As part of our athlete series, we asked our O2 athletes more about how they got into fitness and what their training looks like. Here's a look at O2 Athlete James Hobart.
How did you first get into fitness? How has that changed over the years?
I feel like I have always been involved in fitness especially from the sense of enjoying physical activity. But it took a long time for that to manifest into gym fitness. Sports, outdoor activities, and general mischief drew me in far more than spending time in a stuffy gym ever did. After finishing high school in 2005 I started to workout in a gym. Then I started training with CrossFit in 2006-2007.
Name one quality you learned thanks to your sport that you are so grateful to have learned.
Training and trying to excel at competition helped teach me that discipline and consistency regardless of the outcome will eventually drive success. When you start to train a lot or practice a lot at anything you will make mistakes. And you will likely make a lot of them. So you need to learn to accept them, learn from those mistakes, and then move on.
What’s your least favorite part about your given sport?
That we don’t have a “heel” at the highest levels of the sport. It would be funny to have a heel, just like you have them in wrestling.
Go to music when crushing a workout?
Mostly I like the majority of genres and types of music. But in the moment I like things that are upbeat and fast tempo...allegro. The more I think about it I notice that it changes throughout the year from all types of rap and hip hop to EDM to metal, pop or punk.
What does your workout schedule look like?
Now my workout schedule is confined to once a day for 90 minutes.
When I was competing I trained 5 days per week for 4 hours or more a day. Not every bit of that was exercise. That time included all the stuff that could go into a training day to make me physically and mentally ready for competition.
What does your recovery routine look like?
When I really want to focus in on it I try and regulate a few things: finish eating 2 hours before bedtime, no screentime 1 hour before bed, reduce caffeine intake, drink 1 full glass of water when I wake up in the morning, spend 10 minutes stretching. The final thing is that I cut sugar out of my diet and try to reduce processed foods as much as possible if I am really focusing on recover--sleep better, eat better, be more flexible.
Favorite flavor of O2 and when do you enjoy it most?
Easy, Grapefruit Ginger on ice in a glass. Either after a workout on a hot day or to kick off a sunny morning.