Monique Ricardo has done it all. She’s a wife and a mom and still finds time to be a bodybuilder and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion. Ricardo is a force to be reckoned with in and outside the gym. She talks the importance of organization, meal-prep, and most importantly, finding time to take a nap!
Here’s Monique’s top tips for staying on top of your game, whether it’s taking down your opponents on stage or on the mat.
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Ian Spanier / M+F Magazine
Prep Ahead of Time
“I don’t want to be on the road and have a situation where, ‘Oh, my kids are hungry, I’m gonna have to buy McDonald’s.’ So I have a lot of snacks in my car—carrot sticks and pita snacks for the kids and a thing of protein powder, so there’s no excuse to eat bad. And I always have extra workout clothes and extra clothes for the kids, just in case I’m not able to come home.”
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Ian Spanier / M+F Magazine
Stick to a Schedule
“My husband and I are very routine-ish, and our kids are on that routine. It makes things so much easier, because they know what they’re doing at all times. Everything works smoothly, and the kids don’t know any different. It’s just what they do.”
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Ian Spanier / M+F Magazine
Ease Up on the Pressure
“We haven’t had our kids compete in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu yet, because we know they’re in it for the long run, and we don’t want them to get bored or tired of it. If you push too hard, it’s so easy for it to become something they have to do. We even play games with them, like, ‘We’re not going to take you today,’ and they get upset, and they’re like, ‘No, we want to go,’ because they have friends there, and they’ve built a family there.”
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Ian Spanier / M+F Magazine
Find Time to Recover
“I take naps daily because of all the training I do, plus with kids and stuff, I have to rest my body. Just like 30 minutes—it’s not very long, but it’s very helpful. There are techniques to calm the mind enough to go to sleep fast, and then when you wake up, you feel revived.”
