Whether you’ve been a fan of Jennifer Aniston since her days on Friends, or you recently jumped on the Jen train after her triumphant return to TV as anchor of The Morning Show, there’s no denying the actress is a fitness icon. Jen basically broke Instagram when she joined in October last year, and one of the things you’ll have noticed if you’ve been keeping up with her ‘gram is that her body looks so fit and healthy in every single photo (seriously, she doesn’t look a day over Rachel). Turns out, the actress works hard to stay strong and on top of her game.
Jennifer works out nearly every day.
Her personal trainer, Leyon Azubuike, co-owner of Gloveworx, tells Women’s Health that Jen works out up to seven days a week for an hour and a half each session, depending on where they are in her training cycle.
Azubuike uses a training technique called “periodization” with Jen, meaning that he breaks their workout plans into phases that could include weekly, monthly, or yearly training programs. This allows him to adjust things based on her schedule. So, her workouts vary anywhere from three days a week at 45 minute sessions to those monster seven-workout weeks. “Where we are in a cycle dictates the duration and intensity of Jen’s workout,” he says. “If I know Jen isn’t filming anything, it’s a different phase than if I know she’s going to be walking up to receive an award—I’m not going to destroy her legs in the gym the day before.”
She wakes up super early to exercise.
Still, her workouts are never easy. Since Azubuike and Jen both have chaotic schedules, they jump on any available time to break a sweat. “She has to respond when I say go,” says Azubuike. “If she has a shoot at 3 a.m. and we need to work out before that, let’s go…we respect each other in that regard, so it’s a constant back and forth with mutual respect and understanding.” He’s self-admittedly a tough trainer, so “she definitely should be commended, because when I get into go mode, I’m in go mode.”
Jen likes to change up her routine.
“We box, we jump rope, we do strength training, we do a lot of work with resistance bands—we’re big on resistance bands,” says Azubuike. “We rotate these things so it’s always hard, she’s consistently being challenged—I’m a big fan of switching things up, so the body reacts in a positive way and changes.”
Jen previously told People that she’s a yoga devotee, and has been practicing since 2005—plus she loves to add spin classes into the mix. “You have to shake it up—you know, muscle confusion,” she said. But her most recent fitness love is boxing with Azubuike. “It’s the longest workout I’ve actually stayed with consistently other than yoga,” she told In Style last year for their September cover story.
She’s all about training her abs.
In addition to boxing, Azubuike says Jen loves to do core work. “Every exercise I throw at her, she dominates it,” he says. “She can hold a two- or three-minute plank rather easily.” To challenge her, Azubuike has Jen crank out a plank flow where she starts in a standard plank, then moves to a side plank, then moves to plank with shoulder taps, and so forth. “We do a lot of things that stretch the core, so we’ll do things where she’s hanging on a pullup bar, then she pulls her knees up and brings them back down.” She also loves doing V-ups and using an ab wheel. “We’ll use a situp to shock the body occasionally, but it’s not a major part of our core regimen.”
Try Jen’s go-to plank sequence:
Plank
How to: Start on the floor on hands and knees. Place hands directly under shoulders. Step feet back, one at a time. Maintain a straight line from heels through the top of head, looking down at the floor, with gaze slightly in front of your face. Now, tighten abs, quads, glutes, and hold.
Side Plank
How to: Start in plank position, shoulders over wrists and feet hip-width apart. Resting on balls of feet, rotate right arm up towards the ceiling, opening up the chest. Bring right hand back down to the ground, and switch sides.
Plank Shoulder Tap
How to: Start in a high plank position with feet wider than shoulders. Keeping hips square to the floor, lift right hand and tap left shoulder. Return to start and repeat with the other arm. That’s one rep.
Jen faces fitness hurdles, too.
Don’t worry, Jen isn’t a master of everything in the gym—at least, not at first. Azubuike says she didn’t love using the jump rope when he first introduced it into her routine because she found it a bit challenging (same). “I just made her keep on doing it, and now she’s great at it.”
Azubuike says the hardest part of working with Jen is finding new ways to test her. “Here’s a woman who has always looked amazing, and I’m tasked with keeping it that way and elevating that even further.”
Well, based on her recent Insta posts and red carpet appearances: mission accomplished.
From: Women’s Health US
