Eva Longoria, 44, has the most insanely toned figure and luckily, just in time for the holidays and new year, Eva’s personal trainer, Grant Roberts, spoke with HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY, about the workouts he and Eva do together to get fit, as well as why you shouldn’t rely solely on the treadmill for weight loss. Speaking about Eva’s workout style, Grant shared, “She rolls out of bed, there’s no makeup on her. She looks like a million bucks. She’s always happy. She puts the work in. I’ve never seen her in a bad mood. She’s super generous. I mean, she is superhuman, I don’t know how else to explain it. Eva is responding well to traditional old school weight training with some unique angles and movements.”
As for a special diet or workout routine Grant recommends if you want a body like Eva, he admits, “Nutrition is 69.5% of the process if you want to be specific. Along with a healthy diet that includes all of the essentials (water, complete proteins, healthy omega 3 rich fats, and a complete array of vitamins and minerals), be sure to add plenty of iron – not the kind that comes in pill form – I mean the kind you lift that comes attached to a barbell or dumbbell. We need to lift more, and that’s how you create a shape. Women especially tend to think that the treadmill is a solution, and it’s genuinely not. You do much better to get a leaner body composition, to increasing your water body volume, and strength, and posture – the list is endless of how powerful strength training can be, and take away that fear of masculinity – it’s just not a thing. It’s just not a thing.”
As for exact workouts Grant and Eva do together, Grant shared his favorites. “I have a pretty unique lat pulldown exercise, that really tightens up the back fat area right under the armpit. First, hook an ‘ab strap’ onto the bar of a lat pulldown machine. Sit down and stick your arms through the holes in the ab strap. Then, pull your shoulder blades down and back, and bring the bar to your chest using your elbows. Pause, then slowly return to the starting position. That’s very isolating for the lats because it does not allow you to use your biceps at all.” Grant makes Eva do 15 reps and three to four sets of 15 of that exercise, with the weight around 75 to 80 pounds. And the pace is everything.
If you want to try out Eva’s workouts on your own, Grant shared the top exercises for you to try:
Isolated Lat Pulldown: “Sit at a lat pulldown station and grab the bar with an overhand grip that’s just beyond shoulder width. Your arms should be straight overhead, slightly tensed at the elbows, and your torso upright. Focus on driving the bar down with your elbows not your biceps by Pulling your shoulder blades down and back, and bring the bar to your chin. Pause, then slowly return to the starting position.”
Cross Body Curl: “Stand up straight with a dumbbell in each hand. Your hands should be down at your side with your palms facing in. Curl each dumbbell independently, (one at a time), with your palms facing inward. Start by curling the right hand towards your left shoulder and exaggerate the supination by adding a twist of the wrist that flexes the outside peak of the bicep when fully contracted. Touch the top of the dumbbell to your shoulder and hold the contraction for a second. Exhale and slowly lower the dumbbell. Repeat with the left hand to complete one rep and continue until you have completed 7-10 reps, then immediately proceed to the Hammer Curl.”
Hammer Curl: “Stand up with your torso upright, your abs tensed, and the same dumbbells in each hand being held at an arms length. The elbows should be close to the torso and your hands in a neutral grip. The palms of the hands should be facing each other. This will be your starting position. Now, while holding your upper arms stationary, inhale and start curl by lifting the weight forward while contracting the biceps. Continue to raise the weight until the biceps are fully contracted. As the dumbbell approaches the same shoulder, hold the contracted position for a brief moment as you squeeze the biceps. Exhale as you release dumbbell in a controlled fashion, and then go back to starting position. Tip: Focus on keeping the elbow stationary and only moving your forearm with the outer head of the bicep doing the work. Perform seven to ten reps.”
Open Curl: “Stand up with your torso upright while holding the dumbbells at a shoulder-width grip, (imagining the dumbbells were a fixed barbell). The palms of your hands should be facing forward and the elbows should be close to the torso. This will be your starting position. While holding the upper arms stationary, curl the weights forward while contracting the biceps as you breathe out. Tip: Only the forearms should move. Continue the movement until your biceps are fully contracted and the bar is at shoulder level. Hold the contracted position for a second and squeeze the biceps hard. Slowly exhale abs begin to bring the bar back to starting position. Complete all 21-30 reps, recover and repeat.”
Box Jumps: “A good unique one for the butt that Eva likes to do is the box jump. We just did a box jump today. We do three sets of 12 and the way you make that harder is by making the box higher. Today, Eva did 24 inches, which is very impressive. She can jump. She can get air. “