The Health Diaries

Olympic Skater Adam Rippon Wants a More Elaborate Skin Care Routine

In addition to his daily workouts, Rippon likes to try under-eye masks and remind himself he might be perfect

There are many ways to live a healthy life. The Health Diaries is a weekly series about the habits that keep notable people living well.

Figure skater Adam Rippon, 28, won the bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and won over Americans’ hearts at the same time. He became the first openly gay U.S. male athlete to win a medal in a Winter Olympics, and his comedic interviews made him a cultural icon. (When asked how excited he was to be at the Olympics, Rippon quipped, “On the spectrum from Reese Witherspoon to Elmo, I’m, like, excited at, like, a Meryl Streep.”) Off-season, Rippon is maintaining a busy schedule of media appearances and near-constant travel. He spoke to Medium about how he stays well on the road and the sheet masks he wishes he applied more often.

Every morning I wake up at about 7 a.m. I have to use an alarm clock, because if I were to wake up naturally, I would probably wake up around 8 a.m. and close my eyes for five minutes and wake up at 11 a.m.

The first thing I do after I wake up is go back to bed. I usually have an alarm set for 7 a.m., 7:15 a.m., and 7:30 a.m. I usually get out of bed at 7:30, and I try to go to the gym around 8 a.m. That’s my goal.

My eating habits have evolved a bit. When I was competing, I would eat really clean and really healthy, because that was my focus. I’d have tons of vegetables, and I’d throw some protein in there and eat carbs to recover from all the workouts I was doing. When the Olympics were over, I was eating whatever I wanted, because it was like I had 18 years of pent-up aggression toward anything that had fat in it. I was having a little of everything.

In the past two months, I’ve been trying to find a happy medium. You feel so much better when you eat well. I also take a daily multivitamin.

One awful habit I’m trying to break is sometimes I won’t eat anything all day, and then I will just eat candy. It’s bad, but it’s delicious.