Simone Biles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished gymnasts in history. Her record-breaking career includes seven Olympic medals and 25 World Championship medals, underscoring her unmatched skills and dedication to the sport. However, what truly defines her legacy is the relentless commitment to a highly demanding workout routine, one that has been meticulously crafted to enhance her athleticism, strength, agility, and precision.
Simone Biles’ training regimen is no ordinary workout. It involves long hours of practice, a variety of conditioning exercises, and cross-training activities designed to make her the best in the world. This workout routine is inspired by various interviews Biles did, in which she discussed her approach to fitness. While the details of her daily training aren’t publicly available in full, it’s been reported that her routine includes a combination of gymnastics-specific drills, strength conditioning, flexibility work, and cross-training activities. By incorporating similar techniques, you can develop a balanced workout routine that mimics the demands of elite-level gymnastics.
Below, we explore her intense daily routine and how she keeps her body in peak form.
1. Gymnastics Practice
Refining Mastery Through Repetition
The foundation of Biles’ training revolves around perfecting her skills on the four key gymnastics apparatuses: vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise. Each of these requires a unique approach to training, as they test different aspects of her athleticism.
Vault: Known for her raw power on this apparatus, Biles likely performs drills that focus on building speed during her run-up and refining her ability to execute clean and controlled landings. The vault demands incredible explosiveness, which is why Biles dedicates significant time to conditioning her legs and core for powerful take-offs.
Uneven Bars: To excel here, Biles must master a series of grips, swings, and releases that require upper body strength, coordination, and timing. She practices these movements repeatedly to build consistency and ensure that her transitions between the bars are fluid and precise.
Balance Beam: The beam demands immense focus and balance, as gymnasts must perform flips, leaps, and acrobatic moves on a surface only four inches wide. Biles constantly works on improving her equilibrium and poise, practicing intricate movements and difficult combinations that require perfect timing and coordination.
Floor Exercise: This routine blends high-energy tumbling passes with graceful dance movements. Biles’ training for the floor routine emphasizes powerful tumbling sequences, dance elements, and leaps. She repeats her routines countless times, building endurance and refining the seamless flow between skills.
Biles’ methodical repetition during gymnastics practice is essential for building muscle memory, allowing her to execute even the most complex movements flawlessly under competitive pressure.
2. Strength Conditioning: Building the Foundation of Power and Control
Strength is a critical aspect of Simone Biles’ physical preparation. Her gymnastics performance requires her to be not only flexible but also incredibly strong to perform flips, twists, and other high-impact manoeuvres. Her strength training involves a mixture of bodyweight exercises, resistance work, and targeted core strengthening routines.
Bodyweight Training: Biles uses exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, dips, and planks to build her upper body, core, and lower body strength. These movements help develop overall body control and are particularly useful for gymnasts, as they require significant functional strength that translates directly to their performances.
Resistance Training: In addition to bodyweight movements, Biles incorporates resistance bands and weights to increase muscle endurance and power. This type of training targets the large muscle groups in her legs, arms, and back, allowing her to generate the force needed for explosive skills like her powerful vaults and tumbling passes.
Core Work: A strong core is vital for maintaining body control during aerial manoeuvres and complex routines. Biles incorporates exercises like hanging leg raises, Russian twists, and various types of crunches into her workout, all of which contribute to her unparalleled stability and balance.
By focusing on a balance of bodyweight exercises, resistance training, and core work, Biles ensures she has the strength and power necessary to execute gymnastics skills with precision and control.
3. Flexibility Training: The Key to Graceful Movement
In addition to strength, flexibility is essential for any gymnast. Simone Biles spends a significant amount of time each day on mobility and flexibility exercises that help her perform the contortionist-like moves that gymnastics demands. Her flexibility training consists of both dynamic and static stretching techniques.
Dynamic Stretches: These stretches mimic the types of movements she performs during her routines, which help prepare her body for the day’s practice. Dynamic stretching, such as leg swings, arm circles, and lunges, increases her range of motion and ensures that her muscles are warm and ready for high-intensity activity.
Static Stretches: After her workout sessions, Biles focuses on holding stretches that improve her overall flexibility. This includes doing splits, straddle stretches, and backbends, all of which enhance her ability to perform splits, leaps, and other moves with fluidity and ease.
Pilates for Flexibility: Pilates exercises are also part of Biles’ routine, as they target both flexibility and core strength. Pilates helps Biles maintain excellent posture, control, and flexibility, which are all critical for performing complex gymnastics skills with precision and grace.
These flexibility exercises not only allow her to maintain her current range of motion but also improve it, contributing to her effortless and graceful movements during competitions.
4. Plyometrics: Developing Explosive Power
Simone Biles is known for her incredible explosiveness, particularly when it comes to launching herself into the air for flips and vaults. Plyometric training plays a significant role in developing her explosive strength and improving her ability to perform fast, high-powered movements.
Box Jumps: These exercises help Biles enhance her vertical leap, critical for performing airborne skills. Box jumps also improve her ability to generate force quickly, which is essential for executing tumbling passes and vault take-offs.
Explosive Squats: Biles incorporates squats that emphasize explosive movement, which helps build fast-twitch muscle fibres necessary for the rapid bursts of energy she needs during competition.
Medicine Ball Throws: To further develop overall body power, Biles uses medicine balls in her training to simulate the forceful motions needed for her routines. These exercises not only enhance power but also contribute to her balance and stability.
By regularly practicing plyometric exercises, Biles can generate the speed and power necessary to execute complex skills with both precision and confidence.
5. Cardio Cross-Training: Building Endurance for Long Routines
Gymnastics requires not only bursts of energy but also stamina to complete long routines without losing focus or strength. To maintain her cardiovascular fitness, Biles reportedly incorporates cross-training into her routine, which includes activities like swimming, running, and cycling.
Swimming: It’s reported that Biles swims nearly a mile during her cross-training sessions. If you have access to a pool, try incorporating swimming for a low-impact, full-body workout. Start with 10 laps, gradually increasing your distance as your endurance builds.
Running and Cycling: These activities provide additional cardiovascular benefits and would help Biles to build the stamina she needs to perform multiple high-intensity routines during competitions. Running improves her overall fitness while contributing to the explosive power required for her gymnastics skills. ou can alternate between moderate runs and cycling sessions to build both speed and endurance.
Cross-training activities like these ensure that Biles maintains a high level of cardiovascular fitness, which is crucial for sustaining energy and focus throughout long, demanding competitions.
Let’s talk Nutrition
No elite athlete can maintain peak physical performance without proper nutrition, and Simone Biles is no exception. She reportedly follows a balanced and flexible diet that fuels her rigorous training and competition schedule. While she doesn’t adhere to any strict dietary plan, Biles emphasizes nutritious whole foods, protein, and hydration. Her meals typically include lean proteins like chicken or fish, complex carbohydrates such as brown rice or sweet potatoes, and plenty of vegetables. Biles also snacks on nutrient-rich foods like fruits, almonds, or protein shakes to maintain energy throughout the day.
She enjoys indulging in her favourite treats occasionally, with pizza being one of her go-to comfort foods. However, moderation is key to her approach. Hydration is equally important, as Biles ensures she drinks plenty of water to stay hydrated during intense workouts. This balanced and mindful approach to eating helps her stay strong, energetic, and focused in her demanding sport.
Simone Biles’ workout routine is a testament to the dedication and hard work that comes with being an elite gymnast. Her daily regimen is built around a combination of intense gymnastics practice, strength training, flexibility work, plyometrics, and cross-training—all of which contribute to her unrivalled athletic performance. Combined with a carefully balanced diet, Biles’ comprehensive training routine is what makes her one of the greatest gymnasts of all time.
For anyone aspiring to follow in her footsteps, her commitment to constant improvement and overall body conditioning serves as an inspiring model of what it takes to achieve success at the highest level of any sport.
