlete stays fit, happy, and full of energy.

1. Why She Chose Skating

Leerdam chose skating over hockey because she wanted an individual sport where she could shine and beat her own records. “I then chose skating, because hockey cannot be measured,” she told Women’s Health. “Of course you can score, but you cannot measure exactly what you do in terms of time. And it is a team sport. You are dealing with a team. Then you can have the best day of your life and still lose. You don't get that with skating. That individual approach actually suits me more. Not that I'm selfish – because I really am a sharer – but in sports I just want to win too much.”

2. Her Favorite Distance

Leerdam’s favorite distance is the 1000 meters. “It is a combination of sprint, top speed – which is even higher than a shorter distance, such as the 500 meters – and it is also a lot of endurance,” she told Women’s Health. “The 1000 meters is a combination of everything.”

3. Family Time

Leerdam takes full advantage of her time spent off the ice, saying the best thing about it is freedom from the rigid structure of her training regimen. “That I can manage my own time. That I can decide for myself whether I will train in the morning or in the evening,” she told ELLE. “Or, if I'm very tired, that I don't exercise. And I have time to meet up with friends and see my family. Because of the sport I only have limited time for that, so I want to cherish those moments.”

4. Team Leader

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Leerdam is the leader of her own team, which is scary but rewarding. “I also have the feeling that things will always turn out well, especially if I work hard for it,” she told ELLE. “And I have nice people around me, like Koen and my family. I have an older brother and two sisters, one of 25 and one of 15. We have a very good bond. Fortunately, I'm not the type to be negative easily. I try to keep it that way. In sports, the pressure is high, from the media, the public, and your environment. I try to use that pressure as fuel so that I go extra fast at the right time.”

5. The Joy of Skating

Leerdam thinks speed skating should get more recognition for being a truly beautiful sport. I think skating is the most beautiful, but also one of the toughest sports in the world,” she told Women’s Health. “You have to sit very deep and have a lot of power, especially in the sprint. As a skater you have to be very explosive, and the adrenaline that comes with that gives you a kick. Getting through those corners under your own power and trying to gain a lot of speed is of course a wonderful feeling. In addition to strength, it is also about endurance, adrenaline, explosiveness, speed in the turns - that makes skating the most beautiful sport for me.”

Michelle Jenneke is a track and field athlete known for doing the hurdles. Jenneke has even competed in the Olympics. She also recently competed in Finland, and shared some highlights from the day on Instagram. Jenneke captioned the post, “Season best of 12.69 tonight at the @kuortanegames 😆 Great night with solid races from the Aussie contingent! Thank you Finland!!!” How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways Michelle Jenneke stays in shape and the photos that prove they work.

1. She Does A Variety Of Workouts

Jenneke shared some of her favorite workouts with Body & Soul. She says that she does a variety of different things. “It’s a lot of heavy weights there, plus full body exercises and quite a bit of plyometric [exercises]. I start with heavy weights, and then I’ll do some lighter functional circuit, towards the end. All up, that takes an hour and a half to two hours… and sometimes when I finish a session I just lie on the ground.”

2. She Eats A Healthy Breakfast

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Jenneke also shared her diet secrets with Body & Soul. She shared her favorite breakfasts for training day. “It really depends on what my training day looks like, but if I’ve got training in the morning (which I often do at the moment) I’ll have cereal generally before I go out and train. Then, I actually love having a Milo after a hard session – it’s got good levels of protein and iron in it – and then I make myself a second breakfast, which could be muesli with yoghurt or bacon and eggs.”

3. She Dances

Jenneke likes to dance before a meet. "The dancing preparation is good," Jenneke said to The New Zealand Herald. "People see me doing a dance on the track and it's part of my enjoyment ... I love being there and I love racing and that's how I express that. If you watch me during my warm up I'm dancing the whole way through it. I've always got music playing and I'm just really getting into it, it's how I pump myself up for the race."

4. She Swims

Jenneke loves to swim to stay in shape. She shared this video on Instagram of herself snorkeling in the ocean. Jenneke captioned the post, “A little taste of my amazing holiday in the Whitsundays last week 🌴⛵️ @suncoastcharters @hamiltonisland #gopro 🎶 Born To Be Yours - Kygo & Imagine Dragons.”

She Trains Consistently

Jenneke shared her training secrets with Body & Soul. She says that consistency is important. “I do three track sessions a week, and they can be from 2-3 hours each, which can be full on. You do some warm up, a hurdle session, and then a sprint session after that.”

Dutch speed skater Jutta Leerdam is showing off some highlights from a vacation she shared with sister Merel Leerdam last year. Leerdam, 24, shared pictures of herself in crystal-clear waters, posing in a black one-piece swimsuit. “Some of my favorite pictures I didn’t share of our sister trip last year 🥰,” Jake Paul’s girlfriend captioned a social media post. How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways Leerdam stays in shape and the photos that prove they work.

1. Athletic Background

Leerdam grew up playing sports, and treats it as a lifestyle. “I did a lot of different sports as a child,” she says. “I played field hockey for eight years and did gymnastics. I had so much energy. My parents were like, ‘just do your sports, we can’t handle all your energy, then come home and be a little quieter!’ 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.”

2. Food As Muscle Fuel

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Leerdam fuels her body with nutritious food, focusing on building her strength. “I have to be strong,” she says. “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.”

3. Weight Training

Leerdam enjoys hitting the gym to build muscle. "I like weight training in the gym,” she says. “I like lifting and seeing the progression every week. My least favorite training is inline skating. It is not comparable to long track ice skating. I don't like it, but I still do it. Everything I dislike makes me better as well… I played hockey for eight years. I enjoyed it, but I have never been a team player. I regularly had to sit on the reserve bench. The individual aspect of skating appeals to me.”

4. Happy Under Pressure

Leerdam thrives under pressure, and uses it to push herself to the limit. “I always put a lot of pressure on myself, because I know that I perform very well through pressure,” she says. “I’m used to it. For me, pressure or tension is not negative. Of course, I’m going for gold. I’m well on my way. It’s going very well, and the upward trend is there.”

5. Competitive Against Herself

Leerdam’s mental approach to racing is that she is competing against herself, not others. “Every race I want to be the best,” she says. “It doesn’t matter who my competitors are. I’m always focused on getting better, improving my technique and getting stronger. That’s the key thing. I don’t focus on my competitor. I just focus on skating fast for myself. I end up in first place. That’s just how it works. If I focused on other people, I wouldn’t have come this far.”

Keely Hodgkinson, a rising star in track and field, has made waves on the global stage. After winning silver in the 2021 Olympics, she clinched gold in the 800 meter at this year's Olympics, solidifying her status as a top athlete. Before her triumphant performance, Hodgkinson graced the pages of ELLE UK, sharing stunning photos from the shoot on Instagram with the caption, "This was so fun." Curious about how she maintains her peak physical condition? Read on to discover five ways Keely Hodgkinson stays in shape and see the photos that prove her methods work.

1. She Does A Split 800 Meter

Hodgkinson shared her training secrets with Runner’s World. She says that she splits the 800 meter up. “There's a session I do, which is usually the last one I’ll run before a championships. It’s a split 800m, so a 400m, 30 seconds’ rest, then another 400m. The outcome is very accurate in terms of telling you what you’re capable of. When I was at the Tokyo Olympics, I did that session beforehand and I split a 1:55.3, then ended up running 1:55.8. So it’s a really honest reflection of where you’re at.”

2. She Trains 7 Days A Week

Hodgkinson trains 7 days a week. She shared her routine with Runner’s World. “So, it’s cross training on Mondays. On Tuesdays, I’ll do a session on the cross trainer and then I’ll do a track session. Wednesdays involve a 30-minute run and 40 minutes on the cross trainer, plus some gym work. Thursdays are similar to Tuesdays, but with maybe more of a tempo-type session. I always have Fridays off, then Saturdays in the winter will be a longer session and in the summer a track session. Sundays in the winter will be hills, and in the summer I’ll do a 15-minute run.”

3. She Eats A Pre-Race Breakfast

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Hodgkinson shared her favorite pre-race breakfast with Runner’s World. “It’s probably one of those questions where nearly every athlete has the same answer, but I’d say porridge – and I always have a cup of tea. Then white toast. I’m usually the athlete who doesn’t have the snacks, although there will often be some granola lying around somewhere.”

4. She Enjoys Eating Healthy

Hodgkinson revealed to Runner’s World that she actually enjoys eating healthy. “I eat pretty well. I’m not really a person who craves takeaways or things like that, because they just don’t make me feel very good. My friends will say, ‘Let’s get a Chinese,’ but I’d rather just eat a chocolate bar, to be honest – that’s my thing. So I eat pretty well, not so much because I have to, but more because I like to. I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables and good carbohydrates, but there will always be a chocolate bar, too. I think I need the calories, to be honest.”

5. She Isn’t Bothered By What Others Think

Hodgkinson isn’t bothered by what others think of her. She told ELLE UK, “You can’t get overly bothered about what everyone else is doing. I think that’s good [to remember] in every aspect of life, whether it’s how you look or what job you have – if you’re just comparing, you’re going to be miserable.”