I tried Gisele Bünchen’s yoga routine and my abs were killing me

Many public figures and celebrities enjoy toning and strengthening their bodies with yoga and Pilates, and Gisele Bünchen is no exception. Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bünchen is one of the top-earning models of all time, so unsurprisingly, she has a pretty killer body.

While Bünchen has tried many different workouts, she’s always been vocal about her love for yoga. In her book, Bünchen wrote that “yoga is so serene that I can be in a state of meditation while I practice. Whether it involves music or mantras or breathwork or meditation, yoga is a powerful, beautiful spiritual practice that gave me back my life.”

Yoga has many benefits, including calming the nervous system, strengthening the muscles, clearing the mind, and resetting the body. Most forms of yoga are a full body workout, and taking a look at Bünchen’s yoga flows, it’s clear that she has an incredibly strong core and abs to sustain these poses.

As a yoga newbie, I’ve been trying out many celebrity yoga routines, including Fearne Cotton’s relaxing reset flow, Kate Hudson’s sculpting routine and a CorePower session from Kaley Cuoco. To challenge myself and test my core strength, I grabbed my best yoga mat and pulled on my best yoga pants to try out Gisele Bünchen’s yoga flow… and wow, my abs were killing me!

What is Gisele Bünchen’s workout routine?

According to multiple outlets, Bünchen does a variety of different exercises to keep her body toned and strong. In conversation with British Vogue, she wakes up at 5am every morning to meditate and workout, prioritising movement throughout her day.

In addition to yoga which she uses for strength, balance, flexibility and recovery, Bünchen also loves to do Pilates, hiking, swimming, surfing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Like yoga, Bünchen started Pilates when she was pregnant and she works with Nonna Gleyzer, celebrity Pilates instructor who’s also trained Natalie Portman, Kerry Washington and Sting. In her yoga and Pilates routines, Bünchen mainly focuses on the lower abs and obliques, and works to elongate and stretch the muscles and support the spine.

How to do Gisele Bünchen’s yoga routine

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I had a look through Bünchen’s Instagram and TikTok videos and put together a routine to challenge myself and all I can say is… ow! Now, as Bünchen is much more advanced than I am, I wasn’t about to jump into doing headstands (although you can try Dua Lipa’s headstand workout if you’re interested). Instead, I decided to focus on five moves that Bünchen does frequently to test my abs and balance.

The first move I did was Warrior II. This pose creates heat in your practice and has many benefits, including stretching your hips and groin, opening your chest and lungs, energising your limbs, developing balance and improving circulation. As someone who runs a lot, moving between Warrior I and Warrior II on each side a few times felt really great for my legs and back.

The next move I tried was Dancer which was a big challenge for me as I have no balance whatsoever! Dancer involves standing on one leg and bringing the other leg back behind you into the air and holding this with your hand, almost like a scorpion. This was the hardest pose for me and I noticed my abs working very hard to keep this position.

Next, I moved to the floor for Navasana or the boat pose. Another ab-focused move, I felt this pose in my abs, thighs and back, and holding this for a prolonged time was incredibly tricky, especially when it came to staying in a fixed position.

After this pose, I felt a lot stronger though and enjoyed the next two poses which focused more on stretching. I finished off this five step-routine with a Seated Twist and Pigeon. The seated twist hit all the right spots down the sides of my body and the pigeon really elongated my spine and stretched out my lower abs which were really tested during this routine!