{"id":925037,"date":"2026-10-08T07:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T07:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/925037\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T07:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T07:50:12","slug":"paulina-porizkova-61-says-lifting-got-her-into-the-best-shape-of-her-life-her-realistic-weekly-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/925037\/","title":{"rendered":"Paulina Porizkova, 61, says lifting got her into the \u2018best shape of her life\u2019 \u2013 her realistic weekly plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paulina Porizkova is stronger than ever, and she credits taking up resistance training<\/a> in her 40s with transforming both her strength and overall fitness.<\/p>\n

‘I used to hate working out, and so I didn’t do it until in my 40s,’ she said in a recent Instagram<\/a> post, calling it a ‘revelation’ and crediting it with helping her get into ‘the best shape of her life’, despite bilateral hip replacements and menopausal weight gain. She also says it’s helped her manage anxiety.<\/p>\n

The Est\u00e9e Lauder ambassador trains at Crunch<\/a> gym with coach Nicole Morales.<\/p>\n

‘We DO have a trainer \u2013 a beautiful, young, and immensely strong woman named Nicole (we call her the Tiny Torturer) who has taught us how to lift properly so we don’t injure ourselves,’ she revealed.<\/p>\n

Morales has been training Paulina and her husband, Jeff, for the past two to three years.<\/p>\n

‘They’ll come when they’re in New York City,’ she tells WH.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Remember: while models’ and celebrities’ training routines can be inspiring, genetics also play a significant role in body shape, height and how easily someone builds muscle<\/a> or stays lean. Take inspiration from the healthy habits \u2013 not the expectation of looking identical.<\/p>\n

Paulina Porizkova’s strength training routine<\/p>\n

Paulina’s Pilates background gave her a strong foundation before she started lifting heavier weights, says Morales.<\/p>\n

‘It gave her a mind-body connection, which is helpful when you start to lift heavy, and a knowledge of core bracing, which is necessary for avoiding injury when you’re doing compound lifts.’<\/p>\n

She also trains with another coach at her country home.<\/p>\n

‘They do more functional work, which includes mobility and stability \u2013 think TRX and turf-based exercises.’<\/p>\n

That leaves Morales to focus primarily on heavy strength work.<\/p>\n

‘It’s fun \u2013 heavy lifting and progressive overload<\/a> is her current routine, focusing on compound lifts<\/a> [that work multiple muscle groups and joints at once],’ she says.<\/p>\n

‘She’s doing between six and 12 reps for three sets per movement pattern, decreasing reps but increasing weight with each set. It’s your typical progressive overload programme.’<\/p>\n

‘She’s quite a strong person physically and mentally, so getting her into that six-to-eight rep range on sets two and three usually goes very well because she’s in tune with her body, her form is really good and we’ve worked together long enough that she knows how to push herself.’<\/p>\n

Her weekly training split<\/p>\n

When Paulina and Jeff are in New York, they typically train with Morales two or three times a week.<\/p>\n

‘One upper-body day, one lower-body day, and one where we combine the two,’ Paulina explained on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

‘Especially before their wedding in July, we were doing that,’ Morales says, ‘because it allowed her to maximise the heavy lifting without excessive soreness increasing the risk of injury.<\/p>\n

‘We’d do one full-body day with more of a glute or posterior-chain focus, then an upper-body day concentrating on the shoulders and arms because her wedding dress really highlighted those areas.’<\/p>\n

Generally, they avoid back-to-back sessions.<\/p>\n

‘Unless one day is upper body and the next is lower body,’ Morales says. ‘That way, you’re not training through soreness because the body needs time to recover.’<\/p>\n

A typical workout<\/p>\n

At Crunch, sessions last around an hour.<\/p>\n

‘The beginning portion is usually mobility work for either her shoulders, hips or both,’ Morales explains.<\/p>\n

‘If we’re doing a full-body session, we’ll spend extra time foam rolling and warming up because that helps us work around both previous and current injuries.’<\/p>\n

They then move into the main lifts.<\/p>\n

‘We’ll usually do five or six exercises. Three are compound lifts<\/a> and the remainder are isolation exercises. We generally do three to four sets. If it’s a leg day, at least one exercise is single-leg.’<\/p>\n

Paulina also occasionally breaks up her lifting sessions with Cadillac or reformer Pilates at Nofar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

‘They’re a bit lower impact.’<\/p>\n

Training her is rarely boring, Morales adds.<\/p>\n

‘She’s a very quirky and lovely person, but she’s also competitive, which I love. And there’s definitely some competitiveness between her and her husband, which they always tell me about \u2013 it’s hilarious.’<\/p>\n

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\"women\u2019s<\/a>Paulina’s 7 lower-body exercises<\/p>\n

Morales explains that some exercises have helped Paulina functionally, while others have been more beneficial for strength and physique.<\/p>\n

Following her hip replacement, heavy lifting wasn’t the priority.<\/p>\n

‘We were focusing on feeling, volume and single-leg work,’ she says.<\/p>\n

Single-leg Romanian deadlifts became a key exercise, with particular attention paid to foot pressure and balance.<\/p>\n

‘That was our main hinge movement. She’s tall, and hinging is usually more challenging for taller individuals because of their longer limbs,’ Morales explains.<\/p>\n

Hip thrusts also featured heavily.<\/p>\n

‘She’s pretty good laterally, but for her hip we did lots of monster walks<\/a> and lateral hip adduction on the cable machine to strengthen the side of her glutes.’<\/p>\n

Paulina also performs curtsy lunge sliders with her other trainer, so they occasionally incorporated those too.<\/p>\n

As her recovery progressed, they gradually reintroduced squatting.<\/p>\n

‘We used a safety squat bar because the neutral handles suited her shoulders and gave her more stability,’ Morales explains.<\/p>\n

‘We also used the belt squat a lot, alongside goblet squats.’<\/p>\n

Her 4 upper-body exercises<\/p>\n

Improving shoulder mobility was a major priority.<\/p>\n

‘External rotators with a Theraband was a physical therapy exercise we’d include every upper-body session,’ Morales says.<\/p>\n

Alongside that, they regularly programmed lat pulldowns, face pulls and single-arm rows to improve shoulder positioning and upper-back strength.<\/p>\n

Paulina’s current strength goals<\/p>\n

‘We’re always trying to strengthen her glutes and lower abs,’ says Morales.<\/p>\n

And for Paulina’s competitive side?<\/p>\n

‘She really wanted to be able to do a pull-up.’<\/p>\n

‘She also became really good at push-ups while we were working together, which I think surprised her. She likes being surprised by her own strength.’<\/p>\n

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