The last couple of months have been very busy for me! I have been competing in domestic competitions in Auckland and Christchurch trying to qualify for my two big international competitions for the year. With training being quite intense at the moment it has been great having the USANA nutrimeals straight after training, they are the best, especially that Dutch Chocolate! Yum.

My competitions went mostly really well and I got the qualification score on multiple events including my best apparatus, the floor. I even managed to upgrade my floor routine and hit it 2/2 in competition. I’ve made my training plan so that I am peaking at the World Champs therefore I wasn’t at my top fitness for these trials. It’s great knowing that I’ve still got room for improvement and hopefully even better scores are to come when I’m at the Worlds.

2 weeks ago I was lucky enough to be invited to the Prime Ministers Olympic Gala Dinner. This was such a great event to attend, the place was full of well-known retired and current NZ Olympians such as Beatrice Faumuina, Barbara Kendall, and Rob Waddell to name a few (all multiple Olympic gold medallists!) As the event name suggests, the Prime Minister, John Key was also there and I managed to have a quick talk with him about my sport and get a photo with him. The event was to fundraise for New Zealand’s Olympic campaign to Rio. Items were auctioned off at the dinner including a ‘Poutapatoru’ (Maori ornament) which all the medallists at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games had signed (including myself). It sold for $7000, a dinner with the Prime Minister sold for $32000!! Overall the event made $200,000 which will go directly towards costs associated with taking the New Zealand team to Rio in 2016. At this event the NZOC released their 2016 Olympics campaign ‘Be the Inspiration’. I had an amazing night and left feeling inspired myself, extra motivated to get on the New Zealand Olympic team to Rio.

I’m happy to say I have officially qualified to represent New Zealand at the World Cup competition in Croatia in September and I have also qualified for the World Championships in Scotland this October. Both of these competitions will have the world’s best gymnasts trying to prove their worth and trying to prepare/qualify for the Olympics in Rio next year. In order for me to have a chance at making the Olympics next year I must prove my value to NZOC at both of these competitions.

There is a long process to make it to the Olympics and two ways that I need to qualify. The first is to be selected by NZ to be sent to the Olympic Test Event in Rio next year in April where I need to achieve a qualifying score in the all-around competition. The second is to prove to NZOC that I can achieve a top 16 placing on an apparatus at the Olympics (this will be the harder of the two, but I think I’m capable of doing it!) NZ will select one person to send to the Test Event in based on their results at the World Cup and World Championships this year (between me and one other NZ gymnast). I need to use my results at all of my international competitions from now until the Olympic Test Event to prove that I can score a mark capable of placing top 16 at the Olympics. If I can’t prove this then NZOC won’t send me regardless of whether I qualify at the Test Event or not. I’m hoping to prove a top 16 placing on either Floor or Vault.

New Zealand has only ever had 2 male gymnasts ever be represented at the Olympics for gymnastics. I have a huge task ahead of me, but I plan to be the third.

The post David Bishop Update! appeared first on Usana Health Sciences Organization.

How did you hear about USANA?

I’ve heard it around for the last few years but it wasn’t until an old school friend who works for USANA approached my about the product and its benefits that I got really interested in what USANA had to offer me as a full time athlete who also works full time. Having the support from USANA is invaluable as it allows me to work hard and train hard but still avoid illness and keep my body ticking correctly.

What’s your favourite USANA product and why?

The Dutch Choc Nutrimeal sachets are a delicious life saver for when I’m rushing out the door after training in my breaks from work!

What’s your tip to staying fit and healthy?

Love your training. If you’re not enjoying what you’re doing there’s not a lot of point doing it. Find a comfortable balance in your training and all other aspects of your life and it will become more achievable and easy to sustain. There’s no better feeling than seeing progress. So keep at it even when you plateau, and you will get there.

Who’s your sporting idol, and why?

My partner Kerry Charlesworth. She’s a Pole-vaulter and the strongest athlete I know. She’s been out for over a year and hasn’t been able to vault but still finds herself in the gym five days a week. Her strength and determination is astounding and truly inspiring. She’s going to shoot straight back to the top when she’s healed up! She drives me like no one else.

Tell us about your training schedule:

I am currently training 6 days a week, which generally includes 5 sessions on the bike and two sessions in the gym. I am currently going through a strength phase in my program which is vital for success in my target event which is the 1Km time trial on the Velodrome, which is effectively the Powerlifting of the cycling world. Strength is key, so most of my training at present is done on an indoor trainer with short high intensity bursts over 1 to 1.5 hours a session. This will probably be followed by an endurance block which will see my training mileage go up but intensity will lower. This aids the last 250m of the kilo as its inevitable that your legs will stop working, it’s just a case of prolonging that as long as possible.

What are some of your career highlights to date?

Since I started cycling in 2014 I have since competed in 5 events (2 on the road and 3 on the track.)

2014 Paracycling Track Champs, Invercargill – Silver in the 1km TT, Bronze in the 4km Pursuit

2015 Paracycling c1 Event, Melbourne – Bronze in the 1km TT, Gold in the 4km Pursuit

2015 NZ Paracycling, Cambridge – Silver in the 1km TT

2015 Paracycling Road Nationals, Napier – Silver in the 25km Individual Pursuit

2015 Paracycling c1 Event, Cambridge – Gold in the 19km Individual Pursuit, Silver in the 72km road race

What’s coming up for you? 

In the coming months I will be developing myself for the up and coming track season, which will include 2 track events and 2 road events in NZ as we scramble to scrape together qualifying points for Rio. Success in these events should hopefully see me selected for Track World Champs in March 2016, in Italy. However that and selection for Rio are based on my performance over the season and qualifying points earned by the team.

The post Team USANA welcomes another top NZ athlete! appeared first on Usana Health Sciences Organization.

How did you hear about USANA?

It was through my coach and his wife (Ivar & Marya Hopman) and it was from nicking some of there product when I was a litt le unhealthy, or travelling etc. I immediately saw the benefits, seeing me using USANA prducts daily now.

What’s your favourite USANA product and why (please send a selfie with the product)?

I think the best products are the supplements (Multi-mineral, Bio Mega, Antioxidants) as I constantly feel really good using these products. They have kept me healthy from the day I have used them.

What’s your tip to staying fit and healthy?

Riding your bike 20+ hours a week!

Who’s your sporting idol, and why?

I have many around me, not particularly current cyclists but cyclists/ex cyclists who are mentors to me. I could name a lot!

How did you get involved in Cycling?

My family has always been very cycling orientated, through my dad, uncle and cousins. My cousins (Westley & Fraser) played a pretty influential part getting me involved, passing on their experience and knowledge.

Tell us about your training schedule:

Training for me varies throughout different times of the year. As I am a road and track cyclist, they are almost like a different disciple meaning there are specifics for each. Track phase will include high intensity sessions, with a lot of time in the gym and on the track, and my road phase would consist of more miles on the road meaning my riding time a week would almost double. In saying that, I am consistently training 6/7 days a week, some days being ‘double days’.

What are some of your career highlights to date?

1. 2014 Junior Points Race World Champion
2. 2014 Junior Madison World Champion
3. 2015 Elite Team Pursuit World Champion

What’s coming up for you?

I am targeting on the World Cup being held in Cambridge in December. New Zealand’s first World Cup, and will be very humbling to be wearing the World Champ rainbows in New Zealand. From then continuation of form into the World Champs and beyond to try and gain selection to Rio.

The post Welcome to the team Regan Gough! appeared first on Usana Health Sciences Organization.

We sat down with Adrian to chat about Judo, winning and vitamins, and here’s what he had to say…

How did you first hear about USANA?
I first heard of Usana through a fellow team mate who was taking your products at the time. We were training together in Europe and he offered some of Usana’s product to me to take

What’s your favourite product?
The Essentials are my favourite Usana product. With my busy schedule, I find I can get really tired. Taking the multi-mineral gives me reassurance that my body is getting all the right mineral’s it needs in order for me to stay healthy and on top of my game.

What’s your number 1 tip to staying fit and healthy?
Take Usana products, stay hydrated, eat right, train at least once a day, and try and get 8 hours sleep a night.

Who’s your sporting idol, and why?
There are a few. Rob Waddell is my favourite. As well as being a World and Olympic Champion, he is an extremely down-to-earth guy and very approachable. As the New Zealand Chef de Mission at the Commonwealth Games, he was extremely supportive of the athletes, turning up to each of sports’ training, as well as each competition day.

How did you get involved in Judo?
My dad first got me and my brothers into Judo. When he likes to tell a tall story, he’ll joke that me and my brothers were too afraid to walk down to the local shops in our neighbourhood for fear of some other local boys who hung out there. In reality, he wanted the boys to get off the couch, stop watching television, stop playing video games and learn some physical co-ordination and above all, gain some self-confidence. It just so happened one day he was on a job with our very first junior coach. My father explained that he had three sons and were looking to get them into a sport. My coach said “great! Bring them along”. I was six years old at the time and have never looked back!

Tell us about your training schedule:
It’s pretty hectic at the moment! I work full-time as an architectural designer which is a 830am – 530pm job. My training revolves around this. I wake up at 6am Monday-Thursday and head to the gym to do either my strength, power or conditioning  training (depending on what phase I’m in). I’ll train Saturday morning in gym sometimes too, depending on how tired I am from the week. Friday evening and Sunday morning I do more judo specific, high-intensity conditioning training. While based in Auckland I train Judo 4-5 times a week at two-three different clubs, and also with the Auckland squad. Monday, Tues, Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons are dedicated to judo training – 1.5 – 2hours each session. On Wednesday evenings, I’ll either have a sports massage or judo training. Lately, my body has needed the sports massage!

What are some of your career highlights to date?
My best career highlight to date has been my Silver at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. On top of that, competing at the World Champs in Rio in 2013 was a big highlight. Rio is the most amazing place I’ve been to date. Also, watching the Paris Grand Slam at Bercy Stadium last year was a real ‘judo experience’. It’s a highly renowned competition in the judo world. The stadium is packed every year with mad French fans who know and love their judo. I hope to compete there next Feburary.

What’s coming up for you?
Right now, I’m focused on the World Championships. I fly out in a week’s time and compete in about two and a half weeks’ time. Beyond that, my ultimate goal is to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio next year. After the worlds, I’ll be looking to compete in as many competitions on the International circuit as possible to fight for precious ranking points that will qualify me for the Games.  

The post Meet Team USANA Athlete Adrian Leat! appeared first on Usana Health Sciences Organization.

This is my first winter in New Zealand in a few years and, thanks to El Nino, it is shaping up to be a bit of a cold one. I am definitely a hot weather person. I love training in the heat and when it comes to racing, the hotter the temperature the better it is for me. The reason why I am still in NZ during winter is that this year I have decided to focus 100% on qualifying for Kona and, more precisely, on doing a really good race there. This means no trip back to Germany this year but instead some early season races in the Southern Hemisphere to top up my points and then, provided I have qualified come the end of July, a big build up for Kona in Noosa, where it will at least be quite cosy during August and September.

There are a number of really important things that I have to focus on to enable me to endure the challenges associated with training long hours in winter time. One thing that I think is important and that is to is to have some really big goals to think about on a daily basis. Focusing on these targets motivate me to get out and do the training regardless of the weather conditions.

Another thing is that it becomes even more important to take car of myself. Good nutrition is important all year around but, for me, during winter I am really extra careful to make sure that i not only eat a healthy, balanced diet, but that I also take extra care to make sure that I keep a really strict routine with my Usana supplements. The Usana Essentials are invaluable and give me the added confidence that I am giving my body the very best chance at staying healthy, and recovering adequately on a day to day basis to be able to handle my training.

My next race is planned to be Ironman 70.3 Korea, at the beginning of July. This is my mid-winter goal and will be a good test to see how my winter training has gone so far. No doubt I will still log a few more sessions on the dreaded indoor training before then but, so far, I am surviving it. Keep warm everyone, summer is just around the corner

Cheers,
Britta

The post Britta’s Winter Update appeared first on Usana Health Sciences Organization.

  Team USANA Athlete and White Ferns team member, Katie Perkens updates us on her busy season so far…

Since my last update the 2014/15 cricket season has wrapped up, but I am now just two weeks away from heading off to India with the White Ferns for our winter tour.

My domestic season ended on a high as we won the National Domestic One Day title in a thrilling match against Canterbury. We managed to chase down the imposing 262 runs required for victory with 4 balls remaining and six wickets in hand.

It was a special feeling to be able to contribute to the victory by being out there in the middle as Anna Peterson and I combined for a match winning partnership. I ended up on 44 not out and had the best seat in the house I was watched my team mate at the other end play the innings of her life.

Soon after the Domestic season wrapped up it was onto the International home series against England.

We started off with a ten day camp in Tauranga to lead us into our first One Day International of the series.

We played extremely good cricket and won game one. This was a huge achievement for our side as there were a number of girls, including myself, who had never beaten an England team.

The next game went England’s way, but in the third match our top order played exceptionally well to chase down the total England had set and give us a 2-1 victory in the three match International Women’s Championship and give us valuable qualification points towards 2017 World Cup.

After the three matches in Tauranga we headed to Whangarei where we played two T20 Internationals. The honours were shared with England winning game one and us coming back to take game two.

Next and final stop was Christchurch where the deciding T20 match was played followed by two more One Day Internationals.

Unfortunately the win, lose, win, lose trend continued and we lost the T20 and last One Day International which gave England overall series victories of 3-2 and 2-1.

At times during the series we played the best cricket I have ever been involved with in a New Zealand side, but our inability to do that consistently for long enough periods was what cost us in the end against a fully professional England side.

My batting performances throughout the series followed much the same pattern as our team performances. I started well in Tauranga but then started finding all sorts of ways to get out. It was incredibly frustrating, especially as I was feeling in good form and full of confidence on the back of the Domestic final victory.

It was nice to be able to score a personal best 70 not out in the final match of the series, but then not being able to take out the victory was incredibly disappointing.

Due to issues around coaches being unavailable for the tour to India that was meant to kick off less than two weeks after the close of the England series, the tour was postponed and is now set for June/July.

We fly out on the 18^th of June to Bangalore where we will spend the entire month away. Due to this time of year being India’s monsoon season the organisers have been limited in terms of where we can play.

Training has been going well and it was good to have a White Ferns camp near the end of May that enabled us to get focused as a team and also get to know our new head coach, Haidee Tiffen.

I also enjoyed a few days break in early May with fellow USANA team mate and White Ferns captain Suzie Bates where we explored some of the sights of Central Otago. Our adventurous spirits got the better of us one day in Queenstown when a walk to the top of the Gondola turned into walking/hiking to the summit of the Ben Lomond track! We had not prepared ourselves as well as we should have, but thankfully I’d had a Nutrimeal before leaving and that definitely helped me get through our five hour unplanned adventure.

TRAININGS

Skills trainings are usually done with my Auckland based White Ferns team mates and then I take responsibility for completing the strength and conditioning programme given to me by NZ Cricket.

MATCHES

White Ferns tour India – 18 June – 17 July 2015 

White Ferns v TBC Friday, 26 June 2015 –M Chinnaswamy Stadium, BengaluruWomens One-Day Match – White Ferns tour of India

White Ferns v India Women Sunday, 28 June 2015 –M Chinnaswamy Stadium, BengaluruWomens One-Day Match – White Ferns tour of India

White Ferns v India Women Wednesday, 1 July 2015 –M Chinnaswamy Stadium, BengaluruWomens One-Day Match – White Ferns tour of India

White Ferns v India Women Friday, 3 July 2015 –M Chinnaswamy Stadium, BengaluruWomens One-Day Match – White Ferns tour of India

White Ferns v India Women Monday, 6 July 2015 –M Chinnaswamy Stadium, BengaluruWomens One-Day Match – White Ferns tour of India

White Ferns v India Women Wednesday, 8 July 2015 –M Chinnaswamy Stadium, BengaluruWomens One-Day Match – White Ferns tour of India

White Ferns v India Women Saturday, 11 July 2015–M Chinnaswamy Stadium, BengaluruWomens Twenty-20 Match – White Ferns tour of India

White Ferns v India Women Monday, 13 July 2015 –M Chinnaswamy Stadium, BengaluruWomens Twenty-20 Match – White Ferns tour of India

White Ferns v India Women Wednesday, 15 July 2015 –M Chinnaswamy Stadium, BengaluruWomens Twenty-20 Match – White Ferns tour of India

The post Update from Team USANA Athlete, Katie Perkins appeared first on Usana Health Sciences Organization.

The year started with lots of promise, I was building up for just one big event, in Winnipeg in the middle of March and I had a good training block to back that up.  Things changed when 10 days out from my competition, I had a collision with my opponent on court.  The collision was accidental, but quite severe as I ran into him at an awkward angle knocking my head on his back.  I strained a nerve in my neck, strained my bicep and hit with enough force to give myself a concussion.

The recovery has been pretty slow, fortunately the concussion didn’t last too long, but the remainder of the symptoms have plagued me the rest of the month.  It has been 4 weeks and I have unfortunately not been back on court.  I started with a little cardio a week ago.  Just on the bike as running aggravates my shoulder symptoms and I am always surprised at what parts of the body effect others and something like an arm injury not allowing me to run has been frustrating.

From talking with physio’s and sports doctors, I am hopeful that I will be hitting by the end of this week which I am really excited for and I am looking forward to getting back to a regular training routine.

One thing that I am happy about, is that an injury like this can take up to 6 weeks to heal, it looks like I might be back in around 5.  I definitely attribute some of that success to USANA and their fantastic supplements.  Just knowing that I am putting quality products in my body to help aid my recovery has been a big mental lift and I can’t wait to get back on court and for my next competition.

The post Overcoming Obstacles appeared first on Usana Health Sciences Organization.