From her cinematic roles alongside the likes of Timothee Chalamet and Tom Holland to her hard-hitting portrayal as Rue on HBO’s Euphoria, Zendaya is the talk of the town (read: world) as of late. And her latest project, Challengers, is sure to be another hit.
We’re already shopping tennis skirts, and can you blame us? Zendaya looks super sporty (and fashionable) in the action-packed film in which she stars as a tennis prodigy-turned-coach. It’s no surprise then, that so many of us have found ourselves heading to Google to ask: ‘How does Zendaya stay in shape?’
Well, wonder no more, as we’ve done all the hard work for you when it comes to uncovering how the 27-year-old built her body. From her favourite workouts to her go-to diet and nutrition tips, here’s everything you need to know about how Zendaya keeps fit.
But, first things first, let’s keep in mind that every! body! is! beautiful! Yep, as 🔥 as Zendaya’s body may be, each of us are absolute stunners in our very own way – and so, none of us should feel pressured to change a single thing about ourselves if we’re happy with what we see in the mirror.
That’s not to say we should all cancel our gym memberships and throw out our running trainers though, instead we can just take a little bit of inspo here and there from our fave celebrities and their fave workouts should we choose. It’s all about finding what works best for you and your body, rather than obsessively trying to get someone else’s. Because, spoiler alert: you’ll never have that body, but you’ll always have yours.
What is Zendaya’s workout routine?
Find the fun in fitness
Proving that she really is just like us, Zendaya admitted that she doesn’t always find exercising all that enjoyable. To combat this, the actor revealed to Justine Magazine that she has to find the fun in her workouts in order to stick with them – and for Zendaya, that involves a lot of moving and grooving. “For me, I enjoy dancing and doing choreography, stuff like that. So, that’s how I get my exercise,” she said. “Find something that’s really fun for you. Whether that’s jazzercise or whatever.”
Being such a self-confessed dance-lover, it came as no surprise that Zendaya also competed on Dancing With The Stars back in 2013 – coming in second place on the season. Not too shabby!
She’s a tennis queen
In preparation for Challengers, which is all about a dramatic love triangle between three pro tennis players, Zendaya committed to three months of on-court training with Brad Gilbert (once ranked fourth in the world).
She told ELLE, “I’m not the hugest fan of having to work out, I don’t necessarily look forward to it, but I had to because my character’s supposed to be a tennis pro and clearly I’m not giving tennis pro!”
But we have a hunch she was just being modest, as when speaking about Zendaya’s tennis prowess, the movie’s director, Luca Guadagnino, told media, “I mean, wow. We edited the movie and we almost actually don’t use any of her double. She’s so good.”
You can also take a peek for yourself because Zendaya shared a BTS video of herself perfecting her swing ahead of the movie’s release. In a video shared on her Instagram, the star can be seen pretending to serve then return a ball at breakneck speed.
Consider us impressed!
Upper body strength
To prepare for her role in The Greatest Showman, which saw her trapeze-ing with Zac Efron, Zendaya had to build up her upper body strength. Speaking to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, the actor admitted that before filming she “did not have” any upper body strength… nor has she “maintained” it.
“So, don’t ask me to do any trapeze if you see me, ’cause I don’t have it anymore”, she joked. Speaking about what the training involved, however, she essentially said practice makes perfect: “It was a lot of training, literally just getting up there and going for it.”
When in doubt, wig it out
Admittedly not one to spend much time in the gym, home workouts have become a bit of a go-to for Zendaya – much like the rest of the world who had to DIY their fitness regime during the pandemic. That’s not to say she always has the motivation to workout out á la living room… But, her method of finding her get-up-and-go is quite something.
“Every day — because I missed acting so much — to inspire me to go downstairs and work out, I would wear different wigs, because I have a whole collection of wigs from all the red carpets that I’ve done,” she told Late Show host Stephen Colbert, when asked how she kept herself motivated to workout during lockdown. “I wear a different wig [and] come down in a different character.”
Despite that, it seems she did get down for this trip to the gym, a clip of which she shared on Instagram showing her practicing planks on a yoga ball… although, the caption says it all, really.
Circuits
In a video formerly housed on her website, Zendaya was seen taking part in a pretty intense HIIT-like workout led by a PT, involving the following moves (crikey!):
- Arm raises with TRX Straps
- Bicycle crunches
- Laps
- Pushups
- Leg raises
- Pop squats
- Wacky jacks
- Russian crosses
- Wide leg squats
- Lunges
What is Zendaya’s diet like?
Make breakfasts great again
Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar in 2017, Zendaya admitted she isn’t really a “breakfast person” – that’s not to say she doesn’t like breakfast food, however. “I’ve never been a breakfast person. I love breakfast food, just not at breakfast time,” she said. “I’ll eat breakfast food, but it must have some Nutella on it: pancakes, berries, and Nutella.” Nutella on everything? It’s a big yes from us.
Long-time veggie
The Euphoria star has been very vocal about her decision to go vegetarian, which she made all the way back when she was just nine-years-old. Although, she once told US Weekly that she finds being vegetarian quite difficult, given that she’s not the biggest fan of, err, veggies themselves. “I’m a vegetarian who doesn’t like vegetables too much — makes it challenging!” she laughed, later telling People: “My main reason for being a vegetarian is that I’m an animal lover — definitely not because I love vegetables.”
Her go-to recipe
Despite not being the biggest fan of veggies, she still manages to get them into her diet… sometimes. As for how she does that, it’s rice salads all the way. Speaking to Seventeen, Zendaya revealed the recipe is her summer go-to, and it’s so easy to make too. Head here to check it out for yourself.
Takeaways are a must
It’s not all rice salads though – the actress admits she prefers ordering whatever she fancies from her favourite takeout restaurants. “I don’t cook. I think I could cook… I can do anything I put my mind to, so I could cook. I just a) don’t like following directions, and I’m b) too lazy. I use Postmates to order food. I can have anything I want; that’s the beauty of ordering food”, she told Harper’s Bazaar. “If I’m having my favourite meal, I’ll just skip right to ice cream. In fact, I get in trouble with my assistant a lot. He says I shouldn’t do that.”
