20 Amazing Pro Athlete Bodies 

Get ready to be inspired by the incredible bodies of 20 amazing professional athletes. From MMA fighters to soccer stars and football quarterbacks, these athletes have honed their bodies through rigorous training and dedication to their respective sports. Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm, and Paige VanZant reveal their training secrets, while soccer players like Casey Murphy, Christen Press, and Rose Lavelle share their workout routines. Football players such as Dak Prescott and Josh Allen discuss their motivation and improvement strategies. Join us as we delve into the fascinating stories behind these athletes' remarkable physiques and the hard work that goes into maintaining them.

1. Ronda Rousey

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UFL and WWE fighter Ronda Rousey shared her training secrets with StyleCaster. “My favorite workout is hitting mitts. My coach puts mitts on his hands, and my hands are in gloves. He holds different postures or targets for me to hit with knees, elbows, and punches in an order and sequence he thinks will teach me timing and accuracy, while challenging my stability and balance. I train at Glendale Fighting Club.”

2. Holly Holm

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Holly Holm has an amazing upper body. She shared her secrets in an interview with Muscle and Fitness. “I do some strength training but most of what I do as far as arms is bodyweight. I’ll do pull-ups, pushups and dips. Of course with fighting, we’re constantly using our arms punching. In the clench you’re wrestling around with other people so they’re constantly being worked. I don’t ever use really heavy weights with my arms.”

3. Paige VanZant

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Paige VanZant shared her secrets for success in an interview with Women Fitness. “To be successful and MMA you have to absolutely love it. And know that if fighting is in your heart that means it’s already a part of you. It runs through your veins. Being a female and a male dominated sport can be very hard. The biggest lessons that I have learned throughout my years in fighting is, know your worth, listen to your gut feeling and never let anybody tell you what you can or cannot do.”

4. Ariane Lipski

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UFC’s Ariane Lipski wants to inspire other people, and talked about this with UFC.com. “I feel I have a responsibility to the next generation, to the future fighters and women who get inspired by me,” she said. “I’m also representing the women who came before me. I'm very happy. It just gives me more motivation to go there and give it all I've got.”

5. Casey Murphy

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After joining the North Carolina Courage in 2021, Casey Murphy talked about her approach to soccer with CourageCountry.com. “I’ve learned a lot like each team plays a different style of soccer. So, it’s adapting to how they play so you can best serve the team. I’ve just learned you have to remember what you’re good at, and bring that but also be able to adjust so that you can fit into how your team plays best. So it’s just learning how you fit into the Courage way of playing.”

6. Christen Press

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Soccer player, Christen Press, opened up about her workouts with POPSugar in 2016. She says that she’s a big fan of yoga. "I really do believe that it's more than exercise,” Press explained. “It's a medication. I really feel grounded and stable when I do it. It's helpful to get rid of a lot of the pressure before games."

7. Emily Sonnett

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In 2017, Emily Sonnett talked about playing professional soccer in an interview with Equalizer Soccer. “I think in every job, in every workplace, there is pressure to compete and to perform. If anything, it’s good pressure. It’s pushing you to be better, it’s pushing me to really grind down on what I need to be doing better: Is it consistency? Is it technical ability? What is it? It really makes you look at your craft and what you’re doing to then try to make it that much better.”

8. Crystal Dunn

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In a 2019 interview with POPSugar, Crystal Dunn opened up about how things have changed for her since her last World Cup. She says that she’s a lot less uptight now. "I was so uptight about everything. I'm a totally different player than I was four years ago. I take things as they come now. I try not to take everything so seriously, so harshly."

9. Rose Lavelle

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Rose Lavelle opened up about how she approaches soccer in an interview with The Athletic. “Honestly, it’s just a feeling, not a thought,” Lavelle says. “I’m not thinking in that moment. When I’m playing my best, I’m free flowing. I’m just doing what I feel is on, finding the space naturally.”

10. Lynn Williams

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Soccer player, Lynn Williams, talked about her training process with Sports Business Journal. “We get our GPS numbers all the time—every week, every day, it's in a binder if you want to look at the meters you're covering, your speeds, all of it is there. I look at it regularly. We talk about it all the time with our sport scientist, Mike Young, and there was one time he was like, ‘I clocked you out like a 36-something, but you consistently hit 33. But your speed in a game is comparable to the elite men.’ I never really thought about it [except to say], ‘OK, yeah, that's really cool, whatever.’ And then when I saw the times posted [by Bleacher Report], I was like, ‘Oh, I guess that is true. But also, men, come on, work harder. If you can run a faster speed, then go do it.’”

11. Dak Prescott

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In a 2020 interview with Medium, Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Dak Prescott talked about how he stays motivated during lockdown. “I mean, there were days during quarantine that once I finally got going, it seemed like I was working out half the day because there’s nothing else to do. And then I wasn’t thinking of the fact that we were in a pandemic. The tough part is getting going, but once you’re in it, you have got to take full advantage of it.”

12. Travis Kelce

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SuperBowl Champion Travis Kelce detailed his workout schedule with Men’s Journal. “Before the season starts, around late July, I’m on a five-day workout schedule, and within that I’m doing two days working lower body and two working upper body. I really don't do anything crazy, but it works for me. What I like to do differently is how I recover. I do the hot and cold pools and I’m big on dry needling. It’s amazing for the body: You can target the areas that need release, and it gets the blood flow going. From athlete to athlete, a lot of guys train similarly, but I feel what I do recovery-wise is a bit unique.”

13. Saquon Barkley

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In 2019, Saquon Barkley opened up about his prep for playing in the NFL to Men’s Journal. “I try to be an explosive athlete because of the position I play,” he explained. “Squats are key for me to build that strength in my quads. I'm able to squat 650-700 pounds. I’m not doing it to put on weight or be a musclehead—those 650-pound lifts are about helping me run through a 350-pound defensive tackle. If I do a 400-pound power clean, that can make me explosive enough to make a linebacker miss and help me jump over tacklers."

14. Josh Allen

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Josh Allen worked with Jordan Palmer to improve his football skills. Palmer opened up about working with the Bills quarterback with ESPN. "He drastically changed his base that he played with. He used to bounce up and down on his toes, with a narrow base, which would cause him to over-stride when he'd go to throw. There is a cascading effect once you over-stride. Now he's learned to play with a much better base. When you play with all your cleats on the ground, you create more energy and you have more balance."

15. Fred Warner

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For Fred Warner, his mindset is believing that his team can win. He opened up about this in an interview with Boardroom. “That was my only goal and the only thing I was thinking about. And I devoted everything in my power to doing that, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. It’s a team game, you can’t win it by yourself. But then you get another shot next year.”

16. Justin Verlander

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Justin Verlander talked about his workout routine with Muscle and Fitness. “When I was younger, I focused a lot on brute strength,” he said. “Now I’m focused more on mobility, and a big part of my off-season workouts is balancing those two. I don't want to risk getting injured.” Verlander says that he does a lot of functional strength exercises. “I do a lot of hex-bar deadlifts and mobility work, interval training, and explosive moves like med ball throws.”

17. LeBron James

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LeBron James makes sure to eat healthy. In 2021, he broke down his diet with Men’s Journal. “I had no sugars, no dairy, I had no carbs. All I ate was meat, fish, veggies and fruit. That's it. For 67 straight days. Before competition for me would be like a chicken breast and maybe a little pasta. The carbs help because you're going out and playing a lot of minutes. But a salad and some veggies will have me perfectly fine. And before the game I might have a protein shake and some fruit, and I'll be ready to go.”

18. Sidney Crosby

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Pittsburgh Penguins player, Sidney Crosby, talked about his training regime with Muscle and Fitness. “Preparing to win another Stanley Cup begins in July with running on Citadel Hill in Nova Scotia,” Crosby says. “Training on a hill forces me to continually push with my lower body, and it’s comparable to the physical requirements of skating, as it builds foot stability and speed in all directions. We do a variety of drills on the steep hill—cone drills, sprints, cross­ overs, and backpedals to train coordination.”

19. Corbin Carroll

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Diamondbacks player Corbin Carroll’s big secret to staying ready? Consistency. “By keeping the same routine every day, you can at least have the confidence to say that you went out there with 100% confidence in your preparation," Carroll said to MLB.com. "I think I take a lot of confidence in my ability to prepare."

20. JD Martinez

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JD Martinez opened up about his approach to baseball in a 2019 interview with NBC Sports Boston. "My dad has always told me, ‘never be one to talk. You’re talking with your bat. Your bat and your glove. You never go out there ... and say bad things about certain people, and bad things about certain things and stuff like that.’ That’s never been me. I always say [if there is something negative being said about me], ‘Okay, that’s how you feel, great.’ Kind of walk away, and I play with it. Gives me that fuel, gives me that fire. I say go out there and prove everybody wrong with my bat and my glove.”