We caught up with Lucy Bronze, right-back for England’s women’s national football team to discuss how she is progressing with football and training. Lucy has an impressive record of football achievements within the UK and internationally and allowed us an insight into her training regimes and personal life outside of sport.
Lucy Bronze, born Lucia Roberta Tough, is an English footballer who currently plays for Barcelona FC and the England Lionesses at senior level, where she helped the England team achieve fourth in the 2019 World Cup and is currently in place to help them win the Euros 2022. In 2018, Lucy Bronze was named BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year – quite an achievement list!
Previously, Lucy has played for Sunderland, Everton, Liverpool, Olympique Lyonnais and Manchester City as well as the North Carolina Tar Heels at college level in the United States.
Although Lucy mainly plays right back, she can also play anywhere in defence and midfield.
Amongst many achievements, Lucy was voted PFA player’s player of the year in 2014 which was a great deal for her as she was chosen over all the players in the league. Additionally, Lucy played in the world cup and made the semi-finals beating Germany in the 3rd/4th playoff with a penalty and has now seen the England Lionesses through to the Euro 2022 finals!
We asked Lucy various questions to find out how she stays successful and on top of her game!
How do you stay motivated?
I always stay motivated purely because I want to be the best at what I do! I know I have reasonable ability, but it’s my hard work that keeps me where I am. I know I can’t just relay on ability, so my motivation is knowing that I will fall short if I don’t push myself.
What does your typical training week look like?
For a normal week of training during season, I’d get two days off, usually Monday and Thursday, where I’m free to chill and do whatever I want. On Tuesdays, I have to be at the training ground for 8:30am, we have breakfast with the team, see the physio, foam roll, stretch etc, then preactivation session for 15 minutes before we go out for training. I train for 1-2hours, then back in for lunch, then a weights session in the afternoon. Wednesday we do the same but finish at lunch, no weights session. Thursday is the same as Tuesday, Friday is the same at Wednesday. Saturday in for 10:30, train for an hour, lunch and home. Sunday is game day.
What is your philosophy for strength training?
At Manchester City we have a general philosophy for strength training at the minute, all based on technique, and not loading bad technique. Purely because we still have a very varied level of ability currently.
What are the biggest mistakes you have made?
I think through lack of guidance and knowledge, my biggest mistakes would have been coming back from injuries and not asking for more help when I was younger. Never be afraid to ask questions.
What do you like to do outside of training and the gym?
To be honest I really love training and being in the gym, and I work so hard when I’m training, I’m always shattered after! I tend to watch a lot of TV series, but I’ve just recently really got into cooking and baking! Apple crumble (healthy one) is my speciality!
It was great to hear about Lucy’s techniques and how she has developed into such an inspiring sportswoman. We hope Lucy’s story has motivated any aspiring sportswomen, or men who are ready to accomplish their goals. Let us know what you think about Lucy’s philosophies for sport…
