ANKE PREUSS – PRO FOOTBALLER
Get to know the woman behind the athlete
Anke Preuss
Pro Footballer
Nationality: German
Languages: German, English
Pro since: 2008
GK Coaching: UEFA Grassroot Licence
Fitness Instructor C Licence
Intro
Sport and in particular soccer has always been part of my life. I’ve been a professional soccer player for many years now. When I was about 16 years old, I signed my first contract with a Bundesliga team in Germany. Since then I have played in the highest leagues of four different countries, enabling me to discover not only different cultures and habits but also different styles of play, philosophies, training methods, tactics, and nutrition routines.
My aim
I aim to pass on as much knowledge as possible to younger athletes. I want to support athletes off and on the pitch, because I know about the struggles, the fears, the challenges, the opportunities, and the happiness this profession can bring.
All content is based on my experiences and accumulated knowledge.
Club Career
I debuted in the 1st Bundesliga for my youth club FCR 2001 Duisburg (now MSV Duisburg Women). In 2012 after playing for seven years at Duisburg I decided to step down into the second league to get more game time and a better chance to develop. I signed for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and we got promoted in my very first season at the club. My next stop was one of Germanys’ biggest clubs, 1. FFC Frankfurt (now Eintracht Frankfurt Women). There I got the chance to train and play with many national team players and to be part of the team when winning the German Cup and the UEFA Women’s Champions League. From Frankfurt I went to Italy for a short period to then find myself in the English Women’s Super League, playing for AFC Sunderland Women and Liverpool Women for an accumulated four years. My latest stop has been Vittsjö GIK, a Swedish club.
My Nutrition Journey
Childhood
I grew up in a family where a healthy lifestyle was important. My mum used to cook fresh meals every day and made sure we ate enough veggies and fruits. Fast food and ready meals were an exemption. I’ve never been a big fan of breakfast so sometimes I have a hard time eating in the morning. Therefore as a kid, my usual breakfast was a bowl of cereals, and on the weekend a bread roll with Nutella and jam. My weakness for Nutella is well known among my friends. I have such a sweet tooth, so does my mum. It doesn’t help that she loves baking. There’s cake or pastry literally every day and it’s so damn hard to resist because what’s better than self-made cake?
The struggles of living alone
When I moved out I had a hard time keeping my nutrition on track. Training and studying occupied so much time and sucked out loads of energy. At times I was overwhelmed by living on my own. I had to learn how to organize my daily life and how to make the housekeeping as efficient as possible. My nutrition definitely suffered during that time. Consuming ready meals was such a time saver. Of course, I had listened to all those nutrition talks you go through in your career and I knew that I wasn’t on my A-game. Luckily I got away with it for the span of my early twenties. I’m gifted in that kinda way, that I can eat a lot and don’t really gain much weight. So I always had an athletic body shape and could keep up with my teammates. Over time I got used to living alone and managed to include healthy nutrition. Ready meals became an exception again.
Realisation
The next step I took when realizing that I was quite gifted regarding my genetic constitution. About three years ago I started to thoroughly focus on my nutrition. I wanted to find out what’s possible. How far can I push my body and what influence would better nutrition have on my performance? So far so good but where to start? Having the feeling of already eating fairly healthy left me lost about what to change to fuel my body more profitable. So together with a teammate, I began to look into my nutrition habits. Soon to find out that my meals contained way too many carbs I was lacking in protein almost every day. So I started to change the composition of my meals and made wiser choices regarding snacks throughout the day. The pretzel or the slice of bread got replaced by a bowl of quark with fruits. In that time I learned a lot about the importance of macro – and micronutrients. In the beginning, I used to weigh the ingredients and listed them up in the “My Fitness Pal” app. It was a lot of work and sometimes quite annoying. But at the end of the day, it gave me a good overview of my macronutrients. By using the app I developed a better feeling of my meals so that I don’t need to use it anymore.
Statues Quo
Overall I’m satisfied with my current nutrition. I optimized it a lot over the years. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still room to improve. Sweets will always be my weak spot but I learned to control my appetite better and to not give in every sweet temptation anymore. Occasionally, I do make exceptions when I am out with none pro athlete friends or family because for me food can add happiness to life and it’s such a social thing. Catching up with your bestie over coffee and cake is a real treat for the soul.
Dr Andrew Mitchelmore – Health Physiology Lecturer
Dr Andrew Mitchelmore
Lecturer in Health and Exercise Physiology
Nationality: British, Australian
Languages: English
Areas of expertise: Cardiovascular health, physical activity and exercise testing in health and disease, exercise physiology, neurological conditions.
Intro
I am a lecturer in health, exercise and sports physiology with a particular interest in how physical activity and exercise can improve the health of the human body. My specialist area is the cardiovascular system, and I spend a lot of my time in the lab running and interpreting physical activity and exercise tests. My doctorate looked at different ways of measuring the health of the heart and arteries after strokes (a bleed or a blood clot in the brain). Before my PhD, I completed an undergraduate degree in Sport and Exercise Science, and have a master’s degree in the same subject. I’m also qualified to assess body composition using a number of different methods in the lab.
Degrees
- Bachelor of Science – Sport and Exercise Science – First Class
- Master of Science with Merit – Applied Sport and Exercise Science
- Doctor of Philosophy – Exercise and Health Physiology