Actor, beauty entrepreneur, woman with arms and abs chiseled from marble: Jennifer Aniston knows that time is precious, and even a few minutes of a workout is better than nothing.
“I love a quickie workout,” Aniston previously told Vogue when waxing lyrical about Pvolve, the low-impact functional fitness method programme she co-owns. “Even a body part like I’m dreading—like glutes—I can get through in that amount of time…15-minute sessions can work the entire body in a short amount of time, which is a game-changer. I also love that you can break a beautiful sweat during it.”
Best believe Jennifer Aniston is a woman of her word, too. Photographed aboard a yacht sailing around the lush island of Mallorca, Spain, Aniston was on deck doing some planks in a bikini. In a low plank, she balanced on her forearms and tiptoes and kept her core engaged and abs taut. It was a perfect plank: neck in a neutral position, her back forming a flat and level line from her head, to spine, to heels, and her elbows directly under her shoulders. Belly button was pulled inward, glutes and thighs squeezed. She wore a black string bikini top and low-rise coral bottoms, with her hair in a loose, low ponytail—an appropriate look for tanning while you tone, anyway.
Aniston was joined on deck by her boyfriend Jim Curtis, as well as former Friends co-star Courteney Cox and Pedro Pascal.
Aniston has spoken passionately about her love of quick resistance-based workouts, which she prefers to longer, coristol-raising intense sessions. She keeps Pvolve’s P.band in her car—“You can put that on and just move if you have a 5-minute break”—and loves a speedy workout with the gliders.
“It used to be pounding, pounding, pounding; You had to get 45 minutes to an hour of cardio; otherwise, you weren’t getting a workout,” she previously told Vogue when reflecting on how she used to exercise in her 20s, when she wasn’t looking forward to the grueling monotony. “Not only do you stress your body, you burn out; Who wants to do that at all?” After a back injury in 2011, she found Pvolve, and now sticks to bitesize routines that she can get in whenever. Sometimes, that’s on a yacht.
A plank is an easy, accessible exercise that requires on equipment, but still engages multiple muscles all at once. It builds core strength, protects the lower back, and improves posture. Specifically, you’re targetting those deep core muscles like the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, and obliques—all important if you want those stacked abs like Aniston. Planking regularly also trains your body to balance better, and over time, will benefit back pain and your joints.
Aniston is not the only one making sure she prioritizes some movement on vacation, either. Last summer, Dua Lipa was spotted doing a headstand (that’s “sirsasana” in Sanskrit) on a paddleboard in Ibiza. That’s another great core-strengthening and balancing exercise. Kylie Jenner, Alix Earle, Jake Shane, et al were also spotted enjoying some reformer pilates sessions aboard the famous Alo yacht off the coast of Sardinia, Italy.
This writer isn’t one to skip a session either, so I reached out to the woman whose workouts—first on Instagram, and then, as her community grew, an app and IRL all-women gym in North London—have given me those quick energizing hits of movement on vacations that I need to feel like me: Ciara Madden, founder of Body By Ciara. “As someone who trains six times a week when at home, working out on holiday is a necessity,” she says. “And while that sounds extremely boring, it really is a little 20-30 minutes in the morning, before the breakfast buffet, that makes all the difference.”
“I’ve never been one to watch my food, so on holiday I eat everything I want, whenever I want it,” Ciara continues, “including the equivalent of a loaf of local bread and a gallon of olive oil a day. I drink more fizzy drinks than I do when I’m at home—because international Fanta is like its own currency—and I tend to drink alcohol pretty much daily. And while all of this stacks up, I’m also not willing to give it up; so I have to workout on holiday. It resets my body, [and] I feel like when I train on holiday, I hold onto less water, I feel less bloated, it helps my digestive system get back into a good routine after flying, my glutes feel more pumped, and generally. I just feel better in myself ahead of spending a day in a bikini.”
Ciara stresses that workouts on vacation don’t have to go toe-to-toe with your at regular gym or at-home sessions. They should be speedy and sweaty. Her pro-tips? Pack a resistance band, get a playlist on and “make good friends with HIIT.” “HIIT is intense, challenging, and requires no equipment,” she says. “I don’t always have access to weights when I’m traveling, especially if you stay in a villa or apartment, as opposed to a hotel, so bodyweight exercises are mandatory.” Keep workouts simple, too. Ciara suggests picking five straightforward but challenging exercises, doing each for 45 seconds on, 15 seconds off, and repeating three times. “Don’t try and overcomplicate it, don’t think about it,” she says. “Then head to breakfast ready to start your day. You’ll feel so much better for it.”
While the best bit about vacation is making sure you relax and reset, moving your body can still very much be a part of that. A sweaty, quicktime HIIT workout or a slower movement (like low-impact functional intervals, yoga, pilates, or just walking on the beach) works just as nicely. (This summer, Nordic walking has proven itself the exercise du jour.)
Will you be boat posing, planking, or headstanding a la Aniston or Lipa on your own vay-cay?
