Lea Michele Dishes About Her Active Lifestyle and Reveals Her 2 Favorite Workouts
Glee and now Scream Queens star Lea Michele graces the November cover of Women's Health with some major fitness motivation. The singer, author, and actress is an advocate for healthy living and has inspired us before with her thoughts on body image and self-confidence. Lea's amazing body isn't a result of calorie counting but of continuous activity and a positive mindset. And what we love most is that the 29-year-old still loves her food. Check out her gorgeous photos from the upcoming issue (hitting stands on Oct. 20) ahead accompanied by quotes about her balanced lifestyle.
:upscale()/ps-image-unavailable.png)
On being outdoors: “I’m really close with Becca [Tobin], who was on Glee with me, and we go hiking all the time," she says. "I hike on trails about four times a week; I love being outside." Her costar isn’t the only one she turns to for an alfresco workout partner. Lea recently recruited boyfriend Matthew Paetz, a friend, and her pal’s fiancé for a wellness retreat in Malibu, CA, that involved scaling advanced trails for four days straight. "'The feeling on day one was like, ‘I did iiiiit! I am the strongest person on the planeeeeet!’ she says. “Day three or four was more like, ‘I’m in pain. This is horrible. Dear god, just get to that bush. Get to the bush, then get to the rock . . .’”
On yoga: "I go back and forth between hiking and hot yoga. Hot yoga is my absolute favorite. I started in New York doing bikram yoga with Jonathan Groff and now I love the studios out here and I do it all the time. I’m really obsessed."
“[Becca and I] also do hot yoga; I like exercises that have a little spirituality to them. It’s the greatest combination of meditation, detox, and a fantastic workout.”
On maintaining balance: "When I get stressed, I think that, for me, I just live a very active life. No matter what, if I can just go for a nice hike, or if I can have a little glass of wine, or eat good food, that always is my best medicine."
On Pilates: “Emma Roberts introduced me to Pilates in New Orleans," she says. While in the Big Easy filming Scream Queens, the costars have been hitting up Romney Pilates Center multiple times a week, switching up sessions on the Cadillac or reformer machines with floor-based workouts using BOSU balls or TRX straps.
On good eating: Lea has always had a healthy perspective on food and never relied on it as a stress soother — but she doesn’t follow a strict diet, either. Whether she’s keeping vegan (at home), vegetarian (often on the road), or neither (if she can get hold of responsibly raised meat), Lea focuses on quality ingredients, especially when she’s dabbling in her two biggest vices: wine and cheese. "I love eating, but I eat what fuels me," she says. "And if it’s not gonna fuel me, then it’ll fuel my soul — like pizza."
On the positive effects of journaling: "It’s funny because I had never been a big journaler. It always intimidated me and I would see people journaling and I’m like, ‘What? What are you gonna write? What do you have to say?’ But I was always a big list maker and as I got older I realized that putting things down on paper really does help to create a positive energy and manifest these things, and then you also have something that you have to — it gives you more of an attempt or effort to actually make it happen. So this is a guided journal workbook for people who might be intimated to journal or people who love journaling. It helps through the guided questions to help you explore deeper inside yourself, whether you want to be writing down your fitness goals or you want to be writing down a five-year plan, or just good memories — something that you can look back on — there’s really something in there for everyone."