DB athletes training regimen

Cindy Liu, Staff Writer

Behind every sport are endless hours of training and preparation. Whether it be on the field, at home or at the gym, each athlete has a specific training regime tailored to the demands of individual sports.


CANDACE BLACK – BASKETBALL

Lower Body Strength

To build up leg muscles, she runs stairs with the team during team practices.

For 30 minutes after team practice, the team goes to the weight room and lift weights on the bars. She uses 25 pound weights on each hand with three sets of 10. On the bar, she lifts a 45 pound bar with 10 pound weights on each side.

Black also does two reps of 25 sit ups during team practices.

At home over the weekend, Black does sets of 100 crunches along with three sets of 25 sit ups around two times a day.

Diet

Along with physical training, she largely eliminates junk food and sugar from her diet, especially before her games.

In the moments before a game, she and her team eat a protein bar and follows up with a protein shake after the game.


VALERIE SWISHER – SOCCER

Cardiovascular Endurance

On weekends in season, she alternates running one mile for endurance and 50 yard sprints for speed at the DBHS track. She runs every other day in the off season.

Lower Body Strength

Every night during the week, Swisher does twenty minutes of ab work. She switches between timed intervals of various exercises: two minutes of sit ups, planks, crunches, and V-ups. She then repeats the cycle until she hits the twenty minute mark.

Every weekend, she does 100 squats — either through 10 sets of 10 or five sets of 20 — as part of strengthening her leg muscles.

Along with squats, she does lunges with five sets of 20 and wall sits with two sets of two minutes.

Diet

On the days before the game, she loads up on carbohydrates for energy.

Right before and throughout a game,

Swisher takes Gatorade Chews to boost her energy.


NICK WAHBA – WRESTLING

Diet

During season, he would eat fruits or nothing at all in order to make weight classes. However, as soon as he is off season he indulges in his favorite foods and eats whatever he can.

Upper Body Strength

He regularly attends Crunch in Diamond Bar to exercise. He does row chestpresses, push-ups, pull-ups and curls for maintaining his upper body muscles and to increase strength.

Lower Body Strength

Along with after school practices almost everyday of the school week, he builds leg muscles by doing squats and using the stepping machine.

Cardio

He is well know for telling the underclassmen in the team “Track and cross country are a three month warm-up for wrestling.”