1. No Crash Dieting
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You won’t find Louise on a crash diet. In 2007 she even made a documentary about the pressure for celebrities to get painfully thin called The Truth About Size Zero. In it her goal is to drop two dress sizes in 30 days, which she does by eating less than 800 calories per day, running three miles, and lifting weights for an hour. She lost 11 pounds and went from a size 4 to 0, went down two cup sizes, and her BMI dropped from 9.4 to 17.6. In the documentary she reveals the repercussions she suffered as a result, including health issues and struggling with day-to-day functions, sleep, mental health, and skin issues.
2. HIIT Workouts
Louise’s trainer, Bradley Simmonds, revealed to OK! Magazine that HIIT workouts are responsible for her gym-honed body. “She likes high-intensity sessions such as boxing, quick circuits, she doesn’t necessarily like strength training when you are waiting around a lot so you have to adapt to your clients,” he said. “A workout with 40 seconds on and 20 seconds off, 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off and an hour goes like that [clicks].” There is lots of research backing up the benefits of HIIT workouts, including body fat reduction, improved cardiovascular function, and mental health. It is also time effective.
3. Boxing
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Louise also makes sure to “mix it up so she always likes to do boxing, for example, that is something that we always do in our sessions and it is good to release some stress as well,” her trainer said. “In the circuits, we focus on core, upper and lower body and some days we do the whole lot so a full-body workout.” Harvard Health maintains that boxing is a great way to build strength, improve balance, posture, hand-eye coordination, boost mood and endurance, and helps increase alertness.
4. Two to Four Workouts a Week
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Louise regularly exercises. “If we train twice a week we do a full body and if we do three or four times a week then we can change it up and isolate different muscle groups.”It makes it a lot easier for me so I am not spending up to an hour teaching her techniques because she is spot on and we can go straight into it,” said Simmonds. How many workouts should you aim for? Each week adults need 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity and 2 days of muscle-strengthening activity, according to the current Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.
5. Pilates
Louise Redknapp/Instagram
In her recent post, Louise shows off her Pilates moves. Why is pilates a good workout? According to the Mayo Clinic there are lots of benefits to the workout, as it “strengthens the body’s inner core while increasing its flexibility resulting in improved overall health.” It can also promote longer, leaner muscles, injury prevention, relief from stress and back pain, enhanced athletic performance, and heightened mind-body awareness.