You heard the news, yes? That the one and only J.Lo and the absolutely magical Shakira are performing at this year's Super Bowl!? Well, it takes a village to prep for such a thing, or in Shakira's case, it takes one Anna Kaiser, the woman behind AKT Studios and Shakira's five-times-a-week, 75-minute training sessions.
Anna walked Delish through a day in the life of pre-Super Bowl Shakira: what she eats, how she trains, and how she's handling the pressure of a once-in-a-lifetime performance.
Shakira is eating really lean right now.
By lean, Anna means healthy proteins and lots of veggies. In fact, Shakira is currently alternating between eating 60 percent veggies and 40 percent protein and eating 80 percent veggies and 20 percent protein. Regardless, a day in the (eating) life looks like black coffee around breakfast, "a salad and fish for lunch, soup for a snack, skirt steak with grilled tomatoes and spinach for dinner, and dark chocolate for dessert."
That's not so different than what she normally eats—there's just a lot less snacking going on right now.
Her workouts are nothing if not consistent.
Every one of Anna and Shakira's workouts is at least an hour and fifteen minutes and almost always consists of "choreographed dance sections and strength intervals. We’ll do dance, upper body circuit, dance, lower body circuit, dance, core circuit, cool down." The goal each time? To burn at least 500 calories per workout: "We usually surpass that goal, but that’s our baseline. We need to get there."
In order to ensure they do, Shakira wears a heart monitor "religiously" every time. Anna says the monitor is crucial, as "you don’t always know if you’re getting a good workout! You can sweat in a hot room with a lot of people and burn 200 calories, but with proper metrics, you don't just rely on the visceral sweat."
The dancing is the fun part.
The funnest part of Anna's job here, she says, is creating a playlist for a music (and dance!) icon to, well, dance to. And while it's really challenging to find music that'll motivate someone who has created tons of music in her lifetime, she's figured out how to do it: music totally unlike her own.
"We love the song 'Arrest the President' by Ice Cube. It’s so fun! It’s hilarious, it’s a really good song. We also like—let me grab her playlist—we really like 'Sally Walker' by Iggy Azalea, and then 'Kryptonite!' That’s a throwback." All of those serve well for working Shakira's core (which she "loves" to do) and her legs and booty (which are "definitely a challenge" for her).
Showing up and letting go is a little harder.
In conclusion, Anna says, Shakira's Super Bowl prep isn't so unlike my gym routine or your gym routine or any other busy human's gym routine:
For any busy woman, transitions in your day are really important. It’s really hard to change your energy and get yourself into the headspace of working out. One of the most challenging things for her is to come into a room and let everything else go. To let the 15 other things I’m thinking about disappear for the next 75 minutes.
In further conclusion, Anna confirms it's easier for Shakira to do that when she's gotten a great night's sleep.
You heard it here first: Eat right. Sleep well. Work hard. Morph into Super Bowl-ready shape. Become Shakira.
You'll be able to find 100 more AKT Studios locations across the country next year, but for now, check out theakt.com for more info on signing up for classes.
