Bianca Belair on mental health, diversity and the road to WrestleMania

Bianca Belair knows what it takes to perform at her best. As the longest reigning WWE Women’s Champion of the modern era, she continues to push the boundaries of conventional body shapes, which in turn has made her certainly one of the most decorated athletes in all sports.

Last month, Belair was featured on the Deluxe Edition box art, making her the first woman of color to ever be featured on the cover of a game. She also stars in a reality show centered round her and her husband Montez Ford as they navigate their lives, loves, and careers as skilled wrestlers. With all of her accomplishments and extra efforts on her plate, it is important for the Knoxville, Tennessee native to remain focused and unwaveringly committed to her training and practice, especially with the mega-event of WrestleMania on the horizon.

“My husband and I exercise all the time,” says Belair. “We’re always in shape, but we’re really starting to push ourselves even harder on the roads WrestleMania. So I used to be on a eating regimen, I used to be training very hard, I used to be going to the ring, I used to be training in the ring. You really just want to put your best foot forward at the table because there shall be over 70,000, 80,000 people in the stadium and tens of millions of individuals shall be watching on TV screens.

Through rigorous training, prioritizing mental health, and using products like C4 Ultimate Energy – which is now the official energy drink of WWE, Belair achieved heights that only just a few could have imagined.

ESSENCE: I wanted to know; How has implementing C4 Ultimate Energy into your training program helped you change into a greater athlete?

Bianca Belair: C4 may be very necessary to me. I actually used C4 even before I joined WWE. I encountered this once I was doing CrossFit. So everyone knows that being in WWE, we do not have an off-season. We are consistently on the road, not only playing matches and shows, but in addition performing. I even have a schedule that’s unlike every other, even when I’m not the champion, I even have a championship schedule, so I still need energy. And C4 is my favorite energy drink and it’s really cool to be a component of this collaboration now that C4 has change into the official energy drink of WWE. But I implement all of it the time, even with their Smart Energy, where I take advantage of it by sewing my very own gear.

I do not sleep until 3 a.m., so I sew using Smart Energy. I take advantage of it when I’m on my way from city to city. I take advantage of Ultimate lots when I’m figuring out because we’re flying, we’re landing, we’re searching for a gym, and you are flying at 6 a.m. so I would like to energize myself for training. I even have a show later that night, so C4 is healthy for me. It’s zero carbohydrates, zero sugar, no artificial flavors. Helps me get through training. This is really my favorite energy drink.

You talked about your schedule and what you do and your training plan and stuff like that. How do you stay motivated in such an unforgiving occupation?

I feel prefer it just has to be a component of you and you’ve gotten to love what you do. If you do not love what you do, you only keep doing things. But I actually have a passion for wrestling and a passion for WWE. It helps that my husband also works on this business, so we are able to share these amazing moments together. I feel like I can take my family on this journey. They come to WrestleMania, they arrive to every show, so I can see the excitement in them. But it also creates a legacy. I’ve done a lot and created a lot history, I even have the legacy of being undefeated at WrestleMania and I can pass that legacy down from generation to generation. It’s an inspiration. Representation may be very necessary to me. I do know I’m where I’m due to my role models.

So I try to do the same for other people and invite them on stage. And I’m enthusiastic about WrestleMania season because I at all times try to use it as a possibility to bring myself to the stage and my culture to the stage in a roundabout way. Last 12 months it was necessary to me to bring Divas of Compton, a dance group made up of Black girls ages 7-12. They occur to be a dance group and I need them to see themselves in me and see themselves on that stage. So I can do things like that. I give purpose to what I do. This is the goal that drives me.

I wanted to work on WrestleMania a bit of bit. I’m sure you train the same way all 12 months round, but WrestleMania is just different. It’s just such an enormous event. What is Bianca Belair doing to prepare for the big event that’s WrestleMania?

WrestleMania is like our Super Bowl. This is the biggest time for preparation. Everyone’s goal is to get to WrestleMania. Everyone wants to perform at WrestleMania. This is where you will see the best stories, the best views, the best fights, the best equipment, the best entrances and the best all the things. So you would like to show up in your best shape. So I’m at all times someone who… I at all times like to be prepared. I at all times say I’m ready, so I do not have to prepare because, like I said, we do not have an off-season. You have to be ready all 12 months round and ready for any occasion. But when WrestleMania season rolls around, you only raise the bar.

What is your favorite WrestleMania moment and why?

Well, my favorite WrestleMania moment that I used to be a component of, after all, my WrestleMania essential event, went down in history. I used to be certainly one of the first black women to essential event WrestleMania. I won the title on this match. I also won the ESPYs on this match. It modified the entire trajectory of my profession. This moment was so beautiful. Even should you watch the first minute of this match, I’m in tears standing in the ring where I’m supposed to be fighting. I’m in tears. So that moment was beautiful. My favorite WrestleMania moment aside from myself would probably be KofiMania. I remember watching him win and us jumping up and down and screaming and clapping and laughing and feeling like that was the moment we were a component of it. And also when it was the first-ever women’s WrestleMania match with Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey, because that was history being made.

You are an athlete in excellent physical condition, but I need to talk to you about what you do to maintain your mental health at the right level?

Mental health is all the things. I feel everyone focuses a lot on the physicality. You go to the gym, you train, you’re employed hard, and you’re feeling pain. You be ok with yourself. But mental health is equally necessary. For me, my mental health means getting loads of rest because I’m consistently on the go. I’m still very focused, I’m consistently grinding, I’m consistently performing; whenever you go on the market and smile and meet the fans and put smiles on the fans’ faces, sometimes you tend to ignore yourself and change into mentally exhausted or give an excessive amount of of yourself to the world. When you get to your house life, where you’ve gotten family members, the ones who really matter and who shall be there even when all is claimed and done, you’ve gotten nothing for them. You don’t have anything for yourself. That’s why I’m just mentally exhausted because I’m physically exhausted.

So I even have to remember to rest. I even have to remember to do things that make me glad. I feel mental health and self-care sometimes get a misperception where people think it’s an extravagant thing where you’ve gotten to go to a spa, buy cucumbers, put them on your eyes and get a massage. Sometimes I just need to sit and loosen up, lie in bed and take pleasure in some guilty pleasure, eat in bed and watch all my shows. But also finding a hobby that does not really have any purpose aside from pleasure. Sometimes people turn their hobby into… I would like to earn cash from this hobby. I really like sewing, but I sew lots for wrestling gear. So I’ll sew something random – a dress, a shirt, I really like reading. That’s once I first got into WWE, I used to be there for a 12 months and a half, and I noticed I hadn’t picked up a book. I really like reading because these books take me on journeys and calm my mind. It’s really nearly relaxing and finding things that make you glad.