If you missed Inspire Sports Management?s riveting ?Inspirational Women of Fitness? event with Laila Ali over the weekend, here are some of the highlights of what the undefeated boxing champion and female fitness role model chatted about with the ladies in attendance.
Q: Hi. My name is Laila as well so you?ve always been my role model, and what I want to know, as a mum and a wife with a career, you always have a lot of stress. How do you manage to relieve that stress and make sure it does not interfere with your family life?
A: I?m still trying to figure that out [laughs]. I do get stressed and it does interfere with my marriage sometimes but I think it?s important to take time out for yourself. As women, we always want to take care of everybody, even before you form your life and have children, you?re still trying to take care of everybody but you can?t be everywhere all the time.
So again, it?s like you have to put your priorities in order and sometimes you just have to stop and say it can wait until tomorrow. And that?s what I had to learn how to do because I keep going, going, going and don?t take time out for myself. Even coming on this trip was hard for me, I was like ?I?m going to leave the kids, am going to be gone for five days and?what are they going to do without mummy?? Then I was like ?they?ll be fine, daddy can handle it.?
Q: How does food play a role in keeping fit?
A: Oh, what you eat is the most important thing! I mean, that?s 75 per cent of it. There are people who can not work out and still be thin because they don?t overeat. But it?s still good to work out; it?s good for your heart, for your body to tone up. I try to eat clean, try not to overeat, not to eat too much salt, too much sugar?just eat a lot of lean meat and vegetables, basically.
Q: What was it like having such a huge figure as your father and what kind of role model was he?
A: I don?t know anything different, he?s been my father all my life. I?m very proud of my father, I?m really proud of who he is as a man and as an athlete and a father. Everything I know about people and life, I pretty much learned through my father. He?s a great role model.
Q: What do you think about the world of women?s boxing today compared to when you were competing?
A: It?s not that long ago, girl! You make me sound old [laughs]. Just joking. It?s the same though, it hasn?t really grown that much. When I was boxing, my name was a famous last name so it brought a lot of attention to the sport. And then of course I did well and that brought a lot of attention to the sport. And now that I don?t anymore, they don?t have any names [to make female boxing stand out], so people don?t know the girls. So it?s going to take more time. But there are a lot of talented female fighters, thousands.
Q: For those days when you just want to wrap up under the covers, don?t want to get out and work out, what do you do? How do you motivate yourself?
A: Well, sometimes I just don?t work out because most of the time I do, so it?s okay. There?s going to be some days when you don?t want to work out but if you?re working out three or four times a week, it?s okay. But if you?re one of those people who never works out and are saying everyday ?I?ll do it tomorrow?, then you?ve got to force yourself to do it ? it just makes you feel better. It?s just like going to work ? you know you?ve got to go to work, get paid and pay your bills. So, well if you think your health is important then you?re going to do it anyway for your health. You have to find a reason that?s going to motivate you.
Q: Laila, Ma?shallah, you?re very beautiful. I would like to ask, because you?ve been a champion four times over, how did you keep your beautiful looks ? no broken nose, bones, jaw?
A: Well you know my record; I?m 24-0, so I don?t get beat up. The serious answer to that is, I never worried about my looks in the ring, but the point of boxing is to hit and not get hit, it?s defence. You block punches and that?s part of it, you?re not just in there just fighting. I?m going to hit you, I?m going to stay far away from you too with my arms out so I can reach you but you can?t reach me. That?s also where the foot movement comes in. When you get to an elite level, you don?t want to get hit. Look at my dad. My dad is beautiful, he?s handsome and he never got beat up in the face a lot either so?
Q: A lot of doctors think boxing is an unethical sport, what do you think of that?
A: It is! I mean boxing, for years, has been a shady business ? it?s not like organised sports for the most part, and there?s a lot that goes on behind the scenes. That?s why I don?t encourage people necessarily to box because it?s a very hard business, it?s a man?s business, and a lot of times you can?t trust a lot of people and a lot of things, you know?the fight game, that?s how it happens. There?s a lot of gambling involved in a sport like that. I wasn?t being unethical but unfortunately some people are. It?s a strong statement, but I do agree that it is [unethical].
Q: You?ve been competing in a male-dominated sport but you?re still very beautiful, feminine and graceful. Surrounded by male energy and attitude?how do you find that balance between still being a woman and working alongside that?
A: I?m just very confident no matter where I go and I think that when you?re a confident person, people can feel that. But you always have to be you. You could be a strong woman and still be feminine at the same time.
Q: I?m trying to make a habit out of working out five days a week. But in your opinion, how much working out is enough?
A: It?s different for everybody and depends on your fitness level. I would think that working out every other day at least would be good. But even if you?re working out three days a week, that?s good. But at a certain point your body?s going to get used to it and want more. It?s not always about how often you work out, it?s about how hard you work out, pushing yourself. If you?re doing five days a week, that?s great, but if you feel like that?s too much and you?re starting to wear down then your body needs time to repair also, you need rest. There?s a difference between getting tired and doing too much.
Q: What?s your favourite memory growing up with your dad?
A: My dad is a funny guy. He used to have this Rolls Royce car and there were nine of us ? I have nine brothers and sisters in total. And everybody used to come to town for the summer ? some of us have different mothers so we don?t live in the same house ? and he would pile us all up in this car with the top down and we?d be standing up while he was driving. You know, for kids it?s fun but when I look back, I?m like ?what was he thinking?? Going down the street, no seatbelt on?I could see people like ?What! There goes Muhammad Ali and nine kids in a car?? Crazy.
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Three-time National Physique Champion, personal trainer, and nutritional consultant Rachel Omolewu was another special guest on the day and shared some fitness and nutrition tips...?
Q: I?m finding it very difficult to quit smoking. Can you work out and continue smoking?
A: It is possible to work out and smoke but obviously it?s not very healthy to smoke. I did have a friend who used to smoke and she was also a marathon runner, so of course it was very hard on her lungs. She set a goal for herself. She used to smoke three cigarettes a day so whenever there was an event coming up she would cut it down to just one cigarette a day. Little but little she tried to cut down on the smoking. It?s also good if you could have a friend to keep you in check.
Q: Is it better to eat before working out or eat after?
A: It all depends on what your goal is. If your aim is to lose weight or body fat loss, a lot of people first thing in the morning work out on an empty stomach which burns the calories from the day before. When I do my competitions, I am training to lose body fat so I always work out early on an empty stomach for about 30 minutes. If you?re training for sport or a race or something, you?ll want to eat before your workout to get the energy. An hour before, have some simple carbohydrates like some fruit or something that your body can digest easily.
Q: I?m confused, is it better to do aerobic or anaerobic exercise? And doing either one, does it depend on your age, weight etc..?
A: You need to do both actually, both cardio and weight training. Cardio will help you burn calories during your workout, condition your heart, and the weight training will condition and strengthen your muscles, and that will help you increase your metabolism throughout the day, which means that throughout the day you?re going to burn more calories.
Q: When I over-train I get sugar cravings. How can one avoid this?
A: The reason you get that craving is because you lose a lot of glucose when working out. In fact, post-workout your muscles are actually more susceptive to taking in sugars from food (it?s like a dry sponge soaking up water). After your workout, you want to make sure that you replace that loss right away by eating high-glucose fruits. I eat oranges, that?s very good, or bananas?but right after because that way you won?t suffer any sugar cravings later and are less likely to binge.
Q: I used to be overweight but lost 12 kilos. But I want to continue to lose more weight. What should I eat and do to achieve that?
A: Your body has probably reached a plateau from doing the same diet and exercise over and over so what I would do is switch up your exercise regime. For example, if you do a lot of aerobics classes, try some different ones so that you target different muscle groups in each class. It will shock your body into continuing to stay conditioned.
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