This time of year, models log some serious mileage as they trek all over town between shows, castings, and late-night parties—not to mention the requisite laps around the runway. “It really is like running a marathon,” says Amanda Murphy, who is among those making the monthlong odyssey from New York to London, Milan, and Paris. Just as conventional marathoners swear by a rigorous training regimen, the same goes for this crowd—albeit with a more idiosyncratic mix of pickup basketball, Yogilates, and pedaling through the Manhattan streets. Here, six Fashion Week regulars share their fitness strategies for maintaining high energy—and high spirits—in the midst of the madness.
Kendall Jenner
When she’s off-duty in L.A., the model-of-the-moment hands the fitness reins to her trainer, Gunnar Peterson, during their four-times-a-week sessions. “I do whatever he tells me to do—some cardio, some muscle-building—to tone myself up.” With the fashion shows in New York and Europe kicking into high gear, she’s on her own. “I’ll run to a gym and get on the treadmill; I [also] do a lot of ab work and planking. I usually try to keep up with it because, for me, Fashion Week isn’t just a week—it’s a month!” Next on her agenda: Putting together the ultimate sweat-it-out playlist, which will include “Kanye, for sure,” she says. “Some of his music really gets me in the workout mood.”
Sasha Luss
Staying grounded during Fashion Week goes beyond the physical, as the golden-haired model explains it: “You need to be super relaxed, super calm, and just take it as it is.” She unwinds with “absolutely not cool” music from her native Russia, along with Red Hot Chili Peppers albums; to sync up mind and body, she practices Yogilates at home and follows a series of videos by a Russian instructor. “And I drink a lot of water and green juice,” she says, giving a shout-out to the juice cart near her Wall Street apartment. “This guy knows how I like it: a lot of ginger, a lot of lemon. He’s doing his job with love.”
Amanda Murphy
Wellness, inside and out, starts at home for the Chicago-based model: Her fiancé is both a personal trainer and a naturopath. They work out together four days a week, doing everything from lunges on a balance beam to core strengthening. “He doesn’t take it easy on me either!” she says with a laugh. “When I’m doing shows, I always travel with a resistance-band kit in my bag. It’s superlight, and you can do any number of exercises with it. He’ll usually text me a regimen, and I will do my best to get it done,” she explains. “Campaign season is right after this, so there’s no slacking allowed,” she adds. When her modeling duties once again ease up, she has another athletic pursuit to keep her busy: Jumping horses. “I just bought my house in Chicago, on the south side, so now my horses are in the yard.” Her childhood dream, fulfilled.
Grace Mahary
What’s her fitness life like these days? “The hours are few and far between to work out during Fashion Week,” says the cheerful Canadian-born model. “But I love SoulCycle. I practice several different types of yoga, just to keep cool,” she says, calling out Modo in the West Village. “Even when I travel, if I have 15 minutes, I try to get in a little bit of meditation.” She can also be spotted on Manhattan’s basketball courts, putting her model proportions to good use. “I used to play three [positions during school], but now I just go to shoot around.”
Xiao Wen Ju
The lithe-limbed Chinese model sticks to a straightforward fitness routine: “I like to do slow, long-distance running—it’s kind of like life,” she says. Her signature posture—regal and upright, even amid the chaos of backstage hair and makeup—has led people to suspect years of ballet training. Not so. Instead, she credits her mother with inspiring her perfectly straight carriage. To this day, she advises her daughter to sit “like a [grandfather] clock and stand like a tree.”
Karlie Kloss
“I love to start my day off right with a great workout,” says the model, who swings a kettlebell and hovers in plank pose in this season’s Nike campaign. “Best-case scenario is I’ll wake up early, like 6:30 or 7, and catch a SoulCycle or ModelFIT class. Then I’ll make a delicious breakfast: scrambled egg whites, maybe a protein shake, or Greek yogurt. It’s my favorite meal of the day.” When fashion shows and editorial shoots carry her far from home (and far from a spin bike), she’s prepared. “I always bring ankle weights in my suitcase when I travel, so I have an exercise routine [that] I can do in the hotel gym or in my room,” she explains. “Anything to just get your body moving.”
The post Model-Tested Fitness Strategies: The Best Classes, Trainers, and On-the-Go Routines appeared first on Vogue.