Chellsie Memmel on Gymnasts Lifting Weights and Her Gymnastics Conditioning Routine -

Today on the podcast I am super flattered to welcome back Chellsie Memmel for another epic episode.

The 2005 World All-Around Champion, the third American woman to achieve this feat, and Beijing Olympic Team member.

Chellsie now 33 years of age and mom of 2 made a phenomenal gymnastic comeback in 2020 documenting her inspiring journey on her YouTube channel and competed again after 9 years at the U.S. Classic and U.S. National Championships in 2021.

I received a message from Chellsie a while back asking me about strength and conditioning as she was intrigued about some exercises, and since then we have discussed S&C back and forth.

More recently, she sent me a hilarious, cute, and adorable video of her daughter doing farmer’s carries with her during a workout.

This led to me wanting to have Chellsie back on the show to have a conversation about how her ideas have changed and developed around conditioning and training.

How does she balance gymnastics-specific stuff with the more general training?

The differences and benefits from adding weight training into gymnastics, and her old thoughts on conditioning when she was younger and training for the Olympics versus now as an adult gymnast.

It was an amazing conversation not only about changing Chellsie’s mindset around her training approach but how it’s influenced the bigger picture, changing gymnastics to being open to new ideas, working with other professionals like strength conditioning coaches and that gymnastics is for adults too.

Talking to former athletes who have gone through these long careers is amazing and so important to hear their stories and reflect on what went well, and what didn’t go as well, what we can change, and what we can learn from their career, to help influence the next generation.

We discuss:

What does a week of training and conditioning look like for Chellsie Memmel?

How Chellsie implemented external weight training into her conditioning.

What advice Chellsie would tell her younger self.

Chellsie’s top tips on taking care of your body and recovery to keep training.

Understanding the fear of gaining weight from eating or lifting weights and the advice you need to know.

Why gymnastics isn’t just for kids it’s for adults too.

And…

Everything you need to know about the first Gymnastics Camp for Adults.