Coffee, castor oil packets and beach walks

On March 2, Haley and Hanna Cavinder played in their last collegiate basketball game. After three seasons with Fresno State and two with the University of Miami, the twins said goodbye to the pastime they’d played since they were kids. “It’s hard to express how much this sport has impacted and changed my life, but it will always be a part of who I am,” Haley, a graduate student who recorded 16 points in her final matchup against Cal, wrote on Instagram.

The Cavinders have a lot to look forward to, though. They took full advantage of the NCAA’s name, image and likeness (NIL) deal that launched in 2021, becoming not just student-athletes but influencers with a combined 2.4 million followers on Instagram and 4.6 million on TikTok.

Where does their brand go next? They’re turning their full attention to building Twogether, the fitness app they launched in May 2024 after recognizing that their passion for movement and nutrition goes well beyond the court. Users pay a membership fee to access workouts and food guides created by the sisters, in addition to a community meant to empower users and keep them accountable.

“Obviously, social media is a business for us and that’s how we look at it and approach it. We’ll have so much more time now to focus on our passion for being female entrepreneurs,” Hanna tells me during our interview for Yahoo Life’s OT Diaries. “At the end of the day, I’m always an athlete, I’ve always been an athlete and I attack the world that way. We can definitely attack this next chapter.”

But, as the school year ends, they’ll be doing it apart as Hanna stays in Florida and Haley moves to Texas. Before they part ways, though, I spoke with them about what a joint day off from training looks like. What I found out is that genetics is one thing, but they take twinning to another level.

Tell me about your morning routine when you’re not rushing to practice.

Hanna: Haley and I are very early risers. Mornings are our moment of peace and the best time for us to have 30 or 45 minutes to ourselves. We’re very routine people, so we always do our starting five. The average time that we wake up would probably be around 6:30 a.m. We always have 40 ounces of water in the morning, do a morning devotional, journal and have our coffee. I have a dog, so we also take him out and focus on just relaxing our minds.

We’re very big on lowering our cortisol and try to tell ourselves to have a low-cortisol morning. It’s hard to turn off your phone when your mind is constantly busy and thinking of ideas. But the mornings are when we do our best job of doing that.

Do you both regularly drink coffee?

Hanna: We are huge caffeine girlies, for sure. We love energy drinks, but we do tend to lean towards coffee more in the mornings. Costa coffee is our go-to right now because they’re just so good over ice.

Haley: We go back and forth with what we’re drinking. Like every other day I’ll do an energy drink. I love Ghost energy drinks.

Hanna: I think we try to balance energy drinks because we were obsessed. I mean, we probably drank two energy drinks a day, so we kind of had to wean ourselves off of those. Now, we’ll just do those periodically.

You both post a lot of “what I eat in a day” videos. Does your nutrition change whether you’re in or out of season?

Haley: For us it doesn’t differ. I think basketball kind of introduced us to the idea of fueling our bodies the right way, and then we fell in love with health and nutrition.

When you get into the nutrition space, macros play a huge role. Hitting your protein, hitting your carbohydrates and fats. That’s what works best for Hanna and I. It’s a passion for us and it’s why we created our Twogether app, which provides fitness and food plans to train like us.

What are your favorite ways to exercise that have nothing to do with your sport?

Hanna: I would say that any of my exercises that have nothing to do with my sport are probably my favorite. I think movement is medicine, and during basketball season it’s kind of hard to do the workouts that make you feel the best because you’re trying to perform the best. Those don’t always align.

I absolutely love leg days and doing a low-intensity long run. I find way more peace outside of basketball workouts than I did in them.

Haley: That’s the same for me. We love playing basketball, but we also love working out together. I love going out just to get walks in, and Hanna enjoys the exact same thing. I think that’s what’s great about being a twin and having a twin sister.

Hanna: Our habits are pretty much the same. We live and breathe health and fitness.

How do you handle travel?

Hanna: I would say we do a very, very good job of making our routine happen wherever we go. We both have nonnegotiables that we hit every single morning, regardless of where we are or the time zone. I think that’s just kind of who we are as people.

Haley: That came with being an athlete. Athletes love routine, regardless if they’re in their sport or not.

Do you use fitness trackers? The data on those must differ.

Hanna: We wear Whoop bands. And they definitely differ. I mean, yes, we’re twins, but we’re also two different human beings with different DNA. Haley and I could do the same exact workout, eat the same exact thing and our bodies could respond differently. We do a really good job of not comparing because that leads to a toxic mindset.

How do you avoid burnout when your time off from sport still involves so much activity?

Haley: When you attack everything 100%, it’s inevitable to feel some type of tiredness or mental fatigue. We have a good system of holding each other accountable and allowing ourselves to enjoy little moments in life. Hanna and I do cup fillers, whatever that might be. If a cup filler is going to enjoy chips and salsa with a margarita and I need that, I’m going to go do that. But I also love working, being in the business and basketball world — those things fill my cup as well. It’s just all about balance.

What are your non-fitness-related hobbies?

Hanna: I love being in the sun, laying out and enjoying a good dinner. I love a good coffee shop and a long beach walk.

Haley: I love hanging out with my friends and family. I love traveling and seeing the world or going on a date night with my boyfriend, Jake. Just making memories and enjoying life with those people is a hobby of mine, for sure.

Hanna: We’re very big on spending time with family and friends, so we’re both extroverts in that regard.

Let’s do rapid-fire questions.

If you could only eat one food, what would it be?

Hanna: Chips and salsa.

Haley: Chips, queso and salsa.

If you could only drink one beverage, what would it be?

Hanna: Coffee.

Haley: Coffee. Sorry, our answers are going to be very similar.

If you could choose one wellness treatment or activity, what would it be?

Hanna: I would say my castor oil packets at night.

Haley: I’d go for a walk.

If you could only watch one TV show, what would it be?

Hanna: Yellowstone.

Haley: Mine would be Landman.

If you could only watch one movie, what would it be?

Hanna: I’ll go Wolf of Wall Street.

Haley: I’m going to go with Top Gun. It’s a favorite!