Jennifer Lopez will be turning 50 on July 24, but age is just a number because she looks hotter than ever! The “Booty” singer — who is celebrating the big occasion with her upcoming It’s My Party tour — is known for showing off her best assets on social media, so we were determined to find out how she gets those incredible abs and firm butt. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with two experts who have worked with the multi-talented star to get the scoop on how she looks so great. Celebrity personal trainer and MitoQ partner Gunnar Peterson worked with JLo in the past for a number of years and he has much to share on how to get a body like Jennifer’s. Dodd Romero also weighed in, as he currently trains the Golden Globe nominee and revealed tips and tricks to get rock hard abs and a booty like the singer.
HL: JLo looks amazing, so let’s break it down! How on earth does she get those abs? What kind of exercises does that take?
DR: “She does high rep schemes, most all of her ab exercises go from 50, 35, 21, 14 reps. She never does the same ab routine twice so the body never acclimates and all her ab exercises are designed to lengthen and tighten the muscles.”
GP: “The good news is everybody has abs, the bad news is not everybody’s abs are as visible as everybody else’s which comes down to a reduction in subcutaneous body fat. I say subcutaneous because there are different kinds of body fat, and that is the kind of fat that’s right under the skin that obscures the definition. Reduce the layer of body fat and voila, the abs will appear. Steady state cardio is a great way to go which means your heart rate sits somewhere between 65 and 85 percent of your anaerobic threshold and you maintain it in that state for 30 minutes or more. An easy way to calculate that is to subtract your age from 220. So if you’re 40-years-old, you take 220 and subtract 40 which equals 180. Take 65 to 85 percent of 180 and that heart rate will put you in an anaerobic threshold assuming you do it 30 minutes or more. It’s not exact science, but it’s a ballpark and it works. Steady state cardio can be achieved by doing anything that creates elevated heart rate through activities such as biking, walking, and rowing. Big, multi-joint movements like squats, dead lifts, pull-ups, push-ups, lunges. All those things help not just the caloric burn, but muscle is active tissue so when you have more muscle you burn calories at a higher rate all the time, not just during the workout. So use strength training which leads to burning calories at a higher rate, eat a little less, you’re burning off the excess fat and here come the abs.”
HL: How can someone get a toned butt like JLo?
GP: “Go heavy, go heavy. That means lift weights that are heavier than you think you can lift. Squat heavy, lunge heavy, dead lift heavy, leg press heavy. By heavy, I mean where you reach technical form failure where the proper form of the exercise falls apart. It’s where you start to fail technically when you reach between eight and 12 reps. And it’s not that you can’t complete it, but just that your form falls apart. Once you can complete the 12 reps with perfect form, then you know you’re safe to bump up the weights from there. Make sure you’re getting enough calories and enough rest, and the growth will happen. All these exercises work the legs and the glutes in concert. Additionally, little angle adjustments like putting your shoulders and feet elevated achieve a bit more quad recruitment. If you put your shoulders down and feet elevated, you’ll achieve more ‘posterior chain’ which means it works the glutes and hamstrings.”
HL: How many days a week does JLo work out and how many should someone who wants to achieve her look hit the gym?
DR: “She works out four to five days a week with weights and does cardio five to six days. She attacks every workout with 100% intensity.”
GP: “Well that depends on the person. If they’re a pro athlete I’d say let’s get started on all this now and workout five or six days a week. But if someone is 50-years-old and hasn’t worked out since high school then that’s a different story. Nobody should set themselves up for failure and a lot of working out is psychological. So if somebody commits to working out four days a week, and they only workout twice, then they feel like a failure and are more inclined to quit exercising altogether. For beginners, start by committing to one or two days a week so that you feel like you accomplished your goal by completing that. After you’ve steadily worked out two days for a few weeks, then commit to three days a week and build from there.”
HL: How does someone get long, lean arms like JLo?
DR: “She keeps her arms toned and lean also by doing a high rep scheme. Such as 50, 35, 21, 1 .with this high rep scheme there’s no need to use heavy weight because the high rep scheme is too demanding.”
HL: What is the best exercise for women to achieve long, lean legs?
GP: “Some form of a squat while holding a barbell or a dumbbell and work your way up in regards to the amount of weight. Using a wide stance with your feet turned out and pushing your butt back, that will utilize more of the inner thigh and glutes. Using a narrower stance will build more in the quads. Step-ups is another great movement and it’s widely overlooked. Step one foot at a time up on a box, bench, or stair and think about standing up vertically, not leaning forward. Also think about what hand you carry the dumbbell in. You get different recruitment from a core standpoint depending on which hand you hold the weight in and which foot you step with. If you step up with the right foot and hold the weight in the right hand, then you’ll feel that core engagement on the right side. But if you’re holding the weight in the left hand, you’ll feel the entire core engaged because our body tries to balance itself and so the whole core is being utilized.”
HL: How much weight should women use when doing these exercises?
GP: “I suggest weights with everything you do. For women just starting out, they can start with five or 10-pound dumbbells while doing any exercise. Once that becomes too easy, then work your way up to 15 and 20 pound dumbbells.”
HL: What does JLo eat in a day?
DR: “Jennifer cycles her carbs so Monday through Friday she’s in work mode which means no play-play with the diet. Low carbs, high protein and no fat. Lots of phytonutrient green vegetables. On Saturday and Sunday it’s a little more relaxed – carbs are added back in and a cheat meal if she desires. There has to be a healthy reward system to any healthy nutrition plan for it to last.”
HL: How do you keep JLo in shape while on tour and what does she eat since she’s on the road so often?
DR: “While on the road we pull the bus over when it’s time to train and find a good gym, but we do not miss workouts. She always strives to get a minimum of eight hours of sleep each night, but schedule doesn’t always permit.”