How X-Game Athletes Are Prepping for the Competition

June 28 marks the beginning of one of the most thrilling weekends on the sports calendar: X Games Ventura 2024. From skateboarders to freestyle motocross riders, the X Games athletes are known for pushing the boundaries of human performance and redefining what’s possible in extreme sports.

Behind every gravity-defying trick or record-breaking run is a rigorous preparation process that includes energizing nutrition plans, endurance-focused training routines, and intense mental discipline. Here are all the details on how Monster Energy athletes skateboarder Lizzie Armanto, freestyle motocross rider Harry Bink, and BMX rider Ryan Williams are ‌actually‌ getting ready to compete in the X Games this summer, plus a few insights you can apply to your own fitness routine.

For any athlete, nutrition is important, but when you’re attempting adrenaline-pumping tricks on the daily, it’s even more important that your diet is optimized to properly fuel your body. For Bink and Williams, a strict diet isn’t necessary — instead, they both focus on eating “like an athlete year-round,” according to Bink, meaning they consume well-balanced meals that keep them feeling vitalized.

Armanto follows more of a specific regimen, starting her mornings off with a bowl of oatmeal, followed by a light, veggie-heavy lunch. For dinner, she opts for a home-cooked meal (her favorite), while ensuring that she stays hydrated throughout the day by drinking lots of water. “This routine helps me maintain my energy levels and supports my overall health, ensuring I’m always ready for a productive day,” she says.

One thing all of these extreme athletes’ diets have in common? When they need an extra boost during a training session, they reach for Monster Energy Zero Ultra — which contains no sugar, 10 calories and 150 milligrams of caffeine as well as other energy-supporting ingredients such as B vitamins, taurine and ginseng extract — to keep them feeling focused and motivated. “If I’m feeling like, ‘oh man, I don’t have any energy, but I really want to continue riding,’ then I’ll have a Monster,” Williams says.

Consistency is key when it comes to training for extreme sport competitions like the X Games, and Armanto, Bink, and Williams all take their training routines seriously to ensure their bodies are up for the challenge.

“Having a training routine is essential because it ensures consistent progress and keeps me in peak condition, whether I’m riding or not,” Bink says. “Typically, my training includes one Bikram yoga session per week, two to three intensive training sessions and additional conditioning exercises around my riding schedule.”

Even during his busy touring schedule, Williams notes that it is important to keep up with his fitness routine to ensure he stays in peak riding condition, so he makes time to hit the gym and ride about four or five times a week.

With the daring tricks of extreme sports comes the inevitability of injury, but training can help to prevent new ones and rehab old ones, Armanto says. “A good routine allows you to skate for a long time by maintaining overall fitness and endurance,” she adds. Williams also noted that training can help you get used to unavoidable falls, while also teaching your body how to take the impact in a way that will hurt it the least.

Not to be overshadowed by physical training, being mentally prepared to compete is equally (if not more) important in extreme sports — but how each athlete approaches the mental element of their sport varies.

For Armanto, confidence in herself and her training is of the utmost importance leading into a competition. “Knowing that I’ve tried my best to stay healthy, skate a lot and feel good on my board makes me feel confident that I will go out and do a run that I’m proud of,” she says.

Bink and Williams both rely on visualization to assure themselves that they can land tricks. “I select the trick or tricks I plan to perform, and visualize every detail required to execute them successfully,” Bink says. “I then commit to these tricks completely, performing them with the intensity and focus as if my life depends on it — because, in this high-stakes environment, it truly does. It’s crucial to hit your marks perfectly.”

Williams — who is known for being the first person to complete over a dozen different tricks — noted that 15 years of riding experience has helped him hone the mental aspect of his craft. Because he can look at a jump and accurately estimate the amount of airtime he’ll have to complete a trick, he is able to simulate it in his head 50 times before attempting it — which boosts his confidence before he finally rides out to try it.

And when each of them need an extra boost of energy to get amped up, you can be sure they’ll have a Monster Ultra in hand before attempting their next jaw-dropping trick.