Advertisement

Victoria Secret Angels Take to Tulum for Bootcamp

@heath3mcd/Instagram

The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is headed to London this season, and in anticipation for the December 9th spectacular, a group of Angels are already participating in a grueling 5-hour-a-day boxing boot camp in Mexico.

According to wellness site Well + Good NYC, the models (including newcomers Kelly Gale, Mathilde Frachon, and Emanuela De Paula) are engaged in four full days of highly physical training that covers yoga, boxing, and sculpting. The girls are provided with meals—high protein and minimal carbs, —to ensure that they get the best results.

It’s no wonder that the girls are training early with the intense scrutiny that goes into selecting each Angel. Last year, the brand’s casting director described the process to Vogue UK: “It’s really quite terrifying for them,” confided Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou. “The final decision is made by the whole team, sitting at this long table in a room with really harsh lighting and they have to walk towards us and away from us. They all have to do it — even the contracted girls — and it’s incredibly nerve-wracking for them.”

@heath3mcd/Instagram

The program is the brainchild of former pro boxer and owner of New York City’s Aerospace High Performance Center, Michael Olajide, Jr. and his former ballet-dancing partner, Leila Fazel. Olajide, who’s famous for training supermodel Iman and for getting Adriana Lima’s post-baby body in tip-top shape in just eight weeks, came up with the idea to create a model boxing camp out of his own experience. “

When we used to prep for a fight, we’d go to a training camp,” he told the site. “You don’t have the distractions you’d have at home. All you can do—and should do—is focus on yourself and getting healthy.”

Model Mathilde Frachon agreed that getting away helps her concentration, even if she is permanently in plank mode. “It’s not like working out in the city, it’s way more relaxing,” she says. “It’s like intense workout and then chill, intense workout and then chill. It’s really the perfect four days.”

@kellybellyboom/Instagram

The others have taken to Instagram to shed let the world in on the exclusive bootcamp with photos captioned: “work hard, let your hair down, jump in the water,” “it hurts but it works,” “the serene after the savage Aero3workout,” and “boxing in heaven.”

Of course not everyone can drop everything and hit the beach for serious cardio sessions. But according to New York City celebrity fitness expert Kira Stokes, there are more realistic and long-term methods for obtaining similar results. 

“You have to find a modality of fitness that resonates with you, something that you enjoy,” Stokes tells Yahoo Style. “And be the ultimate cross trainer — you need a little bit of everything. But the one you give the most time and effort to should be fun and gratifying so as to make sure it becomes part of your routine.”