Jennifer Aniston can hold a 10-minute plank, and—as with everything she does—somehow makes it look effortless. “My boxing trainer, Leyon Azubuike, had me start at a minute, and then he added a minute, and all of a sudden we were at three minutes,” she says. “But you just sort of keep talking, and it becomes quite easy and you can get up to five or 10 minutes.”

When the actress told me this when we were chatting on Zoom about her role as Vital Proteins‘ Chief Creative Officer, whatever hope I had for playing it cool (which was already unbearably difficult, because I waschatting with Jennifer Aniston on Zoom) went straight out the window. I mean, a three-minute plank is impressive, but a 10-minute one? I was totally blown away.

Though Aniston’s strength is borderline superhuman, she doesn’t have a “go hard or go home” mentality, when it comes to fitness. Instead, she prioritizes workouts that make her feel good, and that she knows she can stick with—which means she never has to push her body to its limits when she needs to get into tip-top shape. “I’m always changing it up because I don’t ever want to get too bored with anything, but I never get to the place where I have to go really hard to get in shape, because that’s daunting—I’d rather just stay consistent in where I am,” says Aniston. “I also really love [working out]—it’s a mood enhancer for me, and really keeps me feeling good.”

These days, she credits Pilates for keeping her at her strongest. After an injury left her sidelined early in quarantine, she turned to the restorative modality to help her recover—and fell in love with it. “I went from being so physical to then not being able to move, and the only thing I was allowed to do was Pilates, which became one of my favorite things,” she says. “Not only is it a really wonderful form of exercise because of how it rehabilitates the body, but it’s really been transformative.”

This is a testament to Aniston’s entire approach to wellness, which is all about finding balance and doing things that keep her feeling her best. “It’s everything from my morning meditation to what I put into my body food-wise to what I put into my brain information-wise with the news and other things online to the people I surround myself with,” she says.

And yes—because I had to ask—that means hitting the gym with her actual friends. “Courtney and I go to the gym and get our wellness on together,” she says. “If I’m in the gym, she’s in the infrared sauna.” Cut to me fan-girling, hard, and searching for a Monica Gellar of my own to talk me through all future multi-minute plank sessions.

Speaking of fan-girling over Jenifer Aniston, check out what happened when I tried her morning routine for a week. 

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