Speed Skater Alexandra Ianculescu in Workout Gear Shares New Meal Plan

Alexandra Ianculescu is a very successful speed skater. She is currently training, and she revealed on Instagram that she is making some lifestyle changes. Ianculescu captioned a recent post, "No sugar, no wheat, no dairy (except in my coffee), and no alcohol for 3 months — starting NOW. Why? It's what I put myself through every couple of years when I want to get back into the flow of things; a complete reset." How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways Alexandra Ianculescu stays in shape and the photos that prove they work.

In order for Ianculescu to stay in shape, she has to workout on a consistent basis. She talked about this in the caption of her Instagram post. "These results I'm aiming for, of course don't really come into play without physical action; so it's now up to me to have the consistency of showing up every day, little by little until I build up this winter."

Ianculescu talked about her process of cutting out sugar in her post's caption. "Sugar is the easiest to live without as I don't really crave it often; one poison out of the way. The others are also easy to avoid, especially when I am in the midst of a race season, alcohol is something I do not touch. Yes, you might be shocked that the negroni queen can stay away, but the truth is, I just don't like the way I feel when I have a glass of anything alcoholic and then have to wake up the next day and have that cloudy feeling in my muscles, and I can't perform on the ice – or feeling heavy on the bike. Not fun. I like the clear mental aspect of targeting my goals and tackling them."

One thing Ianculescu does to stay in shape is strength train. She talked about this in the caption of her Instagram post. "Funny, I lifted weights today and was doing split squats with 5 kilos per side… had to reflect and laugh when my legs were shaking, thinking back to two summers ago when I was loading up 90 kilos and split squatting it in sets of 8 reps. Baby steps. Onwards. Always."

Ianculescu likes to bike ride to stay in shape. She talked about how she found biking to Inner Voice. "In March, after the Olympics had ended and the season wound down, I decided to redo my one, five and ten year goals. I was sitting in a cafe in Toronto, and I started by asking myself a simple question: what makes you happy? I don't know why, but the first thing I wrote down was cycling. What the fuck? It came out of nowhere, but why wouldn't I give it a go? I didn't know at the time that I needed a break from skating, but had I continued, I think it would have completely destroyed my love for the sport. The cycling epiphany worked out perfectly, because my talent agent was trying to convince me to go to Vancouver for a month to do some modelling. I took my bike, and went to the velodrome."

While Ianculescu loves skating, she doesn't want it to be her life. "It's funny because as an athlete you have an identity, and everybody relates to you based on your sport," she said to Inner Voice. "Even though my car license plate says SPDSKTR, there's so much more to an athlete than the sport you do. That's just a chapter in your life, and I think it's important to not fully immerse yourself in only being an athlete because at any time it can be taken away from you. I'm actually shocked that I got to where I am because I feel like I never gave 100% to speed skating – I was just so passionate about so many other things. Even from a young age I had skating, and art, and a whole range of other sports and hobbies that I felt made me well-rounded. Could I have done better at the Olympics if I was solely committed to speed skating? No, I know I wouldn't have because it would actually be detrimental to me personally. I need to do more than one thing, it's how I function. I usually fully load my plate with more than I can chew, and just chew faster. It works for me."