In the chaos that ensues before an
Oscars red carpet, arranging a morning workout is just as important as hair and makeup.
“The ones that can sweat the morning of the carpet, that makes all the difference in photographs,” celebrity trainer
Tracy Anderson told Page Six in a recent interview. “It’s getting all the tension out of your body so you photograph better and you speak better, it’s literally the best form of meditation you can do.”
And more often than not, that sweat session is at 5 a.m.
“I’ve had to take a red-eye, 5 a.m. land, and go right into a workout for someone that was actually hosting an award show once,” she recalled. “I’ve had to get up at like 3:45-4 a.m. to be in the car to be at someone’s house, for sure I’ve had to do that many many many times for people.”
But after showing up — at whatever time — for the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and
Tracee Ellis Ross for nearly 20 years, Anderson has the award show training season down to a science.
“There’s definitely a shift in energy … Private training requests and travel training really goes through the roof for us,” she said of this time of year.
Along with doing her signature moves with ankle weights and resistance bands, her training sessions come with a side of therapy as she calms the nerves of celebrities readying to hit the carpet.
“I feel like I’m so relaxed in knowing how to take care of them,” she said. “They’ve got so much pressure on them, especially the ones that are nominated or presenting or hosting, I feel that something that people don’t even realize is that they have a lot of nervousness and gratitude, a lot of high, high, high adrenaline, where they just don’t want to disappoint.”
Anderson and her team have become synonymous with accommodating the unruly schedules of actors and musicians and catering to the buzz of awards season that can easily sweep both a red carpet newbie or veteran into a panic.
“It’s a different feeling when you are that exposed and vulnerable and so I like to make sure that I’m really supportive,” she added, which can mean sending a “travel trainer” anywhere in the world or a version of a Tracy Anderson Method studio, the Super-G Cardio Floor, with a $10,000 price tag.
One-on-one sessions will cost a star $2,500 for 10 workouts or $90 a month to stream the TA Method online.
While training, Anderson discourages her clients from dieting. “The people I work with they might feel pressure, like, ‘Oh my God should I diet?” and I always calm them down and say, ‘No because you don’t want walk out on the red carpet and feel dizzy or not be in the moment or feel like you’re going to faint because you’re starving.'”
Anderson’s approach is strategic and customized training, a mindset she’s stuck to since she started training Paltrow.
“I can make a lot happen in someone’s design of their body very, very quickly,” she said. “Even way back in the day when Gwyneth and I first started she pulled in 11 inches all over her body during the first 10 days in doing my strategic muscle exhaustion, so there are definitely things you can achieve, but you’re achieving it from the inside out,” dubbing it “really cute” when a celebrity contacts her with 48 hours before a big event.
“I’m always very honest, I’m like ‘bless your heart,'” she joked, explaining that a week out is the ideal time window where she likes to prep a client.
“If I get from like five to seven days in a row, I can get you down to where you look the best,” she said.
But regardless of whether a nominee has a few weeks or a few days before they hit the red carpet, Anderson said that she’s loving those who embrace their bodies.
“People are wanting to own their shapes more than ever,” she said. “They want to be healthy, they want to be fit, [but] the vibe now is really about working on your own self-esteem and letting your own beauty shine and highlighting your true self.”