Kim Kardashian is one of the most famous women in the world, and her workout regimes are in seriously high demand. If you’ve seen Kim recently, it’s hardly surprising — she’s arguably in the best shape of her life at 42 years old.
So, what's the secret? Recruit the services of professional trainer Senada Greca, of course. Oh, and train for two hours a day. Yep, you read that right.
Boasting over four million followers on her Instagram, Greca is responsible for helping Kim sculpt a more muscular, lean body. But before you jump into KK’s shoes and hit the gym, the workout regime is far from easygoing.
You’ll have to dedicate two hours a day, five to six days a week, to replicate Kim’s new training plan. You’ll also need weights, as Kim prioritizes strength training over cardio, and some of the best resistance bands to pair with them. Below, we cover everything you need to know and the risks associated with trying it.
What is Kim Kardashian’s daily routine?
Kim Kardashian has been hitting the weights, training for two hours a day, five to six days a week, with her trainer, Senada Greca. Her goal is to grow muscle and get stronger by adopting strength training, having previously told People magazine that she struggled to get results from prioritizing cardio.
Kim’s daily routine changes, but you can find workouts posted on her Instagram stories. Sessions with Greca usually include circuits, using combinations of compound exercises like lunges, squats, Good Mornings, rows and hip thrusts to name a few, with medium to heavy weights.
Now, I’m not saying Greca is doing anything unsafe, but the exercise plan is far from doable for most people, and you don’t need to put your body through the wringer for two hours a day to build muscle, lose fat and improve fitness levels.
Besides, various factors are at play that affect your ability to burn body fat and grow muscle, and Kim K happens to have 24-hour access to a dedicated team of health professionals, pro trainers and expert guidance.
So here are three factors to consider before you adopt Kim’s exercise plan.
1. You risk overtraining
Whenever you dramatically increase your training volume, there’s a risk of injury from overtraining. Many trainers recommend 24 hours of rest between sessions for smaller muscle groups and 48-72 hours for larger muscle groups or after higher intensity sessions.
That’s becoming a bit of an outdated idea, but it depends on the volume and intensity of your training plan and how well you recover afterward. Yes, muscles can take 48 hours (or longer) to repair from high-intensity and maximal strength training (like powerlifting, for example), and training this way every day isn’t advisable, but adding variety and choosing active recovery on some days could balance things out.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends strength training at least twice a week. If you can do more, I advise three or four sessions lasting 45-60 minutes, using compound exercises that target various muscle groups. That way, you can train every muscle group several times a week rather than every day — an effective and efficient way to build strength and muscle.
Be aware you’ll still subconsciously train other muscle groups if you divide your workouts into lower-body, push and pull splits. For example, deadlifts also target upper-body muscles. And the big lifts like the bench press or squat still recruit muscle groups like your core. We cover hypertrophy vs strength training here.
2. Fatigue
Recovery improves the adaptation process, meaning the micro-tears in your muscles caused by stress during exercise can repair, and muscles can strengthen and grow. Your body must be able to rest and repair to adapt and grow. You could train safely on multiple days but remember to include active recovery (think walks or swimming) and focus on different muscle groups rather than repeatedly going balls to the wall in one area.
As you get older, back-to-back training could be harder to maintain, and your exercise performance could suffer. Overuse injuries occur when people don’t schedule any rest at all, meaning your muscles meet with continuous stress. Again, some people can cope with it (I mean, Arnold Schwarzenegger trained for five hours a day in his heyday), but the average person could experience strains, sprains and muscle fatigue.
Continually engaging in heavy weight programs or high-intensity sessions without proper guidance could mean your body struggles to regulate hormones, replenish energy stores or repair tissue damage, and fatigue could set in. You’ll need to think about refueling, protein intake and balanced diet. Here’s why I don’t recommend counting calories for more nutrition advice.
3. It's unrealistic
I don’t know about you, but I’m already cramming tasks into my working week. Between my jobs as a trainer and fitness journalist, I can be found frantically shoehorning workouts into the schedule and don’t always manage it. And that’s without childcare or various other commitments that people must consider.
Most of us simply don’t have time to exercise for two hours a day. And basically, you just don’t need to, either.
If that sounds like you, I recommend increasing your NEAT instead; this refers to the amount of energy you expend outside of eating, sleeping and exercising, like taking the stairs or standing while you work. Combined with several training sessions per week, you could still achieve weight loss goals without spending hours in the gym.
Verdict
Sigh. Another day, another celeb training plan.
It might work for Kim K or elite athletes training toward a specific goal, but for most of us, this workout regime isn’t necessary. And it adds strain on the body. You also need proper guidance, coaching, nutrition knowledge and recovery plans to pull this off long-term.
If you’re considering giving it a go, I strongly recommend recruiting the help of a personal trainer. They can help you structure routines with varying intensities across the muscle groups and leave adequate rest time for recovery. If you’re eyeing up a six-pack like Kim’s and not hitting your goals, here are 5 reasons you can’t see your abs, despite working out based on science.
If muscle tone is your goal, strength training is one of the best ways to transform body composition alongside a lower body fat percentage. Lifting weights sculpts stronger, leaner muscles and helps strengthen joints and bones. The more lean muscle mass you have, the more calories your body can burn. But consider hormones, stress levels and sleep quality too if you want to look after your body— stressed out? One expert reveals that high-intensity exercise could be the culprit.
So it's a no from me on the two hour daily sessions, but Kim seems to be in very capable hands.
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