Michael Phelps told us how swimming is one of the most demanding sports. Not only does one has to train the entire body, but one has to control his breath to make his goals meet. Thus, practice is the key here. However, just like Phelps, nothing has stopped Katie Ledecky to achieve her goals. In fact, just being in her early 20s, she has already won 5 Olympics gold medals and 15 World Championship gold medals in her purse. It is more than any other female swimmer in the history of sports.In fact, according to NBD, Katie Ledecky is also known for breaking many world swimming records.

Being one of the most searched-after swimmers in the industry, she got to have some crazy workout and training schedules. In her words,

“I swim 10 times a week, including twice on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays,” Ledecky says. “I also lift weights on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and do Pilates on Thursdays.”

Katie Ledecky Statistics

Name: Katie Ledecky

Sport: Swimming

Event(s): 200-meter freestyle, 400 freestyle, 800 freestyle, 4x200 freestyle

Height: 6-0

Weight: 160

DOB: 3/17/1997

Birthplace: Washington, D.C.

Hometown: Bethesda, Md.

High School: Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart (Bethesda, Md.) '15

College: Stanford University

Team/Club: Nation's Capital Swim Club

Coach(es): Gregg Meehan, Bruce Gemmell

Awards And Achievements

Olympic Experience

• Two-time Olympian (2012, 2016); Six-time Olympic medalist (5 golds, 1 silver)
• Rio 2016, gold (200-meter freestyle, 400 freestyle, 800 freestyle, 4x200 freestyle), silver (4x100 freestyle); the youngest member of 2016 U.S. Olympic Swimming Team; set two world records (400 freestyle, 800 freestyle); named Female Athlete of the Olympic Games, presented by DICK'S Sporting Goods, at Team USA Awards
• London 2012, gold (800 freestyle); at age 15, youngest athlete on 2012 U.S. Olympic Team

World Championship Experience

• Most recent: 2019 – gold (800 freestyle), silver (400 freestyle, 800 freestyle relay)
• Years of participation: 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019
• Medals: 18 (15 golds, 3 silvers)
• Gold – 2019 (800 freestyle); 2017 (400 freestyle, 800 freestyle, 1,500 freestyle, 4x100 freestyle, 4x200 freestyle); 2015 (200 freestyle, 400 freestyle, 800 freestyle, 1,500 freestyle, 4x200 freestyle); 2013 (400 freestyle, 800 freestyle, 1,500 freestyle, 4x200 freestyle)
• Silver - 2019 (400 freestyle, 800 freestyle relay); 2017 (200 freestyle)
• Most individual-event world titles among female swimmers

Other Career Highlights

• Competing for Stanford University (2017-18), eight-time individual NCAA champion and two-time team NCAA champion; 2017 Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year winner (Honda Cup)

Katie Ledecky Workout Routine

By the end of 2011, Sugiyama was becoming a little annoyed and intimidated by his raw protégé. although it was a good year, 2011, when Katie Ledecky had just begun, she missed don't on nationals because of a serious infection. She lost more than 10 pounds and was out of commission for at least a week. Then, there were also communication issues.Sugiyama recognized that to take things to the succeeding level that something would have to improve. Katie Ledecky's nature was pretty quiet, reserved and well, she was just 13 years old at that time. So, when she was asked about a race or training, she would reply just like it is expected from a 13-year-old.In one remarkable case, Sugiyama described how Ledecky had just finished swimming a 19:28 for a timed 2,000-yard freestyle while in practice.“Okay, what do you think?” Sugiyama asked her. “How was that?”“It was pretty good,” Ledecky answered.

The Power of the Swim Log

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7tsnkwlWnQ/Katie Ledecky was always encouraged to use a training log right when she started her career, and though she had always been on top of her league since she began, Suguiyam realized that he could help improve the communication between the two by using this swim log.The answer was as easy as it is compelling.Sugiyama asked her to go past just scribbling out times and workouts.“Every single day writes down your wellness on a scale of 1 to 10, your nutrition, how well you sleep, how well you slept the night before, and something special you did that day,” he describes telling Ledecky in an interview with American Swimming magazine.Katie Ledecky tells that's he often scribbles down in her log her daily journal and adds some motivational quotes in it to keep herself inspired. She also jots down notes and splits of other distant swimmers so that she could compete in that league.After every week Suguiyama would run over her notes and attach a page of his personal data and reflections.For a junior player like Ledecky using the training, the journal was an excellent idea to shut the communication gaps between coach and athlete.“It would allow her to communicate to me differently,” he said.The account gave him a greater knowledge of his young athlete and noticed their conversation developing as a result.

“Every once in a while I would pick up a little nugget,” he said, admitting the fact that the training log was not particularly encouraging her but supporting him too to be a stronger-prepared coach.“It really let me know we were on the right path,” he remarks.

Katie’s exercise regimen in the morning is from 5:00 a.m.-6:30 a.m. will be about 6,000-6,5000-meters. That is approximately 130 laps in a 50-meter Olympic pool or 260 laps in a normal 25-meter pool.

After some rest, she comes back in the afternoon from 3:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m. and swims added 7,000-8,000-meters (another 320 laps in your local YMCA pool)!She is definitely a beast with all her energy and we thought swimming this much would be it. However, she does CrossFit as well three times a week. She goes to dryland training, as she calls it, where she also trains for building her strength in a gym.

Katie Ledecky gets more intense when she has to prepare for the Olympics. To balance it off, she trains in the gym for 3 days a week and does swimming every single day. However, she takes Sundays off. In her words, "I'm training in the pool 10 times a week. I train twice a day every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and have single practices on Wednesdays and Saturdays," Ledecky explains.

When it comes to her schedule at the gym, she says that she likes to keep it simple with some bodyweight exercises or using some weights. In her words, "I do a variety of exercises to build my legs, arm, and core strength. Just trying to work on different things outside of the water that can help my stroke, help my strength, help my endurance," Ledecky says. "I don't do a lot of aerobic exercises outside of the pool, though, because I already do so much of that in the water."

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_kovEylF6v/She also explains her daily routine, saying,

5:45 A.M.

This is when she wakes up, has something to eat as a pre-workout, and goes for working out in a pool. She says,“My first swim practice is at 6:15, so I’ll usually wake up 30 minutes prior. Before diving into the pool, I’ll typically have a granola bar or peanut butter toast and a banana. These are great options pre-practice because they give me enough energy to power through an early morning workout, without making me feel too heavy or full.”

8:00 A.M.

For swimming for at least an hour and a half, she has a post-workout meal that will help her recover and give energy for the rest of the day. In her words,“Around this time, I’m just finishing up practice and need to recover, so I’ll drink a bottle of low-fat chocolate milk within 30 minutes of my workout. This has been my go-to post-workout recovery beverage since I was 13 years old. I remember being a young swimmer when someone explained that drinking chocolate milk for recovery gives my body the nutrients it needs to refuel. Since then, I make sure to keep one in my lunchbox daily and drink it after a tough workout. Of course, it tastes great too—which is why it made so much sense for me to team up with the Built with Chocolate milk campaign.”

9:30 A.M.

At this time, she usually enjoys her nutritious and healthy breakfast to refuel her system and get to go for some more workout schedules. She says,“On the days I’m doing dry-land workouts, I’ll usually have a larger breakfast. Some of my favorites are scrambled eggs with veggies and toast, or oatmeal with lots of fruit. In high school, I ordered a bacon, tomato, and cheese omelet so much from my local deli that they actually re-named it Katie’s Gold Medal Omelet.”https://www.instagram.com/p/B9H0nzulMfm/

12:30 P.M.

She loves to take rest and believes that sleeping is as essential as training as it allows you to recover muscles and build strength in the body. Thus, she takes a long and deep nap every single day. She explains,“Many people don’t realize this about me because I’m a professional athlete, but I love naps. I’d say that athletes are probably the biggest rappers of all time. If I have the time during the day, I’ll definitely squeeze in a nap to re-charge for the next workout. When I wake up, it’s usually lunchtime, and I’ll opt for something light and simple: a salad, sandwich, or wrap with chicken and avocado. I definitely need protein throughout my day.”

2:30 P.M.

After she wakes up, she again has a pre-workout meal or snack so that she has ample energy to stay put in her strenuous exercise regimen. She says,“Before heading to my second swim practice of the day, I’ll have another small snack. My goal is to make sure that I have enough food to fuel my swim, without feeling weighed down. I really enjoy fresh fruit, especially berries. Yogurt with granola is also a go-to.”

5:00 P.M.

Her post-workout is another low-calorie chocolate milk that she loves to have. It helps her restore her glycogen levels and gives her energy. She explains,“After my second swim, I’ll have another low-fat chocolate milk; it has the right mix of protein and carbs to help me refuel exhausted muscles after a tough workout.”

6:30 P.M.

Dinner time is always healthy and wholesome. She likes to have a good dinner after a strenuous day of workouts and a hard exercise regimen. She explains,“For dinner, I like to pair chicken or steak with pasta or rice, along with some veggies. I avoid soda and desserts, but if I’m really craving something sweet after dinner, I’ll eat some fruit with honey before going to bed early, usually around 9:30.”https://www.instagram.com/p/B6llJLklewQ/

She looks at setbacks as opportunities to improve.

When Katie Ledecky grew ill through the World Championships, she prioritized her health by walking away from two matches and taking some time out to suitably improve. "It was important for me to stay calm and focus on things I can control. For me, those things are rest, recovery, and just getting my mind right," Ledecky says. "I needed to get it together to compete in my last couple of events. Just trust in yourself and your training, you can recover from any difficulties."

Since then, she has never looked back or felt discouraged because this was the hardest event of all. Katie Ledecky knows that it takes a lot of patience and persistence to reach where she is now. She apparently did a lot of hard work to win all those gold medals and break all her previous records. She was supposed to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which has been canceled or postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

That's all about Katie Ledecky's workout routine, now let's take a peek at her diet plan which gives her all this energy to stay nourished.

Katie Ledecky Diet Plan

Katie Ledecky is a protege and thus she needs a lot of clean foods to keep her healthy and remain sustainable in her sport. However, this does not mean that she does not have cheat meals. She does eat off her limits but she often balances it with proper nutrition and adequate exercise the very next day.She takes her cheat meals or cheats days as an opportunity to refuel herself. However, she likes to stay away from artificial sweeteners even when she has a cheat meal ahead of her. She has a big appetite anyway! Here's her exact diet plan:

Breakfast

“Normally for breakfast, I have oatmeal with a banana and berries,” Ledecky says. The oats present with some much-required protein for every athlete (six grams per cup serving), while really every part of her meal provides sufficient fiber. As for that banana, many athletes choose it because it is said that it’s the MVP of pre-workout snacks because it includes the wholesome fueling macronutrients of carbs, protein, and fiber.

Lunch

For lunch, Ledecky again makes sure that she is getting enough carbs, protein, and fiber. “I usually have scrambled eggs with veggies on toast,” she says. Eggs have such a bundle full of well-being perks that according to some studies, consuming one every day helps improve cardiovascular health.

Snacktime

Katie Ledecky indeed works out a lot. Most of her days are spent working out, so it is pretty obvious that she has to have some snacks to keep her fueled. In her words, “I’ll snack on either an apple, banana or a granola bar throughout the day,” she says.

Dinner

As an athlete, she needs to have a balanced and wholesome meal at night too, which is often the biggest meal of her day. “I make chicken or steak with a side of salad or cooked vegetables, and also rice or pasta,” she says. The carbs, protein, fiber triplet hits yet anew!

She has a crazy intense schedule, right? She has a ton of partnerships lining up with her which makes her schedule even crazier. She has a partnership with Built With Chocolate Milk, Ledecky gives what foods she depends on to give her the strength that she needs—not only to remains strong but to come out on top.It was expected that Katie Ledecky might have a super clean diet with less of all the unhealthy stuff. She has always been outspoken about how she stays away from all kinds of sugar and avoids any candy, desserts, and soda.Ledecky's mom came forth by answering some of the answers in an interview conducted by ESPN. But it is quite shocking to know that even she does not know how much carries does her daughter has in the entire day! Thus, many people have calculated the estimated calories that she must eat to stay at the top of her game.Thus, if you use apps like myfitnesspal, etc, you can easily make out that she has a whopping 3 to 3.5k calories in a day which is not shocking considering her lifestyle. If Ledecky has two pieces of toast with peanut butter, three pieces of fruit during the day (one apple, one pear, and one banana), two portions of chocolate milk, a bagel with cream cheese, yogurt with honey, berries, and granola, pasta with chicken, an extra serving of yogurt, one portion of steak and rice, her caloric consumption on a day of practice for is about within 3,100 and 3,500 calories.This might not even seem like a lot when compared to Michae Phelp's diet which consists of 10,000-12,000 calories. However, it is to be kept in mind that each individual has different body requirements, according to their age, height, and sex. However, still, Ledecky's calorie intake skyrockets when it is time for the competition.https://www.instagram.com/p/B01GsiglIsa/However, Katie, now 22, keeps us with her schedule by being super focused and persistent. She says that she feels like motivating all others who follow her as a role model. For her, all her experiences matter, and she has grown out to be the awesome person that she is now from them.She told us, "I think having such a great experience in 2012 and being able to learn from all the veterans and really learning how to feel comfortable at that level prepared me for 2016, and now, moving forward to 2020, I feel like I'm a little more of a veteran on the team since I've had the experiences that I've had competing internationally. I hope that I can help out some of the younger swimmers or the first-time Olympians along their journey."The Olympics, Katie said, are such a different adventure "where all of these athletes from different countries at the top of their sports are together in this village for a week or two weeks." She encourages novices to welcome that experience and let everything seep in. For swimmers especially, she needs them to learn that they've conquered and reached the world stage for a purpose and the logistics of the games ought not to be displaced. "It's the same pool, it's the same length, it's the same distance that you've competed in, and once you're on Team USA at the Olympics for swimming, you've already gotten through our Olympic trials, which are very difficult and a high-pressure situation. So you're prepared once you've made it to the Olympics."Before important trials, Katie said she loves to get to the pool a bit earlier than usual and "stick to the basics" with what she's eating. She strives to have a good equilibrium of protein and carbs, and as the competition is close, she'll have peanut butter and jelly sandwich or some plain pasta with olive oil and parmesan cheese as her pre-competition meal to fuel herself up— "just something that won't upset my stomach . . . especially when I'm competing in foreign countries," she said.https://www.instagram.com/p/CCJVqw6lYkZ/Katie didn't specify any hotshot playlists, but when demanded if there are any songs she'd like to swim to throughout her competitive events, she revealed, "I would probably have to pick some sort of song that, if I could get it underwater, works to the beat of my stroke." She laughed, then added, "I'd have to spend a lot of time figuring that out to get it down just right."This is all about the workout routine and diet plan of Katie Ledecky, the great swimmer who is nothing less than a prodigy. If you wish to follow and take inspiration from someone like Katie Ledecky, it is important to know that the two main factors that she keeps in mind are to remain consistent with whatever she is doing and move along from any problems or mistakes. She does not like to hang on to her bad experiences and instead likes to learn from them.