An old article from American Fitness Magazine;
Multi-faceted Florence Griffith Joyner shares the secrets of her winning edge.
Perhaps best known for her brightly colored outfits and six-and-a-half-inch fingernails, Florence Griffith Joynet, or “Flo Jo” to her millions of fans, has elevated women’s track to new heights. The former Olympic medalist (three golds and one silver) is now gearing up for the 1996 Woman’s Marathon and Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.
The 5’ 7" " World’s Fastest Woman" says her every-other-day exercise routine differs from the average runner’s. “I’m doing a lot of interval training,” she says. “I run on the track for four to six miles, and do road runs for about an hour. Then I’ll go to the weight room for 90 minutes and work the lower and upper body with squats, hamstring curls, leg extensions, calf raises, bicep and tricep curls and lateral pulldowns and pullovers in sets of five to 15 each.” And if that’s not enough, Joyner later does another road run.
The Olympic superstar admits her Achilles heel is her hamstrings. “Being a sprint runner, I’ve been blessed with no major injuries,” she explains. “I try to work them as often as I can to keep them strong so they won’t pull or tear.”
Born and raised in Los Angeles’ Watts, the seventh of I 1 siblings, Joyner displayed athletic prowess at an early age. She laughs recalling how she spent almost an entire year as a little girl trying to catch a jack rabbit. “Jack rabbits are one of the fastest creatures on land, but I was determined,” she says. “I finally caught up with one.” During high school, Joyner regularly beat boys her own age in running and long jumping competitions. But it was at UCLA that her true field skills shone. She first qualified for the Olympic trials in 1980, finishing fourth in the 200-meter. “I knew I was truly on a roll when I won the silver medal in 1984 doing the 200-meter track event,” she says.
Joynet believes health is not just taking care of your body on the outside, but thinking about what’s going on inside as well, a philosophy she espouses in “The Flo Jo Workout: Mind, Booty and Spirit,” it fitness video recently released through Paramount Home Video. A devout vegetarian, she doesn’t cat poultry, fish or red meat. Joyner has learned the art of substituting beans or tofu to get protein. A typical morning includes fresh fruit, cereal and toast. “Frosted shredded wheat is one of my favorites, or if I want hot cereal it’s usually oatmeal or Cream of Wheat,” she says. “I try and use as little butter on toast as possible; that’s one of my weak points. Unfortunately, I have to buy it for my husband and my daughter so it’s in the house.”
Joyner counts fat grams rather than calories. “I won’t have more than 25 fat grams a day,” she says. “I buy fat-free dressing and cheese, and I don’t I fry foods.” Lunch is typically a fat-free cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread sans mayo. Dinner cuisine might be a baked potato, tofu, beans with rice rice and a fresh salad, or pasta with meatless sauce anti lots of vegetables.
To supplement her diet, Joyner takes a vitamin packet five days a week. “It has it lot of vitamins anti minerals that I need when I don’t eat right, plus antioxidants,” she says. “I take it 30 minutes before I workout. It’s loaded with amino acids.”
Joyner is also a firm believer in cleansing the system with water. She drinks 12 eight-ounce glasses a day. “If I’m at home on my treadmill, I can get off after an hour and drink a whole liter of water,” she says.
As the co-chairperson of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Joyner says she is trying to educate as many Americans as she can about the benefits of caring healthy and exercising. “If you pay attention to your diet and exercising habits today, it’s almost guaranteed you will suffer less injuries, ailments or diseases later in life,” she explains. "We can eliminate so many problems in old age if we take care of our bodies. The earlier you start, the better.
“I also caution young girls that eating disorders arc on the rise,” she adds. “I tell thorn if they arc getting involved in any type of sport they need to have good eating habits. Being thin doesn’t mean you are healthy.”
Joyner travels the globe speaking for Project Eco-School, the American Cancer Society and the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. In addition, she participates in various events, including an Alzheimer’s charity, run. “My husband (Olympic gold medalist Al Joyner) had a grandmother who dicot from the disease,” she says. “When it comes to various charities benefitting Alzheimers, breast cancer or AIDS, we like to get involved.”
With an impressive track record as a medal-winning athlete, sports commentator, children’s book author, businessperson and homemaker, Joyner serves as a role model for active working mothers. Her response to those who write and say they want to be just like her is “Set your own goals allot make your own footprints in life. We are all individuals.”
