How WWE’s Natalya preps for Wrestlemania
WWE wrestlers travel the globe year-round for bouts, but none are as big as Wrestlemania, what fighter Natalya “Nattie” Neidhart calls, “the grandest stage of them all.”
To prep for the sport’s biggest day of the year, Neidhart, 34, focuses on cutting down her diet and kicking up her workouts in the days right before she hits the ring.
“The days leading up to Wrestlemania we really watch what we eat, and I hit the gym no matter what,” she tells PEOPLE. “When you’re walking out in front of 70,000 people you want to look your absolute best, because it’s not just those people that are watching you live, it’s 170-plus countries around the globe that are tuning in.”
But her diet—what Neidhart says is the key to staying in tip-top shape—doesn’t change too much.
“The thing about WWE is we’re on year-round, there’s no off-season. So bodybuilders can diet down for a show, and then eat normally, but we have to maintain our physiques 365 days a year,” she says. “And 90 percent of the struggle is in the diet. I love to exercise, but you can’t out work a bad diet. If you’re not eating properly, than you’re definitely not going to look your best.”
The constant traveling for WWE can make it tough to stick to a diet and get to a gym, but Neidhart and her fellow wrestlers have it figured out.
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“Thank goodness we have Yelp and we have Google to find these places,” she says. “The second that we land, the first thing I do is find food, and a gym. Our bodies are part of our job, so we have to look good and we have to maintain.”
At the gym, she focuses on Olympic lifting, and says her favorite move is the clean and jerk.
“You’re lifting weight off the ground and you’re throwing it up, so you’re giving your body a whole-body workout,” Neidhart says. “And it definitely imitates us throwing people down in the ring!”
[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fv9BZlArQY]
And though she’s slamming the other WWE Divas to the ground on stage, the truth is they’re all good friends.
“While we’re in the ring we’re all fierce competitors, everyone wants to win, but behind the curtain we’re all friends,” Neidhart says. “There’s a little dance that we do — myself, Alexia Bliss, and Carmela — any time that Nikki James’ music comes on, and it really gets us going before the match. I call us the Three Disgruntled Blondes. It just loosens you up and makes you laugh.”
WrestleMania airs live on Sunday, April 2 at 7 p.m. ET on WWE Network. Fans can also see Nattie compete every Tuesday night on SmackDown Live on USA Network at 8 p.m. ET.
This article originally appeared on People.com.
