WWE star Kelly Kelly (real name Barbara Blank Coba) is 35 years old and in the best shape of her life. The wrestler posted a photo of herself wearing a blue and white checked bikini standing next to a bike, captioning the shot, “Little Bo Peep 🐑”. How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways Kelly stays in shape and the photos that prove they work—and to get beach-ready yourself, don’t miss these essential 30 Best-Ever Celebrity Bathing Suit Photos!
Kelly tries to maintain a healthy routine when she’s on the road. “I try to workout every day on the road even if it’s for 20 minutes,” she tells Perez Hilton. “As long as you’re getting a little cardio in, it still makes you feel good. When we get out of our live event shows around 11 p.m., a lot of restaurants are closed, so we usually have to eat fast food. I will get either a salad or grilled chicken sandwich without the bun. I feel those are the healthiest choices at your typical McDonald’s, etc.”
Kelly recommends keeping junk food well-hidden behind healthier options, to keep it “out of sight, out of mind.” “Most of us have too much chaos going on in our lives to consciously focus on every bite we eat,” says psychologist and mindful-eating expert Brian Wansink. “The secret is to change your environment so it works for you rather than against you.”
“I do 60 minutes of cardio and 15-minute abdominal workouts,” Kelly says. “I also love doing hour-long aerobics classes at my local gym, like body-pump, Pilates, yoga or Zumba, so I’m not stuck doing the same workouts every day. I don’t do much weight lifting just because I feel I gain muscle mass very easily, so I switch up cardio machines every day and do light weights probably once a week. For my abs, I do push-ups, sit-ups and abdominal machines. I keep it very simple.”
Kelly recommends keeping a food journal for anyone trying to lose weight. “[A food diary] can help you understand your eating habits and patterns, and help you identify the foods — good and not-so-good — you eat on a regular basis,” says Katherine D. McManus, MS, RD, LDN. “Research shows that for people interested in losing weight, keeping a journal can be a very effective tool to help change behavior. In one weight loss study of nearly 1,700 participants, those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records.”
Kelly likes incorporating hula-hooping into her exercise regimen. “It’s fun. And as much as we may try to tell ourselves otherwise, not all exercising is fun. Also, this is a workout that is inexpensive and can be done from the comfort of home, where you can provide your own soundtrack to your workout,” says certified fitness trainer Kristin Weitzel.