As for Jennifer Lopez’s exercise regimen, every workout is different.
“I’m always changing and seeking things that keep me interested and inspired,” she said to Us Weekly in 2023. “I’m not one to be afraid to challenge myself.”
Diverse workouts can ward off boredom, and they have the bonus of preventing you from hitting a fitness plateau.
It’s all about mixing it up and keeping your body on its toes,” the singer once said to People.
Lopez doesn’t play around when she goes to the gym, and all the effort has earned her applause from fans and personal trainer, David Kirsch, who defines his client’s sessions as “fast paced” and “very intense.”
“She’s very focused and high energy,” he said to Vogue in 2021.
At 55 years young, it’s no wonder that her fans can’t help but ask how she appears to be aging in reverse. Fortunately for us, she’s revealed a few of her secrets along the way.
Want to be inspired by her toned body and enthusiasm for life? Here are a few of her top tips and tricks.
She dances for enjoyment and for her well-being
The “Booty” singer knows how to bust a move on stage and off, and all that shaking burns a ton of calories.
“I’ve been dancing a lot over the past two months as I’m gearing up for my album to come out, so that’s taken over as my main fitness routine,” she told PopSugar in 2023.
Speaking with People in 2016, the actress detailed how she maximizes her dance routines.
“It’s no secret that I’m a huge dancing fan, so it doesn’t even register for me as exercise. I do freestyle dancing with Tracy Anderson five times a week. We’ll add in light weights (3 pounds) for the arms and steps that target the butt and thighs and work the core,” she told them.
To prepare for playing a stripper in the 2019 movie “Hustlers,” Lopez had trained as a pole dancer. She later informed Jimmy Kimmel that the exercise is quite strenuous and stated that she had “bruises everywhere.”
The actress continued to explain how pole dancing is “much more difficult” than the normal kind of dancing she performs on stage.
“It’s like acrobatic. It’s different muscle groups. And the things that they do with their legs and everything and go upside down. It’s hard,” she said.
She’s worked with Tracy Anderson for years
Tracy Anderson is known for her highly effective workouts and her massive celebrity client list. The personal trainer has been working with Lopez for years and described her client’s workout mentality during an interview with E! News in 2023.
“If anyone graduated summa cum laude of physical literacy, it’s her,” Anderson said. “She is so in touch with her body and knows what she requires for the countless, countless projects that she works on.”
Anderson described Lopez as “driven” and “such a hard worker,” stating, “I don’t know anybody that has her work ethic.”
Lopez is aware, though, of when to scale back her workout routine and when to turn up the intensity.
“she’s also really soft and kind to herself in a really lovely way that you wouldn’t guess,” Anderson replied. “she has a really good sense of her engine. she doesn’t over-train if she needs to light up a stage, which is usually most of the time.”
Discussing with Us Weekly in 2024, Anderson explained she and Lopez love to do a 10-move leg routine that focuses on “the glutes and the cinching of the waist.
“Moving is just in Jennifer’s DNA. She does what she has to do,” she said.
She’s an enthusiast of full-body circuit workout routines
Instead of focusing on one specific part, Lopez likes to tone her whole body when she exercises.
“Whenever I work with Jennifer, we always train her full body. She enjoys high-intensity workouts and keeping the variety high,” her trainer David Kirsch explained to Allure in 2016.
The trainer described his sweat sessions with Lopez as all about “shaping and toning the curves God gave her” and consisting of a combination of moves.
“We do a lot of circuit training and a lot of compound movements, such as crossover lunges and single-leg squats. We do a lot of burpees. We also do a little kickboxing,” he said.
On March 2024, Lopez posted a clip of her circuit-like workout, and it was done with eight different exercises targeting her arms, legs and core.
TODAY fitness editor Stephanie Mansour termed it as “a great full-body workout” and advised one to “repeat the circuit a total of 3 times after doing 10 reps each.
She zeroes in on her core
Curious how Lopez achieved her amazing abs? Allure received some of Kirsch’s client favorite moves from the trainer.
“For her abs and core, we do stability-ball pikes,” he explained.
In another interview with Us Weekly, the trainer gave out some additional tips on how to get Lopez’s abs.
We’re getting a lot of planks, side planks and we do this medicine ball toss when we’re in a lunge so we’re taking over the room,” he explained. “If you look at her core now it’s just so tight and her waist is so small, so that engages the core and engages on carving out the obliques and creating an overall strong, gorgeous middle. And she certainly shows that off — as she should.
She’s very driven and doesn’t like to miss workouts
It’s simple to make excuses for missing the gym, but you won’t catch Lopez doing it very often.
“Very seldom will I miss my longest workout,” she explained to Us Weekly in 2015. “Sometimes I work late the previous night and I want to be like, ‘Ugh, I am not going to do this.’ But I am like, ‘Just do it. It’s only one hour.’ It’s just coaxing yourself off the cliff of being a lazy bum.”
In 2023, the star revealed to Us Weekly that physical exercise is a “motivating factor” in her life and admitted that she likes to exercise “first thing in the morning.”
She enjoys exercising with a partner
While she was dating baseball great Alex Rodriguez, Lopez exercised regularly with her beau.
In 2017, the couple took People behind the scenes of a TruFusion workout, which Rodriguez described as the “best workout I’ve ever had in my entire life.” The athlete went on to explain that the workout combines hot yoga with elements of Barry’s Bootcamp.
The pair confirmed their split in 2021, but ahead of their own wedding, they took on some fitness and dietary challenges together. In 2019, the pair abstained from carbs and sugar for 10 days and challenged TODAY’s Hoda Kotb to join them.
She thinks exercise makes everyone ‘the best version of ourselves
Lopez referred to fitness as a “very important part of my life” when she spoke with Us Weekly in 2023.
“I believe there’s a positive correlation between exercise and mental health. When you find a good balance through determination and focus, we’re naturally pushing to be the best version of ourselves,” she told them.
The star reaffirmed that statement in another interview with PopSugar.
Exercise is a daily choice I make, and it makes me feel like I’m unleashing the best version of myself,” she said. “I’ve had to play at such a high level for so long, that it’s about finding the right balance to do more and to improve without sacrificing things that are most important to me.”
She does not eat processed foods
Lopez depends on a combination of nutrient-rich foods to fuel her energetic lifestyle.
“I have her eating very clean because she needs really good fuel for all the things that she’s doing,” Anderson said to People in 2016. “It’s all organic and it’s all very well thought out, with the balance of very high quality proteins and a lot of nutrient-dense food.”
The trainer further added that Lopez does not take packaged foods.
“Everything is fresh,” she said. “There’s nothing processed — just (protein powder) in a shake if we do a protein shake one day.”
Sharing her daily diet with People in 2016, Lopez described that she likes to carry healthy snacks to snack on when she’s on the go.
“Being constantly on the go, I always like to have healthier snack options like fruits or vegetables with me,” she said.
During the same interview, the singer gave a glimpse into what she eats on a daily basis. Breakfast would usually be a fruit and yogurt smoothie. Salads for lunch and dinner would be grilled chicken breast with vegetables.
She still indulges in her favorite foods — in moderation
Lopez’s food program is very strict, but she allows herself to stray from her diet every now and then.
“I don’t starve myself,” she said to People in 2015. “But I have learned the value of living a healthy life.”
When discussing her client’s commitment to exercising, Anderson informed People Lopez is a “very balanced person” who consumes things in moderation.
“That’s part of the reason why the exercise is necessary, and it’s so regular — so we don’t do any sort of extreme dieting,” she explained.
She enjoys being physically powerful
At the conclusion of her tour in 2018, Lopez posted on Instagram a picture of herself showing off her muscles along with a caption regarding her fitness regimen.
“Feeling superwoman tonight after the show! When I began this run I thought omg 15 shows in 27 days that is a lot. but I vowed to myself that rather than let it get to me I would be even tougher at the end of it.I will exercise and be the fittest version of myself,” she posted.
Lopez admitted that she experienced moments of exhaustion and had to be creative about fitting her workouts in when she was traveling, but added that it was all worth it in the long run.
“(I) am having so many emotions but mostly just feeling strong, happy and grateful!!!”
She values sleep
When you don’t block out time to get some ZZZ’s, you seldom have the stamina to exercise to your maximum capability. That’s just one of many reasons why Lopez prioritizes sleep.
“Get seven to nine hours of sleep, like carve it out,” she said to TODAY’s Willie Geist in 2018. “Now the other hours of the day? I’m full speed. I’m full speed on the rest. But when I lay down I’m like ‘okay, I need my rest.’ And when I don’t get it, something’s gonna suffer. You know, like it will and I’ve learned that.”
Lopez also spoke about how sleep deprivation can affect your well-being.
“I’ve hit the wall,” she said. “I’ve had the nervous breakdown where I freeze up from doing too much and not sleeping. So that’s super important to me. I can’t do that now that I have kids. I can’t have the freeze up.”
She leads a very ‘clean’ life
Lopez is human like everyone else (albeit her body is pretty much from another planet), and she doesn’t necessarily work out as frequently or eat as healthfully as she would want to. However, she makes it a priority to “live clean,” which she informed Geist back in 2018.
“I don’t eat perfectly. I eat good, I try to eat good. Like when people are eating super clean, that’s not me, you know? But I try to control myself and live healthy, but enjoy myself,” she explained.
To help her meet that objective, Lopez said she stays away from caffeine and booze, choosing instead to drink water as her source of hydration.
“Adding hydration to my day is a high priority for me because it allows me to do my best. Hydration is important for me to keep me going and have energy to accomplish all that I am asking my body to accomplish,” she said to PopSugar in 2023.
