In the best shape of her career, Katie Douglas is able to recover from injuries quicker. Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

Connecticut Sun guard Katie Douglas had the best season of her WNBA career oin 2006. She scored a career-high 16.4 points per game and shot a blistering 42.2 percent from 3-point range. She finished second in the WNBA in 3's made. She has also emerged as one of the top defensive players on the perimeter and a bona fide All-Star. She even earned Most Valuable Player honors in the 2006 All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden. The First Team All-Defense honoree openly credits getting into better shape for her ongoing improvement and includes working out as an essential part of her routine.

Q. What's your favorite exercise for lower body? What results does this exercise help you achieve?
"Physio ball squats."

Q. What's your favorite cardio exercise?
"Favorite would probably have to be running."

Q. How do you work out on your off days during the season?
"What do you do to stay in shape during the offseason?"

Q. What's your toughest fitness challenge?
"Maybe swimming, I don't like getting my hair wet (laughs)."

Q. Is there a fitness accomplishment you're most proud of?
"My high school coach in Indianapolis is also the cross country coach, although I never ran cross country he likes to treat me like a cross country runner, you know I have him help me run, you know you need motivation or a partner to run with, and he had me running a 5 minute mile. That was pretty amazing, though I thought I was going to throw up in the end."

Q. What advice would you give to someone who wanted to get into better shape for playing basketball?
"To get into shape you just have to be disciplined, it's definitely not easy but as long as you have short term goals for yourself to get in shape both physically on the court and off, a little cardio and weight training just takes a lot of discipline and a lot of hard work."

Q. How would you describe the role and importance of fitness and exercise in your life?
"It helps with your explosiveness, and passing, and when you get hit that ability to take the impact, because when you see me play I'm bouncing off screens, and whatever defensively and lifting helps me."

Q. Is there a song/type of music that you listen to while you're working out?
"I like pretty intense music when I'm lifting, like any type of club, house music, but more so something that kind of has a good beat."

Q. What does your workout schedule look like?
"Well in the WNBA schedule I try to take an off day every week, but in Europe, we don't play as many games, so on an off day I lift for about an hour and do cardio for about 45 minutes and call it a day."

Q. Is there a certain foodor meal that you like to eat before games or a favorite healthy snack??
"Before the game I take this stuff our strength coach gives us, I call it my little secret potion, I call it the focus drink, it's like an energizer, before every game I'm sipping on that and mix it with Gatorade. You just kind of take a straight shot of it."

Q. When did you start working out and when were you (or are you now) in the best shape of your life?
"In high school, I didn't even touch a weight. I was so skinny, I was just a tall skinny kid. My high school coach was more into running than lifting, I graduated in 1997, it wasn't really girls were throwing around the big weight so much. When I got into college, that was his big concern because I had never lifted, but when I got into college I started my first weight training, and there it wasn't even that serious because we didn't have someone who was really hands on with the women's basketball program, so it was when I got out of college where I had to be a professional and be responsible about it."