Kim Kardashian and Kourtney Kardashian's personal trainer is dishing on the duo's workout plan.
The E! stars have been hitting the gym with Amanda Lee in recent weeks, and now she's telling us all about the fitness sessions with the sisters. It turns out, Amanda and Kim actually went to high school together and recently reconnected around the time of their high school reunion in April. Amanda now trains with Kim once or twice a week and trains with Kourtney every day.
So what exactly does a workout session with Kim and Kourtney entail? Amanda breaks it down for us in the interview below!
E! News: Let's talk about your routine. Tell me what exactly you do with Kim and Kourtney.
AL: We do a lot of HIIT training, which stands for high-intensity interval training. It is geared toward firming, lifting and tightening the muscles. We focus mostly on lower body and core-so booty and abs. Basically what every girl in the world wants!
E!: Take us through the workout.
AL: It's different every time, one of my main things is that I really like to switch it up and I think that they like that so it keeps things interesting, you don't get bored. But what I do is we focus a lot on squats and lunges but we do a lot of squat variation so different kind of squat and lunge variations. We work a lot with resistance bands, we work a lot with a step, you've seen it I'm sure in a lot of my workout videos where we do little routines with the step, with the bosu ball. We mostly focus on routines with those three and I would say we do a lot of side walking squats with the resistance band, we do a lot of step-up combinations with the step, we do a lot of like jumping squat combinations with the bosu ball. We do a lot of like leg lift donkey kicks, outer thigh exercises, just a little bit of everything.
E!: Are you using weights?
AL: We use either weighted medicine balls or hand held weights sometimes. We switch it up.
E!: Do you also have them do cardio before or after?
AL: We don't focus on a lot of cardio because, the workout that I do, it gets your heart rate up so you don't really need to do cardio because it's such a high intensity workout your heart rate stays up the whole time. So it's actually much better than cardio because you have the benefit of your heart rate being up buy you are also building muscle and toning and tightening at the same time.
E!: Do you prefer that type of workout, why do you think it's more beneficial?
AL: I personally love that type of workout and I feel like it gets the best results. It depends on what your goals are, like if you're really trying to lean out it's good to add in the extra cardio because that will help, but Kim and Kourtney are already in amazing shape. They don't really need, they've got great abs and they look great, so we focus mostly on the muscle toning and that sort of thing.
E!: When they came to you did they have any specific goals or requests?
AL: Yes, they both said exactly what I just said, they said we want to mostly work on butt and abs.
E!: What are your favorite moves for both butt and abs?
AL: I would say my favorite moves for butt would be squat jumps with the resistance band, that's one of my go-tos. Walking lunges holding a medicine ball is another go-to, curtsy lunges on the step which is basically you're standing on the step and you bring your legs side to side into a curtsy lunge is another one of my favorites. I would also have to go with the clam which is like a mat exercise where you lift your leg up, it's for your outer thighs. Another one of my go-tos is a walking plié, when you get into a plié position with your feet turned out and then you step one foot in front of the other and then you walk and it's really good for your inner thighs. For abs I would say my go-tos, I love planks, I think planks are the best core workouts so all types of plank variations. There's one that we do a lot called the jumping jack plank. You're doing a plank on a bosu ball and then you jump your feet in and out and that's one of our go-tos.
E!: When they're working out with you, what is something that Kim or Kourtney hates to do? Or what is something that they love?
AL: I don't think there are any favorites, so I'm gonna say they kind of just like everybody else, they both hate the burpees and you know the box jumps, because you know we all hate those, you know those exercises are hard. I have to say they never complain, there's never anything that they don't do. They're pretty motivated, they really give it their all and they really get the most out of the workout every time. Their favorites are the butt and outer thigh mat exercises so like the donkey kick and the clam are their favorites because they really feel the burn. I would say those are more of the favorites.
E!: How many days a week do you train both of them?
AL: I train Kourtney every day, like 5 days. Kim is two times a week.
E!: How long are your workouts?
AL: Our workouts are about an hour, we sometimes go like a little bit over but technically it's an hour.
E!: Right when you get in and you get with Kourtney in the morning, what are you having her to do to warm up? How do you keep her heart rate up, you just mentioned burpees…
AL: We incorporate burpees we incorporate a lot of jumping exercises, we do have certain days where I will have her walk on a high incline, you know a 15 percent incline at like a 2.7 speed holding a medicine ball, so that keeps your heart rate up and at the same time you are working core by holding the ball so certain exercises like that, that keeps the heart rate going the whole time. We also do jumping jacks holding weights so I'll give them like five-pound weights in each hand and you'll do a shoulder press while you're doing a jumping jack, so that's another one of the exercises we do to kind of like get the heart rate up.
E!: Do you incorporate these things in between sets?
AL: Yes, exactly we incorporate those in between squats, in between lunges, between exercises with the TRX, so we use that as well. They have that in the gym so we incorporate the high intensity cardio exercises in between and we usually do those anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute depending on the intensity.
E!: When you do the other reps like the lunges, how many do you usually have her do?
AL: It varies, I don't really believe in counting reps, I believe more in doing as many as you can until you hit failure, but if I had to come up with a number I would come up with anywhere from 20 to 30. For the more cardio based exercises I do time and sometimes we do certain exercises like wall sits where I'll have them sit against the wall for like a minute, that sort of thing so I time certain exercises and then other exercises I count reps.
E!: How is it working out with Kim and Kourtney together?
AL: It's great, I mean they're on a pretty similar level fitness-wise, they are both really fit, they're both willing to do all of the exercises, so I think training two people who are at like a, you know, pretty similar level, it works.
E!: When they train together, is there a lot of socializing going on?
AL: A little bit, a little bit even though I am friends with them it's hard sometimes because, you know, we're talking and we're all friends but I try to keep it as professional as possible and I try to keep the talking to a minimum so at the end of the day we're here to work out for that hour and that's what we need to stay focused on. Even though we are friends we do start talking, I do try to stay mindful of that, like OK I'm training them, stay focused.
E!: What about diet? What do you eat and what do you recommend for Kourtney and Kim?
AL: They both have chefs so they eat very healthy, they have chefs who specifically eat very healthy, you know like high protein, low calorie diet, so I try to keep them on track in terms of just a healthy...like I said they're both extremely healthy so in terms of diet I don't advise them that much on diet. The only thing is I try to pride...Kourtney is really really good about sticking with eating healthy all the time and Kim will like go to a shoot and she'll have like pizza on the set and I'll be like, 'What are you doing? You can't do that.' So I try to keep her on track, you know she travels more and it's harder to stay on track when your schedules a little bit more intense, but in terms of diet, they have chefs who plan that all out for them so I don't focus as much on that.
E!: But you recommend high protein, low calorie?
AL: I recommend a high protein, high fiber diet, I'm not gonna say low calorie because I don't really believe in counting calories I just believe in being healthy. I try to have a little bit of protein with every meal and nothing white. No white bread, no white rice, no white carbs. Every time I eat a carb you know it's a whole grain because that way you're getting the benefit of the fiber. Another thing I tell them all the time is like if you do it every once in a while it's fine but really try and limit sugar because sugar is really the worst, sugar is even worse than carb. There's way to have healthy carbs and your body needs carbs but sugar is just the worst. It's hard because it's in like everything, it's really hard to avoid it so I just like do as much as you can to try avoid sugar.
E!: In terms of fiber, what are some things that you recommend that have a lot of fiber in them?
AL: I would say oatmeal is great. I have oatmeal like every morning. I would say any type of like whole wheat bread, unprocessed whole wheat bread or brown rice, vegetables, you know all those things they all have a lot of fiber.
E!: So you recommend the typical high protein, veggies and fiber at each meal.
AL: Exactly.
E!: Do you have any rules besides the no sugar? like no carbs at night or no alcohol? Do you give these rules to the girls?
AL: I would say definitely limiting alcohol, you know, because that just turns to sugar in your body so definitely limiting alcohol...um not really no carbs at night, I feel like just as long as it's high fiber carbs you're OK.
E!: What are some health fads you don't believe in?
AL: Intermittent fasting I think that can work, you know that's a fad that's happening right now. I think it does have some validity to it if you are trying to speed up your metabolism and lose weight, but I would say probably something that I don't believe in is the Atkins diet, I was never a fan of because it's like no fiber, you know, so that I was never a fan of and then I would say like the waste training is pretty useless.
E!: What is your secret to getting abs?
AL: I mean it goes back to the saying abs are made in the kitchen, so it really does have a lot to do with your diet and you know the low sugar, drinking a lot of water, staying hydrated eating a lot of fiber diet, those things really help with abs along with just staying active. If you have a job where you're sitting all day you need to be staying active all the time like always take the stairs, certain little things just to be constantly moving really helps. And then definitely the plank exercises, any type of core, there's so many plank variations that you can do you know there's the side to side plank, there's the military plank, there's the jumping jacks plank...I like to incorporate many plank variations into our workouts and I think that that's the best for toning and tightening the core but in terms of getting a flat stomach that's all about diet.
E!: Obviously summer is around the corner, do either of the girls have any summer goals?
AL: Pretty much maintaining because when you're at the level that they're at you have to look good year-round, you know, because there's vacations in winter, we live in LA so it's bikini season a lot of the year. So yeah it's not really a summer thing, they want to look good year-round.
E!: What are a few travel tips because I know both of them travel a lot. What do you suggest to them while they are traveling to stay on track?
AL: I don't go with them, it depends like if Kim leaves for like three days or something so then she just kind of takes that time off and then gets back into it hardcore when she gets back in town. Kourtney's great about staying motivated on her own.
Well I do make routines for clients while they're gone, so I will create little fitness routines for my clients to do when I'm not with them. But I would say I guess that would be the best tip would be I make routines for them while they're gone and they do it on their own in the hotel gym or whatever and that just kind of keeps them on track.
E!: How do you keep the girls accountable and on track?
AL: No, because you know they know what to do obviously, so I try to just keep them on track with like texts or if I see something in their story like ice cream or pizza I'm like, 'What are you doing?' You know, but other than that they are pretty aware when it comes to diet and at the same time you are on vacation so you should allow yourself to enjoy yourself and not be so strict especially if you've been really consistent prior to leaving.