Learn from the Best: With Ian Happ

August 22, 2024SPORT

As part of our mission to bring groundbreaking new products from the elite sporting realm to you, we’re continually enlisting the help of real-life sporting heroes.

Among the latest to lend us their time is Chicago Cubs player and newly minted For Wellness ambassador, Ian Happ.

The 30-year-old is in the midst of his eighth season in the big leagues, so he’s no stranger to a tightly managed diet and fine-tuned fitness regime. We sat down with Ian to hear more about his wellness approach, and what he’s learned in his time at the top.

For Wellness: Thanks for joining us! Tell us a little bit about yourself and your career thus far.

IH: I grew up in Pittsburgh. I went to college at the University of Cincinnati and I was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 2015. I made my major league debut in 2017 and have been with the Cubs my entire career. I've been very lucky to be in Chicago the whole time.

FW: You’re constantly surrounded by some of the top health and fitness minds, dietitians, physios, performance experts, you name it. What are some of the key insights you've learned?

IH: There's so much that goes on behind the scenes. Being healthy, available, and on the field is the best thing that you can do for the team, so that means prioritizing my body. How I take care of myself is number one, and part of that is understanding what goes into your body.

The simpler, the better. Choosing more natural ingredients that are proven will help you feel good every day. That’s how you're going to be at your best to perform and that's kind of the mantra that I've tried to stick to.

FW: How do you keep it simple when there’s so much going on?

IH: What’s unique about baseball is that we play every single day. You don't have a week between games, you don't have a few days to rest. During the season, we play 162 games over the course of 185 days, but you still have to enjoy your life. It's a balance between being able to go out to eat, limiting your portion size, and making sure that you're putting the right stuff in your body every single day.

That’s why For Wellness lined up really well for me because it's something that you can have every morning. You can have the gummies for energy and have the Bites during the day to keep you going and it's super simple. It's an easy part of your daily routine.

FW: With all those back-to-back games, how does your routine keep you primed to show up and perform your best?

IH: Playing every day, you have a limited amount of time to recover so you have to prioritize that. The longest time we're ever in one place is if we're at home for 10 days before going to another city. Then it’s three days in that city and then we're playing in the next city for three days. Something that’s as simple as a little gummy is huge. Proper sleep is obviously a big deal, but as I said, the easier you can make helping your body recover, the better, and that's what keeps me on the field.

FW: What are some of the physical routines you have in place to complement your diet?

IH: There’s a lot of different stuff: the cold tub, sauna, therapy, and a lot of stretching. I work with a postural therapist every day throughout the year.

We're a rotational sport, and it's very one-sided. You're always throwing and hitting from the same side, so I need to let the body parts reset to where they're naturally supposed to be. To do this, I hold yoga-like poses for 1-5 minutes to realign and rebalance my body throughout the season. This allows me to keep doing those high-velocity movements that put so much stress on the body.

FW: How has your time as a professional athlete impacted your approach to overall well-being, and how might others learn from your experience?

IH: We live repetitive lives. If you work in an office setting, you're sitting for 5, 6, 7 hours a day in a chair, and that makes your hip flexors really tight.

What we can do on a daily basis, whether it's 10 or 15 minutes, is loosen up those hip flexors.

If you sit at your desk almost every day for years, different parts of your body will atrophy. I'm doing the same thing, but I rotate really fast for a living.

My posture therapist previously worked on non-athletes who have hip or shoulder pain, and the treatment isn’t that far from what I do. It just takes 10-15 minutes to reset your body. Sometimes, it's as simple as sitting with your back up against the wall and your legs straight for three minutes.

For me, I sit down on my back, put my legs up against the wall at a 90-degree angle, and put a pillow between my knees. It's not that complicated. The key is just taking the time to do it.

FW: On the diet front, what foods and which vitamins and minerals do you look out for when you’re eating for recovery?

IH: One of the really important things for me during the season is that when it’s so easy to grab meat and potatoes, I need to make sure I get green vegetables.

I try to do as much as I can through natural foods, but sometimes it's a supplement.

Having proper fuel before and during games is also part of the recovery aspect for me.

Making sure that I have the right stuff before the game so that my body's gonna be performing optimally. That's a huge thing. And just drinking enough water. It’s super simple. I'm not taking 100 supplements - I'm just drinking as much water as I can.

I also take Recovery Gummies Restore afterward and maybe a little protein shake to make sure I have enough protein in my body, but for the most part, it's pretty simple.

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FW: Throughout your career, your body is pushed to the limit. What motivates you to be healthy and to look after your body beyond when you retire?

IH: I think it's just a big part of overall wellness. Being an athlete is definitely challenging on the body, but I want to keep it in the best shape possible.

When I'm done playing, I want to be able to play with my kids and do all the normal things.

There's a bunch of stuff for my playing career that I'll continue to do. Swinging a baseball bat is probably not one of them, but definitely, the mental stuff is a huge thing. I think, you know, being able to be as strong mentally as I can be. It'll help with my golf game, most importantly.

I’ll also keep up with my postural therapy.

FW: And our last question of course is - how do you drink your coffee?

IH: You know what I've started doing since trying For Wellness is having my first cup black and then having The Good Stuff™ Performance in the second cup.

That's how I've started to do it. But I've always been a black coffee drinker.