Sexy Celebrities Share New Years Resolution Exercise Secrets to Help You Get in Shape

Okay here we are in the new year and you are facing those new years resolutions to work out and get fit. But how do you get started. I mean it’s not like we all can afford to go out and hire a top physical trainer like Jillian Michaels from NBC’s The Biggest Loser. But you can learn what the stars do to get in such great shape. Like how Matthew McConaughey maintains his six-pack abs and how Jessica Biel get’s her ripped arms and sculpted glutes. Here is a look at the secret workouts of 10 of Hollywood’s biggest names.

Julia Roberts works whenever she has time. Work and being a full-time mom take up much of Roberts time, but the star still makes time to stay in shape. Roberts chose celebrity Trainer Kathy Kaehler to manage her workouts since she is a working mother like Roberts and understands the constant challenges she is under.

One of Roberts favorite workouts is the aquatic type because it works the muscles while increasing strength. Swimming and water exercises are great ways to build up endurance and stay fit. Strapped into her flotation belt, Roberts does skiing, running and upper-body exercises in the deep end of the pool. Every workout begins with a 10 laps of regular swimming as a warm up, then Roberts puts on the flotation belt to run multiple intervals at various speeds.

She also mixes in strength training, Pilates and cardio with her water workout,

Madonna might be getting older, but she is still in great shape. The Material Girl is a fan of Ashtanga Yoga, which is a strenuous form of the popular exercise.

Her weight training starts with light weight arm raises. Using three ound dumbbells, she stands with feet shoulder-width apart. She then moves her arms together above her head, with elbows and wrists bent slightly. She repetes this motion for up to 100 reps.

The next set in Modanna’s workout arsenal is the single arm overhead pulse. Using the same weights she stands with feet shoulder-width apart and arms at her side. Raising one arm above her head with her elbow slightly bent she straightens her arm completely over her head. She pulses like that, up and down for up to 100 reps on either side.

Next are 100 reps of abdominal crunches. First she lies on the floor with arms at her side. With her legs in front, she raise herself slightly until she feels a "crunch" in her abs and then she lies back down. Her goal is to do it with her legs straight out in front of her, to work her stomach without bulking it up.

She finishes out her workout with between 60 to 100 reps of piking. She starts by lying flat, arms at her sides. Straight legs are lifted to the ceiling to 90 degrees and then gently lowered. Without pausing, she lifts them up. Her upper body remains flat on the ground. Both arms and legs stay straight with her toes pointed.

Back in Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider days, she was at the height of physical fitness. Jolie uses kickboxing and practiced it regularly and she also learned bungee ballet, scuba diving and weapons training. But one particular workout goes straight to Jolie’s butt and oblique.

Her twisting lunge starts with feet parallel and arms at sides. She then takes a large step backward with her left foot. Now she turns so her upper body faces all the way to the left, and pivots both feet so her left foot faces forward and her right foot faces out (heel of left foot is perpendicular to right). Lower hands toward floor over left leg, being careful to keep left knee in line with left ankle. She then pivots back to center and repeat on opposite leg. Do this for 12 to 15 reps, switch sides and before long you’ll have a butt like Angelina Jolie.

In 300, Gerard Butler was quite lean and a bit buff, but not overly developed. So his physic was had by circuit training, and calisthenics rather than heavy weights at low reps. Here’s how Butler got ripped in preparation for 300.

He starts with pull-ups, with an overhand grip, with the palms of his hands pointed away from him, and thumbs pointing toward each other. He stands under the pull-up bar, grasp it and relaxes his shoulders. He keeps his arms straight and simply hangs off the bar while keeping his body vertical, trying not to rock back and forth.  Butler then pulls his chest up toward the bar by bending his arms. He holds for a moment before lowering himself back down. He begins straightening his arms and lowering himself toward a starting position and repeats for 10 to 15 reps.

Next are the dumbbell deadlifts -- In an upright position with dumbbells at his sides, Butler lowers the dumbbells down toward the floor by first sitting his hips back, then bend your knees and torso until you reach the floor or just slightly above. Keep your back flat and your head in a neutral position throughout the movement. Make sure you keep the dumbbells near your sides. Don’t let them swing out in front of your body. This is a great exercise for developing your legs and back.

Now Butler moves on to pushups. He starts out by lying chest-down with his hands at shoulder level, palms flat, more than shoulder-width apart, with his feet together and parallel. Looking forward rather than down at the floor he make his first contact with his chin, and not his nose. Keeping his legs straight and toes tucked under his feet, Butler straightens his arms as he pushes up off the floor.  Keeping his palms fixed at the same position and his body straight, he keeps his back straight as he pushes up. Exhale as he his arms straighten and pause for a moment before lowering his body slowly toward the floor. He continues this motion until muscle failure for 3 sets.

Now it’s time for the Jump rope  for 1 to 2 minutes (jumping jacks work in place of jump rope) Butler begins by grasping handles in and relaxing the middle of the rope at his ankles with both hands at his sides. Swing the rope over his head in a forward motion, he keeps his feet together and jumps over the rope. Increase your speed as you feel more comfortable.

Rotating back to weight training Butler now goes for 10 to 15 reps of the dumbbell clean and press.  Standing in an upright position with the dumbbells at his sides, he lowers the 35 pound weights down toward the floor by first sitting his hips back, then bending his knees and torso until he reaches the floor or just above. Keeping his back flat and head in a neutral position throughout the movement, Butler ensures that the dumbbells are near his sides and not swinging in front of your body.

To finish off his workout Butler likes to go with the 25 reps of the Burpee.  He starts in a squat position with his hands on the floor in front of him. He kicks his feet back to a push-up position. He then returns his feet to the squat position and leaps up as high as possible. He repeat this procedure moving as quickly as possible while keeping good form.

Following Fight Club, Brad Pitt was envied by many men. His ripped body had many seeking similar results. His workout isolated one muscle group, then giving it the rest of the week to recover. This is a great way to add muscle mass.

He starts pit on Monday with Chest

 8 sets of 25 pushups

 3-4 sets of 8 to 12 reps on the Nautilus chest press

 3-4 sets of 8 to 12 reps on the Nautilus incline press

 3-4 sets of 8 to 12 reps of chest flies

Tuesday includes isolation of the back muscles

 5 sets of 15 to 20 pullups

 3-4 sets of 8 to 12 reps of seated rows

 3-4 sets of 8 to 12 reps of lat pulldowns

 3-4 sets of 8 to 12 reps of T-bar rows

Wednesday works on the shoulders

 3-4 sets of 8 to 12 reps of dumbbell press

 3-4 sets of 8 to 12 reps of lateral raises

 3-4 sets of 8 to 12 reps of front raises

Thursday focuses on the biceps and triceps

 3-4 sets of 8 to 12 reps of Nautilus curl machine

 3-4 sets of 8 to 12 reps EZ cable curls

 3-4 sets of 8 to 12 reps Hammer curls

 3-4 sets of 8 to 12 reps tricep pushdowns

Friday takes time for cardio

 Running on the treadmill for 45 minutes at 65% to 75% of his maximum heart rate.

Saturday and Sunday are set aside for rest

Jessica’s perfectly toned arms and great glutes are no mistake. She worked for that body and while we can’t give her body we can give you her workout secrets. And she only spends 30 minutes a day for four days a week to get there, so you can realize great results in no time.

Monday and Friday Workout
She starts out with a light 5-minutes on the treadmill, bike or elliptical.

Now Biel moves onto circuit work, alternating with 10 reps each of 2 strength-training moves. She chooses between walking lunges, bent-over dumb bell rows, squat to press, plank, hanging leg lifts and back extensions. This is all done with one minute of moderate cardio repeated three times. Then she alternates one minute of cardio with another two exercises and repeats three times followed by one more minute of cardio with last two exercises repeated three times.

Next she moves to some intense cardio, alternating one minute between 3.5 to 5 mph on a treadmill at moderate resistance with an incline of 3 -5 and then moving to one minute at 2.5 mph at an incline of 1 or 2. Biel repeats this three times for six minutes.
Her cool down is done at a low speed walk for one minute.

Tuesday and Thursday Workout
This workout is the same as above, but she substitutes strength training moves: Squat jumps, pushups, sit-ups, lat pull downs, side bridges, and crunches on the fitness ball.

Wednesday Rest Day
This is a rest day, allowing her muscles to recover.

Saturday and Sunday Workout
These days she sets aside for 45 minutes of her favorite sports.

Matthew McConaughey’s workouts are quite unconventional. In the middle of a five mile run he starts hits the ground starts a string of pushups, wide hands first, then close-hand, triceps-busting reps halfway through.

He says he does it for civilization, because when you return from a run, civilization and reality return to the forefront. So once you are done with the workout and go back to civilization is hard to go back to that workout. So he prefers to do his pushups in the midst of his workout.

If he has an hour to run he expects to pump out 200 pushups during that run. And the more reps the better, he says. So 30 here and there during the run and before he knows it he’s reached 200.

Making exercise is important for McConaughey. Doing what you please feels too good to be forgotten, he says.

Vince Vaughn always walks with a water bottle. Walking is excellent exercise because it is low impact and it doesn’t cost anything to walk and lose weight. Bringing a water bottle is a good because it’s important to stay hydrated.

To increase his calorie burning while walking he keeps a good pace, a strong core, and tenses his abdominals. Vaughn also includes hill training to add a challenge and variety to his walking experience. He can burn an average of 300 calories with an hour of fast pace (4 mph) walking.

Jennifer Anniston uses a combination of cardio and yoga to stay fit. 

She starts with a 22-minute cardio session prior to her yoga session. This helps her warm up muscles prior to her yoga poses.  She breaks the 22 minutes into a five-minute warm-up, alternate one minute of high-intensity cardio, with two minutes of recovery at a moderate place.

On high-intensity days, Aniston will even follow up this interval training, with a 10 - 15- minute run on the treadmill at a 5.7 mph at a 1.5 incline.

But the core of her exercise routine is yoga. She has done yoga for years and changes it up from time to time to keep it new and interesting. It's a mix of active drills and static poses.