Melissa Humana-Paredes’ Winning Pre-Game Routine for Silver

Thirty-one year old beach volleyball star Melissa Humana-Paredes just took home the Silver medal for Canada during the 2024 Olympics in Paris alongside her partner Brandie Wilkerson.

I got the chance to chat with Humana-Paredes leading up to the games, and after our call I felt refreshed, rejuvenated, and inspired.

To start, Humana-Paredes is on a journey to inspire: It’s her mission to make sports and the Olympics more eco-friendly and bring attention to the climate crisis. As one of the founders of EcoAthletes (a collection of athletes, coaches, and other professionals that aim to help change sports for the greener), she’s on a mission to bring the climate crisis to the forefront in any way she can.

She’s also just personally inspiring: Following in the footsteps of her father (who played for the Chilean national volleyball team before immigrating to Canada, fleeing a military dictatorship), she’s been passionate about volleyball since she was a young girl.

And now, she has some advice for young women who might want to follow in her footsteps.

Humana-Paredes: I’ve definitely been in situations where the mind races—but it’s especially true before big moments in life and high-pressure situations. I’ve been through that experience where I’m just trying to fall asleep, but all the scenarios are running through my head. At some point, you just hit the time where you’re counting down the hours til the alarm goes off.

I’m not myself when I don’t get the proper amount of sleep. I know I need optimal sleep to be able to perform.

Now, I’ve been through that scenario enough to know how to completely prevent it. I will do everything to avoid it, and that starts with the lead-up to bed. My evening routine starts a few hours before bed.

For me, it’s so hard to just make that switch. So I think you really need to be sending those messages to your mind and your body, earlier than you think to be able to start actually shutting down.

I’m very big on mood. Once dinner is over, and we’ve recovered from the day, I turn off overhead lighting and light a candle or do some sort of mood lighting. I’ll put on soft music or some chill podcast. I always travel with my own favorite teas. I need to have some kind of chamomile tea or some other wind-down tea.

About an hour before I actually want to fall asleep, I usually take some sort of sleep enhancement to time it out.

The other thing I do is that feature on the iPhone that reduces blue light. I started doing it and noticed the biggest difference. I didn’t realize how much blue light was affecting me until I switched it off. It’s also great because if you want to do that last minute scroll of instagram before bed, it’s not as entertaining when it’s all red. It makes you put the phone away.

Then I’ll start with my skin care routine. Once I start my skin care routine, that means it’s time for bed. I’m washing the day off. I’m getting in the zone.

Then when I’m about to knock out, I’ll put on my Manta Sleep Mask and earplugs. I swear by them. I’ve tried so many different eye masks, and these are the winner for me.

Humana-Paredes: When I think of a meal that makes me feel the strongest, I think of breakfast. Breakfast makes me feel the strongest because it’s the first thing that my body will take in and give me fuel for the whole day. Right away in the mornings we have training, so if I’m not getting that fuel at the beginning of the day, I know I’m going to feel fatigued. I usually have two breakfasts. One before my training session and then immediately after my training session.

I have different types of breakfast options—sweet and savory. And I like to alternate between the two. One of my favorites is the classic greek yogurt, granola, berries, flax seeds, chia seeds, peanut butter—it’s just so versatile.

Then for something savory, I like toast with eggs, avocado, vegetables, and potatoes. That’s going to be a little bit hearty because not only do I need fueling for the rest of the day, but I also need to replenish what was lost in training sessions.

Those are my two go-to meals. They’re so they’re adjustable to your needs and they hit everything. You have your carbs, fats, and protein.

I know protein has become such a big discussion, especially with women, because there have been so many misconceptions about how much protein we actually need. Personally, I’m very protein conscious because I have to repair my muscles. In every snack or meal I have, I need protein. What’s great is that there are super quick fixes like, Greek yogurt and cottage cheese are really great ways to get protein for a snack. For meals, I gravitate towards chicken and fish.