Samuel Mikulak seemingly came out of nowhere in 2012 when, at 19 years of age, he placed fifth overall at the Olympic Games in London. Four years later, the men’s artistic gymnast returned to the games in Rio de Janeiro, once again scoring fifth place with Team USA and also attaining fourth place individually on the horizontal bar. And while hopes of finally bagging an Olympic medal in Tokyo have been put back to 2021, Mikulak is making the extra time work to his advantage.
The 27-year-old athlete, who hails from Newport Coast, California, has already racked up multiple gold medals in both the Pan American and the Pacific Rim Games. Mikulak is also a six-time U.S National all-around champion and eight-time NCAA champion. He recently announced on his YouTube channel that this will be his last year of gymnastics, so he hopes to cap it off with an Olympic medal.
M&F spoke with the high-flyer and soon found out why the future is looking bright for one of Team USA’s most sensational athletes.
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The U.S Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado has re-opened following the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. How does it feel to return?
Being home at the training center is where I feel comfortable. I was at home for two months, and I didn’t feel like my gymnastics was getting any better. After that we moved to a local gym, but it wasn’t “home.” We were there for a month and a half, slowly integrating back into training. So, the second we got back to the Olympic Training Center, everything just changed. I was amped up, the variety of equipment is so much better. We have athletic trainers and we have video cameras, so all the perks that I had taken for granted before quarantine made me feel blessed.
The pressure of competing at the Olympics must be immense. How do you reconcile delivering your best performance, while dealing with the mental aspects?
It’s changed a lot from my first to my second Olympic Games. I was 19 when I went to my first Olympics, and surprisingly that was my first big international competition. A lot of people first go to the World Championships, but the Olympics was my first big one, and so I wasn’t able to comprehend how big of a moment that really was. I wasn’t that well known during my first Olympics and I just tried to do what I had done in training. What got me through was being happy to be here, and so I took a lighthearted approach.
It was the second go around, when I’d finally built a name for myself [that I felt more pressure]. Going into 2016, I was the U.S. National Champion for four years leading up to my second Olympics, so everyone wanted to really watch me and I could feel pressure building up because of the high expectations for me. So, I focused a lot on breathing techniques, meditation, and I gave myself a lot of positive self-talk, and those things really helped me control a lot of the nerves.
We now know that the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games has been moved to 2021, but how were you feeling prior to that bombshell announcement back in March?
I was ready to compete. We make four-year plans leading from one Olympics to the next, and I was actually ahead of schedule with my training, so I was pretty devastated when it got suddenly postponed. I felt like I was almost overprepared. So, to go from being overprepared, to now being underprepared, it made for a drastic change to my confidence and the plan. It’s been a little disheartening, but this has actually given me a lot of time to reinvent some of the things that I might not have had time to tweak. So, I’m having this new wave of positive vibes.
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What adjustments to your training have you made, knowing that you have an extra year to prepare?
I’m only in the gym for a maximum of three hours a day, where it used to be around 5 hours, so the amount of gym time is significantly less. But that’s good because I shouldn’t be pushing myself too far, or else I could pick up an injury. This is giving me time outside of the gym to look at things and question how I could be doing things differently to make the most of those sessions.
I’ve also recently teamed up with Optimum Nutrition, and I’ve used their products for years, but now I’m working with them and I feel like I have a whole new scientific palette on how I can recover my body and make the most of my practice.
You need an abundance of lean muscle mass to execute the moves, but with added muscle comes extra bodyweight. How do you stay agile?
I actually had a conversation with my coach about this today, because I track my bodyweight every single day. Typically, 138lbs is my ideal weight to be. I’ve been a couple of pounds heavier this last couple of days, and yet I’ve been feeling good and lighter in practice, but my coach pointed out that as I’ve added more muscle, I’m feeling lighter because I’m stronger and my muscles are finding it easier to pull my body around.
What approaches do you take with nutrition currently?
I try to stay away from dairy and gluten. I’ve recently started implementing more plant-based nutrition and it’s been a big transition for the year, but it’s helped me to get nutrients into my body much faster. I use the Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard line, but also their 100% Plant Protein, which is my ‘go-to’ now. With plant-based protein I feel light, not too dense or sluggish. My muscles have explosive power right now.
Over the years I have learned that inflammation brings me down, even in terms of my mental awareness, so I feel that these changes have given me a lot of clarity.
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Do you track your macros?
I have half the amount of protein than I do carbs, and then half the amount of fat compared with protein. I might have more carbs before practice, but then afterwards it’s more of a protein-style diet. It’s all about balance.
Does this approach change leading up to a competition?
I will carb load the night before a competition. I like rice for my carb intake as it is light and gives me the fuel storage that I’ll need. Recently, I have been going to Japan quite a bit, and this has turned me into a white rice lover.
How instrumental have your parents, who are also gymnasts, been to the path that you have followed?
It’s been huge but not in the way that most people think. They didn’t pressure me, I found my own path, and my dad would have preferred me to play other sports because he knows that it is hard to make money… and it hurts a lot [laughs]. I think that’s why I love it so much, because I was able to make my own choices.
Mikulak was on fire in 2019, amassing several titles including a gold medal at the 2019 FIG All-Around World Cup in Tokyo. He also won his record-breaking sixth all-around title at the U.S. National Championships. To keep up with all of Sam’s training and future successes on the road to Tokyo 2021, follow on Instagram: @samuelmikulak or twitter: @samuelmikulak.
