Best Celebrity Beach Bodies 2011
NEW YORK (CBS) With awards season upon us and spring around the corner, celebrities are turning up the intensity to get red-carpet ready -- and to later get beach ready.
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So which celebrity physique do you seek? A lean, healthy figure like Jessica Alba's? A svelte "Black Swan" ballerina-body like Natalie Portman's? Or a curvaceous Halle Berry body? If you're a male or a self-proclaimed "Gleek," you may want a healthy, toned body like Matthew Morrison.
So how do you get there?
Rock-hard bodies don't come easy. You have to work at it. And you don't necessarily have to break the bank and hire a trainer. One option is to check out Fitbie.com, which offers up some good tips and workout secrets from celebrity trainers.
Which celebs are sweating it out in order to don the perfect designer dress or tuxedo or teeny bikini?
Jessica Alba:
According to Fitbie.com, celebrity trainer and Gold's Gym Fitness Institute expert Ramona Braganza has trained Alba for more than 12 years using her 3-2-1 method, an intense workout that features three 10-minute cardio segments, two strength- training circuits, and one core segment.
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Alba completes her cardio on a combination of cardio machines and does strength-training circuits that feature three exercises targeted to work one muscle group. She does three sets of 20 reps for each move.
The Latin beauty also stays hydrated by drinking at least two liters of water a day. "I think that's a big reason for why she always looks lean and her skin always looks great," says Braganza.
Brooklyn Decker:
The sexy Sports Illustrated model-turned actress regularly mixes gym workouts with outdoor challenges like hiking and running on the beach.
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Last year, she also got into yoga. "She liked that it was challenging and that she felt really good afterward -- de-stressed, positive, and happy," says Tara Stiles, who trained and starred alongside Decker. Her favorite moves include grounding balance poses like half moon, tree and dancer's pose.
Halle Berry:
According to Braganza, who also trains Halle Berry, the Oscar winner is "hard-core." " She likes to be pushed to the limit for 30 minutes rather than do the full hour," says Braganza. "She prefers a shorter but much more intense workout."
Braganza also mixes in kickboxing and hiking to keep their workouts interesting. Berry also acknowledges that in order for a healthy body, you need a healthy mind. "She really appreciates that you have to have time for rest as well," says Braganza. "Halle loves to garden, play with her daughter, and spend time with friends--that all contributes to total wellness."
Miranda Kerr:
How do Victoria Secret models get those gorgeous gams? "Genetics and leg lifts," says Justin Gelband, trainer to Miranda Kerr.
Justin Gelband has Kerr use equipment like resistance bands and gliding discs while completing moves that challenge her balance and posture. "There are so many things you can do to work every single angle of the butt, the hips, and the thighs," says Gelband. "I focus on working the smaller more intrinsic muscles."
Natalie Portman:
Portman transformed her feminine, petite frame into the ballet-specific body type needed to portray a top-notch ballerina in the film "Black Swan" by working with Mary Helen Bowers.
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Portman took her role so seriously that she started training about a year before "Black Swan" went into rehearsals. Bowers and Portman trained 5 to 6 days a week, completing a 2-hour ballet technique class and as well as Ballet Beautiful exercises every day.
As the months passed, they worked up to a grueling 5 to 8 hours per day, 6-days a week schedule.
In addition to dancing, Bowers added cross training like swimming and running on the treadmill or elliptical to help bolster Portman's stamina and endurance.
Matthew Morrison:
While singing and dancing can burn calories, celebrity trainer Bernardo Coppola has taken "Glee's" favorite teacher, Matthew Morrison's workout up another octave.
The former Broadway star uses a combination of body-weight and free-weight exercises mixed with machines and cardio.
Many of Morrison's workouts don't take place in the gym. On the "Glee" lot, Morrison trains with resistance bands or does body-weight workouts with Coppola. "People don't have to go to the gym in order to get fit and be healthy," says Coppola, "You can easily grab something heavy and start working your biceps or do body-weight lunges."
Zac Efron:
Zac Efron has graduated from 'high school' workouts and is onto bigger challenges. He teamed up with celebrity trainer Ramona Braganza while preparing for the film "Charlie St. Cloud."
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To help add mass to his naturally athletic build, Braganza prescribed grueling workouts that included pull ups and pull downs using heavy weights, fewer reps, more sets -- and lots of variety.
"Workouts need to change constantly. Change the weights, change the sets, change the tempo. You want to shock your body," says Braganza.
