ou’ve seen them strut the runway, lean and lovely models who look like they’ve never seen a Twinkie.
It might make you feel better to know they work out like crazy.
New York City-based Equinox trainer and Brazilian Butt Lift creator Leandro Carvalho puts Gisele Bundchen, top Victoria’s Secret Angel Alessandra Ambrosio and “Gossip Girl” actress Blake Lively through their paces.
The Brazilian-born trainer stopped into the Equinox facility in Copley Square to let local reporters walk – or more accurately, lunge and squat – in these glamazons’ shoes.
This reporter was out to defy destiny – my father’s great-aunts were both 6 feet tall and weighed 200 pounds. While I fell short of their height by two inches, I more than met the fated weight.
Could Carvalho help show me how to reverse the curse?
He puts Ambrosio and Lively through these pulse-racing paces an hour at a time.
“At least,” he said.
Lively works with him every day when she is in New York, he said.
“Squats are great for the butt, but build the thighs too much,” Carvalho said.
To keep legs slender and runway-ready, Carvalho mixes in ballet movements and cardio. His approach differs from client to client.
“It depends on the goal,” Carvalho said. “If they are overweight, say had a baby, more cardio. If they are in good shape, more sculpting.”
Carvalho said Bundchen opted for his Brazil Body Surf aquatics class when she lived in New York.
In my case, Carvalho suggested six weeks of cardio training to stimulate weight loss. Then he would focus on core strengthening and exercises, such as plies, to slim my inner thighs.
In Ambrosio’s case, the Brazilian beauty needed to be runway-ready two months after giving birth to her daughter in 2008.
“She worked out two hours a day, seven days a week,” Carvalho said.
Now that’s commitment.
Carvalho led me through side lunges, capoeira moves, squats and arabesques.
I lasted for about 20 minutes before crying uncle. And Ambrosio and Lively do this for two hours at a stretch?
They’ve earned their right to own the red carpet.
(The “Brazil Butt Lift” workout is also available on DVD.)