Alison Brie, best known for her roles in Community and GLOW, recently took to Instagram to reveal her latest achievement—sculpting her abs using EMSculpt, a non-invasive body contouring treatment. In her post, she shared a glimpse of the process, captioning it, “But first…Gotta zap those abs,” while dressed in a white shirt and black pants. While EMSculpt isn’t a traditional workout, Brie’s fitness routine still plays a big role in her healthy lifestyle. From strength training to Pilates and nutritious snacks, here’s how Alison Brie stays fit and motivated.
To prepare for her role in GLOW, Brie did a lot of strength training. Her trainer, Jason Walsh, told Women’s Health that he had her do basic exercises with the weights. “Some of the key elements were lots and lots and lots of heavy sleds, pushing and pulling,” he says. “Lots of deadlifts, variations of squats, hip thrusts, pull-ups, lots of work with medicine balls, throwing and jumping and lunging. You can’t go wrong with these, there’s a reason why they’ve been around for years.”
As you can see from the previous blurb, Brie works with a trainer to help her stay in shape. Personal training can be very beneficial. ACE Fitness reports that trainers can help people stay motivated. “Most of us work harder in the presence of others. Having a trainer by your side can provide the encouragement, energy and motivation you need to jumpstart your routine. A trainer can also help you set goals, create a plan to accomplish them and celebrate the day you reach them.”
Brie shared some of her favorite products in an interview with New York Magazine. She says that she likes to use the Forma Pilates app to help her work out. “For the last year, I have been doing Pilates at Forma Pilates in Los Angeles, which I like because the classes are really small,” Brie explained. “They have an app, so I can do Forma Pilates online when I’m traveling. There are videos of different lengths, but mostly I do the 25-minute classes, because it’s a really nice way to get into my body before going to work, and it’s a really manageable amount of time to squeeze in even if I have to get up at 4:30 a.m. Also, there’s something gentle about Pilates — this is especially true if you’re getting up early and trying to fit in a workout — because it’s all about musculature, and it was created as a form of rehabilitation. It’s not like waking up and doing burpees or something insane. You’re lying down, and it’s engaging your core and glutes. It’s also great because they use minimal props, so it’s mostly stuff I can pack in my suitcase, like bands or a couple of two-pound ankle weights, so that’s really handy.”
Brie makes sure to eat healthy. She told New York Magazine that she likes vegan protein bars from Papa Steve’s. “I’ve become obsessed with these small-batch raw vegan protein bars. I’m not vegan, but like a lot of people, I’m a gal on the go. I try to eat fairly healthy and have high-protein content in my diet because I work out a lot, and I’m always trying to hang on to that muscle mass. Most protein bars that you find, you can’t pronounce 90 percent of the ingredients or they have a lot of sugar. These are great because everything that’s in them is, like, almond butter and coconut and apples and dates and things like that. They’re really tasty, and they come in a lot of different flavors. The apple cinnamon is my favorite, but there’s also a blueberry almond flavor that I like.”
Brie tells New York Magazine that she loves making tea. “I’m not really a coffee drinker, because it makes me really grouchy,” she said. “It spikes my energy too quickly and then drops me immediately, and when you’re shooting, it’s at least a 12-hour day, so if I have coffee, by hour four I’m like, ‘I’m angry now.’ So I’m really more of a tea girl and just keep coffee as a special treat. I love loose-leaf tea, because I like to steep it myself. Art of Tea has really beautiful teas. I love a good green tea or a white tea, and sometimes a black tea if I’m feeling really dangerous. [Art of Tea’s products are] really good quality. Sometimes they even look really pretty and have flower petals in them.”