mbg Magnificence Director
mbg Magnificence Director
Alexandra Engler is the sweetness director at mindbodygreen and host of the sweetness podcast Clear Magnificence Faculty. Beforehand, she’s held magnificence roles at Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, SELF, and Cosmopolitan; her byline has appeared in Esquire, Sports activities Illustrated, and Attract.com.
July 01, 2024
We love celebrating ladies on high of their recreation. In our new collection Recreation On, we’re interviewing high athletes about their well-being routines—overlaying all the pieces from diet that makes them really feel robust to the moments that deliver them pleasure.
In case you’ve come throughout 27-year-old Group USA Rugby star Ilona Maher‘s TikTok videos, you know the way charming she might be. Contemplating her web page has over 1.1 million followers and 87.7 million likes, there is a good probability you’ve got come throughout a video or two if you happen to’re on the platform. In reality, after I shared that I would lately interviewed Maher to a buddy, she gushed: I really like her TikToks.
“If you wish to make a profession out of rugby or if you wish to make sufficient cash as knowledgeable athlete in rugby, you need to have a social media presence. I deal with it as a second job, if not proper up there with my first job of being an athlete. As a result of on the spot we’re as a sport and a ladies’s sport, I am not going to get an excessive amount of of a livable earnings with simply rugby,” she instructed me about why she’s made social media a precedence.
The rugby middle’s exploding recognition could also be due to her social media prowess, however make no mistake: Her power will take center stage during this year’s Olympic Games in Paris. As she gears up for her second Olympics, I used to be in a position to chat together with her about how she stays robust, what fuels her, and why she wears lipstick on the sphere.
mindbodygreen: What meals make you are feeling strongest?
Ilona Maher: I do not really feel unhealthy about consuming. I have been coaching my thoughts and coaching myself to [get to that mindset]. Even being knowledgeable athlete—however I feel all ladies expertise this—we take care of consuming and our our bodies. For me, it has been actually liberating to be taught what meals it takes to be at my high efficiency. The meals really feel good after I know I want this meals to gas myself.
I am extra about operate versus kind. As a result of proper now I am purported to be large. I am purported to be highly effective. And I am utilizing these meals to do it.
However my favourite meals must be those that my mother makes. It is homey. It is what I grew up on. It is what sort of made me into the athlete I’m right now.
She will be able to prepare dinner a steak like nobody else, and she or he makes this rooster satay that is wonderful. She marinates the rooster, grills it, after which makes this peanut butter sauce that you just dip it in by the spoonful. I might say that is my favourite.
mbg: How do you mentally put together for a recreation?
Maher: It is attention-grabbing as a result of I strive to not let rugby management my thoughts the entire time. When persons are like, “Oh, how do you do social media with the rugby?” However it’s truly about discovering that stability as a result of if I used to be interested by rugby on a regular basis, it will be rather a lot. I feel typically it may be a pleasant escape.
However to get into the sport, earlier than it begins, I do must amp myself up. It is such a tough sport. I really feel so drained consistently. I am getting beat up on the market. And we play in these sizzling locations.
I say to myself earlier than I am about to expire, “If it had been simple, all people would do it. It is a very exhausting sport, and I am so honored that I can do it.” It type of places it into perspective after I’m drained.
It is also about connecting with my teammates and getting to do that with my greatest buddies.
mbg: What’s essentially the most intense factor you’ve got ever tried to optimize your efficiency?
Maher: I do not know if that is actually intense, however warmth coaching. We play in such sizzling environments typically—like Singapore; Hong Kong; Perth, Australia, throughout warmth waves, and as excessive as 114 levels—so we get into warmth acclimation. Getting ready your self to have the ability to carry out in that atmosphere begins again dwelling. So even now I do warmth acclimation simply to organize myself for summer season in Paris.
For instance, we’ll sit within the sauna after we did a motorcycle session in a heated room with sweatshirts and sweatpants on. Or we get right into a sizzling tub with our sweatpants on.
mbg: How do you rebound after a troublesome recreation?
Maher: That is been one thing I’ve undoubtedly been studying, like consistently. It by no means will get simpler, however you discover ways to take care of it higher in a approach. Within the final Olympics, we misplaced, and that was very exhausting, however I have been studying the right way to play it to my benefit.
After we lose, one factor I concentrate on is connecting with my teammates.
As a result of numerous occasions folks put issues on themselves like, “Oh, I knocked that ball on,” or “I missed that deal with that led to [the loss].” It is necessary to keep in mind that nobody second loses a recreation for us. We now have so many moments all through a recreation, and it is by no means that one second. Like, yeah, perhaps somebody missed that deal with, however what about earlier within the recreation after I missed it?
You are not on the market alone, and you are not dropping by yourself. You are dropping with this different group of ladies who’re going by way of the identical stuff. So it is actually necessary to be with them and join with them, snigger about it, discuss concerning the components that went properly, the components that went unhealthy, what to take from it.
mbg: I wished to ask you about teammates anyway. One of many issues that taking part in sports activities teaches us is the right way to be an excellent teammate and the right way to present up for different folks. So what makes an excellent teammate? How do you present up on your teammates?
Maher: I feel what’s enjoyable about being on a crew is having these completely different personalities round you. You want the individual who’s going to go quiet and desires to get of their head earlier than a recreation. Or myself earlier than a recreation, I am loud, I wish to dance, and I wish to join with folks. So it is necessary to acknowledge there are such a lot of completely different teammates and personalities that make up a crew—and that is what makes a crew particular. You do not need all the identical athletes on the market.
Being an excellent teammate can be about serving to others stand up as properly. For instance, what I have been making an attempt to do on social media has been for myself, however it’s additionally been for my teammates. I attempt to deliver them into any video I can or encourage them to publish.
My teammate as soon as instructed me “a rising tide lifts all boats,” which is a good way to consider it. It is about lifting up others, lifting my teammates, and making them really feel good.
mbg: The social media aspect of it’s attention-grabbing as a result of we’re undoubtedly on this second during which ladies athletes are receiving extra—and far deserved—consideration. And for a lot of athletes, social media could be a software to make sure longevity of their profession or after their profession. You talked about earlier that it is about discovering a stability between the 2—how do you discover that stability?
Maher: I’ve nearly had to discover a stability. If you wish to make a profession out of rugby or if you wish to make sufficient cash as knowledgeable athlete in rugby, you need to have a social media presence. I deal with it as a second job, if not proper up there with my first job of being an athlete. As a result of on the spot we’re as a sport and a ladies’s sport, I am not going to get an excessive amount of of a livable earnings with simply rugby.
I do receives a commission for rugby, and it is wonderful that I’ve that chance for me within the U.S. However all of us need to earn more money, and all of us wish to get sponsored. And after the [Tokyo] Olympics, I spotted, Oh that is how I can do this. I’ve to make use of this software to my benefit.
My teammates and I speak about this on a regular basis, “I need to earn more money,” or “I wish to get sponsors,” and the factor is: You need to publish. It is a very susceptible state, however you need to put your self on the market. It is scary typically, however I view it as That is how I make this profession sustainable.
For lots of athletes after they retire, they simply return to common jobs—like this was all a fever dream of touring the world to play rugby. However I wish to make this my profession long run.
Picture by mbg Inventive / courtesy of supply
mbg: This touches on a subject I wished to debate anyway: What are the double-standards that exist for girls versus males in rugby that you just wish to handle?
Maher: Effectively, I feel the very first thing is that rugby is barely a males’s sport—that it’s so bodily, it is not meant for girls and you need to be a person to play it. And to play rugby as a lady, there’s this concept that you need to nearly reject your femininity and go on the market and be a masculine model of your self.
And for lots of sports activities, that stops ladies from taking part in. As a result of they’re going to assume, I do not need folks to consider me this manner or I do not wish to danger my femininity or how lovely I really feel.
These misconceptions cease folks from taking part in sports activities. They cease folks from actually understanding what their physique’s able to. Sports activities give your physique a goal that is not simply to be checked out and objectified. I feel sports activities offer you an appreciation on your physique.
I feel for me, being that rugby athlete within the limelight, I wish to present that I might be this very large, highly effective individual, however I also can put on lipstick on the sphere to indicate that you may deliver your femininity on the sphere too. I do know that in our seventh circuit now, we’ve got numerous ladies who placed on a full face of make-up and who wish to go on the market and be fairly. I really like that as a result of I do not assume you need to sacrifice that to play this historically very “manly” sport.
I feel what’s cool about our recreation is that persons are like, “Oh, properly perhaps it is not like the boys’s in each approach, It is completely different in some methods and completely different doesn’t suggest unhealthy. They’re nonetheless each very thrilling video games to look at.”
mbg: That is a extremely necessary message as a result of if you have a look at the analysis, the rationale younger ladies drop out of sports activities at the next charge than boys is normally due to confidence points. So to indicate that you may be assured in each side of your self is de facto precious. Talking of embracing completely different sides of your self: I do know you like magnificence merchandise. What merchandise do you like utilizing proper now?
Maher: I have been utilizing Medalist, which is a brand new model that is by athletes for athletes. We have been testing out the merchandise—like No Fric Stick Anti Chafe + Cooling Balm—which I exploit on and off the sphere. It has been actually useful for my pregame, pre-practice, and after-practice routine.
What I actually love is that we’re working with athletes of all talents, all sports activities, and all disciplines. Athletes are available in actually all sizes and styles and wish their skincare routines!
mbg: Being knowledgeable athlete has a novel problem of it being this factor you clearly love doing however is—on the finish of the day—a high-pressure job. In what moments do you discover that childlike pleasure once more?
Maher: It is humorous, earlier than practices, we’ll play enjoyable video games. It is actually grown ladies—you understand, some in our late 20s or 30s—taking part in tag with one another. We’re laughing and laughing. I made a joke that my buddy simply bought married and purchased a home, however I am right here taking part in tag with my pals within the solar. However that brings me again to love why I find it irresistible.
I really like the group of sports activities, the way it brings you in, and the way it makes you are feeling about your self. I feel that these are the moments the place I actually get again to why I really like rugby and love the folks I get to do it with.