Fitness. Strength. Nutrition.
Jessica Biel: How To Get Her Body
Pic: Muscle With Attitude
We all want to know how to get a body like the stars. In Jessica Biels case it is shear hard work. Here is an inside look at her program (for a certain phase), taken from Muscle With Attitude. You can view the full post, an interview with Jessica Biels Trainer here.
Her program revolves around core body strength and a lot of compound exercises. The cardio isn;t that easy either. It is generally circuit based, and to be honest, would challenge even the fittest. Goes to show even the rich and famous need to work hard to get the body they need. Check out an example of a program from her trainer below.
Day 1:
Circuit # 1
3 sets of each — 30 seconds for each exercise
Mini band lateral walks for 30sec each way (put the band around your ankles)
Sumo Squat Jump with Medicine Ball
PB Planks (Push up position with elbows bent). This is great for full body stimulation.
Circuit #2
3 sets of each
Front Squats (3:1:0 tempo with band around knees) for 10 reps
Reverse Crunch (on incline bench) slow and under control for 15-20 reps
Kneeling Cable Chop for 10 reps each
Circuit # 3
Five 50 yard resisted runs with 30 second rest periods to keep the heart rate up
Circuit # 4
Manual Stretching
Day 2:
Track Day.
Usually sprints ranging from 200m at 75% to 100m at 100%. We do 6-8 sets depending on how she’s feeling from the day before.
We’ll sometimes end with some hops up stairs (single and double leg) and I’ll let her recover to 120 BPM (beats per minute) to get better output during each rep.
Day 3:
Regeneration: A ton of foam rolling!
Day 4:
3 sets of each — 30 seconds for each exercise
Mini Band Lateral Walks
Linear Bounds
Side Bridge
Circuit # 2
3 sets of each exercise
Single Leg Squat (holding medicine ball) for 10 reps each leg.
Single Leg Romanian Dead Lift for 10 reps on each leg. (holding 20-25lb dumbbells)
Decline Stick Roll Ups for 15 reps (slow and controlled)
Circuit # 3
2 sets of each exercise:
Quadruped Opposites (2:5:2 tempo) for 8 reps each side
Chin-ups for 6 reps. (just enough for the upper body without building too much muscle)
Circuit # 4
Two 300 yard Shuttle Runs. I’ll let the HR (heart rate) drop to 120bpm between sets because of fatigue.
Circuit #5
Manual stretching. We’ll do a bit more today since it’s toward the end of the week and she’ll be tight.
Day 5
One hour of hitting and kicking combos. We do 3 minute rounds with one minute rest periods. This is killer stuff.
Day 6
Recreational sports
The whole program is designed to bring her to peak shape in the last two weeks. Jess works out with a HR monitor during every workout and after each circuit we will bring the HR down to 120 BPM.
We always try to end our sessions with some sort of intensive cardio heart and lung thrasher whether its 50-100 yard sprints or hitting the pads for awhile. If you struggle with motivation when you are working out then you can get yourself a ipod or a pair of running headphones and keep yourself moving with the music.
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about 2 years ago
Hi Lauren – wow…that’s intense!!
Just wondering do you recommend using a hear rate monitor when training? I’ve just been reading a book that recommends it, but wondered what your thoughts were?
about 2 years ago
Hey Mel,
Good question! Kinda depends on what your goals are. It is one way to figure out what intensity you are working at, however must be used with caution.
As I’ve written before in the fat burning zone article, you have to be careful trying to work in this zone, because you may actually be hindering your chance to burn more calories. For people that use the heart rate to try and keep it in that zone, who are probably looking for weight loss, then I would probably recommend stop. Try just running a little further next time, or the same length in a shorter time. These are better markers of your improvement and intensity.
However it is a very good tool to see what intensity you are working at. In fact there isn’t really many other options and a lot of people like to see some feedback from their body. For athletes, endurance ones, it is great and gets used a lot. They like to know every facet of their training, and that is an important one.
So, again here I haven’t given you a direct answer, but I feel it depends on where you are at with your training and what your goals are. If you are using it because you want to stay in the fat burning zone, then stop. But, if you are a little more advanced and would like to see how your body is responding, when you are getting into a steady state, when you are in a recovered state, how long your rest intervals need to be to get into that state (if you read the above article again Jessica uses it to make sure she has gotten to a recovered state before the next interval), then there is absolutely no harm in using heart rate monitors and they are very useful. Depends on your training and the individual, as usual!
Cheers.
about 2 years ago
Jessica Biel does have an amazing body……..I give props to her and any girl who actually does something at the gym. Unlike a majority who just do some cardio.
about 2 years ago
Her body is spectacular! She is doing a lot of things right in my book. These are some great tips thanks.
about 1 year ago
Hi Lauren!
I love this article and I love Jessica Biel’s body. But I have some questions. What are lateral bounds and decline stick roll ups? I cannot find what they are anywhere. Also what is a resisted run? I also build up muscle in my arms really fast, but I love Jessica’s arms. Mine just seem to get bulky instead of cut though. Should I still do the chin ups and the cable chop?