From “Dark Angel” to “Trigger Warning,” Jessica Alba has never shied away from fierce acting roles that challenge her to up the ante on her workout routine.
In fact, she credits one of her breakout roles with igniting her passion for fitness.
“I attribute my athletic body to the martial arts, gymnastics, dance, and strength training I did while filming ‘Dark Angel.’ That’s made me strong and really set the bar,” she previously told Shape, per PopSugar.
While promoting her role in “Mechanic: Resurrection” on TODAY in 2016, the star told Savannah Guthrie she’s dabbled in “a bunch of different disciplines in martial arts” over the years, including Krav Maga.
In her daily life, Alba’s workouts aren’t quite as intense, but they’re still pretty hardcore. As a result, the star has some practical advice for anyone who’s hoping to jumpstart a healthier lifestyle.
“If you can just do it two or three times a week, a little bit of exercise whether it’s yoga or going for a walk or cycling class or something…go for it,” she previously told E! News.
Ready to learn from Alba’s passionate, yet practical approach to fitness? Here’s everything she’s said about her workout routine.
She knows working out ‘sucks’ but still gets herself to the gym
Working out gives you great endorphins but it can be miserable at times, and Alba is the first to admit it.
“I’m not going to lie. Working out sucks. Which is why I love taking classes, because I’m surrounded by other people and that keeps me motivated and accountable,” she told Shape in 2015, per PopSugar.
Alba described the process of working out as “agonizing” while chatting with Extra and said she could think of “anything else” she’d rather do than exercise.
“I’ve figured out now certain things that I like to do and it’s actually become kind of a stress reliever,” she said.
She loves ‘high intensity’ workouts
Alba’s workouts aren’t for the faint of heart. The star previously told Cosmopolitan she prefers to challenge herself and opt for “high energy” and “high intensity” sweat sessions.
“For me it really is about how I feel after I exercise so I’m motivated to do it. I do it for my mental state, to clear my head,” she said.
She’s a fan of hot yoga
Alba has expressed her love for hot yoga on multiple occasions.
“I like to do hot yoga and sculpt yoga,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 2016.
While sharing her morning routine with Self the same year, Alba revealed that she liked to check yoga off her to-do list early on in the day.
“A couple times a week, I wake up at 5:15 for hot yoga class. I need a really good alarm and a strong coffee,” she said.
In 2024, Alba’s personal trainer Ramona Braganza told Shape her client also enjoys Iyengar yoga, which focuses on holding poses longer.
“(She) finds it very beneficial for stretching her body out,” Braganza said.
She’s a cycling devotee
Alba has also been known to wake up bright and early to attend a Soul Cycle class or do an at-home cycling workout.
“I also do spin classes with my friends. I find that working out with my friends to really fun music is, in a way, a meditation,” she told the Los Angeles Times.
She prioritizes strength training
Alba wants to stay strong, but she’s not looking to be a bodybuilder, so she makes it a priority to find time for strength training with “moderate weight,” per Braganza.
“She prefers upper body more than legs,” she told Shape, adding the Alba enjoys weighted slam balls.
She loves to bust a move
Dancing isn’t only fun. It’s actually a great workout. Alba has showcased her killer moves on social media on many occasions and told Women’s Health she adores dance classes.
“That’s fun. Like hip hop class, mixed with like core Pilates-type exercises,” she said.
She does whatever she can to avoid feeling ‘bored’ at the gym
While chatting with E! News in June 2024, Alba admitted that she tends to get sick of her workouts rather quickly.
“I get bored,” she said. “So I do spinning and I do cross training with a mix of weights and cardio. I just try to keep it moving.”
She adjusts her workouts for her problem areas
There’s no one-size-fits-all workout, especially when you’re dealing with knee issues. Just ask Alba, who admitted that she adjusts some exercises to be kinder to her knees.
“30 min cardio -when you you only have 30 min to get it in💪🏽💦 -check out my stories to get my 30 min interval treadmill cardio. I have bad knees so the incline and treadmill is the only way I can,” she captioned an Instagram post in 2018.
Alba’s trainer told Shape, osteoporosis is a concern for the star and said they adjust their workouts together to account for that.
“We focus on overhead exercises using resistance, which helps increase bone density,” she said.
She eats healthy during the week and indulges on the weekend
Alba has a pretty balanced approach to eating that leaves room for healthy foods and splurges.
“Four days a week, I try to eat plant-based, and I don’t drink alcohol,” she told Women’s Health in 2020. “Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, all bets are off. That feels like moderation to me.”
She knows that diet and exercise go hand in hand
Even the best workout routine won’t do much in the long run if you don’t focus on eating healthy as well, so Alba tries to prioritize both diet and exercise.
“With exercise, I get a little more toned and I definitely feel stronger, but my diet is much more important if I’m trying to slim down,” she told Shape, per Us Weekly. “In that case, I usually don’t eat gluten, dairy, fried foods or processed foods. I try to stick to a diet that’s low in sugar and carbs, and high in lean protein and vegetables.”
She felt more comfortable in her skin after becoming a mother
Everyone deals with body insecurities, including Alba. These days she’s comfortable in her own skin, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, she told Cosmo UK that becoming a mother helped her feel more confident.
“As a teenager — and even in my 20s — I always saw the negative and didn’t focus on the positive, and then I felt like being part of something so life-altering and profound like having a child just made me feel differently about it all. I also thought ‘how do I want my girls to feel about their bodies?’ I don’t want them to have certain hang-ups, so my attitude to myself shifted,” she said in 2015.
Alba also practices gratitude to remind herself how lucky she is that her body takes such good care of her.
“I love my shape because it does what I want it to,” she told Shape, per Us Weekly. “If I want to go on a hike or a bike ride or go for a swim, I know my body will do everything I tell it to. I also appreciate that I can push myself through when I’m feeling tired. There’s always a little extra something to get me past the tired moments.”
She doesn’t beat herself up when she misses a workout
As a mom and entrepreneur, Alba’s schedule is jam-packed at all times, so she doesn’t always find time to squeeze in a workout. And that’s OK with her.
“I always thought, ‘I need to sweat out my weight in water, I need to have muscle failure, I need to feel like I just ran a marathon—that’s how hard I needed to work out,” she previously told Women’s Health.
These days, Alba is kinder to herself when she doesn’t smash her fitness goals.
“I’ve learned to mix it up and not feel like a failure if I’m not, you know, killing myself,” she said.
