From an article written by Gwen’s longtime trainer,Mike Heatlie:
Having trained US singer Gwen Stefani for the better of the last fourteen years, I am in the best position to explain how celebrities such as Gwen Stefani get so lean and have amazing figures.
So many women are asking how Gwen Stefani can obtain a six-pack after having had two children. How does Beyonce have such great legs? What does Rihanna do to stay in shape? Well firstly celebrities have more pressure on them, specifically women, to stay in shape. When pressure increases, motivation increases also. You have to swim or die, there’s no going back. Celebrities are often the most hard-working individuals you are likely to meet and some of the most discipline.
Celebrities do not just take a wonderful celebrity diet pill and miraculously they are lean and trim. They have to train with consistency, dedication, and determination, there are no short cuts. Yes they have the luxury of a Personal Trainer, such as myself, knocking on their door every day, but we trainers can’t do the exercises for them, they need to push themselves and their bodies to the upper limits.
Celebrities also follow strict diets, sometimes they can be quite extreme if they need to lose 10 lbs in one week, but most celebrity diets follow the same principles. Low calorie, low carb, moderate proteins and fats (good fats!). Carb cycling is a popular celebrity diet plan, this method ensures that you are not constantly suffering from low carbs and you can cycle in your potatoes, pasta, breads etc. without going without for weeks on end.
There are also many celebrity training programs and fads, but don’t believe too much hype, you can get away from honest hard work. Let’s face it, hard work doesn’t sell, but that’s what needs to be done in order to get lean. Training with weights works wonders for women in losing body fat. Calories burned during an exercise session don’t count, it’s the post-elevation of your metabolism that really counts and by training with weights, with short rest periods between sets elevates your metabolic and hormonal rate higher than steady pace cardio training.
Weight training with a quality load and short rest periods also stimulates the release of growth hormone which is a major fat burner and is the real key for stimulating fat loss in celebrities. This is an area that many women do not take advantage of but it can produce incredible results!
Cardiovascular interval training is also a fantastic training mode for stimulating fat loss. Rather than running 30 mins at a steady pace, run 10 mins at a steady pace, then run five 90 second intervals with a 60 second rest between. The pace when running the intervals would be significantly higher than the steady pace. This will crank up the intensity and stimulate greater fat loss gains!
In conclusion, celebrities do benefit from having celebrity personal trainers etc. but we cannot do the hard work of exercise and dieting for them, all we can do is provide the correct information in terms of diets, training programs and exercises which lead them up the right road. The key principles of dedication, discipline, and determination, must be fundamental to any gains in fat loss.
Mike Heatlie MSc CSCS is one of the world’s top Celebrity Personal Trainers and the man responsible for Gwen Stefani’s post-baby abs! Check out his incredible, epic weight-loss ebook, Foreward by Gwen Stefani Lose10poundsin5weeks