As a professional surfer, actress, and model, Gabrielle Reece knows a thing or two about staying fit. In this blog post, she shares her top workout tips to help you sculpt a strong and sexy body. So whether you’re looking to tone up for the summer or just want to improve your overall health, read on for Gabrielle’s best advice!
Gabrielle Reece is a world-renowned fitness expert and former professional volleyball player. She knows what it takes to get in shape and stay in shape.
Here’s what you need to know about Gabrielle Reece’s workout routine:
-It’s based on high-intensity interval training (HIIT).
-It involves both cardio and strength training.
-It can be done in as little as 24 minutes.
Gabrielle Reece Workout Overview
Reece sticks to a schedule that bounces between high-intensity interval workouts (HIIT) and underwater circuits. She does these with her professional surfing husband Laird Hamilton. To supplement her diet and give her an added boost, she takes Tru Niagen’s NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), a molecule in the body that plays a vital role in energy metabolism. Another important part of her overall fitness is getting enough sleep and making a point to breathe correctly.
In a 2019 interview with Parade, Gabby walked them through her fitness routine, which consisted of everything from daylong breaks from eating to high-fat coffee and dumbbells.
Gabby Reece’s Workout Structure
There is a rough structure she likes to follow. Monday, Wednesday and Friday typically consist of HIIT workouts, which are a variety of exercises that she changes each time. It’s about 60 minutes of actual workout time. She’s busy, so she doesn’t have a lot of time to just decide “it’s leg day”. She isn’t going to spend 3 hours just on legs, the HIIT days are about agility and functional movement.
Water Workouts
Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday are for the pool. Gabby and Laird developed pool training which is a combination of weightlifting, yoga, and Pilates-type movements. The water provides resistance in a low-impact way. For aging athletes, that’s something you want to focus on because it allows you to work really hard in performance mode, but without hurting anything.
Rest Days
On Sunday Gabby tries not to do anything too strenuous, she’ll go on a hike or a light jog. Sundays are mainly a day for spending time with the kids and taking it easy and being with them. If she’s put in 6 pretty good days, usually by Friday she’ll be pretty tired. She’s not super strict about her days off though. If it’s a Wednesday and she feels terrible, she will take the day off. It really is her being in tune with her body and knowing that it’s a good day to rest.
Gabby’s High-X Workout
High-X is a class that is a fast-moving, 24-minute, full-body, circuit workout that is designed for both cardio and strength conditioning. It consists of 8 stations.
Station 1: High-Knee Runs and Squat Jacks
You’ll do high-knee runs to the best of your ability for 30 seconds. After that 30 seconds, you’ll do squat jacks for 30 seconds. You’ll spend 3 minutes at station 1 rotating between these two exercises.
Station 2: Plank and Side-Planks
Station 2 starts with a plank for 30 seconds, then you’ll switch to your side for a side plank, and then switch to the other side plank. Repeat this for 3 minutes.
Station 3: Kettlebell
At station 3 you’ll want to do a deep split squat row for 30 seconds and switch to the other side for another 30 seconds. Repeat this for 3 minutes. Click here to see great deals on kettlebells.
Station 4: Alternating Side Lunges and RDL High Pull
Another 2 moves for this movement where you’ll use that same kettlebell from Station 3 and you’ll do side lunges. Once you are done with a minute of the alternating side lunges you’ll do RDL high pulls. Repeat this rating every 30 seconds for 3 minutes.
Station 5: Crazy Crab and Foundation Stretch
The crazy crab stretch is just that, a crazy crab stretch. It works great though for your core, just be sure not to do it too quickly. You really want to feel the stretch. After that, you’ll do the Foundation Stretch from Dr. Eric Goodman.
Station 6: Rotating Mountain Climber and Alternating Reverse Lunge
You’ll start out with the rotating mountain climbers and then move on to the alternating reverse lunges. With the rotating lunges, you’ll once again use your kettlebell. As with all the other exercises, rotate every 30 seconds for 3 minutes. Keep the pace even and slow with the alternating reverse lunge.
Station 7: Superman with a Y to Push Up
This is a Superman with a Y to Push Up. So you’ll start in the Superman position and then reach your arms out so that they are in a Y. Do this for 30 seconds and then you’ll move onto the 30 seconds of push-ups. Focus on your technique with these.
Station 8: Kettlebell Squat Press and Around The World
The kettlebell squat press is a move where you will squat down and then as you come up you will press the kettlebells overhead. You’ll do this for 30 seconds and then quickly move to around the world, and alternate the direction of this.
Here is the video that you can follow along with if you’re ready to do this 24-minute workout:
If you choose to do the Gabby Reece High-X Workout, it starts right at the 10:22 mark in the video above. With this workout, it’s important to push yourself, but don’t hurt yourself. Be aware of the limits that you have, especially if you’re starting to get back into shape. Sometimes we let our bodies get a little out of shape and we’ve gotta slowly work them back to peak condition.
Related: Laird Hamilton’s Insane Workout Routine: How He Stays in Such Great Shape
Gabrielle Reece Diet and Nutrition
Gabby says she works out less than people imagine she does, but it’s mainly because when she’s working out, it’s a hard workout. An important factor for her is what she eats. At a certain level, movement is super important but so is everything else in her life. Everything from sleeping, how she is managing stress, and the food are all a part of the big picture.
She doesn’t work with companies that she hasn’t personally used the product and had been using the product before working with the company. She feels this is important because it shows people that it is an authentic relationship and not just a pay-to-play deal. It was around 2017 when she first was introduced to NAD at a naturopath’s office in an IV, which was not a realistic way for people to take it. It takes forever and can be uncomfortable. After a while, a friend (who is a pro basketball player) introduced her to what he was using and she started taking it in the morning after that. Click here to see the NAD supplement she now takes.
She cycles through different things such as mushrooms or certain minerals. One of the stranger things that she says she takes is a tar-like supplement called shilajitfor fulvic acid and minerals. She’s always looking for the stuff that will help her on a deeper level, like minerals and macronutrients and cellular health. This is how she originally got involved with Tru Niagen. For the most part, she tries to get as many nutrients from food, but these other supplements help with little boosts for improvement.
Gabby’s Breakfast Routine
She doesn’t really eat breakfast because she has quite a bit of calories and healthy fat in her coffee. The coffee is something that provides her with a source of energy for her body and brain, which gets her through the day until around noon.
The Laird Superfood business came out of the habit that Gabby and Laird both had done for about 20 years. It’s got coffee creamers that are made from coconut and turmeric and cacao and a few other things too. Click here to check out Laird Superfood creamer.
The creamer was sort of created on accident. Laird’s friends would come over to train and people enjoyed the concoction. One of their business partners was like “Can I try to make this a formula?” and that was the birth of the Laird Superfood creamer.
Daylong Fasting
Every once in a while,e both Gabby and Laird will do a day off from eating. They’ll do about a 30-hour fast where all they’ll have is either caffeine or water. She says that Laird handles it better than she does.
One thing she mentioned is that women need to be aware of where they are in their hormone cycle before doing the fast. These fasts have helped her with getting less inflammation and it helps to recalibrate her baseline on food. Instead of thinking about cookies or chips, when you’re fasting, you really just want something that’s real food.
Breathwork for Combatting Stress
After workouts, Gabby will do about 15 minutes of breathwork. She uses her breathing to help with combatting stress. She mentioned that stress is probably the number one reason she exercises because it releases the feel-good hormones to improve her perspective.
She mentioned that she’s lived long enough now to go, “Oh. This is me. I’m reacting to this. It’s not the environment.” So I’m always saying, “how do we get our physical selves, our emotional selves, even our spiritual selves, our mental cells in the best place to handle stress?”
Most people say they don’t have the time to fully meditate and that’s something that makes perfect sense. She said maybe you’re in your car and you can just turn off the radio for a minute and take that time to center yourself and be quiet.
Gabby mentioned that with three daughters she can get bothered by a lot and have to deal with a lot, so these little moments help prepare her for when the situations happen.
Looking to learn more about breathwork? Read this article about the Wim Hof Method of breathing.
Gabby vs Laird
While the couple does work out in the pool together, they joke that it’s “cause the pool’s big and we’re underwater.” Their land training is different because they are training for different types of reasons. The couple married on November 30, 1997, which means as of August 19, 2022, that they have been married for 25 years!
During the course of their relationship, they have found out that they can do a few of the exercises together, but they still need their own space. They’ll do the pool, sauna, and icing together though. The good news is that they encourage each other to try new workouts and to stick with their six-day-a-week fitness routines.
They also bounce training ideas off of each other, which helps them both.
Gabby and Laird’s Houses
The family splits their time between Kauai, Hawaii, and Malibu, California. I love this idea of having multiple places to call “home”, but I personally wouldn’t want a home in California.
When I first started doing research on their Hawaii house, I pictured something like a house overlooking an incredible break. But, this isn’t the case. Instead, it is a peaceful piece of what was an overgrown hillside on Kauai’s north shore. It’s got access to a boat ramp, one of only nine lots on the river that provides direct access to the ocean.
Gabby explained that when Laird first showed her the property, she thought “cool, we’re buying a boat ramp. Whatever.” It wasn’t until Laird nailed a few slats in a tree and told her to climb up and look. Their goal was to have a house that provided a spectacular view of the entire Hanalei Valley, Hanalei River, and Hanalei Bay.
Sadly I haven’t been able to find any good photos of this place to share with you. If I can find any, I’ll update this post.
Their Malibu house was purchased over 20 years ago. The house there overlooks the ocean and is often used for bringing friends in for training.
Here’s an interesting interview between Joe Rogan and Gabrielle Reece about the truth about living in Hawaii:
Gabrielle Reece and Laird Hamilton’s Kids
The couple has two kids, Reece Viola Hamilton and Brody Jo Hamilton. They are also raising Izabela, who is Laird’s daughter from his previous marriage to big wave surfer and clothing designer Maria Souza.
