{"id":54617,"date":"2026-08-22T17:30:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T15:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turner.nl\/uncategorized\/get-fitter-and-healthier-for-life-with-team-turner-make-a-plan\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T17:30:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T15:30:46","slug":"get-fitter-and-healthier-for-life-with-team-turner-make-a-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turner.nl\/en\/team-turner-2\/get-fitter-and-healthier-for-life-with-team-turner-make-a-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Get Fitter and Healthier for Life with Team Turner: Make a Plan!"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Get Fitter and Healthier with Team Turner: Make a Plan!<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Do you have enough energy to do the things you want to do, both at work and at home? Dieuwertje van Kalken, Tjilde Bennis, and Lisanne Buurman from the marathon team Team Turner explained how you can become more energetic, fitter, and healthier in the long term. <\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Sometimes it\u2019s all a bit much. Working hard, giving your family enough attention, maintaining a vibrant social life, and then finding time to enjoy sports\u2014not everyone can keep that up. For the members of Team Turner, things are a little different, Dieuwertje van Kalken explains during the Turner Office Day. \u201cIt\u2019s easier for us. We\u2019re really motivated because we have a goal: winning competitions.\u201d So that\u2019s tip number 1: choose a goal<\/strong>. \u201cDo you want to feel more energetic? Do you want to look good? Do you want to be healthier? It doesn\u2019t matter what your goal is,\u201d says Van Kalken, \u201cas long as you have a reason to exercise.\u201d <\/p>

Don\u2019t think that the members of Team Turner are superhumans. \u201cWhen it rains in June, skating hard during the Alternative Elfstedentocht on the Weissensee seems like a distant dream,\u201d Van Kalken admits. \u201cWe don\u2019t always feel like getting on our bikes then either. But we do it anyway, with our teammates.\u201d That\u2019s tip #2: do it together<\/strong>, because if you try to do it on your own, you lack social pressure. If your teammates are waiting for you outside, you have no choice but to brave the rain. Related to that is tip #3: lay out your workout clothes and a banana<\/strong> so you have no excuse. <\/p>

The skaters take a very precise approach. Their coach draws up a carefully crafted annual plan, specifying the type of training, intensity, and duration for each day\u2014all tailored to the individual skater. Team Turner even has different coaches for different activities. That\u2019s tip 4: make a plan<\/strong>. \u201cYou still have to carry out the plan yourself and find your own balance between what you\u2019d like to do and what\u2019s good for you. We also study or work: my teammates Tjilde Bennis and Lisanne Buurman work three days a week alongside their elite athletic careers.\u201d <\/p>

Nutrition<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>

\u201cYou can\u2019t win a competition with your diet, but you can lose one,\u201d says Tjilde Bennis. That\u2019s tip 5: eat a healthy and varied diet<\/strong>. Tailor your diet to what you need to do. That starts, of course, with eating healthily\u2014three meals a day. But you also need to think about your energy levels while exercising. During the Alternative Elfstedentocht on the Weissensee, the skaters receive some fruit, a gel, a caffeine shot, and a water bottle filled with sports drink at the refreshment station every two laps (one lap is 8.7 kilometers). It\u2019s a matter of necessity: if you get hungry while exercising, it\u2019s already too late. The amount of food the skaters consume during the race is considerable. After all, you need energy to perform at the highest level for over 200 kilometers: the skaters burn about 3,600 calories during the race. For ordinary people, that\u2019s an amount that would fit into a diet plan designed to gain weight. <\/p>

Finally, it\u2019s a good idea to replenish your energy levels after exercising by consuming carbohydrates and protein\u2014for example, through cottage cheese, nuts, and granola.<\/p>

Exercise<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>

In 1980, cyclist Joop Zoetemelk said, \u201cYou win the Tour de France in bed.\u201d It\u2019s as true as can be\u2014you have to get your rest. But you have to keep in mind that Zoetemelk had already been competing at the top level for years by that point and had logged thousands of hours of training. Still, he was right: it\u2019s not just about training hard and often. \u201cYou want to train your body to deliver a top performance as easily as possible,\u201d says Dieuwertje van Kalken. \u201cThat means you should ideally keep your heart rate low while exercising.\u201d That requires endurance, which you build through endurance training. And that\u2019s tip 6: don\u2019t constantly push yourself <\/strong>to the limit during <\/strong>workouts; don\u2019t force yourself to go all out. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Tips from Team Turner<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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