SubscribeJessica Biel: 10 Workout Tips
Us magazine recently talked to Jessica Biel's personal trainer Jason Walsh to garner some workout tips.
I list these here not so you can try and be Jessica Biel - but because the advice is very interesting.
Note: points 6-10 are from Jerry Owens (personal trainer of Rachel McAdams). Emphasis added.
- Mix it up
"I'm a big advocate of recreational sports and stuff. If someone can get out there, even if it's a hike or something like that, just to break up the monotony of going to the gym...I really like that." - Full body exercises
"We do full body movements. You are pretty much using as many muscles at once, which in turn will jack that heart rate up." - Food choices
"really organic and clean foods, all natural, like nuts." Also, "an amino acid drink, so that you're not burning up a lot of your muscle, or protein." - Medicine ball
"Get a medicine ball and do a lunge with a twist while you are holding the ball. Those are great. You are activating so many muscles at once, and you are using those muscles over so many different plains." - Diet
"Breakfast would be whole grain bread French toast with egg whites and cinnamon. For a mid-morning snack, they'd do a mixed-berry protein shake. Lunch might be sweet potato tuna melt. An afternoon snack might be hummus with celery sticks. Dinner would be spaghetti and meatballs with spaghetti squash and meatballs made of turkey or chicken breast." - On Yoga and Pilates
"Those are great forms of exercise for stability and balance, but neither one of those is going to change your body dramatically like training with weights does." - Fats
"The biggest problem is that people are fat phobic. It's clinically proven that we need healthy fat in our diets. You need to eat a balanced diet but not be afraid of fat, like Omega 3 fatty acids like walnuts, olive oil and even coconut oil." - Weight loss and "toning up"
"blend nutrition, exercise, and physical therapy. The body responds better. People get too wrapped up in doing isolated movement, like being very body part specific." - On Cardio
"People get too cardio-crazy and need to do more weight lifting," says Owens. He explains that for many people on elliptical machines, "their heart Rate is about the same as if they were shopping around a mall." - Rest and recovery
"take one to two days off a week: have a massage, make sure you get plenty of rest. The muscles actually change when they're recovering."
Did you see "coconut oil" in there? Interesting (see related discussion here).
More like this in Celebrities and Exercise
Surprisingly most of that advice is sound LOL. I'm not familiar with medicine balls but I do know that weight training made a significant difference to my fitness and stamina. I need to get back into it...
Replyi think she gave very good advice. her balanced & satifying diet is also very refreshing. i've just read today about r 'n' b singer rhianna dropping down to a size 2 by consisting on a diet that could only really contain about 500-800 cals a day. a starvation diet basically. jessica looks more toned, healthy and better than her, imo. i'm glad her tips are were published. there needs to be more of this kind of adivce and less of the ones that require you to go hungry. i also like the emphasis on exercise.
ReplyTruly awesome advice. Those are the same principles that I've used to lose 70 pounds and get into the best shape of my life.
We use a medicine ball with a lot of the conditioning drills we do in my Muay Thai class. I've come to develop a love/hate relationship with it. :-)
Brian
ReplyWow! Celebrity workout advice that could actually work for real people! I actually agree with everything on the list.
/wants more of this!!!!!
ReplyThese are pretty impressively good tips, considering they're from US Magazine.
I always wonder about the elliptical machines. I know they're great if your knees can't take the hard shock of running, but they seem to *tell* you you're burning a ton of calories but also make it really easy to slack off and go at an easy rate. I do like to use them for a warm-up before lifting on running off days or, like today, to warm up before running intervals on the treadmill so that there's a bit less stress on my legs. Is there a way to know if you're getting anything resembling a running workout when your hands are too small to get an accurate reading on the HR monitor? (seriously, that thing likes to tell me my heart rate is at crazy things like 36 and 200.)
ReplyFull Body exercise is one of the most important ones. Many people think that just jogging or cycling will do it all. It will, in part, but you need to stimulate all your muscles, this will give you an overall workout and fit condition.
ReplyI don't believe in any of the calorie estimates or imbedded heart rate monitors in machines.
There are 2 ways to get an accurate reading: one, buy a heart rate monitor. I recommend Polar brand. While they have some super expensive ones that do lots of crazy things, I've had an A1 model, which as the name implies, is the simplest one, for 6 years now, and I already got it second-hand (it had a little scratch on the watch part, so I paid less than 50% of the retail price for it) and it has worked great. Other than changing the battery once a year, which any watch repairman can do easily, I've had no problems with it. There are people selling used A1 monitors for as little as $10.
The second way is to try the talk/sing test. To get a good intensity on walking, you should be able to talk, but not to sing. To get a running-like intensity, you should not be able to talk normally, you'd need to pause and catch your breath between words.
ReplyGreat tips. I liked the first comment especially. People assume working out has to be a dull affair at the gym, but there are so many fun options out there. Go hiking, go biking, heck, you can even go dancing!
Gal
ReplyYeah, the elliptical is not too accurate when it comes to calories, but try not to get too caught up in that. Doing elliptical, treadmill, cycling, etc. is better than doing nothing. I personally never look at the calories, but focus more on time or distance. Working out is also be about improving your health (vO2, metabolism, stamina etc.) and not only about the amount of calories you burn. Like the trainer says mix it up.
ReplyThis is an excellent list. Especially the notes on cardio and fat intake. The only one I'd beg to differ with is yoga/pilates. I have seen these systems transform the bodies of individuals. That said, it's typically most dramatic on people who are fairly slim to begin with. I am an avid weight lifter and proponent of resistance training for everyone, especially women (who tend to avoid it) and anyone wanting to lose weight or see major results.
ReplyThanks for the advice.
I'm of the belief that the elliptical machine calorie counts are horrendously inaccurate (and have a sad but amused laugh at the people who really think they're burning 500 calories in a half hour without breaking a sweat). Whereas when I run, I feel like there's measurable progress. I can run 3 miles now - I couldn't run one 15 months ago. That gives me an even greater feeling of accomplishment than the weight I lost in the process. But I can't run more than 4-5 days a week without starting to hurt myself.
Jan - can the A1 also measure distance (in miles or steps) and/or speed or is that something I'd need to go fancy/to different equipment for? Now that it's starting to get nicer, I've been running outside. Which is fantastic, but I often don't know how far I've gone, or at what pace.
ReplyIt lets you set a training zone, measures the amount of minutes you exercised, gives you the average heart rate, and the amount of minutes you were in your training zone, so you can tell how effective the work out was. It does not however count the steps or the speed. There are lots of cheap pedometers for around $5 that count paces too, and I'm not sure if any of the Polar ones do that. Same for speed. I usually measure a good workout as one where I spent 95% of the time in my training zone (it gives percentages too).
ReplyMan, just looking at that list makes me tired:)
ReplyI agree with the recreational sports and hiking stuff though, cos I hate the gym (I'm way too shy).
It's kind of funny that we're all shocked when a celebrity's workout program actually makes sense.
Jan, I think you've got some great advice regarding the heartrate monitor. I love the Polar A1 because it's so simple and has so few functions--it means the digits are big enough to read. (And it was cheap).
I'm like you guys too in finding the elliptical readouts are pretty amusing when it comes to calories. I just roughly estimate that if I'm working out as hard, heart-rate wise, on the elliptical as I am when running or walking, that I'll burn a similar number of calories for a half-hour workout. And running calories, depending on your weight, are about 100 per mile if you're 150 pounds. (I think, unless they've changed the estimates since I last looked.)
ReplyThere is an antipathy between yoga and weight trainers. I've talked about this with my yoga instructor (ashtanga, vinyasa flow, acroyoga) and my weight trainer (also an elite triathlete). There are differences - the yoga instructor has much better posture and the weight trainer never mentions the word "chakra", but also have a lot of similarities. They both worry about opposing muscles, over-stretching, core strengthening, and so on.
I was amazed, when following a posting by Ryan in which he referenced the "vacuum" exercise - this is an exercise that contracts the "uddiyana bunda". Contracting the mula and uddiyana bunda (two of the three "locks" in yoga) are essential to strengthen the inner abs, which are used to "float" your legs (ask an experienced yogi to do a sun salutation with a floating kick into high plank. Some yogi are able to move their legs so slowly that they are essentially doing a pushup with only their hands on the ground - they hang in the air for an impossible length of time, all from their abs). Ayway, I'm now working on the vacuum exercise, and am getting better at the ashtanga float.
On breaking a sweat on an elliptical, when I travel on business I often end up doing my run on a treadmiil, or whatever I can find (I HATE the exercise cycles - I'm also a biker, and the saddles they put on exercise cycles are real butt-breakers). With no air circulation, I break into a heavy sweat very quickly, and am quite disgusting to be next to. I have to mop the machine up afterwards. While it's true that may people do lightweight work on elliptical and treadmills, often I'm not the only one who is a spraying mess.
ReplyI think what I read holds some "weighty" advice. So many training programs are based on 1970's style body-building practices that isolate muscles. Surprise! Its 2007! People don't want to be big and puffy, but instead their looking to accomplish a lean and athletic figure, male and female alike. So when I read that you are promoting exercises that involve more than one muscle group I was impressed. Keep up the good work. I wrote a blog just recently on www.AchieveDiet.com that addressed female concerns with bulking up. You might find it interesting.
ReplyGreat post. I think it's really important to highlight the fact that variety (both in food & exercise) will keep things interesting. I know that the people I talk to about these things always have a great new workout or a tastier, healthier version of a food that I like. It's so important to be able to exchange that information with each other.
Doug Burns, Sugarfitness.com
ReplyGreat advice! I liked the emphasis on lifting weights and I *love* doing cardio with a medicine ball.
Actually Jessica's regime sounds a lot like mine. Pity I don't look like her!
Replyhealthy fats what about eating the egg yolk then
ReplyYou can tell that Jessica takes care of her body well. I've seen so many paparazzi shots of her working out or jogging. She looks very healthy and has one of the most buff bodies in Hollywood. It's a refreshing change from a lot of other starlets who've gotten too skinny (Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Alba for example). They don't look toned at all...
ReplyI'm not at all surprised Jessica Biel gives good health advice, she looks fantastic. Not like most of the young actresses these days
ReplyWhen I grow up, I wanna look like her :) I just love the way she looks - toned, healthy, slender but not skinny.
Just a remark about Polar HR monitors. The very basic models don't have the "ownzone" feature. And you may pick up the signal from the person next to you - in a packed spinning class for example. I have the F6, it's still a basic model, but unlike with the F1, I know I'm reading my own heart rate.
ReplyDuh, I meant OWNCODE.
Sorry.
ReplyObviously this is all great info- basically eat the right foods and less of them and work out your entire body. But come on- anyone who has ever really worked hard on the eliptical trainer knows it's much different than shopping at the mall. If you do it right your heart rate is through the roof.
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ReplyMy gym is TINY, to the point they've gotten fined for not providing enough space and violating safety codes. At the spinning class, we have to squeeze between bikes, and I've still *never* picked up anyone's signal. Same for the treadmill area. So I don't think it is really an issue, cause you can't get worse than where I work out.
Good for you then, but it happens. Most of the models have the owncode feature anyway, it's just the most basic model of each series that hasn't.
ReplyThese are great tips for the improving your body. One of he keys to success is always changing your workout. A lot of individuals get too comfortable with the same routine.
ReplyIt's a simple and easy to follow methods. But i don't know how long it can last for a person to do these few steps only. Create more variety will be great!
ReplyJessica's exercise and diet have payed off. She obviously has the besst toned body in
ReplyHollywood.
I think all of these are great tips but these celebrities have awesome bods (at all ages)!! Besides lipo/surgery, how does a 45-year-old (5'2, 120 lbs.) female get DEFINED muscle tone? I do cardio, yoga, and weight training 4-5 days per week but see little definition except while working out (pumped up). Is diet the answer (and most difficult to stick with!!) or am I stuck with "old skin?"?
ReplyDana, you are not stuck with old skin. I'm 43 and have lost 50 pounds in the past year. I'm 5'2" and am at 126-129. I'm meeting with a trainer next week to move past my plateau. My goal is 110. I have great tone in my arms, legs an even waist and abs. From a distance, people think I'm in my 20s. Up close, they think I'm in my 30s. I do weights only twice a week, cardio five to seven days a week, and occasional yoga. You need to change your routine and challenge your body. You might consider getting with a trainer to help you reach your goals.
ReplyDoing lots of compound exercises sounds good. You might as well do them instead of isolation movements, and save time! (unless you're a bodybuilder)
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