4 Athletes Who Show the Importance of Workout Variety

People who focus on personal fitness tend to understand the value of mixing things up. Or at least, it’s something we tend to learn to do as we get older. For instance, an athlete who’s used to team competitive sports may ultimately transition to mixed martial arts to scratch that competitive itch; a former swimmer may switch to ballet if it becomes easier to work into a busy schedule. But the best way to mix things up, so to speak, is to do it all at once, such that even if you have a predominant form of exercise you favor, you’re also doing other things to keep your body guessing, and get more total-body exercise.

This is something that even the best athletes in the world tend to do. We typically think of these people as maintaining almost maniacal devotion to the sports in which they thrive. But often they, too, are tapping into the benefits of multi-sport, and multi-workout focus. Consider a few examples.

Simone Biles

Simone Biles has become known around the world for being one of the greatest gymnasts in history. She became famous beyond gymnastics circles in the lead up to the 2016 Olympics in Rio, and there, turned in one of the best performances ever seen at the Games. We don’t often see gymnasts at the very height of their powers for consecutive Olympics, but many expect that Biles will once again steal the show in Tokyo in 2020. As is the case for all the athletes we’ll discuss here, she’s simply so talented that it would make perfect sense for her to have focused on nothing but gymnastics in her fitness routines. However, it’s been noted on multiple occasions that Biles actually maintains a fairly varied cardio routine. Most notably, she’s said to mix in both swimming and cycling.

Stephen Curry

Stephen Curry has become about as dominant an athlete as we have today, as the face of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. He’s won the league’s MVP award twice, and is currently cruising toward a likely third championship. He’s so good, in fact, that the NBA betting outlook during the playoffs have kept him and his team in place as odds-on championship favorites even though Kevin Durant—Curry’s teammate, and another former MVP—has sustained a relatively serious leg injury. This, plus the fact that he’s on track to own every conceivable shooting record in the books, speaks to how much Curry has perfected his craft. One could easily imagine him focusing exclusively on basketball, and rarely leaving the gym. In actuality, though, basketball is not Curry’s only sporting passion. He also plays golf on a regular basis, and some have suggested he’s good enough that he might have had a shot at the pro game. Curry has even golfed with Barack Obama!

Caroline Wozniacki

Caroline Wozniacki is best known as one of the top tennis players of the current era. A multi-time Grand Slam finalist, and winner of the 2018 Australian Open, she’s been ranked number one in the world at various points, and has amassed one of the most complete careers of any modern player in the WTA. Wozniacki demonstrates a clear devotion to her game, but has also challenged her own fitness outside of tennis, most notably through distance running events. In 2014—a year in which Wozniacki really catapulted herself into the WTA’s top ranks—she trained for and ran the New York City Marathon just a few months after the US Open (and finished in under three-and-a-half hours!).

Rafael Nadal

Maybe more than anyone else on this list, Rafael Nadal gives the impression that he lives and breathes his main sport. Indeed, Nadal will go down neck-and-neck with the great Roger Federer as two of the greatest players who ever lived. He continues to rack up major titles, and is at this time, a favorite heading into the 2019 French Open (a tournament he’s dominated to an almost ludicrous degree over the years). More than his achievements, however, it’s Nadal’s style that gives the impression that he’s the ultimate one-sport athlete. The fearsome Spaniard plays with a relentless intensity, and singular focus that few opponents have ever been able to match. It just so happens, however, that Nadal is not a one-sport athlete. He’s also known to enjoy golf and soccer (and may have had a shot to go pro in the latter). And to no one’s surprise, he says he gives it his all in both.

These are some of the best athletes on the planet, and most of us can never dream of reaching their level of fitness. However, we can still look to them as examples, and in these cases they clearly demonstrate the benefits (and the fun) of a multi-faceted approach to exercise.