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Kelly Ripa’s incredibly toned arms are stealing the spotlight from her Oscars dress!
Ripa’s long-time trainer Anna Kaiser tells PEOPLE exactly how the TV host got red-carpet ready for the big event.
“We focused a lot on upper body and arms because she has an arm-baring dress for the Oscars,” says Kaiser. “We alternated between body weight and high-rep low weights so that we cinch in the intrinsic muscles, and low-rep high-weights so that she builds muscle, but then she also stays lean and long.”
To tone the arms, Kaiser works with Ripa, 45, on a ballet bar, alternating between pulsing in a half plank and pushing off the bar for a power move.
“Pairing power exercises with muscular endurance, where you’re getting that burn, is a really great way to tone your arms quickly,” explains Kaiser.
Ripa also utilizes resistance bands to work all the arm’s inner and outer muscles.
“We love that contraction and how that feels,” Kaiser says of working with the bands.
Ripa works out with Kaiser four days a week, doing a “really hard hour” of circuit-based interval training twice a week, 90-minute dance-based interval training once a week, and a day that combines 45 minutes of toning followed by 45 minutes of cardio.
“It’s really important for her to switch it up, so alternating types of workouts, and alternating contractions in the muscles, both for her mind and for her body,” says Kaiser.
Ripa has been training with Kaiser for six years, and says Ripa very rarely cancels.
“Even when we’re not together, we make sure that we get the workout in,” says Kaiser. “When she’s traveling, she does my streaming membership videos.”
For anyone looking to get as ripped as Ripa, Kaiser says working out consistently is key.
“Make it a habit,” she says. “Really make it something that you don’t sacrifice. It is just as important as everything else in your life.”
—Gabrielle Olya, @GabyOlya
