The Big Business of Beautiful Bodies
Where the rich and famous build muscle and sculpt their smiles.
Oct. 18, 2007 Special to ABCNEWS.com — -- To the average gym-goer, attaining a star body may seem daunting if not altogether impossible. The sculpted abs, toned arms and shapely legs that float by on the red carpet often look like the product of good genes, a starvation diet and never-ending fitness boot camp.
But celebrity trainers say such a look is attainable without spending a sum on one-on-one training or spending untold hours on the treadmill.
"It is all within your reach," says Gunnar Peterson, whose clients have included Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani and Matthew McConaughey. What's often most challenging, he says, is first getting off the couch.
Click here to see where the stars workout at our partner site, Forbes.com.
To that end, instead of playing the drill sergeant, trainers help their celebrity clients develop a fitness regimen they can look forward to, find ways to maximize the gains and push them to meet their goals everyday.
When working with clients like Queen Latifah, Kimora Lee Simmons and Taryn Manning, Jeanette Jenkins, author of The Hollywood Trainer, encourages her clients to incorporate movements and exercises they enjoy in order to ensure a consistency to their workouts.
"It's about the mental fulfillment," she says. "If you're going to make someone do something they don't enjoy, they won't want to do it again."
Simmons, head of the Baby Phat empire, trains with Jenkins four days a week for an hour at a time. Jenkins advocates a circuit training program, which improves cardio and strength simultaneously, in combination with cardio-heavy activities like boxing, hiking or jogging.
"Kimora likes to work her legs," she says, "so I've created programs with interval boxing--something she enjoys--mixed with leg exercises."
While it may seem like celebrities exercise obsessively at least four or six days a week, the government actually recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week. At optimal levels, Americans would sweat through a 60 minute workout regularly throughout the week.
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