Jessica Alba|: Acting is Like a Vacation

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Actress Jessica Alba says acting is like a “vacation”.

 

The 33-year-old, who has daughters Honor, six, and three-year-old Haven with husband Cash Warren, insists working on a movie is a much more “easy” job than her day-to-day dealings with her eco-friendly brand The Honest Company, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

 

“Acting is totally the easy job. It’s like vacation! It’s also something I have been doing for so long,” ELLE magazine quoted Jessica as saying.

 

“It’s difficult because you have to be open and vulnerable and in the moment. It’s hard for me to be in a mental state to do all of that sometimes, but it’s much more the creative side of the brain.

 

“That’s tough for a lot of people and it’s tough for me. My day-to-day stress is running my business and knowing I am part of a bigger movement with my company,” she added.

 

The 33-year-old actress feels a lot more “pressure” in her business, but she is willing to work hard at it to make her family proud.

 

“We have a lot of employees who rely on us and lots of customers to deliver this quality product to. I do feel that pressure and I also want my kids and husband and family to be proud of me. It’s a completely different business,” she said.

 

Categories: business, easy job, jessica, jessica alba, nbsp, vacation, year

Post-natal Weight Loss Tips From Celebrity Mums

Every new mother knows that shifting the weight gained during pregnancy is a tricky thing to do. So who better to look to than celebrity mums who know the best tricks and tips for getting red carpet ready in a quick space of time. Here are some of the best tricks discovered from the world’s favourite celeb mothers.

Halle Berry

Halle Berry is well known for her amazing body and she works hard for it – she worked out until she was seven months pregnant. When it came to shifting the baby weight once her daughter Nahla was born, the Oscar winner followed a five-factor fitness plan which involved eating five meals a day, each one containing no more than five ingredients.

Jessica Alba

When Jessica Alba gave birth to her daughter Honor, she went straight back to the gym. It’s reported that she shed 11kg of weight with the help of a personal trainer, as well as working out during the pregnancy itself. Although Jessica gained a healthy amount of weight when she was pregnant with Honor, she did also stay active with prenatal yoga, walking and stability bike exercises. Following a strict exercise programme which she scheduled around feedings and nappy changes, Jessica achieved her weight loss goals. The intense programme is known as the 321 Baby Bulge Be Gone plan which consists of hour-long workouts five days a week. These included three segments of cardio, two of strength training and one ten minute core workout session.

Katie Holmes

Katie Holmes gained a lot of weight when she was pregnant with her daughter Suri in 2006, but she lost all of that weight and tightened up within just five months. With the help of her husband, Tom Cruise, she worked through an intense workout plan that involved a strict diet and plenty of running. She toned up with regular weight sessions and also breastfed her daughter which also encourages weight loss. It was also rumoured that Katie, as a member of the Church of Scientology, also did a 30-day body cleanse which involved hours in the sauna, intense exercises and plenty of vitamins and minerals.

Gwen Stefani

Stefani has previously stated that she battled with her weight when she was younger, so she made sure to keep up an exercise regime during her pregnancy to ensure she didn’t gain too much weight. As soon as her son Zuma was born, she hit the gym and had regular personal training sessions. She has claimed that yoga and Pilates helped her tone up her body – jogging, she says, is one of her favourite workouts, but she also tones up with weights too.

Jennifer Garner

When Jennifer lost the baby weight from her second child, Seraphina, she actually weighed less than she did before she got pregnant. It took around three months to lost the weight, using a low carb and high protein diet and a personal trainer. She cut out bready items from her diet and put the effort in at the gym.

Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth is well known for her ultra strict macrobiotic diet, but she didn’t maintain this when she became pregnant. When she gave birth to her daughter Apple, she went back to her balanced approach which consists of organic foods, drinking plenty of water and exercise. Paltrow is known for promoting the concept of wholesome food and eating together, rather than strict dieting, which she attributes to her postnatal weight loss and healthy glow.

Categories: baby weight, celebrity mums, diet, gave birth, halle berry, jessica alba, katie holmes, Personal Trainer, postnatal, weight, Weight Loss

Abs Like Alba: How to Get the Celebrity Body You Want

You only have to look at your average celebrity to realise they’ve mastered the art of fitness. While some stars turn to expensive cosmetic treatments to look like they’ve got their wellness in shape, most actually favour good old-fashioned exercise to take care of their wellbeing – and it shows. The question is; how do they do it – and how can you do it too? We’ve got the skinny from the trainers that helped to shape the gorgeous bodies you see on screens today, so how do you sculpt an a-list figure?

 

1. Jessica Biel’s arms: Valentine’s Day star Jessica Biel has arms that even Michelle Obama would kill for, and it’s all thanks to the push-up power favoured by her LA trainer Jason Walsh. Walsh admits, ‘When I say this is a must-do exercise, most women look at me like I’m crazy, but everybody I train ends up doing push-ups at some point because they are so beneficial. They help you get incredible arms!’

 

2. Halle Berry’s back: Anyone who’s ever seen Catwoman knows how amazing Halle Berry’s back is – that costume didn’t leave much to the imagination – and her secret weapon for getting superhero-ready was Harley Pasternak, an LA–based trainer and author of 5-Factor Diet. According to Pasternak, dumbbell back rows are the key to Berry’s back: ‘This exercise strengthens the rhomboids, the muscles in your upper back that connect your shoulder blades to your spine, giving you a toned back and much better posture. You’ll look great in backless dresses, too!’ Do three sets of 20 reps to have a back like Berry.

 

3. Jennifer Anniston’s bum: While J-Lo might make headlines for her delicious derrière, another Jennifer who has a backside that would suit anyone is Friends star Jennifer Anniston. Her trainer Cameron Shayne, creator of the popular Budokon yoga–martial arts programme, asserts that the dancing half-moon kick is the top-bottom move for sculpting buns to be proud of. ‘This exercise combines yoga to stretch the lower back and open the hips with martial arts to tighten and shape the butt,’ Shayne explains. ‘The result is a strong, lean backside.’ Shayne advises you do your dancing half-moon kick in 12 rep-per-leg stints.

 

4. Gwyneth Paltrow’s legs: Sure, she has her own healthy cookbook, but the true reason behind Gwyneth’s amazing legs is Tracy Anderson, fitness expert and creator of the Tracy Anderson Method. Anderson details how she used the crossover leg lift to help shape the Ironman star’s pin-up pins: ‘This exercise works your entire leg, particularly the hard-to-tone outer-thigh area that’s a problem for a lot of women.’ However, to get proper Paltrow pins, you need to aim to do 25 reps per side to begin with, eventually working up to 50 reps in a set.

 

5. Jessica Alba’s abs: In order to play a member of the Fantastic Four or a dancer as she did in Honey, Jessica Alba needed kick-ass abs and Ramona Braganza, trainer and creator of the 3-2-1 Baby Bulge Be Gone programme, helped her achieve them with the twisting plank. Braganza comments, ‘This is an excellent exercise for both the obliques (your side ab muscles) and the transverse abdominus, the muscle that acts like a girdle and cinches in your waist.’ However, one top move isn’t enough if you want abs like Alba’s; you also need to start doing some squat thrusts. ‘The Squat Thrust is a very effective move for your upper and lower abs—plus it burns loads of calories,’ says Braganza, who recommends that you do 10 reps of squat thrusts at a time.

Categories: Abs, arms, Celebrity Wellness, exercise, halle berry, jennifer anniston, jessica alba, jessica biel, martial arts, moon kick, squat thrusts, tracy anderson

Top 10 Celebrity Workout Tips

Many of us hanker after that classic celebrity body. Even if we don’t want the lifestyle or the money of the rich and famous, we would like to look like they do. Indeed, looking the right way has become a kind of an obsession for a large number of people who are willing to go on any diet and use any workout regime in order to get the kind of physique of their favourite stars. But it’s worth asking, if we crave a Hollywood body, why aren’t we listening to what the Hollywood stars say is their top workout techniques. Here’s a list of ten of the top workout techniques used by celebrities.

Get the arms of Jessica Biel

Jessica Biel gets the kind of arms that are in all her Hollywood movies by going to back to basics and choosing do the humble press up. Press ups are great because they work out your whole arm and your chest muscles as well. They give you incredible looking arms.

Get the back and shoulders of Halle Berry

How does Halle Berry achieve her amazing back shoulders? She uses a technique called dumbbell back rocks. This involves sitting on a stability ball and bending at the waist until your body is parallel to the floor, chest is on knees, and arms are hanging toward the floor. You then draw your elbows back and up, bringing your shoulder blades toward each other, and finally lower dumbbells back down.

Get the bum of Jennifer Aniston

To get her bum toned for her movie roles Jennifer Aniston is known to use the dancing half-moon kick. This is a move that combines yoga and the traditional workout and you perform the move by standing in the straddle stance with your knees bent and your toes facing out. You should then shift your weight onto your right leg while straightening out your left leg. Then bend sideways over your leg. Finally you need to put both of your hands on the floor just in front of your right foot. And then you need to extend your left leg toward the ceiling while straightening your right leg out. This works as a fantastic way to get your glutes working hard.

Get the legs of Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow is famous for having great legs, but what’s her secret? Well, she uses a workout move known as the crossover leg lift. It’s a great way to work out your whole leg in one move and you can do it by sitting on the floor and putting your weight onto your right hip, place your hands and forearms on the floor for support then lift your leg up into the air with your foot fully flexed, and then bring the leg down so that it is nearly touching the floor. You can then repeat the process with the other leg.

Get the abs of Jessica Alba

Who wouldn’t want the abs of Jessica Alba? Her toned midriff is lauded for the fact that it looks so great in many of her movie roles. So it’s often wondered how she does it. The truth is that she uses a move called the twisting plank. To do this you need to begin in the plank position, which is the same as how you would start a press up. Then bring your right knee towards to your left elbow and then return it back again. You can then repeat the process for the other side. This will have your abs toned up and looked positively Alba-esque in no time.

Categories: celebrity bodies, floor, Gwyneth Paltrow, halle berry, jennifer aniston, jessica alba, jessica biel, left leg, movie roles, workout techniques