Laura Bassett is just over a week away from taking part in the Women’s Euro this summer, and her training regime is as packed as you’d expect.
The 33-year-old defender represented England at youth level, before making her senior debut in 2003 at national level. She became the first Birmingham City Ladies’ player to play for England at international level.
A career of any athlete has its ups and downs - Bassett has previously spoken out about scoring a last-minute own goal in England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Japan in 2015 - but the defender credits her resilience to her positive personality.
“I’m an ultra positive person and I make the best out of every situation,” she told HuffPost UK.
As part of our Fit Fix series, we chatted to Bassett to see how she’s preparing ahead of the Women’s Euro 2017.
My Journey 🌎
What do you credit to your success?
“For me, I’d have to say it’s down to a lot of hard work, determination and resilience. I’m an ultra positive person and I make the best out of every situation.”
What’s one of the most memorable moments in your career?
“From a domestic point of view I’d have to say winning the treble at Arsenal, and for England a silver medal at the European Championships and a bronze medal at the world cup in Canada.”
My Training 💪
Talk us through your week in fitness.
“If we have a game on Sunday: Monday would be recovery; Tuesday we would have a double session – on the pitch in the morning with drills, tactics, set pieces and then gym in the afternoon; Wednesday would be a rest day; Thursday would be another double session; Friday on the pitch; and then Saturday would be flexible depending on how the week had gone.”
What’s your favourite type of workout and why?
“For me, it’s the pitch cardio sessions which are high intensity. I love a really hard workout – not only do you feel good about yourself with the endorphins pumping, it’s also the closest thing to a game without actually playing one!
“As a footballer, you want to be playing football all the time and this is the closest you get. I also love the feeling of when you get home and are shattered – you just want to eat and sleep. You know you’ve had a productive day.”
What’s your favourite way to spend your rest day?
“Anything apart from football. Shopping, going for coffees, catching up with friends, binging on a boxset. At the moment, I’m loving Line of Duty.”
My Food 🍳
What do you eat throughout the week to complement your training schedule?
“I tend to eat chicken, turkey and red meat when I can with a lot of vegetables or salad. We get help with nutrition and individualised nutrition plans if we need to improve a certain aspect of fitness.
“At the moment, being so close to a tournament, recovery is most important so I always make sure I eat anti-inflammatory foods (veg and salads) to help muscles recover.”
What are your pre and post-workout snacks?
“Fruit and nuts and anything with peanut butter (it has to be crunchy). I do have protein shakes too.”
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned about food?
“I’m still learning – there’s always new stuff to learn and always new superfoods to be aware of. We have to be active in looking for new things that we think could help improve performance, but we also get lots of help from our nutritionists.”
My Motivation 🙌
Do you have a motivational mantra that keeps you going?
“The mantra: ‘Your body can withstand most things. It’s your mind that you have to convince’ means a lot to me.
“It’s the mind that can stop you or take things to the next level. Your body can do most things if you can convince it too.”
Do you always have fitness goals you are aiming for?
“I just want to be as healthy and lean as I can be. My main job is to be able to train every day and to be injury free, As long as I am performing well with good feedback from the coaches, then I’m happy.”
What’s your ultimate workout track and why?
“Anything upbeat. It can’t be slow or miserable. I love the workout mixes on Spotify. I like to press shuffle and hope that a gem comes on.”
As official sponsor of the England women’s football team, Vauxhall Motors is uniting the nation to #GetIN this summer and make some noise for the team. Kirsty Gallacher is working with Vauxhall Motors to create a series of rallying chants in support of the players and team. Learn them, shout them, support them at www.vauxhallfootball.co.uk/england.
‘Fit Fix’ is a weekly dose of fitspiration from leading athletes and fitness fanatics. Each Wednesday we chat to stars about their weekly workouts, the food they eat and what keeps them going.