Track and Field Star Holly Bradshaw in Two-Piece Workout Gear is "Coming to Padova"

Holly Bradshaw is an elite Olympic pole vaulter who claimed a bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics and the 2018 European Championships. She’s gearing up for the upcoming Padova Pole Vaulting Convention, where her appearance is highly anticipated. Padova’s official Instagram shared a video of Bradshaw competing, captioned, “Ready for Holly Bradshaw? The Britain’s first pole vault Olympic Medallist is coming to Padova!” Here’s how Bradshaw stays in peak condition and maintains her wellness.

1. She Has Balance

Bradshaw shared her wellness secrets with Get Sweat Go. She says that she is working on having more balance in her life. “One project I’m currently working on is getting the right training and lifestyle balance. Being an elite pole vaulter doesn’t take up every hour of the day, there is a lot of downtime and I am useless at being bored so I am currently helping conduct some research with two other researchers surrounding ‘post Olympic blues’, which is keeping me busy.”

2. She Does A Variety Of Workouts

Bradshaw shared her training routine with Get Sweat Go. She says that she does a lot of different things. “My training is very varied and I train five times a week for around 3-5 hours each session. My training schedule consists of pole vault once a week, weights sessions 2/3 times a week, gymnastics, explosive jumping and throwing, various running sessions including short acceleration sessions (30m), medium speed runs (50m) and then speed endurance running sessions (90-120m). I also do yoga and stretching work most days.”

3. She Evaluates Her Sessions

Bradshaw shared how she evaluates her training sessions with Get Sweat Go. “I like to evaluate my sessions both objectively and subjectively. I sometimes compare any numbers I have from previous sessions and check how far I am away from them. However, I feel evaluating subjectively is important too. Some days just aren’t PB days – or even close – however, it could be really good session for other reasons. I think using both methods is vital for an athlete. I am an optimistic person and finding the positives in any situation is my strength and something I value a lot.”

4. She Plans Her Workouts

Bradshaw tells Get Sweat Go that she likes to plan things out. She says that she has a journal for this. “It’s so important to have a plan and then note everything I do down. Training components, training numbers, PBs, notes on how I felt etc! It’s awesome to reflect back on what you did, how you felt – I think having a training diary is something simple but gives you structure and confidence when you look back and see how awesome you were.”

5. She’s Focused

Bradshaw shared her biggest piece of advice with HFE. “Make sure you stay committed and focused. That’s one of the things that I do, make sure I’m focused because I’m a really determined person and I have clear goals to focus on. You need to make sure you’re always having fun, I think athletes can be way too serious. Obviously you need to work hard in training sessions, like I always do, but I feel like there always needs to be an element of fun.”

Femke Bol is a phenomenal track and field athlete, celebrated for her Olympic success. At the 2024 Olympics, she won gold in the 4x400 mixed relay, silver in the 4x400 relay, and bronze in the 400-meter hurdles, adding to her bronze from the 2020 Olympics. Recently, she shared a series of workout photos on Instagram, captioned, “Running, hurdles, smiles, sore muscles, all is good 🥰.” Here’s how Bol stays at the top of her game.

1. She Runs

Bol is seen running in her Instagram post. Running has a lot of health benefits. According to FloTrack, running is a great way to burn calories. “Just like other forms of exercise, running burns calories while working out. The additional perk about running, though, is you can continue to burn calories even after you stop. The ‘afterburn’ continues to burn calories after your run.”

2. She Lifts Weights

Bol shared this video on Instagram of herself working out in the gym. In it, she is seen weightlifting. ACE Fitness states that using weights has a lot of benefits. “Using heavy weights increases intramuscular coordination, the number of type II motor units and the amount of muscle fibers engaged within a specific muscle. Have you ever felt your muscles shaking while lifting heavy weights? This is because you are recruiting and activating the larger type II muscle fibers, which are only stimulated to work when a muscle is challenged with heavy resistance or working to fatigue.”

3. She Works With A Trainer

Bol’s trainer, Laurent Mowley, talked about her training in an interview with Athletics Weekly. “Progressively we pushed her stride a bit more and changed to having a more cruising way of running the first 200m, with longer strides. It’s about a 12cm difference in stride length. And then to change after seven hurdles to go to 15 – that was something completely different to what she has been used to. But, very quickly, she realised in training that this was the direction to go in.”

4. She Does Hip Thrusts

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In the second blurb’s Instagram link, Bol is seen doing hip thrusts to keep herself in shape. Gymless states that since hip thrusts are a glute workout, they have a lot of benefits. “Strong glutes are not only for aesthetic appeal; they serve a key functional purpose in supporting the posterior chain of muscles around the spine. Hip thrusts are also known for their capacity to develop and define glute muscles, contributing to their popularity on social media. After all, who doesn’t appreciate the look of a well-crafted pair of glutes?”

5. She Does Squats

Femke Bol/Instagram

Bol is also seen doing squats in the Instagram video. According to The Cleveland Clinic, squats have a lot of benefits. “Proper squatting form requires you to reaaaaally engage your core — the muscles of your stomach, pelvis, hips and lower back. These large muscle groups support every move you make, both large and small, so keeping them strong helps keep you well. Strong core muscles play a role in: Maintaining good posture. Relieving back pain. Lowering your risk of injuries like hip flexor strains and sports hernias.”

Dutch runner Femke Bol is celebrating after winning gold in the mixed 4x400m relay. Bol, 24, shared a picture of herself wearing black shorts and an orange shirt, walking on the track. “Time to get to the start line of my second Olympic Games ✨I cannot wait to enjoy and feel the wonderful atmosphere while giving it my all on the track ❤️‍🔥This will be my schedule:

03/08 20.55 4x400 mixed FINAL

04/08 12.35 400 hurdles heats

06/08 20.07 400 hurdles semis

08/08 21.25 400 hurdles FINAL

09/08 10.40 4x400 women heats

10/08 21.14 4x400 women FINAL

Thank you for all the support, the journey to the games showed me once again how amazing the team around me is and I’m forever grateful for them 🥰,” she captioned the post. Here’s what the athlete’s training and fitness regimen looks like.

1. Hard Work

Bol works hard for her record-breaking speed. “I think that speed is not the most natural thing to me,” she told RunBlogRun. “I work hard to get more speed. But with the fatigue and the lactic, I keep thinking, what is the right pace? I think that is where my talent is. Also, in a 400 flat, what the pace should feel like. I love to go through the lactic and go deeper and go faster. Or in training, when I am full of lactic, can I do one more – when we have a lot of reps in a session. I think that is it, and I need to continue to be able to think and plan because you need a good plan.”

2. Inspired By Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone

Bol is a huge fan of fellow competitor Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. “It's inspirational and motivational how McLaughlin-Levrone's racing and seeing how she's raising the bar,” she told Longview News-Journal. “In all honesty a couple of years ago if you'd told me people would be running 400m hurdles in 51sec, I wouldn't have believed it, and now I'm one of them doing it. The moment you see someone doing it... there's is something in your head that thinks 'maybe I can also do it'. For sure it's something that pushes me to become better and dream better on the 400m hurdles.”

3. Training Camp

Bol trains with a large team in The Netherlands. “I train at Papendal, the National Dutch Sports Center,” she told RunBlogRun. “There is a big group, I think fourteen 400m runners. And also Ajla Del Ponte from Switzerland. So it’s a pretty nice group to be in. We train hard, a lot of tough training – some do more endurance, others more speed. It’s a big group, but training is adapted to the person. I think it’s a nice atmosphere that we train in. In the end, we’re all sore and tired, but we keep having fun. We work together and push each other on. It’s a great place to be and one of the best places in which to become one of the best athletes.”

4. Clearing Her Head

Bol has loved running since she was a young girl. “It was always a way to clear your mind and just have fun and not think too much about other things,” she told Athletics Weekly. “That’s still what I like so much about it. I have sessions I like more and I like less but I enjoy every session and mostly the lactic ones because then it really clears your mind and the only thing you can think about is the pain and how you are going to recover. I just love how you really can mentally challenge yourself so much in the sport and just let go of everything a bit by running.”

5. Loving the Journey

Bol is proud of her accomplishments. “I sometimes ask how I have achieved these things, but I do work hard for it and do so many things for it,” she told RunBlogRun. “It’s not like I click my fingers, and I get it. But still, there are a lot of other athletes who train just as hard and are not achieving these things. I do ask how I have achieved this, and I think it’s amazing. I am enjoying it a lot, which helps.”

Austrian long jump champion Ivona Dadic works hard and plays hard—but even her play is beneficial to the intense training regimen she has as an athlete. Dadic, 29, shared pictures of herself taking a cold dip in a natural pond in beautiful Turcini, Montenegro, wearing a red bikini that showed off every inch of her muscular physique. “Perfect cooling down after a hard training session 😊,” she captioned the Instagram post. Dadic has a work ethic typical of an Olympian —so how exactly does she do it? Here are 5 ways the track and field star trains, eats, and competes.

1. Training vs Competing

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Dadic finds competing a walk in the park compared to her training. “Training should be so hard that this enables you to have no fear even in the toughest of competitions,” she says. “It should be easy compared with what you do every day… Technique is not necessarily a product of talent. It can be influenced easily with hard work and that can help you to gain a lot of points. For example, in the past I was not such a good hurdler. But we worked a lot on my technique and changed this year from an eight-step to a seven-step approach to the first hurdle, which is a big benefit for an athlete of my height. But changes like this take a lot of time and you have to be tough and believe in what you do to get through these times.”

2. Training Six Hours a Day

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Dadic’s training regimen is hardcore, to put it lightly. “I train six days a week for about six hours a day,” she says. “The training is very sprint-heavy, of course there is also strength training, especially legs and upper body. In addition to the individual disciplines, we also have running units of around 40 minutes on the training plan. Since a heptathlon competition lasts two days, endurance is also required and you should be well prepared.” Dadic’s training makes working out for fun difficult. “Although I like to go horseback riding or play tennis on vacation, it's difficult to get excited about sporting hobbies in addition to training,” she says. “That's why I prefer to devote a large part of my free time to my friends and family.”

3. Healthy Training Diet

Dadic has a sweet tooth that she keeps under control while training. “Although I don't have a specific diet plan, nutrition is an important issue,” she says. “You eat consciously, especially before competitions. The sense for this develops over time or it arises through common sense. I'm currently trying to avoid meat, which works quite well. But sometimes I can't resist sweets when I'm not competing.”

4. Weightlifting Superstar

Dadic allows fans a sneak peek at her workouts via her social media—and she’s clearly not afraid of weights. “It’s not just cardiovascular exercise, such as running or aerobics, that can benefit your heart,” says Emma Mitchell, physiotherapist at Bupa UK. “Strength training is also good for your heart health. Some studies have shown that just one hour of weightlifting per week can reduce your risk of having a heart attack or stroke as you get older. This may be because strength training can help to reduce your blood pressure and might lower your risk of obesity too.”

5. Mountain Runs

Dadic didn’t allow pandemic lockdowns to interfere with her training regimen. “When the situation came to a head in the week before March 16, I packed hurdles, javelins and a few other things in the car so that I could train at home in a reasonably meaningful way,” she says. “There is also a perfectly equipped gym at my friend Dario's house in Steyr. And a special training plan was worked out, for example with intensive mountain runs on lonely forest roads for stability over the 800 meters, hurdle training on the asphalted alley in front of the house or jumping exercises on the gravel paths of a park just around the corner. There, to the amazement of the few walkers, I was even [doing] shot put a few times.”