Mogul skier Jennifer Heil will spend only 30 seconds on the hill at Whistler, but it’s taken years to perfect her body for this moment. But the 26-year-old, who won gold in 2006 at Turin, doesn’t do it alone—her health experts (along with those of 20 other Olympians) are paid for by non-profit B2ten, which Heil co-founded with her technical coach, Dominick Gauthier, and business mentor, J.D. Miller. Miller explains the need for this support: “Athletes tend to take on more than they can handle, which generally has a negative impact on training.” We chatted with (and shot) Heil at Birks in Montreal—wearing her jewellery line for the brand—about the team of specialists working to put her in medal contention.
The Osteopath: Dave Campbell
Jennifer: “In the beginning, I was a really good technical skier but I never took the time to build physical strength. So my body basically broke down at 17. Dave keeps me in line; everything balanced, everything functioning.” Dave: “The idea is to not necessarily treat where the pain is but to find the cause. Often, the body has little breakdowns, especially when you train as hard as Jenn. I look at how her neck and back move and which muscles and joints are restricted.”
The Exercise Physiologist: Paulo Saldanha
Jennifer: “My sport is 30 seconds long—it’s like a sprint. When you build up pain in your muscles, that’s lactic acid. We train to get as much lactic acid into our muscles as we can handle, then push a little further and slowly raise the bar of how quickly our body can get rid of it. It’s very painful. We throw up a lot.” Paulo: “We’re prepping her to have peak muscle power and lactate tolerance just in time for her event.”
The Strength and Conditioning Coach: Scott Livingston
Jennifer: “A big part of fixing my technical problems is in the gym with Scott. He’s so creative—he’ll have you in a deep lunge squat and push you off balance while you try to hold still on a wobble board. For core, we hang from a bar and do mogul leg lifts. Everything mimics what we do on the slopes.” Scott: “My goal is to make sure Jenn is a physically balanced athlete resistant to injury. She should be able to control her body, not be controlled by the hill.”
The Naturopath: Lucie Blouin
Jennifer: “Lucie gives me a basic meal plan. I’m supposed to have one serving of carbs a day—which is so difficult; I love carbs—and three of meat, two of lentils or tofu, and then vegetables. Nutrition is the hardest part for me. I take multivitamins, calcium and other supplements, but it’s very strict what we can take because of testing. I was having dinner two nights ago and the buzzer went, and it was drug testing.”
The Hellerwork Practitioner: Leslie Larson
What is Hellerwork? A deep-tissue massage based on the idea that connective tissue can restrict opposing muscles from functioning together. Practitioners deeply separate the fibres manually to allow freer movement. Leslie: “Jennifer has a long history of shin pain, so I work to relieve the stress in the lower leg on up. If the ankle hurts, I’m going to work on the knee and hip because there is no way the ankle is not going to affect those parts of the body as well.”
The Pilates Instructor: Ann McMillan
Jennifer: “In 2008, I took the season off to rebuild my body. I went back to the beginning and learned how to walk again. Pilates is my maintenance for the work I did.” Ann: “The main emphasis is balancing musculature; that her spine, hips and knees are OK. There’s so much impact from her landings. She uses apparatus in the studio, and a mat program on the road.”
The Technical Coach: Dominick Gauthier
Jennifer: “He travels with me and trains me technically. He’s also my boyfriend, so he really helps in so many ways.”
First published in FASHION Magazine February 2010
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billy writes:
jennifer i love to watch you during these olympics you bring hope to the nation and allow the pride of this nation to shine. No one can take you accomplishments from you or this country. Thank you jennifer.
Ps on a seperate but not unrelated topic, your a very good lookin woman.
—posted February 14, 2010 at 2:51 a.m.
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