Christy Turlington Burns has long made movement a central part of her lifestyle, incorporating activities such as running and yoga into her routine. For the supermodel and philanthropist, staying active is a key part of her well-rounded approach to wellbeing.
‘I really believe in moving your body as much as you can. I love to run, I love yoga, I love to hike, and I love being outside. Movement and sleep are key,’ she told Marie Claire earlier this year.
‘My favourite way to exercise is yoga, but I have also come to love running in the last 10 years or so,’ the maternal health activist also shared with Vogue in 2020.
Here’s everything we know about how she approaches staying fit.
Yoga is the core of her routine
Yoga has been a core part of her routine since she was a young adult.
‘I was lucky enough to discover yoga at 18 years old, and it’s been my most consistent go-to. It helps me make sure that I’m at my best – and everybody in my life benefits when I am,’ she told Oprah Daily.
The ancient physical and spiritual practice helped her reset during busy work periods early in her modelling career.
‘When I was a teen… I was doing yoga and exercising. When I was working and traveling a lot in the early days, I would go to a spa or yoga retreat for my vacation,’ she said to The Cut.
‘I knew that going so fast, flying all the time, and not having those breaks wasn’t healthy. I learned early on in order to be my best with the work schedule I had, I needed to take care of myself.’
To this day, it’s the cornerstone of her routine.
‘I practise yoga almost every day. I kind of schedule my life around it to be honest,’ she continued to Oprah Daily. ‘It’s really important, and so having it be the centrepiece of my day is how I try to approach it.’
She loves doing long runs outside
Christy credits running with helping her improve her cardiovascular fitness and build a greater sense of physical strength.
‘Because I do endurance running, I feel so much stronger than I have during any other time in my life,’ she told The Cut.
She also uses running as a way to spend time outdoors.
‘Running really forces me outside which I love,’ she revealed to Vogue.
Running in silence, she uses the solitude to decompress and detach from mental noise and chatter.
‘When I run and do yoga, I don’t play music, and I’m not connected to technology during that time. If anything, that’s really the draw,’ she continued.
What initially started as a way to stay in tune with her surroundings quickly became a habit.
‘I started running on a road in Long Island where there were a lot of cars going really fast. I wanted to be able to hear what was around me,’ she said to The Cut.
‘But then I started to really appreciate having silence and it became more of a meditation practice for me. No music – everything I did when I first started running is the way I’ve kept it.’
She sometimes runs indoors, particularly when training for races
Though Christy primarily runs outdoors, sometimes she runs inside, particularly when she’s preparing for races and needs to log her kilometres.
‘We have a treadmill in my office and there’s a class called Mile High Run Club, which is fun. In the past, when I’ve done races in the spring and have to run in the winter, I’ll do a double class to get the miles in,’ she told The Cut.
‘[When I was] training for a half [I was] doing long runs on weekends and short runs indoors at Barry’s Boot Camp — but only because it’s right down the street,’ she said.
In previous years, her routine also involved dropping the kids off at school before heading to the gym for an indoor running session.
‘My day starts when they’re off and I’ll go to the gym for a run and then head to the office,’ she continued.
Christy has also spoken about the sense of accomplishment she gets from pushing herself through long-distance races.
‘Right before a marathon starts, there’s almost always that feeling of, “I can’t believe I’m doing this again.”‘ But after, I feel euphoric,’ she reflected. ‘You feel like such a warrior, even if you’re so exhausted during it.’
Christy sees wellbeing as a long-term commitment
‘I don’t think of wellness as a trend. Wellness has been part of my life for a really long time,’ she told Marie Claire. ‘Acupressure, acupuncture, yoga, meditation – those are thousands of years old, and they still work best.’
Other key anchors of health include recovery and sleep.
‘Sleep is the most important thing. It all goes hand in hand with good nutrition,’ she added.
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