Stick it, ladies! A new behind-the-scenes video from the U.S. women’s gymnastics team’s viral Under Armour commercial gives fans a look at how the women get ready for a big competition — with a lot of intense training and a few fun rituals.
The clip shows U.S.A. team members Madison Kocian, Maggie Nichols and MyKayla Skinner getting makeup touch-ups, practicing on the beam and performing their incredible floor routine together while cameras follow their every move.
“We have such a close bond,” 18-year-old Kocian says in the video of their tight-knit group. “I know the camps are intense because that’s what U.S.A. works for — to be the best in the world!”
The ladies reveal that their precompetition routine involves sitting in a circle before practice to pump each other up, and Skinner and Nichols, 18, have a special ritual where they give each other a knuckle touch to get that extra boost of confidence.
“We’re one of the best teams out there,” Skinner, 19, says in the clip. “We just have to relax, go out there and have fun and hit our routines because we practice them over and over and over again.”
The U.S. women’s gymnastics team’s Under Armour commercial, which showed them doing a series of rigorous exercises before making their way to the stadium in sparkly leotards, quickly went viral after its release on Tuesday, February 23. It highlighted how the trio is getting into tip-top shape for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where they will defend the U.S. team’s gold medal championship from the 2012 London Olympics.
Under Armour also released an incredible advertisement featuring 22-time Olympic medalist swimmer Michael Phelps’ rigorous training regimens on Tuesday, March 8.
To learn more about all the Olympic hopefuls, visit TeamUSA.org. The Summer Olympics begin on August 5 on NBC’s networks.
