Dancing With the Stars mainstay Jenna Johnson is celebrating earning an Emmy nod with husband Val Chmerkovskiy, for their tribute to the late Len Goodman. Johnson, 30, shared a video of herself wearing black workout gear and green sneakers, sitting next to Chmerkovskiy on a bench and discovering the good news. “Finding out we’re EMMY NOMINATED 🥹😭🤯,” she captioned the post. “So incredibly happy for you guys 🙌🙌🙌 CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! 🥹💜💜💜💜💜,” commented Daniella Karagach Pashkova. Here’s how the dancer stays fit, strong, and full of positivity.
Johnson works out to keep both mind and body healthy. “I personally have to go to the gym for a solid workout in addition to my dancing days, and not because I think I need extra exercise, but because I know my body and it’s become an important part of my daily routine,” she told E! News. “Working out early in the morning is a form of meditation for me. It’s practically the only hour to myself and I get to shut off and just sweat it all out. Typically, my cardio consists of an inclined walk and run on the treadmill for 40 minutes. After that I’ll do three sets of 20 push-ups, 100 crunches, and then I’m off to rehearsal.”
Johnson makes an effort to fuel herself with good quality food. “I try to stick to REAL food, meaning anything that has been grown naturally or organically and that is not majorly processed: meats and proteins, a lot of green vegetables, less sugary fruits, solid starches and nuts,” she told E! News. “I must admit though, any time I am within a 50-mile radius of chocolate I am the first one to grab a piece and eat it! It’s really one of the true joys in life, chocolate.”
Johnson loves using the treadmill to walk on an incline. “I laugh because when I was going out I would see those ladies that would, like, speedily be walking down the street with their arms swinging wide and I would always make fun of them, and now that is totally me at the gym,” she told Women’s Day. “It’s great because it’s low impact so it’s not hurting your knees like running will. It engages your whole body because you’re on that incline. It engages your glutes, your legs, as well as your abs, so I love it.”
Johnson prioritizes sleep for her health and wellness. “I tend to get really sick during the season because my body’s just exhausted, and I’m constantly sweating and working,” she told Women’s Day. “I’m the type of person that cannot survive if I have a lack of sleep. I just turn into an angry monster so I have to be pretty consistent about getting a good night’s rest and, you know, even if that means saying no to a dinner date or going out somewhere.”
Johnson’s schedule is a workout in itself. “To be completely honest with you, during the season we are constantly on our feet,” she told E! News. “Going from one rehearsal to another, to camera blocking, to fittings, to extra rehearsals…And then Monday hits us and that’s another crazy long day of dancing. We burn a lot of calories just by dancing so much but outside of that, some of us do proper gym workouts and some of us don’t.”