The Hottest Celebrity Workouts
At 42, Jennifer Aniston still flaunts a body that women half her age would envy. While Aniston follows a healthy diet of lean protein, fruits and vegetables, two hours of yoga practiced four times a week are what shaped that famous body. Aniston says yoga gets her legs leaner, strengthens her arms and aligns her spine.
In addition to yoga, stars such as Kate Hudson are also fans of Pilates, a fitness routine during which you use your own body weight to increase strength and flexibility. Pilates has helped celebrities to not just get thin, but to build upper- and lower-body strength.
Lastly, there’s a workout that has combined the disciplines of yoga, Pilates and ballet. Barre3 (pronounced “bar three”) is a joint-friendly exercise that strengthens the core, lengthens muscle and improves posture and balance. Madonna booked a class recently and was hooked. Fitness instructor Darcy Harding says Barre3 will help you find length in your abdominals and develop lean muscle mass. It tones the muscles, aiding in good posture.
Yoga, Pilates and Barre3 may be called the gentle exercises, but these workouts will still make you break into sweat! They’re safe enough for pregnant women, but expectant mothers should consult their physicians before doing any exercise.
Sweat It, Lose It, Build It!
If you prefer more excitement in your exercise routine, there are a multitude of options available that include cardio and weights. Michelle Bridges, a trainer on the hit reality show “The Biggest Loser,” says, “Weights and running -- both of these can transform your body very quickly.”
Rihanna has a “punishing routine,” and her trainer, Ary Nunez, says Rihanna gets bored if the exercises are the same day in and day out. Nunez pushes her to constantly try something new, like Capoeira -- an Afro-Brazilian martial art that incorporates music and dance -- which the singer loves. Kate Hudson is another star who gets easily bored, so she likes to run, spin, dance, cycle, and practice yoga and Pilates.
Whatever type of workout you do, make sure to include some sort of weight training. “Cardio burns calories quickly, but weight training increases your fat-burning surface, which is your muscle,” says Bridges. All the Hollywood stars have exercises that use weights or body weight to build muscle.
No gym? No problem!
You don’t need a movie-star salary to get into movie-star shape. Reese Witherspoon and Katie Holmes are a couple of the A-list stars who just lace up their rubber shoes and get a good cardio workout by running. Fergie skips rope and hikes, Kim Kardashian goes rollerblading, and the Victoria’s Secret supermodels play basketball.
You can incorporate exercise in everything you do: Take the stairs, walk briskly, dance while doing household chores, grasp hand-weights as you jog, and do bicep curls using big cans of soup! You can even use your own body weight to do push-ups, leg raises, squats and lunges.
So quit making excuses! It doesn’t take a lot of money to get the body you want -- it just takes a lot of energy and discipline! What really matters is getting your heart pumping and your body moving to lose fat, build muscle and shape your physique to a form any movie star would be proud of!