Women's Basketball Player Juju Watkins in Two-Piece Workout Gear is "So Lucki"

Juju Watkins is feeling lucky! In a recent social media post the USC NCAA women’s basketball star shows off her washboard abs in a crop top and shorts. “So lucki,” she captioned the Instagram photo. “Too fly,” commented one of her followers. “Young legend,” added another. How does the basketball star approach health and wellness? Here is everything you need to know about her lifestyle habits.

1. Prioritizing Mental Health

JuJu tries to keep her stress to a minimum, even when it comes to March Madness. “Of course I want to win, that's definitely the goal,” she recently told Women's Health. “But personally, I don't think I feel any pressure—I think that it's just within the team to make sure that we handle business.”

2. Alone Times

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JuJu takes care of her mental health by “making sure that I have a place to go to when things get a little hectic on the court,” she told Women’s Health. “What helps me is really isolating sometimes and getting that alone time—which I don't usually get with my team or family—[and] just finding that space mentally,” she added. This helps her “relax and not really think about the things going on.”

3. Self-Care

In another interview with Women’s Health Juju talked about self-care. “My advice would be to find what brings you happiness outside of your sport. For me, self-care means indulging in things like shopping or catching a movie. I prioritize making time for these activities to reset and recharge,” she said.

4. Fueling Her Body with Food

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Before a game Juju makes sure to fuel up. “Step one, make sure that you are eating and have the right fuel in your body. I like to eat a bean burrito before every game. Everything that I do before a game depends on like my mood for the day,” she told Uninterrupted.

5. Training Alone

“For me, personal training and kind of getting in the lab by myself is really important. I do that pretty often. Even when I do have team practices throughout the week, I still find time to work on my craft alone because I feel like that's where I benefit the most, just from my game and knowing what I need to work on and just getting it done,” she told Uninterrupted.

The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) showcases extraordinary athletes whose physical prowess and dedication to their craft are nothing short of inspiring. From setting goals and adopting healthy lifestyles to overcoming obstacles and using their platforms for social change, these remarkable women offer valuable insights into their journeys both on and off the court. Here, we delve into the stories of 20 WNBA players who have shared their experiences, highlighting their approaches to wellness, training regimens, and personal philosophies. From Lisa Leslie's goal-oriented mindset to Kelsey Plum's advocacy against sexism, each player brings a unique perspective to the table. Whether it's diet and exercise, mental fortitude, or using their voices for important causes, these athletes demonstrate what it takes to achieve greatness both physically and mentally.

1. Lisa Leslie

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Lisa Leslie shared some of her tips to stay positive and productive in an interview with People. "I love to set goals,” she says. “Short-term goals and goals I want to achieve within one year. When I set those goals, it's still somebody that's got to be the best, so why not me?"

2. Sheryl Swoopes

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In an interview with Oprah Daily, Sheryl Swoopes talked about the best advice she’s received. “The best thing that my mom said to me growing up was, ‘Stop trying to be like somebody else and just be you.’ And I was always like, ‘I’m not trying to be someone else.’ But I was. I would look around and think, ‘My friends have so much more money, they live in a bigger house, they have better clothes.’ It took me until my adulthood to really, truly, finally grasp that I was doing that.”

3. Diana Taurasi

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In a 2018 interview with Women Fitness, Diana Taurasi talked about her vegan diet. “I think it is something I have really benefitted from,” she says. “Just staying away from foods that cause a lot of inflammation, fats and sugars that everyone knows are obviously a little counterproductive if you eat large amounts of them. So, I have stayed more on a plant-based diet and it has really benefitted me, but everyone has a different take on food and what they need.”

4. Maya Moore

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Maya Moore is known for giving back to others. In an interview with Sports Illustrated Kids, she talked about wanting to be a role model for others. “I think a good team leader, first and foremost, is someone who leads by example. Someone who walks the walk and is unselfish, willing to serve and help give as much as they can to help their group succeed. I think a good team leader is also a good teammate and doesn’t expect everyone to only think about them. They realize that they are part of a team and that they have a leadership role.”

5. Breanna Stewart

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Breanna Stewart shared some of her favorite workouts in an interview on Redbull.com. "I need to make sure that my body is ready and that means getting in the weight room. I just work everything—upper and lower body. I also do Pilates to make sure that my core is strong. When I’m on the court, I’m using everything, so I want to make sure that my whole body is ready to go.”

6. Candace Parker

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In an interview with ESPN, Candace Parker talked about her mindset and journey to winning games. “I look at guys like [the NBA’s Nikola] Jovic and guys that are slower that get to their spots. How do they do that? It’s like, really being a master of your matchup, and sometimes it involves slowing down and figuring out what the defense is giving you within a game.”

7. Sue Bird

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Sue Bird shared some of her favorite meals and foods in an interview with Women’s Health. "Breakfast is my favorite meal so I literally never miss it," she said. "I will wake up an hour early if it means I can get breakfast in. I'm obsessed with egg sandwiches.”

8. Elena Delle Donne

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Elena Delle Donne has Lyme disease, and she makes sure to take care of it. “Eating healthy is really important to me in managing my Lyme disease,” she explains to TheKitchn.com. “I try to eat gluten-free as often as possible.” Donne also shared some of her favorite meals in the interview. “One of my favorite dishes to make for dinner is a pesto chicken with sautéed onions.”

9. Skylar Diggins-Smith

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Skylar Diggins-Smith talked about some of her favorite workouts in an interview with ELLE. She says that she does a lot of box jumps to stay in shape. “A 12-inch box will work to do your box jumps. Box jumps help with explosions, verticals, and your legs get a good workout. I also do a lot of stuff for my core too, so planks and side planks.”

10. Tina Charles

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Tina Charles opened up about her attitude on the court in an interview with The Daily Beast. “I’m all about winning,” she says. “Everybody has a role on the team. Some carry a heavier load. But I’m willing to do that night in and night out. I’m really thankful.”

11. Nneka Ogwumike

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Nneka Ogwumike shared some of her diet and exercise secrets in an interview with ESPN. She says that she learned that she had to reduce the amount of exercise she does. “I used to think that you had to do everything to really get the benefits. But everyone's body is different. I learned that my body doesn't need so much. It reacts very quickly to whatever I eat or whatever training I do, so I try to really limit all the extra stuff and keep it simple.”

12. Seimone Augustus

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In an interview with The Athletic, Seimone Augustus talked about her approach to exercise. “Obviously as we get older, we start to focus more just trying to make sure we’re fueling our body in the right way and making sure we’re keeping ourselves prepared to come on the court and perform at our highest. But it’s always a struggle. I’m not going to lie, people. It is a struggle to eat healthy. But it’s fun to kind of challenge yourself in different ways as well.”

13. Angel McCoughtry

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Angel McCoughtry talked about why she spoke out against Kelly Loeffler’s comments to the Black Lives Matter movement and why she joined the Say Her Name Campaign to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It was really important to me, not just for Louisville -- of course that hit home a little bit. But just in general, we were just tired of seeing so much happen, one after the next after the next. We get to see it on video. But it was just important to try to find some type of initiative while playing basketball that we could kind of advocate for. That's how we were able to do the Say Her Name campaign, and it has become a big success. So I've been really proud of what's come out of it.”

14. Liz Cambage

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In an interview with Women’s Health, Liz Cambage talked about her approach to wellness, and revealed the best advice she received. “The best advice I've ever received is, that you have to live your life, not someone else's. Do what's good for you. If someone's commenting on yours and what you should be doing, tell them to go focus on theirs."

15. Jewell Loyd

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Jewell Loyd took Women’s Health through her daily routine. She says that staying hydrated is important to her. “Immediately, I like to drink my water. I’m trying to get close to a gallon a day, so I start with half that amount and then refill my bottle for the rest of the day. Luckily one of the features on my new Samsung Galaxy Watch5 is a water tracking feature, so I can set goals for daily water intake and it reminds me to hit those each day.”

16. Chelsea Gray

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Chelsea Gray notably suffered an injury in college. She tells The Sports Section that this inspired her to not only take better care of herself, but also to learn more about health. “The first step was changing my diet. I got a little bit leaner and smarter about the weight that I put on and carry with my knees and legs. It was the first time I really paid attention to my diet to get the most out of my body. Our body is how we make our money — it’s what we do. And so to be able to, for lack of a better term, treat it like a temple and make sure I know what’s going on inside is important.”

17. Allie Quicgley

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Allie Quigley talked about her process for staying in shape in an interview with High Post Hoops. “Physically just taking care of your body, eating right, getting good rest, doing your exercises in the weight room to keep yourself actually on the court. Basketball wise, just figuring out as a player what it is that is going to make you the most successful. Trying to stick to that and be as efficient as possible.”

18. Natasha Cloud

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Natasha Cloud is known for speaking out about things that are important to her. She shared why she does this in an interview with The Washington City Paper. “We are blessed to be playing and having a platform at the WNBA, blessed to play for a coach that backs us when we do speak up and feel strongly about stuff and supports us in it,” Cloud says. “Also we’re in the most powerful city in the world, in D.C., so there’s a lot of controversy always here that we can speak on. I feel like if I don’t use my platform, and don’t use my voice, then I’m doing a [disservice] to a lot of people out here in the world.”

19. Kelsey Plum

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Kelsey Plum is all about promoting change. In 2017, Plum talked to The Bleacher Report about the sexism she faces as a basketball player. “I tell people, I don't play women's basketball, I play basketball. Putting the ‘women's’ next to it shouldn't be an asterisk, like it's "less than." I have been given a little bit of a spotlight, and I hope to show that we can keep moving forward in convincing people that women are just as capable as men.”

20. Kia Nurse

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Kia Nurse opened up about her offseason activities in an interview with BarDown. “Some days, it hits more than others. Right now, this is my offseason, this week that I have now not doing anything physical will be the rest that I get. [laughs] Then, getting ramped up and ready to go again for the WNBA season will be all of the next preparation.”

Shakira Austin plays in the WNBA, after being the fourth ranked player in the nation in the 2018 recruiting class and the second ranked forward. She is a member of the Washington Mystics. In April, Austin hit the court to practice. She shared some photos from the day on Instagram. In the post, she is seen shooting and dribbling. Austin captioned the post, “Once it’s mine, I ain’t giving it back.” How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways Shakira Austin stays in shape and the photos that prove they work.

1. She Plays Basketball, Naturally

Basketball has a lot of health benefits. Fitness Advisory states, “The objective of a basketball game is to score as many points as you can by getting the ball through the hoop of the opposing team. So far that sounds pretty simple. But along the way you’re burning calories and building skills – hand-eye coordination is just one. Catching rebounding missed shots is another skill that requires a great degree of full-body coordination, since you have to observe the ball and jump to grab it at the right moment. Dribbling, another basic basketball skill, allows you to train your motor skills. Once you’ve mastered hand-eye coordination, you’ll no longer have to look at the ball while dribbling it.”

2. She Finds Multiple Ways To Make Herself Happy

Austin opened up about how basketball was affected by an injury to The Washington Post. She says that she doesn’t want basketball to be her only source of happiness. “Honestly, if we would have a long day of rehab or, say, it was a funky game . . . I’ll just go get a seafood boil,” Austin said. “Something to just make me happy in that moment. I just figured out how to do more things like that. I’m like, okay, let me go get some crabs or something. Let me go outside, get some sunlight, and then I’ll feel so refreshed the next day. I’ve been figuring more stuff out like that that could help me. Because when basketball is your only source of happiness, it can really send you into a really bad destruction.”

3. She’s A Team Player

Austin tells The Washington Post that she used her time injured to work on being a better team player. “This is the year where, yes, I’ve focused on a lot more things off the court. Personally, I focused on being a better pro, being a better teammate. How can I lead a team? These are all things I’ve been thinking about since I haven’t been able to play.”

4. She’s Not Letting Things Get Her Down

Austin shared how she was keeping herself in good spirits while being injured to The Washington Post. “It’s a little tough that I’m going through an injury while I’m trying to up my level of play,” Austin said. “It’s like, damn, you couldn’t give me a year or something. But I think everything happens for a reason. God’s timing is, he’s really trying to push me right now to be the best me. And this is exactly what I need, apparently.”

5. She Cooks

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Austin loves to cook, and she talked about this in an interview with WUSA 9. “Cooking is something I love to do off the court, and I aspire to one day have my own restaurant," she said. "I'm big on nutrition, and big on wanting to eat healthy. I want to own my own restaurant and I want to have my own farm too, so we’ll see."

Basketball player Nika Mühl is saying goodbye to her UConn team after getting drafted by the Seattle Storm, and she’s clearly ready for the WNBA chapter of her career. Mühl, 23, was tagged in a Seattle Storm official Instagram picture of herself posing on the basketball court in black leggings and a hoodie. “Heard some people wanted @nika.muhl content 😉,” reads the caption on the post. “She’s all yours, admin 🫡,” the official UConn account commented. Here’s how Mühl prepared for this exciting chapter in her life.

1. Support From Breanna Stewart

Mühl looks to fellow WNBA professional players like Breanna Stewart for support and encouragement, especially when things don’t go to plan. “This is all a process, this will all make sense later,” Mühl says Stewart told her. “I’ve been in your shoes, I’ve been in your position, just lead your team. … Stay strong. There’s no better person to get advice from. That was a huge moment for me personally. I was so deep in my thoughts after that game. Getting some words of encouragement to say, it’s OK and it’s part of the process, even though I know it, just hearing from a legend is huge. I kinda changed my ways after that.”

2. Handling Her Emotions

Mühl has learned to handle her emotions and channel them into something positive. “It’s been a weakness in many aspects in which I didn't look at things rationally or I just didn't hold myself accountable or just from being a leader, from that standpoint,” she told CT Insider. “You can't be a leader and be stubborn. You need to think about people around. You need to think about your team, what your team needs. Not what you want.”

3. WNBA Transition

Mühl had a tough decision to make about going from college to the WNBA. “I've never been in a situation with so much pressure, so many eyes looking at you, especially in this program where everybody expects perfection, excellence, wins,” she told CT Insider. “And that's what I kind of learned to expect for myself too and my team. It’s just been a roller coaster of a ride and I'm proud of myself and I'm proud of my teammates for trusting me.”

4. Clean Girl Vibe

Mühl’s beauty style is a ‘clean girl’ vibe. “I learn from my teammates,” she told Women’s Wear Daily. “I have a teammate, Olivia [Nelson-Ododa], who taught me a lot about makeup and fashion. She’s very much into it. She’s older than me, so I was watching. I’m not big on trends. I just like what works for me and I like to try things out, but I’m very passionate about it.”

5. Croatian Casual

Mühl describes her personal style as ‘Croatian casual’. “I was very unique with my style ever since I was a kid,” she told Women’s Wear Daily. “I feel like I would go to school and people would laugh at me for the way I dress. But I didn’t care. My mom told me I look good. I definitely evolved, but I kind of always have that one little thing, that one little piece on me that’s maybe different from what other people would like. I don’t care. I mean, that’s me. I would say [my style is] very edgy, very cool, very masculine and feminine. It depends on how I’m feeling.”

Kamilla Cardoso is a rookie in the WNBA. She plays for the Chicago Sky. Cardoso is from Brazil, and last month, her family flew to the US to surprise her. Omaha Productions shared a video of the surprise on their Instagram—the "surprise of a lifetime." How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways Kamilla Cardoso stays in shape and the photos that prove they work.

1. She Plays Basketball

Cardoso obviously plays basketball to stay fit. On The Right Path states that basketball has a lot of benefits. “Basketball involves aerobic exercise, promoting heart and lung health, and enhancing cardiovascular function. Regular participation in basketball helps burn calories, contributing to healthy weight management and reducing the risk of obesity.”

2. She Lifts Weights

Cardoso talked about her basketball career in an interview with FIBA. She says that when she first got to college, she had to change her wellness routine. One thing she added was lifting weights. “I knew I couldn’t just rely on my height,” Cardoso said, “I had to lift weights, because I was skinny. And when I tell you I was skinny, I was super skinny.”

3. She Works With A Nutritionist

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Cardoso told FIBA that she also had to change her diet. “The food here was very different for me,” Cardoso said. “I went a couple of weeks without eating much. My mom used to cook every morning, every night, every afternoon. I was very used to Brazilian food.” She says that she decided to work with a nutritionist for this reason. “I got a nutritionist and was eating more protein,” Cardoso said. “Even though I didn’t like the food, I was eating more so I could gain some weight.”

4. She’s Confident

Cardoso tells FIBA that being away from her family in Brazil has forced her to be stronger and more confident. “I’m much more confident than before,” Cardoso said. “I’ve grown a lot. I’m more comfortable in myself, inside and outside of the court. I see myself as a strong person. I had to move out of my home when I was 15. I’m a momma’s girl, so being away from my family for seven years is hard.”

5. She’s Aggressive On The Court

Cardoso has played in a lot of tournaments, notably the AmeriCup. She shared what these experiences have taught her to FIBA. “I was way more dominant and aggressive. I’ve been working on that for the past couple of months. This tournament was really helpful for me to realize the things I can do on the court. That will help me to be more dominant now.”