She is the oldest player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Susan Brigit Bird (born October 16, 1980) is an American-born professional basketball player for the Seattle Storm. Israeli citizenship is also part of her background. The bird was selected first overall by the Storm to represent the WNBA in the 2002 draft and is considered one of the greatest players in WNBA history. As the Denver Nuggets' Basketball Operations Associate, she worked in the front office. In addition to playing for three Russian clubs, she has also played for the USSR.
Her high school career included being named New York State Player of the Year, New York Daily News Player of the Year, and a WBCA All-American. She was recognized as College Player of the Year and received the Wade Trophy and Naismith Award as part of the undefeated team at the University of Connecticut in 2002. While at Connecticut, she led her team to three National Championships, won the Nancy Lieberman Award three times as the nation's top point guard, led the team to a record of 114-4, and was a two-year member of the All-America team.Bird won a record four NBA championships with the Storm (2004, 2010, 2018, 2020), four Olympic gold medals (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016), two NCAA championships with UConn (2000, 2002), and four FIBA World Cups (2002, 2010, 2014, 2018). Among only 11 women, she has garnered all four honors. The five-time EuroLeague Women champion is also a five-time NBA All-Star (2007-2010, 2013). The eight-time All-WNBA selection by the WNBA is her eleventh assignment during her WNBA career. The WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time as well as being named one of the league's Top 20 players were also two of the honors she received from fans in 2011.In this article, we would talk all about Sue Bird and how she was able to ace until Olympics 2021. For this article, we have compiled a list of all that Sue Bird did- including her workout routine, diet plan, and the kinds of supplements she has. We will also take a look at other facts that are related to her. Take a look ahead.
Sue Bird Statistics
- Birth Year: 1980
- Birth Date: October 16
- Height: 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
- Weight: 150 lb (68 kg)
Sue Bird Awards and Achievements
- 4× WNBA champion (2004, 2010, 2018, 2020)
- 12× WNBA All-Star (2002, 2003, 2005–2007, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021)
- 5× All-WNBA First Team (2002–2005, 2016)
- 3× All-WNBA Second Team (2008, 2010, 2011)
- 3× WNBA assists leader (2005, 2009, 2016)
- 2× WNBA peak performer (2009, 2016)
- WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time (2011)
- WNBA Top 20@20 (2016)
- Member of WNBA All-Decade Team
- WNBA all-time assists leader
- 5× Russian National League champion (2007, 2008, 2012–2014)
- 5× EuroLeague champion (2007–2010, 2013)
- 2× Europe SuperCup winner (2009, 2010)
- 2× NCAA champion (2000, 2002)
- 3× Nancy Lieberman Award (2000–2002)
- Wade Trophy (2002)
- Honda Sports Award (2002)
- Naismith Award (2002)
- USBWA Women's National Player of the Year (2002)
- AP College Player of the Year (2002)
- Big East Player of the Year (2002)
Olympic Games
2004 AthensTeam
2008 BeijingTeam
2012 LondonTeam
2016 Rio de JaneiroTeamWorld Championship
2002 China
2010 Czech Republic
2014 Turkey
2018 Spain
2006 Brazil
Sue Bird Workout Routine
It's impossible to be named among the top 20 greatest basketball players in the WNBA if your strength-training routine isn't on point. Sue Bird, one of the most successful players in WNBA history, attributes much of her overall fitness to a secret strategy: Pilates.According to Bird's trainer Susan King Borchardt, focusing on her breath and posture will help her to better activate her core muscles, build body awareness, and build strength. Sue's Pilates training is an important and complementary element of her training, says Borchardt, who is a sports performance consultant for the Storm. For her, it's not a one-off activity. She believes that the magic will happen with consistency.
Sue Bird's personal trainer is Susan King BorchardtYou need to practice Pilates every day to achieve consistency. The 39-year-old has relied on gentle strengthening movements for everything from warming up before a workout to winding down before bed after three major knee surgeries. "I try to do some form of Pilates every night", Bird says. "I have really found that I feel a million times better the next day".The following are three exercises that the player prefers. It helps to do two or three rounds of 10 repetitions of each of these movements after a tough workout, a travel day, or as part of your pre-bed routine to calm your nervous system and help you fall asleep easier.1."Bird" DogPut your hands on your knees and keep your back flat while you engage your core. Keep your hips square between your left leg and right arm extended for one beat; repeat with your left leg behind you. Rotate back and forth between the sides. This is one repetition. As Borchardt points out, maintaining a stable torso during this exercise requires coordination and core control. It helps Bird become stronger and more stable overall.2. FrogTo begin, tuck your hands behind your head, extend your legs towards the ceiling and lie face up on the ground. Turn slowly from one side to the other as you lift your shoulders off the floor. You have completed 1 rep. Now, return to your starting position. Sue can maintain a focus on her breathing in both these moves, according to Borchardt. This move stretches hamstrings while activating the core, he says.3. Kneeling Side KickStart by kneeling and extending your left leg out to the side with your left hand behind your head, placing your right hand on the ground. Holding your left leg in place, slowly lower your foot to the floor, then raise it again. Do all of those reps on one side, then switch sides and do it again. Borchardt says the unilateral move is beneficial in enhancing hip strength, flexibility, and alignment (all equally vital for healthy knees).But in the recent covid 19 situations, Sue Bird and her partner were quarantining themselves which felt like a better thing to do. She explains, "Both Megan and I are quarantining ourselves because it’s the right thing to do. At first, a few weeks ago, we looked for things to do like going to the park to a basketball hoop, and I’d shoot while she’d be kind enough to rebound for me. But now where that’s all shut down. So, as far as outdoor stuff goes, since then, we’ve done some jogs and sprints on the street."Besides, they had to be quite creative with their workout routine since their apartment was quite small. She says, "My apartment here is small, and our main home is in Seattle. But we’ve had to get creative. We have a Peloton, and that helps. We also have a TRX and different bands and weights, as so we just get really creative in the apartment. Sometimes it’s a little weird but we make it work."
Bird's training aims to remain fresh and challenging at all times. “I have a performance coach, and I joke that I talk to her, like, literally more than I talk to Megan [Rapinoe], my girlfriend,” Bird laughs. “Every day, we’re in contact, and she gives me what I’m gonna do for the day.” Her daily routine is ever-changing, ranging from a pool workout to a lifting session to a cycling class. It's a little different preparing for a game day. In those cases, Bird, after fueling up with some breakfast, heads to the team's shootaround, which runs for an hour and involves players taking shots and going over scouting reports. Once she gets back to her apartment, she rests up for the big game, which includes getting a nap in, eating a pre-game meal, and heading to the arena two hours before kickoff.
Sue Bird and her partner are both competitive and among the best in their respective sports. Here's what Sue Bird says about the dynamic between her and arguably the most famous soccer player in the world right now. She continues, "We have a good balance. I think people look at athletes and assume we love working out. We love playing games, but for us, motivation to work out is just as difficult as for anyone else—especially in the middle of workouts, when it gets difficult. So, it’s about doing things to trick yourself to keep going, and it helps to have a workout partner. The good thing is, if I’m having a bad day not motivated, Megan will say, “Nope, let’s go.” Sometimes it’s the other way around."However, going to the workouts could be quite a struggle. She adds, "It’s part of our job, but it’s not like we’re always excited about workouts. It can be a struggle."
Stretching is vital.
She feels that stretching is so important for her and it has essentially been a part of her schedule too which is why it is quite discerning to skip it. In her words, "Especially when I’m in season, I like to stretch before I get into bed. Stretching is actually really hard for me. I just had a bunch of surgeries, so yoga is super hard. But I found a routine—it's only 15 minutes or so if that—and I just kind of go through that. And if I have some spots that are kind of bugging me more, I’ll spend a little more time on them. I wear a Woop, and I find that the nights I stretch, my recovery score is pretty high when I wake up."
She continues to explain her routine, "Stretching is pretty much a regular thing, but now and then, either Megan or I will jump in the Normatec boots, which flush your legs out. We also have a Hypervolt, a massage gun, so I use that now and then as needed, but it does feel good."
Her preparation is not a bit different as to when she started doing her workouts, she says. She has divided her career into some parts which he explains by saying, "It’s entirely different. You can break my career down into thirds—the first one began at 21 when I came into the league. When you’re in your early 20s, you don’t really care. You eat and do what you want, and it doesn’t really affect you. The second third—I felt like I hit a bit of a lull. At that point, you start thinking about what things can you can control, and nutrition is one of them. It wasn’t really until this last third, though, that I changed my entire diet. I met with a nutritionist, changed my workout regimen, and hired a sports performance coach. I wish I had done it all when I was 22. That's really the message I give to all my young teammates: “You can never start too soon.” That's the reason I’m able to play at 37."
When Sue Bird first came into the league, there was no one really who Sue Bird could look up to and so it is really her own research and skills which brought her up here. She explains, "Not really. The life of a women’s basketball player—the way it is now—wasn’t what was happening in 2002. That’s when overseas money got big, and everyone started playing year-round. At the time, not many people older than me had lived that life, so there wasn’t really much to tap into. For [Phoenix Mercury head coach] Sandy Brondello, playing year-round was the norm for her. She was my teammate during my second year—she might have been 36 at the time, and I was 23. I remember she was getting massages, and watching the way she ate. That was the first time I ever really saw it."
Basketball Training
Duration: 2 to 3 hoursThere are not several rest days for Sue Bird because she has to do a lot of cardio, agility, and conditioning training every single day during the season and in the off-season. In the training, there are several basketball drills. Since most of us are not professional basketball players, it is difficult to explain them in-depth, but here are a few of the drills that are common to all members of the team:
- Dribbling drill
- Shooting drill
- Dribbling while getting defended
- Defending drill
- Passing drill
- Free throws
- Floater shot
- Three pointer
For Agility drills, you can do these:
- Agility ladder
- Agility cones
- Court running
- Agility step
- Side to sidestep
Rajon Rondo Weight Training
Exercises for weight training are usually simple compound movements combined with isolation exercises. Sue Bird usually exercises daily. Because she is an athlete, likely, each set of his training focuses more on explosiveness than load or repetition number. So even a simple routine five times a week won't work well to develop an athletic frame, as long as you aren't using excessive weights. The workout plan she follows each week can be found here:
Monday and Wednesday Sue Bird Workout Routine
Upper body
- Neck exercises of 6-10 reps, 1 set
- Standing shoulder shrug of 6-10 reps, 1 set
- Incline press of 6-8 reps, 3 sets
- Incline flat bench press of 8-10 reps, 3 sets
- Close grip pull up of 8-10 reps, 1 set
- Machine pullover of 6-10 reps, 1 set
- Dumbbell lateral raise of 6-10 reps, 2 sets
- Dumbbell front raise of 6-10 reps, 2 sets
- Seated cable row of 6-10 reps, 1 set
- Seated cable scapular retraction of 6-10 reps, 1 set
- Machine chest press of 6-10 reps, 1 set
- Incline machine chest press of 10 reps, 1 set
- Lat pull-down of 6-10 reps, 1 set
- Machine overhead press of 6-10 reps, 1 set
- Machine row of 6-10 reps, 1 set
- Machine reverse flye of 8-10 reps, 1 set
- External rotation of 6-10 reps, 1 set
- Internal rotation of 6-8 reps, 1 set
- Triceps press down of 6-8 reps, 1 set
- Cable curls of 3-4 reps, 2 sets
- Hand grippe of 3-4 reps, 2 sets
- Wrist flexion of 6-10 reps, 1 set
- Wrist extension of 6-8 reps, 1 set
Tuesday and Thursday Sue Bird Workout Routine
Lower body
- Dead-lift of 6-8 reps, 2 sets
- Squats of 6-8 reps, 2 sets
- Romanian deadlift of 6 reps, 2 sets
- Glute-ham raise of 6-10 reps, 2 sets
- Leg press of 6-8 reps, 2 sets
- Leg curl of 6-10 reps, 1 set
- One leg press of 6-8 reps, 1 set
- Dumbbell step-up of 3-4 reps, 2 sets
- Lunges of 6-8 reps, 2 sets
- Leg curl on an exercise ball of 4-8 reps, 1 set
- One leg hip extension of 6-10 reps, 1 set
- The bridge on an exercise ball of 8 reps, 1 set
- Hip abduction of 6 reps, 1 set
- Standing calf raise of 6 reps, 1 set
- Reverse crunches of 8 reps, 2 sets
- Cable side bend of 8-10 reps, 2 sets
Friday and Saturday Sue Bird Workout Routine
- Cardio exercises like running, sports playing, etc
Sunday Sue Bird Workout Routine
- Rest day
She has made some changes in herself from when she was in Russia. She has also changed her methods too which she explains, "When you’re overseas, you’re truly on your own, and so I learned how to be self-sufficient in terms of taking care of myself. They provide healthcare, trainers, and a masseuse, but it’s really up to you to make sure that you’re still lifting, doing your rehab, and making sure those little nagging injuries don’t turn into bigger ones. Let's put it this way: I personally don’t tape my ankles, but I know a lot of players that learn how to tape them when they go overseas."
She has also noticed that there is a general shift in the way players take care of themselves. Hence, her habits have changed a bit too. She says, "A 21-year-old is still a 21-year-old. They’re still young. Whatever affects them at that age is not going to be as impactful as it would be at 37. I still think that when people come out of college, they’re not thinking about taking care of their bodies, but the conversation is starting to gain more headway. You see all the conversations about LeBron James and how he takes care of himself—on our side, the league's older players are me, Diana Taurasi, and Rebekkah Brunson, and a lot of the storylines behind us today are about how we changed our diets and workout regimens."She has many friends in the league whom she talks to about these shifts in training. She says, "By year two and three—that’s when it starts to click. Breanna Stewart is a great example. I talked to her during her rookie year about changing her diet. She talked to someone, but I don’t know if she truly made a change. Now, in year three, I don't have to go to her. She’s proactively asking questions, and working with a sports performance coach. It’s happening earlier for players because there is more information available."She makes sure that she is following some routine so that her body can recover fully. She has a full concentration on a recovery plan for her body which she uses. She says, "It varies, but it generally involves some sort of activation series to get my muscles moving. Something I’ve been starting to use almost every day is a blood flow restriction system for my legs. It’s good for recovery and strength. I also use NormaTec, and I do 15 minutes of yoga stretching every night."That was all about the workout routine that Sue Bird has and follows. Even though it is not a fixed workout routine, Sue Bird makes sure to crush her workouts so that she could perform better than before. The competition here is her own self. Besides a workout routine, Sue Bird also follows a diet plan which we will discuss below.
Sue Bird Diet Plan
Sue Bird is undoubtedly one of the greatest basketball players of all time. As an 11-time All-Star and the Seattle Storm's point guard for 20 years, the Denver Nuggets legend continues to excel at her craft. A world-class athlete keeps her game (and body) strong by working hard. (Even performing at Team USA's Opening Ceremony at the Tokyo Olympics was a big accomplishment.) Approximately six years ago, Sue completely revamped her diet."Basically, I took a little bit of a dip in my career," she tells Women's Health. "Physically, I wasn't where I needed to be to play at a high level. I could feel it, and I think everybody could see it in my game. I wanted to do whatever I could to try to turn it around and nutrition was a big part of that."
Her response was to turn it around. "I met with a nutritionist, who had me jot down what I was eating for the whole month," she says. "Then, he built a plan for me, all centered around having energy, fueling for workouts, and recovering from workouts."Afterward, she won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA and a WNBA title at the 2018 WNBA Finals with the Seattle Storm.The eating plan she followed five years ago continues to work for her. This is what Sue eats in a typical day (clearly, it's working!).
Breakfast
For Sue, breakfast is the most important meal. "Breakfast is my favorite meal so I literally never miss it," she tells Women's Health. "I will wake up an hour early if it means I can get breakfast in."To be honest, if I had Bird's morning meal, I'd have set my alarm an additional early. "I'm obsessed with egg sandwiches," Sue explains. Susan usually adds a gluten-free English muffin or bagel, two eggs, sautéed onions, and greens (such as spinach or kale) depending on what she has on hand."I recently found out I have a small gluten allergy, so during the season, I try to go 100-percent gluten-free," Sue says. (She does not have celiac disease, so she does not worry about nibbling on a bit of gluten here and there in the off-season.)No Seattleite's breakfast would be complete without a hot cup of coffee. "Obviously I've got coffee in there," Sue adds. "I don't do dairy, so I put in a little bit of almond milk or oat milk in my coffee."
Lunch
At midday, Sue usually has worked up an appetite after her sweat session after breakfast. In each meal, she eats protein, carb, and vegetables. Then there is plenty of scope for variety. "Lunch could be a salad, a sandwich, or anything in between," she adds.It depends on how she feels what she eats. As a Seattle resident, Sue has many options available to her. "There's a sandwich spot called Homegrown, and it's really easy just to call them, scoop up my sandwich, and head home."Although she rarely orders pizza or ramen, Sue occasionally treats herself. "I think if you're gonna have a cheat meal, right after a workout is a good time to do it," she says.While traveling for a game, Sue needs to be flexible with her eating habits. Fortunately, she has a couple of tried-and-true methods. "When I'm on the road, I look for Asian places because they usually have rice bowls," she explains. "I just tell them no sauce."She also loves salads from salad shops such as Sweetgreen, which top their rice bowls with vegetables and protein.
Snacks
As a snack between dinner and lunch, Sue usually eats fruit (particularly strawberries and pineapple) and beef jerky.Her other go-to snack: non-dairy ice cream. "At Pressed Juicery, they have this thing called a Freeze that's as close as you can get to ice cream without it actually being ice cream," she says. (This plant-based soft-serve is made from fruits, nuts, and vegetables.)When she has time, Sue also makes zucchini muffins from Shalane Flanagan's Run Fast. Eat Slow. cookbook. "They're great for a midday snack or even a little something before a workout."On game days, Sue adds more caffeine and carbohydrates to the mix. Her usual ritual of drinking coffee is when she gets on the bus or drives to the game from home.Then, she shakes up a bottle-full of Vitargo, a powdered, fast-acting carb supplement. "I drink it, like 30 minutes before the game, and boom, it kicks in," she says. "I'll make a full shaker bottle of it and drink half before the game and the rest at halftime."
Dinner
Sue becomes more selective about her carbohydrate intake by dinnertime. For her, carbs are an essential part of fueling up before and after workouts. She continues, "And though I don't really avoid white carbs during the day, I do at night."She prefers carbs like sweet potatoes and squash in the evening. Her favorite way to prepare them is with veggies and whatever protein she's craving at the moment. In most cases, fish or chicken is served. "I don't eat a ton of red meat."Her go-to dinner is curry with cauliflower rice made in the Instant Pot. In fact, she recently got on the Instant Pot train. "We've definitely gotten a little creative with it," Sue says. "I'm sure there are a billion recipes and we've only just scratched the surface, so it's kind of fun." (By "we," she means her girlfriend—and equally badass athlete—pro soccer player, Megan Rapinoe.)
Dessert
Sue keeps the desserts super healthy by adding some more fruit most nights. Her words end the evening on a high note.Though she loves warm cookies and ice cream, Sue devours brownies whenever she feels like it. As much as 80 percent of her food is consumed on plan while the remaining 20 percent is left to her discretion. The pleasure of food requires space because it is comforting and enjoyable.
Drinks
While Sue doesn't drink much during the week or WNBA season (only an occasional cocktail or glass of wine), weekends are the time for cocktails and wine.Sue and Megan filmed an Instagram Live show called "A Touch More" about the drinks they drink on Saturday nights. "It started as 'let's go online, drink some drinks, and see what happens.' Now, it's actually turned into a little show with guests."Usually, though, "I save the alcohol for when I'm with friends or going to a really nice dinner with a great wine selection," Sue says. Served with a glass of red (I have a glass of red, please!)
Sue Bird subscribes to the 80/20 rule of eating patterns but there are also some foods that she avoids completely. She explains, "I don't eat dairy, and I've been gluten-free ever since I took a blood test that showed I have a mild allergy to gluten. I stick with all anti-inflammatory foods: tons of veggies, eggs, chicken, and fish. I will have some red meat, but only now and then. There’s very little sugar, if any because I save that for my cheat days. I like rice bowls a lot. That's been my new thing this year—I’ll have some brown rice, sweet potatoes, chicken, and mixed veggies."
She loves to go out for eating and she has some hot sports for her and her partner to eat occasionally, it includes, "For lunch, my two favorite places are Homegrown—they have gluten-free bread, which makes my life easy—and a local spot called Bounty Kitchen, which has a great menu of healthy options. For dinner, Ethan Stowell is a very popular chef in town. He has a place in my neighborhood called How To Cook A Wolf that I love. It’s a really small place, and they’re very nice. They’ll make some dishes where they’ll leave the cheese out and remix it for me. And there's a Vietnamese place called Stateside that has great stuff. Those are my top three."She also adds that sometimes people recognize her from her plays and often ask her about it. She reveals, "I definitely use Postmates and Uber Eats, too. Now and then, someone will come to the door to drop off food and they’ll be like, “Are you the basketball player?” Sometimes, I’ll open up the bag, and on the box will be written something like, “Hey Sue! Go Storm!” When I’m out and about, though, I blend in. When I do get stopped, it’s out of respect. It's not a nuisance."Her game day routine is nothing special and rather quite usual. She explains,
"I pretty much do the same thing every day: Breakfast is two eggs and some veggies. I’ll either do a scramble or make a sandwich out of it with a couple of pieces of toast and a cup of coffee. We’ll have a shootaround, and I’m able to get in some stretching and do my activation stuff. Right after shootaround, I’ll come home and have a little snack around 2:30 or 3:00. It’s usually one banana and a tablespoon of peanut butter to hold me over because I won’t eat my pregame meal until about four hours before the game. I’ll have half a plate of whatever carb I’m going to have for that day, too.""From there, I’ll take a nap, and then have another cup of coffee to wake me up. The nutritionist that I work with has me drinking a little smoothie that consists of lactose-free milk and some fruit on my way to the gym.""Between 30 and 45 minutes before a game, I’ll have half of a supplement drink called Vitargo, a quick and easy-to-digest source of carbs. I’ll drink the rest of it at halftime. Postgame, I’ll have a protein shake, which will consist of almond milk, orange juice, fruit, and whey protein. Last but not least, I have dinner—a lot of green vegetables, some protein, and some carbs to get the recovery going."
She also does not forget to treat herself sometimes because it is all about balance for her. But how does she do that? Here's what she said, "If we have three or four days before a game, that’s where the 20 percent comes in. I definitely eat carbs. I repeat: I do eat carbs. [laughs] I'm just selective on which carbs I eat and when. I won’t eat things like pasta and bread at night, but in terms of fueling a workout and recovering from one, carbs are great."
Here's what she says about her in season diet:
"My typical [in-season] day looks pretty similar to my [off-season] days. My diet is pretty much getting three meals a day, I think the best way to describe it, to be honest, is a cycle of trying to fuel for your workout or your game and then refueling for afterward."
Here's what her offseason looks like:
"Recently, I found out that I have a minor allergy to lactose and gluten, so when I'm in the season I totally avoid them. It's actually pretty annoying and kinda difficult—I miss cheese and gluten is everywhere, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Out of season though, I'm a little more relaxed about it."
Here are some kinds of foods that she loves to have and so she will have them all the time. She explains, "Eggs, onions, and gluten-free bagels. I'm obsessed with egg sandwiches, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Usually, I do some sort of combination with the onion, put in spinach, kale, make it with the eggs, put it on the sandwich...voila."
There are also some food groups which she completely avoids because it dies not to suit her. She says, "So I think the foods that slow you down are the ones that don't agree with your body. I did take a blood test to find out about the gluten and lactose allergy but for the most part, I just try to stick to what I know works."
She has quite a weird love for sweets when she is actually a salty person! She says, "They're mainly in the dessert category; it's usually going to be ice cream, cookies, maybe brownies. The irony is is that I'm kinda a salt person, I salt my food like crazy. But when it comes to that one, singular food indulgence, I'm a sucker for ice cream sandwiches."
Even though she does not remember what kind of money she spent on, but once she called in an organic party and w eall know how expensive can that be. She recalls, "So my WNBA team, the Seattle Storm, won the championship in 2o18 and the city threw a parade for us. It was like midday and I had the entire team and a select few others come over—so let's call it 25 people—I think I ordered nearly 30 bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches. I don't remember how much it cost, but it was probably pretty expensive considering it was an organic place."
Even though she knws many athletes that might be superstitious, but she personally just follows her routine. She does not particularly call that superstition. What it is? She says: "It's true—athletes are insanely superstitious, and I am no different. Although I don't think I'd call it a superstition as much as I'd call it a routine. I just do the same things all the time and it kinda helps me get in my game-day mindset. On a game day, I don't switch it up, I eat the same things. The hard part is actually when you're traveling on the road and you can't get the same things, but I like to keep it in the same family. I know it works and I know it's not going to upset my stomach. I think routines help you get in that mindset. It's like checking off a box, boom, I'm ready to go."
For training, here are some foods that are best to have as per Sue Bird, "The foods that are going to help you perform best are the ones that give you energy. I don't avoid carbs—I'm strategic with my carbs—but I definitely don't cut them out. This may fall into the superstition category, but I actually drink a cup of coffee before every game. Just one, hour and a half before when I'm driving to the arena. A nutritionist told me it was actually a really good pregame drink because it's caffeine. I definitely think coffee plays into my success on the court."
If she had a choice of eating one food every single day, she says that's he will eat pasta for the rest of her life.
That was all about the diet plan that Sue Bird has to share with her fans and people who look up to her. Besides a rigorous workout routine and a strict diet plan, there are some supplements that Sue Bird makes sure to make a part of her life. She likes to have a variety of them in her diet so that she does not lack many nutrients. Read the next section to know all about it.
Sue Bird Nutrition and Supplements
In this section, we would talk about what Sue Bird takes apart from her diet to complete her daily nutritional requirements. Sue Bird is the kind of person who believes that having a full diet must compete for all the supplements requirements, but sometimes one needs to take in something extra to boost health, especially in the case of an athlete like Sue Bird.Cherrish cherry juice"I always drink Cherrish cherry juice. It has anti-inflammatory properties, so it’s good for my recovery. Sometimes I’ll actually make a smoothie that has some fruits or yogurt in it, and of course a little of that cherry juice. That’s like my dessert for the evening, and it’s one of the last things I have before I go to sleep."CBD"I’m also involved with a CBD company, Mendi, so depending on how I feel, I might take some gummies, which help with my sleep and recovery. They also have a stick, it’s kind of like a salve, that you can rub on anything that might be bugging you. So maybe that day if my neck felt weird, I'd rub it on my neck, or maybe my low back, and I always put some on my knee—I've just had a long career of knee issues and surgeries, so I always make sure I hit my knee up."
FloraSport probiotics"I also take FloraSport probiotics. As athletes, we get drug-tested a lot, so it's really important that the products or the vitamins, whatever we are ingesting, are NSF-approved. (The NSF is a third party that goes and tests everything to make sure it's clean.) You can take it at any point after you’re done eating, but I find if I just leave it by my bed, I won't forget."