A Day in the Life of Casey Jo Magee

As Get a Grip reported several weeks ago, Elite gymnast Casey Jo Magee moved from Capital Gymnastics in Texas to Western Michigan to train and work as an assistant coach! 


Casey Jo's day of coaching and training provides for an interesting Day in the Life! 

(Property of Razorback Photos) 

8:15 AM: "Wake up, brush my teeth, and head to the kitchen. Every day I have my power smoothie (you can get my recipe on my website) and lately I’ve been having some sort of egg scramble with onions, bell peppers, spinach, and Canadian bacon. Sometimes with toast or an English muffin. I start a small pot of coffee while breakfast is in the works so it’s ready when my food is. Right now I’m drinking Marzipan flavored coffee, a World Market holiday seasonal. Although I think I like non-flavored better since I put a little creamer in it. Might have to ask my boyfriend Scott to mail me some Ruta Maya coffee from Austin."

9:15-9:45 AM: "By now I’m done eating with [the] dishes washed so I get my stuff together for practice. Fill up my sweet REI water bottle with Brita water (because the tap water here in Kalamazoo isn’t my favorite). Pull together a snack of sorts…string cheese and a tuna to-go or apple, baby carrots and hummus, sometimes leftovers from dinner the night before. Get dressed for gym and the semi-cold weather outside, which will soon be really cold and probably snowing. Here come the gloves, scarf, boots, and winter jacket!"

10 AM-12 PM: "Get to the gym and start warming up. Morning practice I’ll do one event hard and basics on another, switching between bars and beam. Now I’ll eat my snack as the girls start warming up for their workout."

12 PM-3 PM: "Western girls practice. With season approaching quickly I’ll be primarily coaching floor, paying special attention to the details like expression, leaps and jumps, and landings on passes. Although I really just move around to wherever I’m needed. Dave helps coach everything and wants me to shout out a correction or comment if I have one, no matter the event. Sara Kelly, the other assistant, works mostly with beam but she choreographed all the floor routines so she helps there as well."

2:30-5:15 PM: "Usually the last couple girls are finishing up their last event by 2:30 so I start warming up again for practice number two. Here I’ll do three events, as I alternate the days I flip vaults and tumble. On the days I tumble, I do uphill vault timers, and the days I flip vaults I do floor endurance and some basic tumbling. I’ll finish with some conditioning and stretching before I head home."

5:30 PM: "Home and tired. I take a shower and relax for a bit before I make myself some dinner."

6:30-7:30 PM: "Make and eat some dinner…I try to get a good source of lean protein, carbs, and veggies of some sort. Lately I’ve had rice and beans or spaghetti with meat sauce and a salad, or top a salad with sliced grilled chicken".

7:30-10 PMish: "I’ll ice a body part if it’s bothering me. Then most of my evenings are spent watching gymnastics videos, playing words with friends, surfing the Internet, and checking Facebook and Twitter. But now that I’m more settled into my apartment I plan to update my website more often. I also have been reading a lot lately. This summer I read the Hunger Games series, which was sad but so well written. So excited for the movie! And I just finished The Magicians. If anyone has any books or authors they love, please send them my way! I’m always looking for new books to read."

10 PMish: "I start getting ready for bed. I ... brush my teeth then wash my face and put on this awesome Burt’s Bees nighttime face lotion. So smooth! Then it is off to bed for me!"

This schedule is what I’m doing this week because the Western team is in finals so their practices are quite a bit shorter and lighter. Once school starts for the spring semester in January however, my days will be a bit longer.

A Day in the Life of National Team Member Elizabeth Price

(Property of USAG)

National Team member Elizabeth Price placed 4th on Bars and 5th on Vault at this year's Visa National Championships. As a second time National Team Member, "Ebee" as her friends call her, has to potential to make a splash on the international scene in 2012. Here's an exclusive look at a day in the life of a Parkette Gymnast. 


7:00 AM- "A usual day for me starts with waking up at 7:00am to get dressed, pack[ing] my lunch, and depending on whether or not I’m hungry, eating breakfast. My Dad takes me to the gym around 7:30am before heading to work. It takes about 20 minutes to drive there without much traffic."


8:30 AM-12:30 PM - "Practice at my gym, Parkettes, starts at 8:30am, and since I get there early, I just hangout and wait. We run, stretch, condition and do basics for an hour before going to our first event. We do three events for one hour each until 12:30."


12:30-1:20 PM - "At 12:30 we go on a lunch break in our dance room, where we eat, rest and do schoolwork until 1:20."

1:20-3:30/4:00 PM - "After break we do a short warm up for 10 minutes before going to our fourth event, which lasts an hour. After our last event we go back to bars and beam for about a half hour each, sometimes longer."

3:30/4:00-4:30 PM - "Now that we’ve finished all our events, we condition and stretch for about a half hour before saying bye and leaving."

(Property of Jessica Frankl)

4:30-5:00 PM - "My mom picks me up in the evening since she’s already off work and my dad still has an hour or so before he’s ready to come home. When I get home, I get a small snack, change into more comfortable clothing and get ready to start my schoolwork."

5:00-8:00/9:00 PM - "Being homeschooled allows me to move faster through my schoolwork, so instead of learning for six hours like I would if I went to school, it only takes three or four hours. That’s what I’m doing at 5:00pm. I do school for a couple of hours with eating dinner between until I’m done."

8:00/9:00-10:00 PM- "After I finish my schoolwork, I take a shower and hang out watching TV, going on Facebook or reading until 10:00 or 10:30pm, when I go to bed."

A Day in the Life of Canadian Peng Peng Lee

Peng Peng Lee is Pan American Silver medalist, a future UCLA Bruin and a member of the Canadian National Team. Although Peng Peng graduated in 2011, she’s deferring from college this year in hopes of making the Olympic Team. This provides her with a bit of an unorthodox elite training schedule.

(Property of Oakville Gymnastics Club) 

7:30 AM - I wake up get changed and go downstairs and have breakfast. Breakfast I cook myself so I normally make toast and eggs and have yogurt with granola or berries.

8 AM - I leave and go to the workout gym. Sometimes I'll drop my brother off at school before I go.  I do repetitions on the treadmill so I'll run hard for 1:30 then lightly jog for another 1:30 and I'll repeat that about 10 times. Then I do my required back exercises plus some extra conditioning. I have a specific physio that comes into the gym and she oversees my back exercises and she'll upgrade them when needed. A lot of the back exercises are to do with the core so a lot of planks and bird dogs some exercises with the medicine ball etc.

9:30 AM - After I come home and rest. I'll do some chores and errands that need to be done. Since I'm going to UCLA soon I'm doing a lot of research on what I would like to go into. I like to sing and play guitar/piano while I'm at home so I have fun doing that. I usually take the chance for the free time to get physio and make sure my body is taken care of.

(Property of Scott Heavey)

1:00 PM - I have lunch. Lunch depends on what we have at home but it's mostly proteins and veggies.

2:00 PM - I have to leave the house at around 2 to get to training at 3.

3:00 PM - Then we train. We warm-up for about 10 mins then do 20 mins of conditioning then we start our events. About 15 mins before training is done we'll do more conditioning, stretch, then say goodbye to all the coaches.

7:00 PM - I usually have a snack (protein bar) right after training since I have an hour before I eat dinner.

8:00 PM - I get home, have dinner, relax. Dinner depends on what my parent's make but it's usually chicken, rice and some kind of chinese vegetables. Then I’ll go to bed around 10:30-11 PM.

In order to make Peng Peng’s day easier for the reader to quickly understand, some of the quotes are slightly paraphrased without changing any of the meaning. 

A Day in the Life of Olympian & World Champion Chellsie Memmel

Although Chellsie is currently recovering from shoulder surgery, she agreed to give us a look inside her average daily schedule. 

(Property of Sports Illustrated) 

8:00 AM -  "A typical day for me starts with waking up at 8:00. I have some breakfast and get ready to head to the gym."


9:00 AM - "I start .. with a run to get moving then the National Team warm up and conditioning. I generally will start on beam then move to floor, and do a few timers on vault then finish on bars."


12:30 PM - "I finish and go home to have lunch. I like to read a lot so I walk on the treadmill while reading for about 35 minutes, unless I am completely absorbed in the book then I end up walking longer then intended."


4:30 PM - "I head back to the gym at around 4:30 and I hit bars, beam, floor dance and full vaults. This practice is shorter [than the first].


6:30 PM - "I go back home for dinner. I will do a little cleaning then probable walk again for a half hour to wind down. I finish my days by hanging out on the couch with my boyfriend, Kory and my dogs, Lexi and Lucy." 

Chellsie Memmel is one of the the Most Decorated US Gymnasts of all time, and is a Three time World Champion, 2008 Olympic Silver Medalist, 2004 Olympic Alternate and has two skills named after her. She's been an elite since 2000. She's also appeared in commercials for Gatorade, P&G and was featured in a Vogue photoshoot shot by the legendary Annie Leibovitz. 

A Day in the Life of Kristina Baskett on Make it or Break it

Here's a much awaited "Day in the Life" by Make It Or Break It double Kristina Baskett! 

For those who don't know, Kristina Baskett is a former Utah Gymnast, 12 time All American, 2006 UB Champ who now works as a stunt double in LA. She's done commercials, stunt work for the CW, Le Rêve & of course, Make it or Break it! 

 "It’s hard to exactly describe a day of stunts on ABC Family’s Make It Or Break It, because it is always different! But that is one of the many things I love about it. I will share a “normal” day on set of Season 2. 

Call Time- 8:00 AM- Arrive on set and find the trailer with my name on it for the day. Say “hi” to all my friends, grab some breakfast, then straight to hair and make-up to get fixed up like my actress of that day. Depending on which actress I stunt double for, Kaylie Cruz hair and makeup should take around 45 minutes. But if it’s Payson or Lauren, an extra 45 minutes to get a blonde wig firmly attached to my head!

(Property of Greg Marsden)

10:00 AM- Once I am done with hair and make up, I usually will go check out what’s going on on-set and see where they are at in terms of the schedule for the day. They can be ahead or behind schedule, or even switch the scenes around for the day. If my scene isn’t up soon, I usually hang out with the girls on set, help out with other stunts if they are being filmed, hang out in the trailer, or have some quiet time of rest before it’s time for some gymnastics.

1:00 PM- Lunch will usually be around 1:00 depending when they started shooting that day, but the whole cast and crew breaks for lunch and I will eat with everyone in the lunch room and get a chance to talk to some of the crew members that are always so busy. They are amazing! We all have a nice break before we get back at it and I start to get ready for my scene.

2:00 PM- After lunch I put on my wardrobe for the day and head to set where I will wait and watch until they are ready to do a run-through of the next scene that I am in. The actors go through their lines and I explain and walk through what I will be doing as well. As the crew starts to set up the lights and camera, I will warm up the event I am doing that day.

4:00 PM- Once everything is all set up, the director says “ACTION!” We shoot the scene we just rehearsed and will re-shoot as many times as the director needs. Different angles, different cameras, cameras strapped to my body, directly underneath me, or running beside me. The adrenaline definitely kicks in just like it did in competition! 

5:00 PM- Once the director is happy with what we have, everyone claps and thanks the talent and crew and I am wrapped for the day. Wigs off, wardrobe returned, and I am free to go home. Another fun and excited day on set is done and I can’t wait to get to come back again.

Everyday is different, I can be there all night, or a couple of hours, on our regular set or on location somewhere else, learning different skills and working with different actors. No matter what I feel like one lucky girl! I get a chance to work with amazing people in an exciting business. Very thankful that my gymnastics career has continued on to give me even more incredible memories! :) Be sure to tune in to Make It Or Break It Season 3 coming shortly! And always….GO UTES!" 

To see Kristina in action, check out this video of her doubling for Kaylie Cruz in Season 2 of Make it or Break it!

(Property of ABC Family)

A Day in the Life of WOGA Elite Briley Casanova

Briley Casanova is a 2 time National Team Member, a future Michigan gymnast and a member of WOGA's elite team. Briley trains with Laurent Landi's group at WOGA Plano which includes elite Sophia Lee, Mitzi Sosa-Unda of Mexico and more. 

(Property of Heather Maynez)

(Property of Heather Maynez)

6:45 AM- "I wake up and get ready for gym and have either cereal or oatmeal, and a banana for breakfast. [Then I] Pack my lunch and 2 powerades for practice."

7:15-7:30 AM-  "I leave the house to get to gym about 5-10 minutes early to get situated and ready for practice! Mondays and Thursdays we start at 7:45 and run as a team for a half hour. On the other days we do conditioning, but start at 8:00."

7:45 or 8:00-11:45 AM- "We do team conditioning after we warm up until about 9:00, then normally my coaches split up our team into 2 groups and 1 group goes to bars and 1 group goes to beam, and then we switch. If there is extra time, we might do one more event. 

11:45 AM- "I stretch a little bit before everyone leaves for school and has lunch. [I] change out of my leo into my school uniform (a polo and khakis)."

12:10 PM- "I arrive at school (My school is 5 minutes away from the gym) and eat lunch. My lunch usually consists of tuna and crackers, a cheese stick, an apple and water or tea." 

12:30-3:00 PM- "School! Each of my classes are 30 minutes long. I take US History, Algebra 2, Physics, Spanish IV, and English."

3:00 PM- "I leave school to go to practice which starts at 3:30."

3:10 PM- "I sometimes pack a clif bar for a snack before afternoon practice, so I will eat that if I feel like i need a boost of energy!" 

3:30-6:30 PM- "Afternoon practice. We usually repeat bars and beam and finish things we might not have finished in the morning. We also try to finish at least one more event that night, either tumbling or vault."

7:10-10:30 PM- "Depending if we finish on time, I usually get home around 7:10ish. I eat dinner (a Lean Cuisine microwavable meal) and then do my homework and study until I am finished and aim for going to bed around 10:30."

A Day in the Life of World Champion McKayla Maroney

Did you ever wonder what a day in the life of an elite gymnast was like? Every gym is completely different. Recently, reigning World Champion McKayla Maroney offered to share what her daily life is like training as an elite athlete. 

7:00 AM - "An average day for me usually [starts with] waking up at 7:00am then going downstairs to get some breakfast. Right after that I have to get started on my school work because I am home schooled. I'm home schooled because I live almost two hours away from my gym, AOGC, and we couldn't find a school that would let me out early enough to actually be on time for gym. But we finally found a house half an hour away from the gym that me and my family will be moving into soon. I'm so excited because this two hour drive is really hard, and I have been doing it for almost two years now!"


7:10-11:20 AM - "[I do] my school work from around 7:10am to 11:20am. [Then] I stop and leave the stuff that i didn't finish for after gym. Then I quickly get ready for gym, and pack a snack for break. Usually a power bar, some fruit, and a water. "


11:20-12:50 PM - "Then we leave for the gym. My mom drives me to gym because my dad is at work and because I don't have my license yet, and it's a little to crazy on an LA freeway. The good thing is on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday we have a carpool. My mom will usually drive up, and my friend's mom will usually drive home. It helps my mom out a lot, but our carpool meeting spot is still half an hour away from my house, so my mom still has to drive a lot."


1-5:30 PM -  "At 1:00pm our group starts. We run for 10 minutes, then do the National team warm up, and National team conditioning, then start our events! Usually we do three events."


5:30-6 PM - "Then [we take a] break, eat our snack, and rest for half an hour."




6-8:25 PM - "Then [we] go warm up and start our last event. When we finish workout we stretch, then line up, and say thank you, and goodbye to our coaches. Then we grab our gym bag and me and my carpool buddies are out the door."


8:25-9:40 PM - "We drive to our meeting spot which usually takes 40 minutes again, depending on traffic. When we arrive to the meeting spot my mom or dad then takes me from the meeting spot all the way home."


9:40 PM - "[Then I] go inside, take a shower, eat some dinner, do my school work, go on my laptop, then go to bed as soon as possible."


This is a new series that I've started, and there are several other really cool people going to share soon. Let me know who you'd love to hear from!