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How to get in shape like Tulisa – as PT hails star’s workout the best for maximum calorie burn and toning up
Celebrity personal trainer Jenny Francis-Townson says all women in their mid 30s should be paying attention to Tulisa’s workouts
I’M A Celeb 2025 star Tulisa Contostavlos has posted a video of her most recent workout routine - and she's looking fantastic.
It showed her doing a gruelling mix of weight training, thrashing at battle ropes and pulling at a ski-erg machine.
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While it might look like a , experts say she is setting the perfect example of how women her age should be exercising to stay in shape and prolong their life.
Tulisa, 36, who became a national treasure after appearing as a judge on The X Factor from 2011 to 2012, underwent a double hernia operation in July.
She also reportedly completed a course of Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD+) jabs - which claim to boost your energy levels - before entering the jungle, in a bid to get back into fitness and look her best.
Most recently however, the star has been posting a series of her gym workouts on her social media and claims this “isn’t a phase” after reaping the benefits of regular exercise.
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Her routines have grabbed the attention of fitness experts.
I think all women in their mid 30s should be paying attention to Tulisa’s Instagram exercise clips if they want to step up their workouts and stay fit though mid-life.
Your mid 30s is a key time to really think about how you are exercising if you want to not only stay in shape, but also stay healthy for your age.
Every year after we turn 30 our muscle mass begins to decline.
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Most women experience a loss of three to five per cent of muscle mass per decade, even if they are exercising - unless they use weights.
It’s the biggest misconception from women - that weights are for younger women.
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That weights are risky or might cause them injury as they get older, when actually as soon as you turn 30, you really want to be using weights in every workout you do in order to prevent muscle decline.
Tulisa’s workout might look intimidating to some women because it is quite intense, but the basics of her training are perfect for her age and there are lots of ways women - even beginners - can workout in a similar way at home and get incredible health results.
If you're entering your 30s, here's why you should take a leaf out of Tulisa's book when it comes to exercise.
She focuses on functional movements
As we age our hormones change and our muscles start to lose strength and size.
Many women also go through childbirth, which sees them lose muscle mass and weaken and our physique suffers.
Tulisa’s workouts use functional movements that force her body to recruit multiple muscle groups.
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For example, instead of just choosing to perform a burpee, Tulisa adds dumbbells, performs a burpee then adds in a clean and press - lifting dumbbells to the shoulders and above the head - to force multiple muscles in her body to work together.
Doing this is fantastic for full body strength and fitness and, long term, helps to prevent things like falls and injury because muscles, ligaments and the brain are used to working together to move.
She uses dynamic exercises
Dynamic movements are simply exercises that don’t isolate just one muscle group.
When we choose to use weights machines at the gym we are often only using one very specific muscle rather than lots of different ones.
By choosing dynamic movements like walking lunges with a shoulder press, Tulisa is getting maximum calorie burn from one exercise.
This is great for women in their 30s, who are usually the most time poor of all age groups.
In shorter bursts you can get more calorie burn and strength across multiple muscle groups.
She does cardio with resistance
Cardio is super important to stay fit and healthy, but it doesn’t need to be the main focus in your 30s.
Tulisa regularly chooses cardio exercises which have added resistance to them - like battle ropes, the ski erg machine and boxing.
All of Tulisa’s choices are very high cardio - to raise her heart rate and improve her heart and lung health - but they also burn calories to keep her a healthy weight while also getting that muscle strength she needs in her 30s.
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She switches it up
We can be guilty of finding one style of exercise or an exercise class we like and sticking to it as we feel safe.
But, research shows that the more varied we keep our exercise, the more we challenge the body and therefore get more out of our workouts - especially in the long term.
Not only that, but the more we mix up our exercise the less likely we are to become bored of exercise - helping us stay more consistent over longer periods of time.
She uses low impact exercises
Yes, squat jumps and tuck jumps can be effective - but as we age, all these high impact movements take their toll on our body.
For the most part, Tulisa eliminates high impact moves like tuck jumps, high knees and treadmill sprints from her sessions and focuses more on weights and lower impact movements which will hugely help her avoid injury and joint pain.
She uses weights
As explained, the only way to prevent muscle mass loss after we turn 30 is to use weights regularly.
But there is another reason that using weights is so important for women - they help regulate our hormones.
Exercise is one of the best-known ways to promote hormonal harmony, which can be vital to help prevent obesity and insulin resistance.
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From our late 30s and into our 40s, androgens - our sex hormones - and testosterone significantly reduce and weight gain, muscle loss, loss of sex drive, mood swings and loss of brain function come in.
Lifting weights helps to keep up healthy hormone release, especially testosterone, which help to keep all of these health problems at bay.
If you want to try your hand at training like Tulisa, no need to go to the gym - you can do it from the comfort of your own home and use water-bottles in place of weights.
Perform three sets on each move with a short rest of 30 seconds in-between.
1. Battle ropes
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Grab two water bottles and hold them on each hand.
Bend your knees into a little squat position then bend at your elbows and quickly alternate your arms up and down, keeping your torso as still as you can with your head and chest up.
Do this for 30 seconds.
2. Shadow boxing
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Stand with one foot in front of the other with a slight bend at the knee.
Scrunch your hands into fists and hold them up by your chin.
From here, throw your left arm forward in front of you with force and straighten it.
As you bring it back to your face, swap with the right arm so that it punches forward with force.
Continue your alternating punches with force and power for 30 seconds.
3. Core
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Lie on your back with your left knee bent and foot flat on the floor the other leg long.
Have your left arm stretched long above your head.
From here, lift your body up - without straining your neck - and lift your left arm and right leg off up off the floor to meet each other, before slowly returning to the start position.
Repeat on one side for 30 seconds then swap sides.
4. Bicep curls
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Using water bottles, hold one in each hand with your palms facing upwards.
Instead of just performing regular bicep curls, mimic Tulisa by keeping one arm long but being the other at the elbow to curl the weight up to shoulder height, then lower back down. Repeat with the other arm.
Then for your final rep, bring both bottles up into the curl and lower them both together.
Repeat that mini circuit three times.
6. Ski erg
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Holding on to two water bottles, one in each hand, reach your arms straight above your head.
Quickly bring your arms down until the water bottles are near your ankles and your knees are bent into a squat.
From here, push back up to standing and bring the weights back over your head.
Doing this will mimic the ski erg machine your see at the gym.
Do this for 30 seconds as fast as you can.
6. Elevated lunges
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With a chair or sofa next to you, rest the top of your left foot on the edge and step your right foot forward away from the chair.
From here, keep your head and chest lifted and bend both knees to bring your down into a lunge, while keeping your balance.
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When your reach the bottom of the movement push into the front foot and bring yourself back to the start position.
Repeat for 12-15 reps then swap legs.
Eat like Tulisa too
If you watched the N-Dubz star in the jungle, you’ll know she’s a dab hand in the kitchen.
This is key to staying fit and healthy in your 30s.
Head Nutritionist of fitness app RWL Sarah Bockhart says: “Your 30s are a key time for your nutrition.
“Too much highly processed food and your gut and body struggle with mood, figure and energy due to your aging body and the chemicals in ultra processed food wreaking havoc with your hormones.
“The more you can cook from scratch the more you will ensure you are avoiding these foods and fuel your body with what it needs to keep you young in your 30s”
And Tulisa’s favourite health superfood? Lentils.
Tulisa said “sometimes I just spend a week eating lentils.”
Sarah says: “Lentils are the perfect food for women in their 30s.
“They have a huge number of health benefits and have been linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and obesity.
“They are high in fibre which is essential for good gut health and are also high in protein to keep your muscles strong and prevent muscle loss.”
Experts have also linked the legumes to longer life expectancy.
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