Tyson Gay in Los Angeles for Adidas' 2009 Super 7 campaign, which featured the world's top track-and-field stars.
Track and Field 100m, 200m
Tyson Gay
Age: 30
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 165 lb
Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky
Forget about Achilles tendons and glutei maximi. Tyson Gay, the American sprinter with the best chance of unseating Usain Bolt as the world's fastest man, reckons that nutrition might be the most important factor in his events: "When people think about long-distance running, they think about recovery. But the truth is that sprinters have so much explosive work to do to get ready to race, we do a lot of damage to our muscles. We need to make sure we recover." For Gay, that means getting enough protein, which speeds muscle repair and reduces the body's cortisol (stress-hormone) response. He sucks down post-workout protein shakes at the track and relies on a diet rich in lean, high-protein bison meat. For those wondering about the other methods sprinters might use to improve their performance, Gay was one of the first Olympic athletes to volunteer for a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency program that requires regular testing of blood and urine.
Jonathan Horton
Age: 26
Height: 5'1"
Weight: 126 lb
Hometown: Houston
Sometimes the best exercises are the most basic. "Every single event in men's gymnastics requires a handstand," says Jonathan Horton, who starts every workout with one. "Anyone who's trying to build some type of gymnastics body, get up against a wall and do a handstand." Place your hands on the ground at the base of the wall and kick your legs over your head until they're resting against the wall. Hold that position with a slight bend in your arms. Start out with 30 seconds, go to a minute, work yourself to five minutes. "If you can do a five-minute handstand," he says, "your shoulders are going to become massive." When your shoulders start burning, you're making progress. (Pictured: Horton competing in the men's individual all-around in Beijing, 2008.)
Tony Azevedo
Age: 30
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 206 lb
Hometown: Long Beach, California
"If you haven't gotten your balls grabbed as a water-polo player, you're probably not playing at a high level," says three-time Olympian and American-team captain Tony Azevedo. Yikes. What else has Azevedo had grabbed during underwater skirmishes? "Probably the most painful thing I've had is my pubic hair and armpit hair ripped out." To avoid such indignities, Azevedo strengthens his lower body as much as possible, which helps him power out of the water to rise above grabby opponents and take shots. A staple of Azevedo's training is an exercise nicknamed convicts, in which you step up with one leg on a box, then step down and into a reverse lunge with the same leg. Put a barbell on your shoulders and do four sets of 10 for each leg to experience pain. And once those become manageable, mix them up with heart-thumping plyometric split squats: With legs staggered, drop into a squat, then jump up, switching legs mid-air, and land in a squat position on the opposite side. (Pictured: Azevedo wins the 2006 FINA World League Semifinal MVP trophy.)
Jordan Burroughs
Age: 24
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 163 lb
Hometown: Sicklerville, New Jersey
Olympic freestyle wrestling matches are six-minute torture sessions that demand otherworldly mental fortitude as much as superhuman physical stamina. "That's why I enjoy it so much," says Jordan Burroughs, a two-time NCAA champion and the 2011 world champion freestyle wrestler. "You're pitted one man against another man. Basically, whoever imposes his will on the other wins." Burroughs builds his strength and endurance by doing a brutal pull-up routine. He attaches two 25-pound chains to a belt and does as many pull-ups as possible. (His record is 35.) Then he removes one chain and maxes out again. He does a final max set without any chains.
Diving
Thomas Finchum
Age: 22
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 170 lb
Hometown: Indianapolis
To improve his competitive performances, Thomas Finchum employs a training regimen that combines style with substance. His workouts include Pilates and ballet, but the exercise he considers his "least favorite" and "most beneficial" is called a trap-bar dead lift, and Finchum does it to improve his leaping ability. "I'm a platform diver, and the one thing I need to do is jump high," he says. "I don't have any spring to help me." The trap bar (or hex bar) can be hexagonal or even diamond-shaped, allowing athletes to step inside it and lift it from the ground. Finchum usually does the exercise, which builds lower-body explosiveness, with around 300 pounds, although he varies the weight and number of reps depending on how close he is to competition. It seems to be working: Finchum has a vertical leap of 38 inches and can dunk a basketball. (Pictured: Finchum in the men's 10-meter platform-diving preliminary in Beijing, 2008.) Editor's note: Finchum just missed qualifying and won't be going to London.
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Fencing
Tim Morehouse
Age: 33
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 200 lb
Hometown: Bronx, New York
Master of fencing, master of life. So goes the maxim in Tim Morehouse's swashbuckling sport. The 2008 Olympic silver medalist has mastered the mind game that precedes the physical joust. "People talk about six-pack abs," he says. "A six-pack brain would be more key." In 2007, Morehouse was underperforming in competition. "I had one week to improve my ranking or I was going to lose my funding," he recalls. He decided to shift his focus from his deficits as a fencer to the things he did well, and build upon those strengths. Morehouse had long viewed the awkward moves in his technique as weaknesses to be corrected, until he realized he was scoring more points that way. Now his goofiness is his biggest asset. "It starts with setting concrete goals," he says. Don't tell yourself you want to get in better shape. Set a specific fitness goal. "That's where you see those big shifts."
Track and Field, Distance
Bernard Lagat
Age: 37
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 134 lb
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
In the 1500m finals at the 2004 Olympics, Bernard Lagat missed out on a gold medal by 12 hundredths of a second. It was painful to watch him lash his sleek frame toward the finish line only to get clipped at the end. In the middle and long distance events in which Lagat specializes—he holds the American records in the 1500m, 3000m and 5000m—endurance can trump speed, and it did that day. But Lagat has showed plenty of endurance throughout his career. London marks his fourth Olympics and likely his last chance to win gold, which is why he's more mindful than ever of warming up before a race. To boost circulation and soften and lengthen tissue in his hamstrings, quads, and calves, Lagat uses a foam roller on his legs for about 10 minutes before a run. He also likes rope stretching. "As I get older, those are the tricks to staying healthy."
Boxing
Joseph Diaz Jr.
Age: 19
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 123 lb
Hometown: South El Monte, California
The baby-faced bantamweight Joseph Diaz Jr. (known as Jo-Jo to family and friends) fights at just 123 pounds but has what he calls "man strength" in the ring, boasting a 104–6 amateur record as well as two national championships. What allows Diaz to consistently apply power throughout a fight is his cardio regimen. To get his heart rate up in training, he does five three-minute rounds of sprinting and shadowboxing with one-minute breaks between rounds to mimic fight conditions. "It's intense, but it pays off," Diaz says. For each round, he sprints 100 meters, shadowboxes for about 10 seconds, and repeats until the three minutes are up. Shadowboxing in front of a mirror helps him test his defenses, know what shots to throw, and identify what openings are available after a particular punch is delivered. "If you can beat yourself, you can beat anybody," he says. Has he ever beaten the man in the mirror? "One time I did." (Pictured: Joseph Diaz Jr. at the 2012 Olympic Team Trials in Mobile, Alabama.)
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Steven Lopez
Age: 33
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 185 lb
Hometown: Sugar Land, Texas
When asked about the most important body part for Tae Kwon Do, Steven Lopez doesn't hesitate. "Legs," says the two-time (2000, 2004) gold medalist, who also won a bronze in 2008. Lopez's are long, muscular, and dangerous: He grew up using them to smash holes in the walls of his parents' garage while sparring with his siblings (two of whom have also competed at the Olympics in Tae Kwon Do). To get the explosive power he needs for his lightning-fast kicks, Lopez does single-leg squats during training sessions that he describes as "barbaric." He'll do three sets of eight squats on each leg, dipping down, then surging back to both feet.
Archery
Brady Ellison
Age: 24
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 190 lb
Hometown: Glendale, Arizona
Drawing a bow and hitting a target from 70 meters with an arrow that travels at nearly 150 miles per hour requires a steady hand, which is why archers learn to anchor themselves to the ground as they prepare to fire. Brady Ellison, the No. 1 archer in the world, builds an unshakable base with leg and core-stability exercises. One of his favorites is a "flexor" drill done while kneeling on BOSU-like balls. Ellison holds a weighted foam bar straight out from his chest and twists his trunk from side to side, pausing at the end of each twist. "It teaches your body to be balanced and have your muscles firing while in athletic position," he says.
Phil Dalhausser
Age: 32
Height: 6'9"
Weight: 200 lb
Hometown: Ormond Beach, Florida
In the early days of his career, Phil Dalhausser weighed 180 pounds and was called "the Thin Beast." He has since added 20 pounds of muscle to his beanpole frame, thanks to an intense strength-and-conditioning program. A key exercise for Dalhausser is the burpee. From a standing position, drop into a squat and place your hands on the ground. Kick your feet back to a push-up position, then quickly return your feet to the squat position and jump as high as you can. "I'm in the sand a lot, so popping up quick and getting ready for the next point is pretty important," Dalhausser says. He wears a 25-pound weight vest and does three sets of 15 burpees. (Pictured: Dalhausser in the quarterfinals of the 2008 AVP Crocs Cup in Manhattan Beach, California.)
Track and Field Decathlon
Trey Hardee
Age: 28
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 210 lb
Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama
Decathletes are the Renaissance men of the Olympics. This summer, the polymath to beat is Trey Hardee, who won the world championship in 2009 and 2011 and was once approached by the New York Jets. Which is what happens when your talents run the gamut. Hardee doesn't have one muscle group he needs to work more than another. "I can't pick one," he says. "Everything is pretty important." Take an event like the shot put: "The more mass you have, the more power you're going to generate," Hardee says of hurling the 16-pound shot. "But it's a delicate balance. The heavier you are, the worse everything in the other events is." Hardee relies on medicine-ball moves that give him explosiveness without bulk. One is a chest pass—stand a few feet from a wall and throw the ball as if you're making a chest pass in basketball. Another is a push-up—put one hand on the medicine ball and do a push-up, then switch hands. Try three sets of eight reps for each exercise. (Pictured: Trey Hardee competing in the long jump of the men's decathlon at the 2011 World Championships in South Korea.)
Judo
Travis Stevens
Age: 26
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 178 lb
Hometown: Tacoma, Washington
A "landmine" is an appropriate exercise for a judo master who trains like he's going to war. Travis Stevens, the best American hope for a men's judo gold, raves about the upper-body benefits of the exercise. Wedge the end of a bar into a corner of a room, slap a plate on the free end, then raise that end of the barbell to head height at a 45-degree angle. Standing in a shoulder-width stance, swing the bar across your chest from one side of your body to the other, lowering it almost to hip height while resisting the movement with your trunk. The exercise is great for back, core, obliques and stabilizing muscles. "Even the shoulders and rotator cuffs," says Stevens, who often bookends his landmines with cleans (explosive movements in which a barbell is lifted from the floor and racked on the shoulders) and pull-ups to create a vicious circuit that helps him withstand combat.
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