Claudia Winkleman's fitness routine is refreshingly low-key
Claudia Winkleman's irreverent humour leaps off the screen, and the BAFTA-winning presenter is just as hilariously deadpan when on Strictly and The Traitors as when describing her fitness routine. Refreshingly low-maintenance, real and tongue-in-cheek, she apparently eschews most forms of physical exertion and the pressure to have a strict exercise regimen, sweating it out only when she's literally locked into the equipment.
After The Traitors series 3 aired this week, WH explores the broadcaster's relatable approach to getting her heart rate up – including not even owning a pair of trainers.
She doesn't like working out
Speaking to Gabby Logan on her Mid-Point podcast, Claudia described her dislike for exercise. 'I don’t like sweating. I don’t like movement,' she said. 'I think you have to move a lot to see a difference and I’m too impatient. I want to go twice and feel like Elle Macpherson. The moment they say you’ll see a difference in three months, I’m out.'
Despite having tried a variety of exercises, none of them have quite stuck. ‘I just don’t think [exercise] is for me,’ she continued to Psychologies. ‘Lots of my friends do it, and once they’ve found their activity, they love it. But I’ve just never had that experience. I’m allergic to sweating and movement – and Lycra, I think.'
She doesn't like being pressured to exercise
In a similar vein, she rejects feeling like she's being made to work out – or anything else she "should" do – at all. 'Any pressure to do anything, whether it's pressure to lie down, or pressure to read more, or pressure to exercise more, I'm not interested in,' she said to Marie Claire.
'I'm totally disinterested, in complete honesty. I like things sort of decaying, including myself. I find that much more charming. I'm happy to fall apart.'
She counts getting on the Tube as movement
Referring to her exercise level as 'absolutely zero' in Marie Claire, she explained: 'I'm sedentary. My only movement is to go on the Central line. I get the Tube at 7.45am and 3.30pm. I like a march to the entrance, then when I get on it's like an amazing Harry Potter magic pill as you come out in a totally different part of London. I pick up the offspring and then come back. So I don't move at all other than that.'
She's not a fan of yoga
Writing in her Times column, Claudia shut down any ideas that she might be a yogi in disguise.
‘It’s not my thing,' she told readers. 'Yoga is for relaxed people, rational people. It’s for people who think about breathing correctly and who want to be calm, at peace, in control and centred.
‘Yoga is for people who can think tranquil thoughts, for people who won’t go nuts in a queue. It’s for people who can meditate, who can differentiate between what is important and what is not.
‘Well, I am frenetic, frantic, wound up, irrational, not calm and not breathing right. I have laughed at yoga, guffawed at downward dogs. I have giggled at hummus and bare feet and balance. I have chortled at yoga retreats and headstands and inner peace.’
'I went to yoga once and lasted four minutes', she told Hello. 'I'm just not that person.'
Free Metcon 6
TLRD Impact Training High-Support Bra
OA Graphic Washed T-Shirt
Ultimate Leggings
Vital Seamless 2.0 Shorts
Swiftly Tech Cropped Long-Sleeve Shirt 2.0
R.A.D® ONE SUNSET PINK
Strive Gym Bag
Essential Air Tank
She was partial to indoor cycling
However, one form of fitness that she once took a fancy to was spinning. 'Spin I liked: very loud music and being shouted at – that was somehow erotic,' she joked to The Express. In 2017, she was supposedly 'obsessed' with Pyscle workouts.
There's a more practical reason that keeps her spinning her wheels: 'I’m locked into the bike, so I can’t leave. Because anything else, I will leave,' she confessed to Marie Claire. 'I don’t like sweating, I don’t like pain, I can’t get my head around any of it.
'I love it because I never go out – I’m now, as I said, 110. In my fantasy I’m wearing knee-high boots, I’m in a night club, I’m dancing, there are tequila shots, I’m waving at Lenny Kravitz.
'It was thrilling, being in a dark room. But then I sort of got out of the habit.'
She enjoys walking - a lot
Over lockdown, Claudia spent a lot of time walking.
'[Our family] were so grateful because we had the hour of exercise, and we were really obedient,' she said to Marie Claire. 'So we would set an alarm and we would go – it was the five of us and we just felt so incredibly lucky.
'We discovered our local park, but we also did lots of urban walking as we don't have a garden where we are. We were literally just pounding the streets of London looking at the blue plaques.'
'It's always a slow meander,' she added to Hello, before admitting: 'I don't actually own trainers.'
She's passionate about rest
Claudia is a very vocal advocate for napping, admitting to taking at least one a day.
In March 2023, she wrote in her column for The Times: ‘Sleeping is vital, and I’m not actually talking about at night. Correct, it’s absolutely fantastic to slump into bed at the end of a busy day. A good book (another great accessory) and some Aesop hand cream with your phone off is all delightful.
‘But now I’d like to discuss the importance of a daytime snooze. Call it a "meeting", call it a "bit of me time". Whatever: get into bed whenever you can – for 20 minutes after the school run, for 30 after work, definitely at lunchtime if you’re WFH ("Fine, I’ll come into the office once I’ve had a bit of shuteye").’
Her endorsement came several years after she admitted she had to curb her twice a day nap habit. Speaking on The Emma Guns Show podcast, she said: ‘I’m not that busy, and I do like napping. I’ve had to stop having two naps a day as I was no longer sleeping at night, that’s what happened when I turned 46. I love a nap.
‘Yesterday I thought, "I don’t even need a nap, but I’m going to have one."
‘I’ve had a good night’s sleep, so it was not necessary. I didn’t have to leave the house until 2.45pm to pick up the kids, I’ve eaten, it’s 1.15pm, let’s just see what happens. An hour and a half later — snore.’
She has a healthy approach to nutrition
Mentioning a cheat meal to Claudia is as dangerous as calling out a suspected traitor at a round table. She told Marie Claire that she loathes the term, and that it can make how we talk about food take a darker turn.
'I don’t think it should be called a cheat meal. Then what are the other meals? We all have to be careful about the way we talk about it. What is my favourite meal of all time? Roast chicken, roast potatoes, horseradish, buttery peas, a cheese board that will include Gorgonzola, and then probably tiramisu.’
She also previously admitted that once the cameras have stopped rolling at the Strictly studio, she and co-host Tess Daly will happily tuck in to a Dominos. In 2016, she told Red, ‘We always get a takeaway after filming. Often it’s Domino's, but I have been known to eat four Filet-O-Fish from McDonald’s.’
Claudia has also waxed lyrical about her love for toasted cheese sandwiches and avocados in The Express: 'A toasted cheese sandwich blows my mind. And I could live off avocados.'
She’s caffeine-free
Claudia’s effervescent, frenetic energy is all natural. She told SheerLuxe: ‘I don’t actually drink caffeine. I think I had some in about 1998 and was awake for three days. I don’t like feeling frenzied or like I’m on a rollercoaster, so if I do have coffee, I only drink decaf. Failing that, it’s usually Ribena Light.’
Cut through the noise and get practical, expert advice, home workouts, easy nutrition and more direct to your inbox. Sign up to the WOMEN'S HEALTH NEWSLETTER
You Might Also Like
