Alexis Ren, the social media star and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model, takes fitness seriously. She even started her own wellness company with interactive content, We Are Warriors, home of workout and healthy living content. She has built a community, on and off line. Proof: "Happy birthday angel," she just captioned a photo of herself in a swimsuit with one of her BFFs, fashion designer Brianna Via, who was also in a swimsuit. How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 7 ways Alexis Ren stays in shape and the photos that prove they work—and to get beach-ready yourself, don't miss these essential 30 Best-Ever Celebrity Bathing Suit Photos!
Alexis took Women's Health into her fridge and revealed it's 98% vegan. "Just eating more plant-based foods overall is a huge leap in the right direction. So if being a vegan feels overwhelming, consider starting with a goal of eating more plant-based foods," dietitian Julia Zumpano, RD, tells the Cleveland Clinic. Here are some of Alexis' ideas:
- "What I love to do with broccoli is I love to saute it with coconut amino acids."
- "I love fruit so much. It keeps me happy."
- "Almond butter for smoothies. I make sure that there's no sodium in it because we have a tendency to put a lot of salt in it."
- "The milks that I like are usually macadamia milk or oat milk. They're great with my favorite snack in the world," which is Catalina Crunch.
- "For more protein oriented things, I would say I'm 98% vegan. So for my proteins, I love beans, garbanzo beans. I love tempeh."
She and her God sister, "We love just making things from scratch," she told Women's Health. "I think, coming from a background of having an eating disorder, I just think it's so important that we make our food with love and you know what's in it. So that's when I started actually cooking for myself, was when I realized how much better I felt when I knew what was going into my body. And also that I put so much love into it. Because so much of the time, you'll order something and everyone's in such a rush all the time that it just doesn't have the kind of quality and energetic balance that it needs. And since I'm very sensitive, I can usually feel that. So I love, love, love eating at home."
Alexis shared a video of her abs workout and it's intense, a deceivingly short 10 minus that'll make you burn. Included are sit ups, knee touch crunches, heel crunches, bicycle crunches, reach through crunches, tow tap legs lifts and more. Here's a core exercise from personal trainer Mark Langowski that you can do at home:
"Alternating Forward lunge with medicine ball core rotation. Men use a 10-20lb med ball. Women use 4-10lb med ball.
Stand with your toes facing forward and your feet about a foot apart. Hold a medicine ball in front of your belly with both hands, arms extended. Inhale and step your right foot out approximately three feet in front of your body (depending on your height). Your front knee should be bent at a 90-degree angle, with your foot directly under your knee. As your front foot hits the floor, rotate your torso to the right and reach the medicine ball out over your right leg. Now twist back to center as you use the muscles of your leg and core to push yourself back up to the starting position. Repeat with the left leg. Total of 20 reps. (10 each side)"
Alexis always stretches, starting with "relaxing our necks and stretching them out, listening to those micro muscles." Sometimes you wanna go deep and painful and sometimes you "want to acknowledge these tiny little micro muscles—we take them for granted." "It's helpful to include stretching in your exercise regimen. Stretching can increase flexibility and improve your joints' range of motion, helping you move more freely. And ensuring that you have equal flexibility on both sides might help protect you from injury," says the Mayo Clinic. "Before stretching, warm up with 5 to 10 minutes of light activity. Better yet, stretch after a workout. Keep stretches gentle and slow. Don't bounce. Breathe through your stretches. If you feel pain, you've stretched too far. Hold a stretch for about 30 seconds, to the point of a slight pull, on each side. Repeat the stretch on both sides 2 to 4 times. Stretching is recommended 2 to 3 days a week."
Ren has posted a video of her doing a yoga cool down. "Yoga's pretty much about breath," she correctly states at the beginning. "The good news is that anyone can do yoga. My teacher used to say that if you can breathe, you can do yoga. Everyone starts where they are, and the practice of yoga should be adapted to the needs of each person," says Michele Hoffman, a certified yoga therapist at Mayo Clinic Health System. "When people think of yoga, most people think of the physical poses or stretching when in fact yoga has many tools to offer for healing body, mind and spirit. The tools of yoga include physical poses, breathing practices, meditation practices, hand gestures and a disciplined lifestyle of cultivating healthy habits."
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