Jessica Alba doesn’t get enough credit for having one of the best – and healthiest-looking – bodies in Hollywood. She really strikes a great balance of looking fit, athletic and lean without ever looking “too skinny” or too bulky. So Alba is an obvious choice for the cover of the newest issue of Shape Magazine. Her body looks amazeballs, but I have qualms about her hair on the cover shot – yikes. As one would expect from Shape Magazine, the conversation is mostly about workouts, body image, confidence and food. I hate myself a little for finding it interesting.
Her athletic body: “I attribute my athletic body to the martial arts, gymnastics, dance, and strength training I did while filming Dark Angel. That’s made me strong and really set the bar.”
She has to work out: “I have to break a sweat or I don’t feel like I’ve gotten anything done. When I only have 30 minutes, I’ll do a series of burpees, mountain climbers, squat jumps, planks, and a few sun salutations. But I’m not going to lie. Working out sucks. Which is why I love taking classes, because I’m surrounded by other people and that keeps me motivated and accountable. These days, I do power yoga with light weights in a 105-degree room, so it’s a mix of hot yoga and strength training. I also spin. The key for me is good music, like 2 Chainz, Lil Wayne, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Beyoncé.”
Motherhood & confidence: “I wasn’t truly confident about my body until I had my daughters, Honor, 7, and Haven, 3. I felt more comfortable in my own skin after they were born. Plus, if I want them to be happy with their bodies, I need to walk the walk.”
Peaceful mind: “When I need to zone out and quiet my mind, I listen to a meditation podcast from the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. Each one is literally just three minutes long, so I can go into a bathroom stall or do it in my car. But I’m really intrigued by Transcendental Meditation. Everyone I know who does TM has this inner peace and a glow. I want that.”
Popcorn addict: “I’m addicted to popcorn. I eat it throughout the day. I’m a scatterbrain with lots of things to do at once, and eating popcorn helps me concentrate. It’s my way of dealing with my mind wandering off.”
I don’t get the popcorn thing? But maybe that’s because I’m not a grazer. If I grazed on popcorn or nuts or whatever throughout the day, I probably wouldn’t be able to stop. I need real meals, like a delineation between “now I’m eating” and “now I’m not eating.” Otherwise I would just eat constantly.
As for her workouts, that’s why she has such a great body, because she’s doing so many different things. And I admire her for it, because you would have to take me hostage at gunpoint to get me to do hot yoga or 30 minutes of burpees and planks. I’ll just stick to cycling, walking and weight machines, thanks!
Photos courtesy of Shape.
Is exercising, even yoga, in a room that is 105 degrees a good thing to do? Anyone know?
I believe it’ll be alright. It’s not gruelling as other exercises so her body wouldn’t be producing extra heat.
I do power yoga once a week and they set the thermostat to 90. It’s not 105, but it’s not as odd as it sounds. You’re sweating, you’re drinking tons of fluids, and it’s over in about an hour, which goes by really fast. The door is always there if you’re woozy.
Eh, my husband was doing carpentry before plumbing. He was shingling a roof in that kind of heat, which given the weight of bundles of shingles, and the going up and down ladders all day, probably a lot more strenuous, and while he didn’t feel great doing it, he survived. Probably some lighter, controlled exercise in that kind of temperature is fine.
i’ve read that working out in heated rooms increases the chances of injury – the heat makes you feel like you’re more flexible or warmed up than you actually are.
I’ve also heard the same thing. Maybe when you have a professional monitoring you it is fine? But the average person can hurt themselves if they don’t know what they are doing. (105 sounds very extreme…)
That is true and the problem with the hot yoga classes I have been too Was that there were too many people in the classes for the instructor to really keep an eye on everyone,
I think I’d have a seizure if I had to work out in a room that hot. Or i’d throw up
You have to be careful and aware of your body’s limits, because it can be easy to accidentally over-stretch.
As for the heat, you get used to it. Hot yoga isn’t really my thing, but the body adjusts for the most part.
I don’t know, but I do know that your body burns more calories trying to stay cool in hot weather than it does when you exercise in cool temperatures.
There is an Italian work out program, can’t remember what it is called. It’s basically pilates in heat capsules. The idea behind it is that certain parts of your body, usually the ones that retain fat and cellulite are cold to the touch, even when exercising. So, in order for the work out to fully work you need to rise the temperature of those body parts, hence the heat.
What she is saying sounds like the same premise.
I used to do Bikram Yoga and loved it. However, between driving to the studio, doing the workout, cooling down enough to drive home and showering, it took 3 hours out of my day and was just too much time.
I love when people say working out sucks. After a workout, I am so ecstatic. But during it, I just want to die. It’s so hard, I can’t catch my breath, I struggle with maintaining form, etc. I always figured this was because I’m so out of shape so it’s nice to hear that even people who are in shape don’t always love it.
I’m the same way. I hate it, but I love it at the same time. I love the way it makes me look and feel, both mentally and physically… but I hate it. I hate it so much.
most people if they had the choice, wouldn’t work out. that’s why a lot of naturally skinny women never work out. but they should for health reasons. if I could get away with it, I would prob never work and I would just stuff my face. but I have to work out or I will gain weight easily. but i feel good after i do it. it’s just a matter of doing it. if you think too long, such as should i work out now or later, and procrastinate it, you’ll end up skipping it. something that helps me sometimes is putting on my workout clothes and thinking well, I’ll just do it for ten minutes and if I wanna stop after that, I will. but once I start, i end up doing 30 minutes. and then i feel great afterwards.
She’s right on this one, I always feel good after working out, but I hate working out. That’s why classes are fun, you meet people and there’s a whole vibe of “we hate, so let’s do it together”.
I love classes too, it’s devastating that there’s no gym in my new area. Nothing like the mentality of ‘we’re all in this together!’
I do hot yoga 5 – 6x a week and walk miles daily and I look like Mariah Carey. I wish i could have a little more Alba in my shape!
I admire anyone who exercises on a daily basis. I can’t do it. My body says no after 10 minutes of doing anything. I am a very outdoorsy person though and I feel trapped in a gym. I can’t use walking machines or spin because I feel like I’m dying but I walk everywhere – I go for long, 3-hour works whenever I can and try to ride my bike regularly. And I dance, by myself, awkwardly in my own house, but I think that helps a little too because I eat way too much sweets and I’m somehow still in shape. But when I think about doing half of what she describes, it makes all my limbs hurt. That power yoga part is what I imagine hell feels like.
Sounds like you might need to push your heart a little bit harder. I don’t think you asked for advice, but I’ll give you some anyway… When you’re walking, pick up your pace to a power walk or slow jog for 30 second intervals every couple minutes. It will build your cardio strength without pooping you out. You’ll find over time that the more grueling cardio exercises seem easier.
I think your workouts sound fine. Dancing gets the heart rate up, and cycling certainly will. Do what you love and you will keep at it. That’s what really matters.
In “Hollywood” seems like a weird statement in connection with her. Are we still pretending she’s an actress? Hasn’t she pretty much stopped pretending she’s an actress?
She has an amazing figure. I’ve always loved her body frame and shape.
I went to a group trainer workout twice last week with a friend. It’s her personal trainer. It was three of us being supervised by her in circuit training I didn’t realize how lazy I had gotten with pushing myself during exercise until I had her setting up the weight machines (whoo) and monitoring my lunges and having us toss a medicine ball, etc. I was literally dying and miserable. Afterwards, though I felt almost euphoric from the workout, a good tired.
I am lazy, but I like to eat and to cook, so I have to do sport to stay in shape: and she is right, workout sucks 😀
She is just beautiful.
Where is her navel?
I had a neighbor who did hot yoga as her main exercise and her body was beautiful. I’m afraid to try it because I hate to be hot. Twenty seconds in a sauna makes me feel like my head is going to explode.
I’m the same way.
Not all hot yoga places keep the same temperature, you can ask around and see if there are any classes that would work for someone who’s not as comfortable with intense heat. And if anyone tells you that 105 is good for you and just need to push – run. They won’t be a good fit. But a good studio recognizes that yoga is supposed to be fun and make you feel good!
I think doing just yoga, any kind but regularly will give you a beautiful, toned body anyway. I follow some yoga fanatics on instagram and they all look amazing. My fav is called bananablondie108. She’s 38, has 2 kids and the best body ever. Cuchira is cool too.
I’d need to be hooked up to an IV to do this workout, but good for her! It’s clearly working, and I’d rather listen to her legitimate workout advice vs. Tracy Anderson/Goop. And no question who I’d rather look like!
I agree that Alba looks AMAZING, but I hate the “she doesn’t look bulky” comments. Seriously, outside of the bodybuilding world, when was the last time you looked at an in-shape woman and thought “she’d look so much better with a little less muscle?” Probably almost never. If you are a woman, you are not going to look bulky by lifting weights unless you are trying to be a bodybuilder. It is extremely difficult to build prominent muscles and to be lean enough that they are clearly visible. I lift weights as heavy as I possibly can, and I just look ever so slightly more toned than before, and definitely not fatter.
Doesn’t she know that spinning is what gives her that bulky lower body?? Wait…
My body isn’t nearly as good as hers is, but I love working out. It makes me feel way less stressed.
Jessica Alba may look ‘curvy’ but she’s still absolutely tiny.
Curvy is a shape, not a size.
” Everyone I know who does TM has this inner peace and a glow. I want that.””
Yeah, you could probably start with meditation done in silence by yourself instead of in front of an assistant holding an iphone, with a coconut water by a certain company I won’t name standing next to you.
I really love that bikini on the front cover, I wonder who does it.